The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-06-25
evening State aolltnat,
The Maryland and Virginia boundary Line
Ftar.tsr.s-5 Question.

The Maryland and virginia Boundary Line
HJgl{sTq Question.
From q conversation with General Henry
A. Wise, and memoranda he has furnished,
correspondent of the Washington Patriot
CLEANS the following in regard to the Mary
land and Virginia boundary line question,
its history, present status, and the doings
of the commission. The view given is, of
course, the Virginia version, and the cor
respondent says.F -
The joint commission came to no con-
clusion, but their proceedings and research
es led to a great many interesting develop
ments in the way of historical matter and
local traditions. The Virginia commission
have claimed the line of John Calvert and
Edmund Scarborough of 1868. These COM
missioners of that date were appointed at
the instance of the Governor of the Prov
ince of Maryland, the representative of
Lord Baltimore, and were instructed to find
out and report what point was Watkins
Point, and, having located it, to run an
east and west line from it to the sea.
'sThey reported that the point Of land
lying between Big Annamessex and the
Pocomoke Sound was Watkins Point, and
that they had run the line from the western
most angle ofthat point across the Pocomoke
river, east to Swansecute creek, and thence
east to the sea-. The States Of MARYLAND
and Virginia then signed and sealed COM
pact. l.i.sa - o. ~ ,.,s., e.. f......
First, that said point should be Watkins
Point; second, that the line thus run from
its westernmost angle should be forever
deemed and held the divisional line between
the two provinces and, third, that all pa
tents and titles, reciprocally and mutually
should be confirmed north and south of
that, line. siaM .,!a.5
"These records Maryland has, and Vir-
ginia shows numerous patents, calling for
the line along its whole length. Maryland
has numerous like records Accordingly,
the Virginia commissioners have found no
less than twenty-seven marks of this
boundary, and pointed them out upon the
Eastern Shore. Yet the commissioners of
Maryland alledge that this is not The true
Watkins Point, ard not the true line. They
do not show, however, what they deem to
be the true Watkins Point, nor what is the
true line, but ask for time to find both.
l''The westernmost angel of Watkins
Points is shown by the point itself and
every monument pointing to it. There
were no monuments anywhere else, and
those discovered are all on an cast and west
line with the north, headline OF promontory
of Little Annamessex, halfway between
Big Annamesscx and P oeomoke sound.
'The terminus of the railroad at Crisfield
touches the line traced by the old marks,
according to Michlei's survey. The West
ern Shore boundary Virginia claims to be
the north bank of the Potomac, from the
Fairfax Stone, under the grant of Lord
Hopton, in 1861. Maryland claims the
southern bank of the river, under the
charter of 1882. se.s
"It is considered more than likely that the
channel of the Potomac to its mouth and
thence the 3Sth parallel north latitude will
be fixed as the true boundary. Maryland
is now, under the Loret temporary COM
promise, holding for south of the Calvert
and Scarborough line. The joint commits
sion meets again in September"
AN INDIAN DELUaE.-Bombay pa
pers give an account of terrific cyclone,
which occurred at Madras the first week in
May, sweeping inland as far as Vellore,
destroying one thousand lives, leaving two
thousand people homeless, and three thou
sand more destitute. The particulars are
as follows:
sa" 1t appears that rain commenced to fall
at Vellore on Wednesday, when two inches
were registered. All Wednesday night and
Thursday morning it poured necessarily,
the water streaming out of the clouds 'in
bunches' as an imaginative eyewitness eX-
pressed it. About 3 o'clock it ceased rain
ing, but a few minutes afterward the whole
town was startled by the sudden decent
of what seemed to be sea of
water, which swept like storm-wave
over the whole cantonment, entering
the very windows of some of the houses,
and driving the occupants to the roofs or
upper stores, covering the cantonment
road to a depth of five feet, and carrying
away everything that could not resist its
force before it. Its approach was so sud-
den that there was no time to make prepa-
rations for escape. A confused roar of
waters, accompanied by crashing of walls
and trees, was heard. and people looked
out of their houses to behold their coms
pounds covered with water, and their very
lives threatened by the rapidly rising flood.
The cause of the flood was soon surmised.
1t was known that the flood waters had
come from some of the large irrigation
tanks situated on higher ground a few
miles out of Vellore. They are all connect
ed with one another, and the supposition is
that the higher tank went .llrSt and brought
down all the others like a pack of cards.
Five Of the irrigation tanks burst their
bands, and altogether forty tanks. in the
neighborhood have burst. What the vol
ume of water was that came rushing down
on the lower part Of Vellore may be mag
ined when we say that the flood is said by
the authorities at the station to have been a
mile in width, and eight or ten feet in depth
in the main channel.
EkT The district known as the Cusbah con-
tanned alone about $500 inhabitants, and
there not a single house escaped. The
same remark applies to the lines of the
families of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and
Seventeenth regiments. The dead bodies
have been collected and buried in large
deep trenches outside the town." ~
The Editorial Observation-Disclosures 0lutions
q lstssIus Adopted at Elmira. ri
The following resolutions were offered by