100 years ago: potato thieves, a brave Scout and a poor house vote
In late October 1926, the sheriff caught two men stealing potatoes near Grantsville, an Oakland Scout was honored for saving two children, and voters faced a poor house question, The Republican reported.
One hundred years ago this week, Garrett County was days from an election, Oakland was planning its Armistice Day, and the sheriff had just caught two men digging up a farm's potato crop, according to the Oct. 28, 1926, issue of The Republican, Oakland's weekly newspaper.
Caught in the potato patch
Two men from Salisbury, Pa., were arrested at Stone House Farm, about three miles east of Grantsville, while digging up about eight bushels of potatoes, the paper reported. Passers-by on the National Highway alerted Pennsylvania authorities, who telephoned Sheriff Guy O. Yutzy. The sheriff and Deputy W.D. Casteel arrested the pair at the farm. The paper said the farm, run by County Commissioner H.P. Miller as superintendent, and nearby fields had been robbed repeatedly. According to The Republican, the men confessed and were held in the county jail to await the grand jury in December.
A Scout's citation
Leonard Murphy of Oakland, a Boy Scout who worked as a messenger around the Baltimore and Ohio station, received a citation from the National Court of Honor of the Boy Scouts of America. The paper said he had pulled two small children out of the path of an approaching train at the station's railroad crossing on April 10. W.R. Offutt, chairman of the local Court of Honor, presented it.
The poor house question
Under the heading "Tuesday is Election Day," the paper noted that Garrett County was "again to vote upon the 'poor house' question," whether to establish a county poor house. It printed a letter from Mrs. U.G. Palmer of Verona, Pa., a former county resident, urging voters to reject the idea and citing investigators who called such places a disgrace. The same page carried political ads in the state Senate race between Republican A.D. Naylor and Democrat John W. McCullough.
Armistice Day plans
Oakland's American Legion post announced plans to make Nov. 11 a holiday. Most stores agreed to close at noon and barber shops all day. The program included a morning shooting match, an afternoon community sing at the Maryland Theatre and a ball that night.
Also on the page
- More details on the Baltimore and Ohio's "State Dairy Products Special" train, due in Oakland on Monday, Nov. 15, with events starting at 8 a.m. Oakland businessmen put up $100 so a farmer who registered at the train could win a purebred heifer in a drawing.
- Directors of the Mountain Lake Park Association met at the park the Saturday before.
