The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-04-21
MISCELLANEOUS.
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
THIS COLUMN Is OPEN TO ALL.
For The Cecil Wing.
RECOLLECTIONS or A SURVEYOR.

Searching for Lines-A LHigio~s Woman
TIE UHcertatRty Of Jurjes- The Common
End Of all ccAo % much TO Lac.
Soon after being appointed surveyor in
1911, was called upon to prepare for court
the celebrated land cases of John II. lEar-
Ian and wife against Patrick Ewing. and
against David Brown and Amos Hanshaw.
These cases had been standing for years,
and were source of considerable excite
ment about the Octoraro Mrs. Harlan, who
was familiarly known as Margaret Aurelia,
inherited from her father, Stephen Porter.
a tract of land called Steels and "SteelS
Rosurveyed." AS Margaret was somewhat
posted in the art of surveying, she had i'll
structed her colored boy Albert, who had
considerable mechanical genius. and with
his assistance 'ti3,ceth '1he,iiues of different
tracts, and made, what she considered, i'm
portant discoveries and kept her neighbors
uneasy for many years.
On the north of ''SteeS - was a large
tract called . Dividing" and on the west
of " Dividing was Green's Delight. -
/ The line between the last named tracts had
been subject of dispute, and settled by a
commission to mark and bound 6 Green $
! Delight" This line began at the old white
oak, near George Gillespie's. being the be-
! ginning of - Dividing, and at the north
west corner of that tract, and ran thence
! suutheaSterly to "Steels.' and the commits
! SionerS fixed it by al allowance of seven
degrees to The left. Margaret then pro
c.udlng on the ground that there should be
the same allowance on the second line of
" Dividing" and it being long line, a con
| siderable gore of land would lie between it
/ and "SIeclS;' she obtained warrant and
! took it up as a vacancy, and called it Belle
/ Vale but as Brown and lIanshaw had the
aew tract within their enclosures, Harlan
and wife brought an ejectment to gam pos
! session Of it, and had numerous surveys
made by Henry IIollingsworth prior to 1910
and 10y Dr.. Lewis in 1910. Mr.. Holdings
worth had encouraged the genius of her
! boy Albert, but she said that DE-. Lewis
/ had broken down Albert's spirit, by refus-
ing to let him look through his compass,
/ saying. THAT no id negro should look
| through his compass Albert gave up the
| business and turned his attention to mill
wrighting David Brown was a quiet III
| offensive man of the Quaker persuasion.
! blacksmith by trade, and to him the shoe
| ing Of horses was much more congPnal
than wrangling over land affairs. Han
| shaw was :. builder, and Margaret was
more fearful Of him than OF any of her
competitors. Some times, when her loca
tons did not fit well, she would say after
wards, THAT none of them noticed it, ex-
| cept it was Hanshaw, saw him looking
at it, and he knows how frame work should
! come together"
The Winter of 1919, through January
and February, was as moderate as Spring,
and we were engaged i'll surveying most OF
The adjoining lands, and Harlan and wife
waded the Octoraro, which generally meas
| urcd eight perch2s across. 1t was a gay
time, and a small army of spectators was
in attendance. | recolect we We're called
on by the applicants for clerk of the court
TO succeed General Sewali who had re
Gently died, and the appointment was by
the Governor. Margaret Aurelia prided
herself very much on her manners and pc
liteness she said Your sarrent, sir
She always attended on the survey, and
must see the bearing at every station. She
had to walk fast to keep up, and would sit
down for moment 10 LIo,r, as she said.
then jump up to look at the compass or be
off again. Harris, the husband said moth
ing, but had Il notch stick in one hand and
a knife in the other to keep the outs. Mar
garet said. "Gou may think he does not
know much, bat he is an able counselor"
Some times she got out of humor with
Woodford, the deputy sheriff. and called
him - Yankee clock peddler." Her coun-
sell Mclean and Groome, gave no nstruc-
tons to the sheriff and surveyor, but left
Margaret to direct the locations. Scott and
Constable were counsel for the defendants,
and the case was managed with much abil-
ity. In the first trial the court, Judge
Ecceston, granted the prayer of the de
RI .ln old fapciprr md h,,ilS
ings were better proof of the original loca-
ton than any allowance for variation, - and
to this Mr.. Mel can excepted, on the ground
that it was for the jury to decide which
was the better evidence, and it was so de
cided. Mr.. Scott said afterwards that it
was bad policy 10 have case adiudicated
at Easton in hot weather-decided too
hastily.
The case was finally decided in favor of
the defendants. While it was before the
jury, Margaret was much interested in the
appearance of one of the jurors. She said,
lie appears not to hear any thing that is
said or to give any attention to what is
going on; he appears to be IN torpid
state
The case against Patrick Ewing was for
trespaSs in cutting trees on her land. This
was very complicated case. Both parties
held under the same man, John Steel, but
the lines did not again agree with each
other. Margaret called Ewing, Cousin
Paddy, and on a warm day after all the
surveying party had waded through the
OctOraro, MIR. Ewing was taken with a
pain in his side and had to lie down. "Egad,
Paddy" said Margaret, "l'll tough you
out YETI There was the same counsel in
this as in the former case. Judge Cham
bers had been engaged in it and did not
sit on the bench during the trial. When
Mclean was making his closing speech
Scott thought he saw where he could i'm
prove his case, and asked leave to withdraw
juror and amend the plats, which was
granted Having been with the Jurors three
days, explaining the plats, took the lib
erty to ask them how they stood in the case,
and they said their minds were made up i'll
favor of the defendant. The plats were
amended by the defendant and he lost the
case, an evidence of the uncertainty of jury
trials.
Poor Margaret, she was broken up by her
litigation. Though she recovered against
Ewing, the verdict was only for three dol
lars, the cutting of three small trees. Her
father, Stephen Porter, was a lawyer, and
bad been indicted and tried at Charlestown,
in this county, for killing man, but es-
capped punishment. He was defended by
l4iubSl ptiiy, biiSi biio ichiib5 ldNyci III IIlt
county. | saw an old diary which he had
kept while taking up land 10y pre- emption
in Pennsylvania. He spoke of some man
there who came out to meet him 'smiling
and very pleasant, but in his heart was the
hypocrisy Of the devil" Margaret was
polite i'll her way and hospitable to her
guests. She had painting on canvass of
her mother, executed by Peale while on a
visit to the family, of which she said he
was 4 relative. 1t was soiied and worn,
but had evidently been a fine painting, aud
if true likeness, the mother was much