September 7

School Enrollment Breaks All Records

From all over Frederick County come reports of record-breaking enrollment in high and public schools. It is believed that enrollment will exceed 13,000.

Thurmont High School reports enrollment of 391, of which 231 belong to the grades, and 100 in the high school proper. Between 30 and 40 pupils of the school are said to be employed in the canning factory for the present and are expected to enroll next week.

Only fragmentary reports have been received from Emmitsburg High School but it is understood that the school also had the largest enrollment in its history. The Junior High School, those having grammar grades and two high school grades, had a similar report to make.

Workman’s Arm Torn Off

Caught in a belt at whorled around a shaft, Brook Shryock, had his left harm torn off at the elbow while working at the Shriver Canning factory last Thursday night.

Shryock, who has been employed as a machinist at the Shriver factory for the past two years, was engaged to making some repairs at the time of the accident. It appears he had been having trouble with one of the heavy belts and was standing on a step ladder making adjustments when his arm was pulled into the belt and whorled about the pulleys several times, tearing the member entirely off, and leaving the unfortunate man fallen on the moving corn drag several feet below.

Fellow workman witnessed the accident and pulled the unfortunate man from the drag, he being in an unconscious condition. He was rushed to Gettysburg Hospital where what was left of the arm was amputated. He is in critical condition. Shryock is about 50 years of age.

Woman Commits Suicide

Margarita Klein, age 23, wife of Earl Klein of Ladiesburg, committed suicide on Friday afternoon by shooting herself in the head with a 22-caliber rifle. Two weeks before, Mrs. Klein attempted suicide by cutting an artery in her left wrist, said to have been due to despondency.

Klein shot herself in the forehead at the home of her husband‘s parents while her husband was working on a well in the yard, about 50 feet away. When he heard the shot of the rifle, he headed into the house. As he entered the kitchen he found the unconscious form of his wife lying on the floor with a bullet wound in her forehead. She died a few minutes later.

Sometime ago, Mrs. Klein suffered a nervous breakdown and made an attempt on her life by cutting a blood vessel on the back of her hand. About a week ago her husband brought her to the house of his parents at the advice of a physician, thinking the change might improve her health.

Friday morning she seemed fine and after putting out a small wash, went to the yard, where her husband and his father were at work. After leaving her husband in the yard, Mrs. Klein went directly to the kitchen where she selected the rifle, which was kept loaded in a corner with two other guns to shoot Chicken Hawks.

With a weapon in hand she seated herself on a chair, press the muscle against her forehead and pulled the trigger. The ball made a clean round powder burn, and lodged in the back of her head. There were no fractures where the bullet entered. Besides her husband, the woman is survived by an infant about two weeks old.

Harney School Opens

The Harney Public School opened on Tuesday with 34 pupils. The small number is caused by an epidemic of whooping cough in this community. Mr. Thomas now is principal and Miss Mary Rohr assistant. Miss Rohr comes to our town well recommended and we hope that she will be successful in her laborers among the smaller children, and that the time spent in our town may be pleasant and profitable.

Harney is well represented at the Shriver cannery and all seem to like the work; but we are afraid that they will not be able to stand the long hours that they are compelled to work. They work from 7 a.m. until 10 o’clock at night, then drive home arriving around 11 o’clock and getting up in the morning again at 5 o’clock in order to get to work again at 7 o’clock. This amount of work is a little more than can be expected of young people. We have always thought that 10 hours was about long enough for good health.

September 14

Former Emmitsburg Bankers Arrested

Edgar Annan, now living in Baltimore, and Annan Horner, Emmitsburg, were arrested on Thursday, on warrants charging them with embezzlement and false representation connected with the failure of the banking firm of Annan - Horner & Co.. The arrests were made in Frederick, following indictments found by the grand jury.

Robert Annan pledge bail of $1,000 for his brother, and Thomas Baumgardner became surety for Horner, his brother-in-law, in the sum of $2,000.

The indictments are the outgrowth of the failure of the bank more than two years ago. Some months ago a number of creditors sued the bank for deposit and interest and the firm went into bankruptcy. Soon afterwards bankruptcy proceedings were instituted in the District Court in Frederick.

Creditors have been looking for assets with which to make a settlement. About 25 people from Emmitsburg are expected to testify in the case, which is the subject of just about every conversation in that town these days.

Test Of Auto Operators

Representatives of 13 Midwest states have been invited to attend the conference of Motor Vehicle Administrators, representing state automobile licensing bureaus, to be held in Chicago, at which time plans will be made for working out safety first laws for automobilist and pedestrians.

There is a real need, according to the officials sponsoring the conference, for uniform laws of driving to lessen the death rate. One suggestion is to prevent a man who never has handled a car before from buying a machine and properly setting forth as if he were an experienced driver. This prevalent custom could be prevented, they say, by forcing the dealer by law to see that everyone to whom he sells a car is thoroughly instructed before he is permitted to operate it on the public highways.

The conference will make plans for uniform laws to govern the licensing of an automobile operator to see if they are sufficiently competent mentally to handle a motor driven vehicle. Some form of intelligence test is likely to be devised.

Veteran Grocer Moves To Fairfield

The day after he celebrated his 83rd birthday, George Wortz, a retired Adams County merchant, closed his home in Hanover and went to Fairfield to take up residence with his daughter, Mrs. Arthur Springer, who formally conducted a general store in Fairfield.

Interesting events in connection with affairs in Adams County more than half a century ago were recalled by the venerable Mr. Wortz. He recalls when he was a boy of 17, he was paid $2.50 a month, or $30 a year and board for clerking in a grocery store.

In 1865, Mr. Wortz moved to Fairfield, opening a general store a year later. For three years he also ran a sawmill in that town. On one occasion, he narrowly escaped death when hit in the face by a board. He moved to Hanover in 1894.

Deerfield Plant Insolvent

Dr. Morris Birely of Thurmont has been appointed by the court as the receiver of the Greenstone Products Company, of Deerfield.

The appointment follows the filing of a bill by Dr. Birely asking for an injunction to prevent the sale of property by the company and for a receiver. Dr. Birely claims that the concern owns him between $9,000 and $10,000. The company employed about 50 men and has not been an operation for several weeks.

The bill alleges that the company is unable to meet its obligations. On September 10, 1921, the company executed a deed of trust for $100,000 as security for mortgage bonds. The bill also alleges that the concern, which suspended operations in July, still owes for labor. It is understood that quite a number of Frederick County persons have money invested in the concern.

In their response, the officers of the corporation deny some of the allegations made but admit that the company is in default in performance of required payments under its deeds of trust and that the bondholders are entitled to demand a sale of the property by foreclosure.

The Greenstone Products Company started operations between three and four years ago. The deposit of green stone where the company is located it said to be one of the best in the country. Green stone is used in the manufacture of rock roofing pebbles. The site comprises about 177 acres.

September 21

Woman Has No Word Of Missing Husband

Not a word has been heard from James Kackley, who are Monday evening left his wife and six month old child at the Western Maryland Railroad station while he went to look for his automobile truck, which he said had broken down near Thurmont. In the meantime the woman and her child are at Montevue Hospital. It was stated that the woman is without means and in all likelihood will be compelled to remain at the County institution until something is learned of the whereabouts of her husband or until provisions can be made for them somewhere else.

Mrs. Kackley said she had no idea where her husband is or why he left his family in such a mysterious manner. She added that she does not expect him to return and that she is willing to work for the support of herself and child if she could find a house. The couple was married about three years ago and since that time they have lived in Philadelphia, Winchester, Martinsburg, Harrisonburg and recently in Emmitsburg.

Mrs. Kackley said that her mother died sometime ago and that her father since remarried. She said that she could not return to the home of her father since his remarriage and for this reason held onto her husband as long as she could.

They came to Thurmont from Emmitsburg Monday afternoon and she expected to return in the evening and went with her husband to the railroad station. When he left and did not return she and her child spent the night at a local boarding house and were taken to Montevue the next day until her husband could be located. She is only 18 years old and her case is pathetic.

On Sunday afternoon the Kackley vehicle was found by the sheriff near Mount Saint Mary’s College. The truck is a 1917 model and said to be in fair condition except for the burned bearing, which force Kackley to abandon it.

As soon as the fact a Mrs. Kackley desertion became known, a number of people called Mountain View and expressed a willingness to aid the young woman. Mrs. Kackley is only 18 years old and has been married since she was 15.

Backlog At Corn Cannery

The Taneytown cannery had a blockade on Tuesday, there being as many as 120 wagons of corn waiting to be unloaded at one time. The situation is said to have been partially caused by the cutting machinery not working properly, and also because the early and late plantings are coming in at one time. The congestion has continued all week to some extent.

Car Hits Train

On Friday night as Jesse Clingan was driving his car down Baltimore Street in Taneytown on the way home from the cannery, a freight train happened to be standing on the track at the street crossing. Although the street is well lit, the train was not seen in time to stop the car; result - the train was not hurt, nor the occupants in the car, but the car itself looks like junk as were all the bottles of hooch in the car.

Auto Accident

Last Saturday afternoon a collision occurred on the Emmitsburg Road between a Maxwell car driven by a man coming from Taneytown and a Ford driven by a man going towards Emmitsburg, with the result that the latter was badly wrecked.

According to the evidence given, apparently each driver gave the other one plenty of room – or so they thought they did. Somebody was evidently mistaken. The Maxwell driver drew the fine, but the question of damages to the cars is another matter.

September 28

Commits Suicide By Slashing Throat

Evers Wilhide, about 35 years old, of Thurmont, cut his throat from ear-to-ear with a razor, gashed his left wrist and swallowed a quantity muriatic acid Sunday afternoon, between 4 and 5 o’clock. He was taken to the City Hospital and died at 1 o’clock the following morning.

The blade of the razor partially severed the victim’s windpipe. His wrist was badly cut and his mouth and tongue very much burnt by the acid. The razor and a bottle which contain the acid were found near the body. It is not known how much of the poison he swallowed.

No cause can be attributed for his act. While undergoing treatment at the hospital, he said he had "no statement to make at this time".

Sunday morning he attended the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school at Thurmont and played the coronet as usual in the orchestra. In the afternoon between 3 and 4 o’clock, when his wife went to the stable to feed the chickens, she heard moans coming from the hayloft. She found her husband in a partially unconscious condition covered with blood. A doctor was summoned and an examination revealed that his throat had been terribly slashed, his wrist cut and his mouth badly burned and blistered.

He was an active official member of the Thurmont Methodist Episcopal Church and was most involved in every part of the church work, especially in the Sunday school, choir and young peoples organization. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and the Old Fellows Knights. In every way he was one of Thurmont highly esteem citizens. Besides his wife, he is survived by two children, Paul and Medellin.

Emmitsburg Banker Freed

"Not guilty," was the verdict of the Frederick Court, Friday afternoon in the case of Andrew Horner, cashier and a member of the bankrupt banking firm of Annan- Horner & Co., indicted for embezzlement and false pretenses.

Reviewing the case, the judge said, while disobedience of orders had brought about irregularities, there was no evidence to show fraudulent intent on the part of the accused. It was pointed out that the transactions upon which the indictment was base resulted in an actual loss of $1,100 to Horner.

The State rested its case about noon and Horner was called to the stand. He emphatically denied any wrongdoing and added that he suffered financial loss with other creditors when the Annan-Horner bank collapsed. He denied that he benefited a single dollar in the transaction involving his indictment.

He said that the Annan-Horner bank discounted two notes, one for $900 for Francis Matthews and another for $200 from Albert Wetzel, which, with other assets, was sent to the Baltimore Commercial Bank as collateral for a loan. When the notes became due they were sent to the Farmers’ Bank in Emmitsburg for collection.

As cashier of that bank, he receives all incoming notes and turned then all over to the Farmers’ Bank, with the exception of the Matthews and Wetzel notes. He then notified Matthews and later borrowed $900 on a note from the Farmers’ Bank to pay the Annan-Horner note.

Instead of turning this amount over to the Commercial Bank, he credited the amount to the Annan-Horner account, and it was paid out of the process of that bank’s liquidation. He explained that the Baltimore Commercial Bank held 20% more collateral security then the amount of the Annan-Horner loan, and for this reason he applied the proceeds of the Matthew and Wetzel notes to the insolvent bank.

Acting upon instructions from the State Bank Examiner, Horner said he kept separate accounts for the Farmers’ Bank and the Annan-Horner Bank.

Horner was giving a severe cross-examination by the State’s Attorney, but the latter was an able to prove fraudulent intent or misappropriation. Two other indictments on similar charges, and a joint indictment with Edgar Annan, another member of the banking firm, are set for trial on October 10.

Read Prior '100 Years Ago this Month'