Death of Three Delmar Girls - 1935

April 20, 1935 The Salisbury Times
PLEASURE RIDE BRINGS DEATH TO SIX WHEN SPEEDING AUTO CRASHES INTO LUMBER TRUCK

Three Delmar Girls and three Salisburians Are Victims Of Accident In Powellville At 12:15 A. M. This Morning

“NEVER KNEW WHAT HIT THEM” SAYS STATE POLICEMAN AFTER PROBE

Bodies Were Crushed As Front Of Car Is Driven Back To Rear Seat. Girls Had Attended Rehearsal of Church Pageant

All six occupants of an automobile were killed early today when their machine crashed into the rear of a lumbertruck parked just off the road in Powellville.

The dead are;
Thaddeus Dykes, 25, Washington Street.
Norris Dykes, his brother, 22, Washington Street.
Wisehart Mumford, 19, East Locust Street.
Violet Templeton, 17, Maryland Ave., Delmar.
Evelyn Willey, 17, Chestnut Street, Delmar.
Agnes Taylor, 20, Maryland Ave., Delmar.

All died at the scene of the accident except the Taylor girl who died four hours after being brought to the hospital here. She did not regain consciousness and none of the six victims lived to tell their own story of the tragedy.

The bodies were brought to the undertaking establishment of Holloway and Company and later claimed by the relatives and were taken to the several homes.

State Attorney Rex A. Taylor said investigation showed the cause of the accident to be so apparent a coroner inquest would serve no purpose.

“It was one of the worst accidents I have ever seen since working on the State Police force,” said Corporal C. E. Minnick “ the occupants of the machine never knew what hit them, the crash was so terrific,” “the Car must have been traveling at least seventy miles an hour at the time the crash occurred,”

The incident occurred almost in the center of town at 12:15 A. M. The machine failed to negotiate a sweeping curve in the state highway and went across the road to hit the truck parked three feet off the left side of the concrete thoroughfare.

As the motor clashed into the rear of the lumber the top part of the radio, hood, and entire front of the machine was either sheared off or pressed backward against the rear seat. The impact crushed all occupants.

No actual eyewitnesses were found by Corporal Minnick, who continued an investigation until 8 A. M. He had Sheriff Charles H. Truitt notify the relatives of the victims.

Roger Jones and Henry Kelly were standing about 100 feet down the highway when their attention was attracted by the sound of the crash.

Jones said he first noticed steam rising from the wreckage and with Kelly went to the scene. They found all occupants inside the wrecked car. A superficial examination revealed that the three Salisbury men and one of the girls were dead. Life appeared to be lingering in two of the girls and they pulled the wreck apart to rescue them. One of the girls died as soon as she was extracted.

Jones put the Taylor girl in his car and rushed her to the hospital. The State police sub-station was notified and Corporal Minnick arrived with Dr. L. A. Radenmaker. The four bodies remained in the car.

Minnick said Thaddeus Dykes body was taken from the wrecked driver’s seat. Dykes was married and is survived by a widow and three children. The oldest is four and the youngest seven months old. He was employed as a cutter at a local shirt plant.

The three young women had attended the rehearsal of a pageant by the Methodist Protestant Church last night. Afterwards they joined the men and the six set off on a pleasure ride with no definite destination.

State attorney Taylor was informed they had been to a road house near Salisbury sometime during the evening. The machine was driving into Powellville from the direction of Snow Hill.

Charles Coulbourne, driver of the truck owned by Edwin Jones, Whiton, had parked the load of lumber along the roadside and went to his home in Powellville to obtain sleep, expecting to deliver it to Hebron today.

The lumber was scattered over the ground and the wrecked car. The trailer was also badly damaged.

Mumford is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Blanche Young , Mrs. Gladys Ennis, Mrs. Catherine Baker and a brother, William Mumford. Funeral Services will be conducted from St. Andrew’s Church at 3:30 Monday afternoon, Rev. R. P. Edwards officiating.

Violet was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Templeton; Evelyn; the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Willey; Agnes of Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Taylor. The fathers of the three girls are all railroad trainmen.

April 26, 1935 The Milford Chronicle

Delmar News- Funeral Services for Miss Agnes Taylor and Miss Evelyn Willey, two of the three women who with their escorts, were crushed to death in an automobile accident near Salisbury Friday night, were held on Monday. The services for Miss Violet Templeton, the third victim, were held from her late home on Tuesday. Services for the other victims, Salisbury Men, were held on Monday.

William Mill Pond

Williams Mill Pond Road, off Stage Road, East of Delmar Maryland crosses its namesake Williams Mill Pond. Altho no longer there, at one time a saw mill and a grist mill operated on this pond. As you drive along Williams Mill Pond Road you can see where it crosses Jackson Branch there also are the characteristics of an unknown mill being there.


In the 1870's, John Williams had a saw and grist mill at a pond along Rum Ridge Branch, upstream of Leonard Mill. Today Rum Ridge Branch is called Andrews Branch. Andrew Branch and Williams Pond flow into the North Prong and Leonards Mill Pond.

In the 1880 census; L. Catherine Williams had a sawmill on Williams Pond with 1 employee, who also did the logging. A 4-foot fall on the pond drove a 5 hp turbine to cut 68,000 ft of lumber in 1880.


The Outflow into the North Prong.

The Day Chestertown Exploded

On a sweltering July in 1954 a devastating explosion rocked Chestertown’s tranquility. Abruptly at 10:30 a.m. chaos erupted in the Eastern Shore town of 3,200 people when a blast jolted the county seat. Stunned people, many thinking the Russians had bombed the defense plant or the gas plant blew up, reacted. As they worried about the safety of friends and family, the telephone switchboard buzzed to life, many of the tiny signal bulbs lighting up all at once. The fire siren joined in, wailing out a most urgent plea for aid. Terror stricken people called the operator to say a bomb had gone off or to inquire about the blast. In minutes, a second, larger detonation ripped through the humid morning air shattering windows downtown.

At Kent Manufacturing, a company that made detonators and military fireworks for the government, the accidental blast sent the roof of one building into the sky. Shrieking workers ran for their lives while fireworks shot aloft and burst in the air. In town, the Associated Press reported that hundreds, including mothers wheeling baby carriages, fled across the Chester River bridge to safety in Queen Anne’s County. Firefighters prepared to fight their way into the blazing ruins of the plant to rescue injured workers.

Read more of this interesting article on Reflections of Delmarva Past.

Draft Dodger Poem - 1943

Poem from the State Register - Oct 14, 1943 from "contributed".

DRAFT DODGERS
We are writing a short letter
And every word is true
Don't look away "Draft Dodger",
For it is addressed to you.

You feel at ease and in no danger.
Back in your old home town
You cook up your pitiful story
So the draft board will turn you down.

You never think of the real men,
Who leave their homes day by day,
You just think of those girl friends
That you can get while they are away,

What do you think Draft Dodgers?
That this free nation would do
If all men were slackers
And scared to fight like you?

We guess that is all, Mr. Slacker,
Your face should be awful red,
America is no place for your kind,
And we mean every word we say --
Keep away from our girl friends,
For we are coming back some day.

You're Helping The Enemy - 1943

The Lower DelMarVa Genealogical Society (LDGS) September meeting

Last night I attended the Lower DelMarVa Genealogical Society (LDGS) meeting. Aaron Horner, a research assistant from the Nabb Center in Salisbury, spoke on ways to determine the age of an ancestor if birth records are not available. The main time period he focused on was from 1580 to 1775. During that time period the main record of births were church records. Many of those records have been lost so other records must be examined to estimate the age of a person.

In Maryland there were tax lists. These tax list recorded all white males over 16, all slaves, and some widows who were Head of households. The age was not recorded on the tax list but it shows the person on the tax list was at least 16 years old and it is grouped by household. You can see when a new name appeared on the tax roll that they must have just arrived in the area or just turned 16. Likewise when they were dropped from the tax record they left the area, dropped dead, or moved out of a household to start their own household. From that you can go to other records.

Land Commission records - when there were disputes over land boundaries (as you know Delmarva has no stone so they used trees to mark land boundaries and the trees would died over time so the boundary would become disputed) dispositions would be taken by the different parties. In the disposition the person's age would be recorded.

Orphan records - When orphans would be assigned a guardian they would have their age recorded.

Court determination of age - when indentured whites, free blacks or slaves were assigned to a master in some cases they did not know their age so a court had to determine an age. This was for a number of purposes, one was so the master could be taxed if the person was over 16 years old. Another reason for age determination was so a set time period existed until that child would be set free from his indenture at age 21. A number of methods were used beside height and weight such as the condition of the teeth and outward signs of puberty.

Wills - are also a good source as frequently the age of the people listed in the will can be determined by the way they are mentioned in the will.

All of this is, of course, just an approximation of the birthyear of an individual.

It happens that on October 2nd at the Delaware Archives there is a similar talk called "Vital Records: Beyond Births, marriages, & Deaths.

The LDGS meetings are held at 7 PM the third Wednesday night each month at the LDGS library downtown Salisbury. Next meeting is on October 27th.

Cozy Cabin - 1943

Betty Lee Elliott, Otes Jester and his orchestra