The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1879-01-04
SCRAPS OF LOCAL. HISTORY.
New Market, 9TH District The First Bat
i tle''-Tragical Occurrences
Business, &c, &c.

FROM We uteH. ItOch rem s.
As have promised to continue the sketches of
New Market, / will notice some of the most inn
portant events so far as l know them.
I will first notice the Irish Row AS far as |
can learn this must have occurred in or about the
year 1885, when a number Of Irish navvies came
up from the Railroad (where they had been
wOrkng) to New Market, to get their whiskey,
and have a great joliication They got their
whiskey, aud had become Mild. They had storm !,
ed the hotel and had full possession of it, and
were having everything their own way, to the
terror of the landlord and other peaceabIy dis
posed citizens of the town. At length Ben KTOut,
the butcher, and Charles Yost young shoemaker,
picked up courage, and determined that they
would stand it no longer. Each armed with u
long heavy stick, they sailed in to the hotel, the
butcher taking the lead, and began to strike right
and left. After the butcher had raped few of
them they began to beg for quarter. In a minute
or two there not an Irishman to be seen.
They left quickly they could gather them
selves up, and never attempted an Irish Row in
New Market again. But they vowed vengeance
on Ben Krout the butcher, if they ever caught
him near the Railroad, and told him what horri-
BILE massacre there would be, if ever he dared to
come there But Ben was sensible enough to keep
off the Railroad for awhile. He sent some
else to the Railroad with his butcher wagon, and
thus saved his hide, and verified the maxim,
that "Discreton is the better part of valor"
Some few years after the Irish Row, New Market
experienced several tragcal occurrences, following
close on the heels of each other.
The first of these if memory serves me rightly is
connected with the murder of Mrs. lego Cooper
This cold booded murder, though it did not occur
in New Market, or its immediate vicinity, yet it
was here where the murderer, Conrad Winter, was
arrested and DIR. Ephram Bell, a prominent cit-
zen of the place, was an important witness in 4.
trial of the murderer. The murder was perpetrat-
\ Il. . he
murderer, had been skulking about the Rail
road station by Mr.. Samuel Crockett and others
for o. day or two previous. lie II suspicious
looking character, and no one knew his business.
When Mrs. Cooper landed from the train which
had arrived from Baltimore whore she had been
on visit to some of her friends, she started to-
wards her homo which was about mile and a-half
west of the station, and the william was seen to
follow her yet, at the time, one suspected his
purpose When in lonely part of the road he
struck her behind the head with Il stone as large
as his fist, which fractured her skull, and it must
have killed her almost instantly, He dragged her
body over the fence into a ravine about or III
steps from the road, and hid the body as well as
he could among the older bushes. The place is a
little above the Railroad dam on the right hand
side of the road; here the body lay for several
days before it was found The family not know
ing at what time she was to come home, were not
alarmed about her. till finally it was found out
that she had landed at Parkton, and had not ar
rived at home. Search was made and soon clue
was discovered. There were marks of blood on
the fence where she had been dragged over, and
the body was soon found, and also the stone that
killed her. with blood on it. That n time of
excitement at Partition. And the excitement
| spread further than Partition. L would venture to
say that there has not been murder in seven
states that created more excitement than this did,
in the upper end of Baltimore county, and along
| the southern borders of York county. But ,oho
was the murderer, or ,rhere was he? Could he
have been found just about this time he might
have found himself hanging on tree. But he
had left for parts unknown.
| 1t was afterwards found that after killing Mrs.
Cooper and hiding her body in tue ravine. ne took
what few articles she had, consisting of a snuff
box, pair OF Spectacles, an umbrella pair Of
new shoes which she had bought in Baltimore for
her granddaughter, and about Y! cents in money.
| With these articles he returned to the Parkton
station, and even had the boldness Tor stupidity
rather to offer the shoes for sale to q young lady
| who was hired to Mr. Crockett. When the first
northern bound train arrived he took passage for
| York. The body Of Mrs. Cooper not being found
for several days, he had thus good opportunity
| to make his escape. lie might have been far on
! his way to Europe, in Canada or in the far
! west before the murder found out. But as
| the old maxim says, Murder will out" The
stupid fellow instead of fleeing and going as far
! as his legs would carry him, became bewdered,
and not knowing in what direction he going
| came back on the turnpike road to New Market
! within distance of miles of the very place
| where ne had committed the murder. and with the
very articles which had belonged to Mrs. Cooper
! still in his possession. These articles went great
way towards his conviction. Here in New Market
he hired himself to DR.. Ephraim Bell to do farm
E99gI 5jtii # all Wife the excitement was up.
! Hearing people talk of the murder he was quite
! shocked. As was said by some one. "you might
| have knocked him down with feather." lie
| asked if he was in Maryland, for it seemed as if
| he did not know where he was His looks and his
actions betrayed his guilt. Samuel Crockett was
| sent for to identify him. He was Immediately ar
rested and sent to the baltimore Jail. He was
afterwards tried convicted, and hung. lie how
ever made a confession. in which he stated that nc
was sorry that lie had killed Mrs Cooper, but that
| he did not know who she was. He mistoOk her
| for Mrs. Margaret Park who he had learned had
! gone to Baltimore to draw sum of money for
wood that she had sold to the Railroad Company
! Mr. lego Cooper, the husband of the murdered
woman, was kind peaccable, and conscientious
man. But he did not forget this murder to his
| dying day. For years he was much imbittered
| against itnerants and foreign peddlers. L have
! been told by one Of his grand-sO that on enc
occasion jew -pedder entered his house, but no
sooner had he laid down his pack than old Mr..
Cooper took down his horse whip, which was
hanging over the doorway, and WHIPPED the poor
| innocent jew severely. He afterwards told the
Jew why he did it. and also told him of the cruel,
cold biOoded murder of his wife, by one Of his
| tribe.
MISS SARAH STAMFORD COMMITS SUICIDE.
Not long after the events related aboveone Miss
Sarah StandifOrd an elderly lady who ited NJ tbo