Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-02-22
THE PACAS.
The Strange StOryOf a Maryland Family.
New York sun.I

wv OhohBO SRVly W WdTJldnu FdWlly,
New York SUM-
When John Paca, after 1 9 good long
life and useful one, too, for he culti.
waited his land Cunning the 200 acres
into rich wheat fields and sending the
first expectation of breadstuffs from
the United States to England), at last
died, his son William b. Paca fell
heir to the estate. William b. Paca
had three sons, John p. Chew and
James Philips-both of the latter
weak-minded. And SO the family
lived up to and through the war. be-
ing ardent Unionists.
William b. Paca lived at WE Hall
when the spring of 1875 opened. his
sons having grown to manhood. On
the mainland lived Mrs. Mariana Il.
Paca, widow of Williams younger
brother, Edward Tilghman Paea. and
her son John and brother. Albert
Jones, both remembered now as manly
young fellows. On the morning of the
8th Of March, 1875, John and Albert
were leaning against a fence by the
roadside when William b. and his
sons came riding by. William B.. who
seems to have been of o~yerbearing
manners, spoke harshly to his nephew,
bidding him leap the fence and an
proaeh his horse. The uncle -four
ished a riding-whip, and John feared
that it would be drawn across his
shoulders should he obey. He there
fore stood by the fence and laughed.
The two younger sons of William B.
Paca, Chew and James, had their
ducking guns across their saddles. As
soon as they saw the laugh they un
strapped the guns.
I'll take John" said Chew.
III take Albert" replied James.
John and Albert turned to run. but
the aim of the imbeciles was perfect.
John and Albert fell dead in their
tracks.
William B. and his son John P.
were tried at the May term of the
Talbot County Court, 1873, and found
not guilty. The imbeciles had done
the shooting. Chew and James were
tried at the May term of the Caroline
County Court, and acquitted. They
were ~imbeciles, and if the killing were
murder, then the father, William B.,
and the sound-minded son, John p.
we're responsible for it. So there was
no ono punished for the crime.
Shortly after his acquittal the news
papers announced that William B.
Paca, "a son of a signer,' had Just been
found dead at Wye Hall, Queen
Anne's, Nd" a year passed. John
p. Paca, the late heir of Wye Hall,
moved about like a shadow, One
morning his body was found stretched
lengthwise Of his fathers grave, a
bullet hole in his head and a revolver
in his grasp Not many months after
this fourth violent death, James Phil
lip, one of the imbeciles, took the pct
dog of Wye Hall and led him down to
the river. He tied a heavy stone
about tho dogs neck and movedt to the
edge Of the boat landing. He raised
the struggling, swapping dog in his
arms and gave a forward toss. In the
nick Of the fall the imbecile's arm
caught in the rope, he was dragged
forward with the dog, and James Phil
lip Paea, pet dog and stone went into
the Wye with a splash, never to come
up. The maiden name of Mrs. Will
liam b. Paca was Phillips. She was
an excellent woman and loved her hus-
baud and boys dearly. She stood the
strain for a long time, but at the last
tragedy lost her mind, and is now an
inmate of the Baltimore asylum for
the insane. One Of the Pacas, Chew.
still lives. In the spring and summer
he can be seen playing jump-rope with
the children.
Soon after the news of the death of
Mrs. Mariana Paca (who was a blood
relative Of John p. Kennedy. the
author of note), had reached Wye, a
puff of smoke came from the extreme
end of the right wing of Wye Hall.
The islanders gathered quickly, shore
men ran across the ice from the main
land, and dredgers stopped their work
at the mouth of the Wye, sailing up
to see the end of the Pacas. Several
men hurried for buckets, many en-
tered the hall to save the furniture.
but the mass stood with their hands
in their pockets, while the wind
whistliRg from the Chesapeake made
havoc with the burning place, There
was one thing to be saved, explained
the keeper to a crowd, urging them to
go in,
What's that p exclaimed the by
ISLANDERS, thinking of bags of Paca
gold.
The great painting Of Governor
Paca, the signer of the Declaration of
independence, said the keeper.
Yet the Dlcture was not ragcued