DELMAR, Del., Oct. 15. Alleging that Mrs. S. T. Adams severely beat his boy over some minor affair, Elijah W. Wootten of this town had sworn out a warrant for her arrest. Wootten claims that this is the second time his boy has been beaten by Mrs. Adams. - from The Wilmington Morning News 16 Oct 1913
An interesting 107 year old story that brings up
more question than answers. The three
primary players in this story are; Mrs. S. T. Adams, Elijah Wootten and the
boy. A little about them; Mrs. S. T.
Adams is Sallie Mary Baker Adams (1873-1942).
She is the wife of Stephen Tilghman Adams (1877-1958). Stephen was a locomotive engineer and they
lived on Chestnut Street on the Maryland side of town. At this time the Maryland side of town had a
large number of railroad Brakemen and Engineers living in it. Sallie at this time would be 41 years
old. She had three children; Florence,
Stanley, and Lee. The Adams were originally from the Harrington area. They had married in 1898 and lived in
Philadelphia, moving to Delmar by 1910.
Elijah William Pargen Wootten (1877-1950) had married
in 1897 in Wicomico County to Olivia V. Truitt. At the time they married she
was 19 years old and he was 21. They
lived on Pine Street and he too was also a railroad engineer. They had three children; Blanche. Marion and
Myrtle.
The Boy was Marion “Monk” Ellegood Wootten. He would have been 12 in 1913. He would later in life become a railroad
engineer living in Delmar.
Now we don’t know if Monk was a real pain and
problem child or not, nor do we know if Sallie was a real shrew and with a 107
year old story we are not going to ask anyone.
What we do know is that three weeks after this story
there was a fire of unknown origin in Stephen Adams house. Sallie and the children were away visiting
relatives but Stephen was home. He was
forced to jump from the porch roof to save himself. The recently formed Delmar fire department
arrived and sprayed water on the surrounding houses while Stephen’s house burn
to the ground.
We don’t know when ( I suspect shortly after the
fire) but by 1917 Stephen Adams and family had moved back to Philadelphia and
was working for the Baldwin Locomotive Works as a traveling engineer. The
Baldwin Locomotive Works was founded by Matthias W Baldwin a jeweler who had
opened a machine shop. By 1918 the
company had built their fifty thousandth locomotive. Stephen Adams job, as a traveling engineer,
was to go with the locomotives when they were sold to break them in (putting up
the engine) and provide technical expertise for several weeks after they were
delivered.
I was the Myrtle Wooten's Daughter in low. She married Clifton Pierce Anderson. Myrtle ended up being Marion Wooten's guardian. He had no children that I am aware and he was divorced. After Myrtle died her oldest son Howard Anderson took care of his affairs. He lived in Railroad retirement home until he passed. Myrtle had 4 children and all have passed including the youngest. That is pretty interesting, I understand that he had drinking problem later in life.
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