In 1896, Frostburg residents seemed to be worried that a grave robber was on the loose. The Frostburg Mining Journal ran an article April 30 under the headline “A Suspicious Find” that explained that a silver-plated casket handle had been found on Maple Street in front of former Justice L. J. Parker’s home.
“It is slightly rusted but otherwise well-preserved, indicating that it had not been long underground. Evidences that it had very lately been wrenched from a casket are seen in the fresh breaks,” the newspaper reported.
Members of the Parker family had heard a wagon and team of horses pass by the house around 2 a.m., which was unusual, “and now believed to have some connection with a grave robbing somewhere,” according to the Frostburg Mining Journal.
The handle had been shown to all of the undertakers in Frostburg in the hopes that one of them would recognize it. None of them did. In fact, they said that the style of handle wasn’t used in the city.
The story took on a life of its own and spread beyond Allegany County, even as far as Spain “where it was published as conclusive evidence of American depravity as a nation of resurrectionists,” the Frostburg Mining Journal noted.
The following week, the newspaper ran another article proclaiming that a reporter from the paper had solved the mystery.
“The Journal is proud to own that it has upon its staff of unapproachable reportorial and editorial artistes a man who combines with his versatility in both respects a distinct forte for detective work. Nothing mysterious baffles him, and, so far, he has not failed in probing apparently inexplicable things to the bottom,” the Frostburg Mining Journal reported.
In February, a coffin and casket salesman had stopped overnight at the St. Cloud Hotel in Frostburg. After making his sales calls in town, he had been packing up his samples and found one that was badly broken. Since it was useless as a sales aid, he had simply tossed it under a table at the hotel.
It remained there for several weeks until it was thrown out on the trash heap. One of J.W. Craig’s children found the handle in the trash and decided to use it as a toy. When he finally tired of it, he threw it in the street where it was found and the ensuing panic began.
James Rada - Looking Back
Related Photos
-
JAMES RADA
Looking Back 1896: Where was the casket that went with the handle?
- James Rada - Looking Back
-
-
Looking Back: Cumberland votes down daylight-saving time
The United States began its move toward daylight-saving time during World War I. Following in the footsteps of Germany and Europe, the U.S. passed the Standard Time Act in March 1916.
-
City council takes action to eliminate rail crossing delays for firefighters
In November 1914, the call went out from 163 Madison St. that a fire was burning in the house and help was needed. The Cumberland Fire Department was quick to respond as the four firefighters assigned to Central Station No. 1 located at City Hall Square climbed aboard the fire engine and it sped out into the street.
-
Vaudeville shows predated movies in Queen City theaters
Before movies, Cumberland’s theaters hosted vaudeville shows. These were live theatrical performances similar to a television variety show. Performances might include musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, male and female impersonators, acrobats, jugglers and one-act plays. Vaudeville shows were popular from the 1880s to the early 1930s, when talking movies became commonplace.
-
Looking Back 1896: Where was the casket that went with the handle?
In 1896, Frostburg residents seemed to be worried that a grave robber was on the loose. The Frostburg Mining Journal ran an article April 30 under the headline “A Suspicious Find” that explained that a silver-plated casket handle had been found on Maple Street in front of former Justice L. J. Parker’s home.
-
Remembering Battle of Antietam in 1937
As Western Maryland prepares to remember the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, no actual Civil War veterans will be attending. The last major anniversary event for a Civil War battle that saw actual veterans in attendance was the 75th. Antietam’s 75th anniversary was in 1937.
-
Looking Back 1914: Lake had deep-sea diver
You wouldn’t think that Cumberland, located in the Western Maryland mountains as it is and hundreds of miles from the ocean, would have a need for deep-sea divers. Yet, the city of Cumberland has been known to use them for nearly a century.
-
Looking Back 1931: Depression keeps county couples together
Depression is good for Allegany County marriages. Economic depression, that is, not emotional depression.
The Cumberland Evening Times looked at the number of marriages, divorces and separations in the county at the end of 1931 and found a “marked decline in bills docketed while for September and October this year actions in court for separation and alimony have dwindled to almost nil.” -
Looking Back 1920: Plane makes emergency landing in Elk Garden
Nowadays, the sight of a plane flying overhead is no big deal, but it wasn’t always that way. The Wright Brothers made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903, and Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. In between, planes and their pilots were a rarity.
-
Looking Back: 1923
Thomas Footer knew the formula for wealth. He was a chemist after all. You take one part of good and add to it eight parts of determination and one part belief in yourself.
It was a formula that had worked for him. He was born in England in March 1847. His father was a papermaker, but “he lost both parents in early childhood and began to earn his own living as a boy,” according to the Cumberland Evening Times. -
Looking Back: National pastime deadly for local residents
The team may have been amateur, but the baseball game on July 8, 1928, was considered excellent. St. Patrick’s of Mount Savage were the leaders in the Holy Name Baseball League, which was made up of church teams in the county.
- More James Rada - Looking Back Headlines
-
