Welsh of Harpers Ferry

Evidence Category: The Shepherdstown Register

  • Sad Drowning Accident.

    Last Saturday afternoon Edward Cox and Charles Howard, two young men from Kearneysville, aged 20 and 17 yeas, respectively, were drowned in the Potomac river near the residence of James W. Engle, at Rattling Springs. The two young men got off a train at the Old Furnace and attempted to skate to the Virginia Ore Bank. When about half way there, in a lonely section, the broke through the ice. They were seen by Michael Kidwiler, who was about a half a mile away, and were fighting the ice frantically in an effort to save their lives. Mr. Kidwiler ran to their assistance, but before he could reach the place they had sunk, only their hats remaining on the surface of the water. They had made desperate efforts to save themselves, having broken the ice fifteen or twenty feet towards the shore. Geo W. Moler and his son and Caroll Engle were notified by Mr. Kidwiler, and they hauled a boat to the place and launched it, breaking the ice to the point where the bodies had last been seen, some fifty yards from shore. With boat hooks Mr. Moler raised the bodies, which were taken ashore. They were afterward taken to Harper’s Ferry, prepared for burial, and then sent to Kearneysville. The funeral service was held in the Reformed church at Kearneysville on Monday, and was conducted by Rev. Geo. G. Everhart, assisted by Rev. H. H. Kennedy. The bodies were interred side by side in Elmwood Cemetery, Shepherdstown. The funeral was attended by an immense throng of people.

    Both of the young men were well-known residents of Kearneysville, and worked in the stone quarries at that place. They were industrious and of excellent character, and their sad death has caused much regret in the community.

  • Swope discovers 100lb of Honey

    Charles Swope, who has been working in the clearing of the Messrs. Turner, west of town, found a bee tree a few days ago, and when it was cut down it yielded about a hundred pounds of honey. Three tubs were filled with the sweet stuff, and Mr. Swope and his friends have been living high.

  • A Visit to Bakerton.

    The editor of the REGISTER spent last Friday at the busy village of Bakerton, in this county, where the Standard Stone and Lime Company of Washington, of which the Messrs. Baker are the moving spirits, has its extensive plant. Starting some fifteen years ago with a couple of kilns and a limited number of hands, the industry has been so capably managed and so wisely developed that there are now between 300 and 400 men regularly employed and the weekly output of lime is something like 45,000 bushels from the eighteen kilns that are kept in constant operations. The lime is of the best quality, and there is always demand for it from this and adjoining States.

    Three great quarries are operated, the original quarry from which the limestone was first taken and two others on the land the company bought a few years ago from Dennis M. Daniels. Steam drills bite their way into the rock and make the holes into which dynamite or powder is packed, and then at the sound of the warning whistle when the men quit work the stone is torn from the beds where ages ago it was formed. The stone is loaded into the quarries on trucks, which are drawn by wire cables to the kilns.

    Wood has been used almost exclusively for burning the lime at this plant, but owing to its growing scarcity and its cost, experiments have recently been made by which it is hoped that coal can be made to serve for fuel. Blowers have been attached to some of the kilns, and they make a fire that seems hot enough for any purpose. Colored men do most of the work about the kilns, while the quarrymen are nearly all white men. The men make good wages and seem to be very well satisfied with their work.

    A considerable quantity of the lime is shipped in barrels, and a large force of hands is kept busy in the cooper shop making barrels. Many of the young men of the neighborhood find profitable employment in this part of the works.

    D. Raleigh Houser has been the superintendent of the works for a number of years. He recently sent in his resignation, and Harry L. Marshall was appointed in his place temporarily. But Mr. Houser had been so long at the works, and was so thoroughly conversant with every detail of the business, that the company has induced him to take his old place again, and he will be found at his old post again when he has had a little rest. Mr. Houser is respected by the men and his ability is recognized by his employers. Genial Wm. H. Link is one of the foremen, and is kept busy looking after his part of the work.

    A branch of the B. & O. Railroad connects Bakerton with the main line at Engle’s Station, and an engine is kept busy most of the time handling the cars. The branch is about three miles long, and extends to the Virginia Ore Bank, near by. The people there are interested in the new line of the B. & O. by way of Shepherdstown, which will give them still better facilities.

    Bakerton has grown to be quite a village, and there are some very nice homes there. A neat little church, built by the Southern Methodists, gives the people the benefit of religious services. There are two good stores there, that of Millard & Engle and that of J. Strider Moler, the later being managed by Reynolds Moler.

    The editor enjoyed a good dinner with his friends Mr. and Mrs. Wm. J. Moler, whose farm adjoins the village, and was glad to renew old acquaintances. A day was too short to take in the neighborhood as we had hoped, and we mean to make another visit soon.

  • William Martin, former Ore Bank Employee, Death Notice.

    William Martin, an employee at the pulp mill west of Harper’s Ferry was struck and killed last Monday night by a B. & O. train. Martin had previously worked at the Virginia ore bank near Bakerton. His body was sent to his home at Amos, W. Va.

  • Death Notice: Robert Hopper

    Robert Hopper, an estimable young man of Bakerton, died yesterday, after a long illness from consumption, age 18 years. The funeral takes place tomorrow.

  • A Pleasant Day in the Country (Bakerton).

    In company with Prof. Thos. C. Miller and Prof. and Mrs. Walter M. Duke, the editor of the Register spent a very pleasant day last Saturday in the Bakerton neighborhood. A good country dinner was enjoyed with Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Duke at their comfortable home near the village. Through the courtesy of Superintendent D. R. Houser and his able assistant, Wm. H. Link, we went through the great lime-burning plant at Bakerton, where thousands of barrels of lime are manufactured every week and shipped to all sections. This plant is growing all the time and now employs 250 hands regularly. The village is improving, and boasts a number of pretty residences with neatly kept surroundings. We also visited the old Virginia ore bank, where for over a hundred years an excellent grade of iron ore has been produced. Our day was a very enjoyable one, and we were pleased to renew acquaintance with a number of old friends in that neighborhood.

  • John Easton, Ore Bank Employee Died.

    John Easton, a carpenter at the Virginia ore bank, near Bakerton, died last week. He is survived by his wife and twelve children.

  • C. B. Moler, Iron Ore Vein.

    C. B. Moler struck a fine vein of iron ore while digging for an ice-house on his farm near Bakerton, not far from the Virginia Ore Bank.

  • Posts and Rails for sale.

    Posts and Rails FOR SALE.
    I OFFER for sale at low prices, 10,000 CHESTNUT RAILS, also Chestnut and Locust POSTS, to be delivered on Bank of Canal at the Manganese Mines, opposite Virginia Ore Bank. Apply to E. P. BAKER, Harpers Ferry, Or to John Howard, Foreman, at Manganese Mines.
    June 11, 1870. 3w.

  • Telephone from Molers to Bakerton

    The completion of the new telephone line from Moler’s Cross Roads to Bakerton for the Jefferson County Telephone Company gives a gratifying increase in the company’s business. The line is slightly more than three miles in length and the extension adds the following subscribers: Virginia Ore Bank, C. D. Carter, P. S. Millard, Kidwiler Brothers, Douglas Moler, Cruse Link and Charles Nichold [Nichols].