This Month In Frederick County History

November

From John Ashbury's - '... and all our yesterdays'

November 2

It is amazing that Frederick was more than 150 years old before plans were formulated to build a hospital. When Miss Emma Smith and a group of prominent Frederick women decided in 1897 to plan and build a hospital, they had no idea that the needs of the community would require two additional wings for the facility within just a few years.

In 1902, the first building opened, but it was immediately apparent that more space was needed. Within 5 years two wings were opened.

The first additional was built to the south of the main structure after a generous donation by Margaret Hood. It included a sun parlor, an elevator, 12 private rooms, a dining room and a laundry. It opened in 1905.

But even as it opened, plans were afoot for another addition to the north of the main building. On November 2, 1906, the cornerstone was laid for this second wing, to be known as the Hood Memorial Wing, named for the late husband of Mrs. Hood. This addition would make the hospital twice as large as the original design and it had been only five years since the facility opened.

It would be another 10 years before third floors were added to both the north and south wings. Each year the use of the hospital increased in both surgical and medical patients, proving that the foresight of Miss Smith, who had donated the land and worked so hard for the establishment of Frederick City Hospital, was indeed prophetic.

November 9

Frederick has been blessed with outstanding educators over the years. But Margaret Minerva Robinson holds her own in the company of men.

In 1889 Judge Glenn Worthington was a Frederick County school commissioner, and he brought Margaret Robinson to town to open The Girls High School. Boys High School was still a dream.

Miss Robinson had already had a long and successful career establishing new schools. In Frederick she was, at first, the only teacher, but when she was forced by ill health to take a leave of absence in 1906, there was a faculty of 12.

After recovering her health, Miss Robinson accepted a position as Dean of Women at Western Maryland College. She remained there for 20 years, continuing her life-long love of people and books.

While in Frederick she had made so many friends that when declining health led her to seek a residence in a nursing home, she choose The Home for the Aged, now the Record Street Home.

From her childhood, learning something new everyday was her favorite pastime. She continued this pursuit until she died November 9, 1945, at the age of 89.

November 16

When Arthur Hightman left his farm in Burkittsville on November 16, 1920, to travel to Middletown for supplies, little did he know that when he returned he would be launched into the worst tragedy of his young life.

At the time of his departure his wife was in the kitchen and their 19-month-old son was in an upstairs bedroom. After an absence of about three hours, Hightman came home to find his wife wrapped in a blanket on the dining room floor, conscious but dazed.

She was severely burned on her left side. Her left ear was almost burned off and her hair was burned from her scalp. Their son was seated in a chair in the room.

Soon after his return Hightman discovered a bed on the second floor on fire. He quickly extinguished it and returned before Dr. Lamar, of Middletown, arrived to treat his wife.

Evidence uncovered indicated that Charles Robinson, a 16-year-old Negro hand on the farm, was attending to his chores when Hightman left for Middletown. Shortly thereafter he went into the house where he found Mrs. Hightman, washing the breakfast dishes.

After asking her about additional work to be done, he struck her on the back of the head with a hatchet. He then raped her, poured coal oil on her clothes, and set her on fire.

Somehow Mrs. Hightman regained consciousness, grabbed a blanket, and put out her burning clothes. She apparently did not attempt to put out her burning clothes with her hands because they were not injured. She also, apparently, brought her son down to the first floor where she fell to the floor where her husband found her sometime later.

It was first thought that she had accidently spilled coal oil while filling the stove, but later in the day she told her mother, that she hadn't used the coal oil can that morning.

Dr. Lamar evidently did not discover or treat the head wound, only administering medical attention to the severe burns. The next day, about 36-hours after the attack, Mrs. Hightman died.

Dr. Ira McCurdy, acting on instructions from State's Attorney, performed an autopsy and ruled that Mrs. Hightman had died as a direct result of a concussion of the brain and a fractured skull.

Robinson, who had denied any involvement in the crime, was brought to Frederick and confessed to the rape and murder. (Testimony at his trial by both Sheriff William O. Wertenberger and others indicated that no one abused Robinson to obtain the confession.)

On his own authority, Sheriff Wertenberger immediately took Robinson to the Baltimore City jail because he worried about mob violence from friends of Mrs. Hightman.

His fears were well-founded as outrage swept the county. On November 29 Robinson was indicted by a special session of the Frederick County Grand Jury for both rape and murder. .

On December 20, Robinson was tried before a three-judge panel. Following the testimony of prosecution witnesses, the defendant took the stand and recanted two confessions he had previously signed. No other defense witnesses were offered.

Almost immediately, and without leaving the courtroom, Judge Urner announced the unanimous verdict of the court that Robinson was guilty of the murder. He then pronounced the sentence of death by hanging. "And may God have mercy on your soul."

Robinson seemed unmoved by the sentence. He remained calm and collected. The court also ordered that Robinson be remanded to the Baltimore jail until shortly before his execution, still fearing an attempt to lynch the teenager.

On the return trip to Baltimore the enormity of his crime and the fate that awaited him finally gripped him. Sheriff Wertenberger told Frederick officials that Robinson sobbed the entire trip, almost uncontrollably.

At dawn on the morning of Friday, February 25, 1921, Robinson was hanged at the Frederick County Jail , becoming the 29th person to be executed in Frederick County and next to the last.

November 23

Less than a month after the British Stamp Act of 1765 took effect, the 12 judges of the Frederick County Circuit Court refused publicly to comply with its provisions. And thus was born Repudiation Day.

On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which provided that all official and legal documents must be written on stamped paper, which was to be sold by British agents at prices which constituted a tax. It was to be effective November 1.

In August the stamp distributor was burned in effigy by the citizens of Frederick Town. When November arrived the agents of The Crown were not immediately ready to do business. And when the court convened on November 15, John Darnell, clerk of the court, refused to issue any documents with the stamps, fearing personal harm if he did so.

The court ordered Darnell to use unstamped paper, and when he refused, had him arrested and put in jail.

A few days later the judges issued an order which said that "all proceedings shall be valid and effectual without the use of stamps."

This was the first official defiance of The Stamp Act in America and is commemorated on a plaque at the county courthouse.

In early December there was an elaborate funeral for The Stamp Act including a coffin with an inscription which said it had died "of a mortal stab received from the genius of liberty in Frederick County Court."

While we celebrate November 23 as Repudiation Day every year, there is historic evidence that the court's order was issued earlier.

November 30

For 80 years one of the largest employers in Frederick County was the Ox Fibre Brush Company. It had started as the Palmetto Fibre Company in 1887. This latter firm made brushes by hand.

In 1899, McClintock Young, an enterprising young inventor who already held patents for a bicycle and a match making machine, created a machine that made the only manual labor associated with brush making the pulling of a lever.

His machine bored the holes in the wooden handles and fastened the fibers. It also trimmed, sanded and polished the brushes.

John Robinson, Young and Alfred McEwen changed the name of the company in 1900 to the Ox Fibre Brush Company. In the early days of the company brushes were made by hand from cabbage palmetto, and because this product resembled the red Devon ox, the name sort of evolved.

At its height of production, Ox Fibre was producing 12 million brushes each year. At one point the company processed an order of 1.5 million brushes for a single buyer. When completed it filled 25 railroad cars.

On April 9, 1965, when 350 people were employed at Ox Fibre, the Board of Directors recommended to its stockholders that the company be sold to the Pro-Phy-Lac-Tic Brush Company of Massachusetts. The plan was for the new owners to continue to operate in Frederick.

In the summer of 1966, after the company had again been sold, this time to The Vitron Corporation, President Weitzel announced plans to move the company, lock, stock and barrel, to Tennessee. The doors closed forever on November 30, 1967.