The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1891-12-09
our BOUNDARY line.
a LEGAL CONTROVERSY BETWEEN
MARYLAND AND WEST
VIRGINIA.


| PREME COURT ASKING FOR A SET
ELEMENT AND THE ISSUING or
SUBPOENA ON WEST VA.
On Monday the Attorney General Of
Maryland appeared in the United
States Supreme Court, at Washington,
and fled q bill in which the citizens Of
West Virginia are considerably inter
ested. The question involved is one
that has been long in dispute, and is
that Of the boundary line between the
1.-TWO States. In this bill the State Of
Maryland petitions the Court to issue a
subpoena to be served on the officers Of
West Virginia, and the Court win dis
pose Of the motion Monday, Dec. 18th.
THE original boundaries Of Maryland,
as laid down in the charter, were:
The fortieth parallel of north lati-
tude, a meridian line running south to
the first or most distant fountain Of the
Potomac; thence proceeding southwark
Ito the farther or western bank Of that
river, and following that bank to q
specified point at the mouth Of the
river thence by straight line across
the bay to Watkins Point and onward
to the ocean, and thence by the ocean
and Delaware bay and river to the for
tieth parallel.
The only one Of these courses that
was at all uncertain at the time the
charter was granted was that at the
extreme west. The point atwhich the
meridian line was to begin had to re-
main undetermined until it should be
found which was the farthest source or
first fountain Of the Potomac; in other
words, which Of the branches Of that
river took its rise farthest from its
mouth. When the question arose which
Of the two great branches unite to form
the Potomac river was the longer, a
commission in 1876 concluded that the
North Branch was the longer, Mary
land not being represented in the com
mission. In 1853 Frederick, Lord Bal
timore, protested against this invasion
of his territory, and directed Gov. Ho-
ratio Sharpe to look into the matter,
and to open correspondence with Lord
Fairfax with view to settlement Of
the boundaries between Maryland and
Virginia. Information was obtained
to show that the South Branch was the
longer, but the outbreak Of the French
and Indian war in 1854 prevented
further action.
The question was unsettled at the
outbreak Of the revolution, but in her
first constitution, adopted July 20,
1916, Virginia confirmed Maryland's
claim. In 1895 and 1901 commissions
were appointed by the two States to
adjust the boundary, but nothing came
Of them or Of other commissions after
ward appointed. In 1852 what was
known as Michler's line was to be the
definite boundary when ratified by the
Legislatures of both States. Maryland
ratified the line by an act passed March
6, 1860, but Virginia failed to do so.
The civil war and its results changed
the status of the question. The State
Of West Virginia was separated from
Virginia, and in the boundaries Of the
new State was included the disputed
territory. The Legislature Of West
Virginia in 1868 authorized the Gov
ernor to appoint commission to ascer-
tain the line between that State and
Maryland. In 1886 the Maryland Leg
stature requested the Governor to call
the attention Of the West Virginia
authorities to Michler's line previously
surveyed. The next year the West
Virginia Legislature confirmed Mich
ler's line, but with conditions that
could not be accepted by Maryland. In
1888 the question was again before the
Legislature Of Maryland, and the attor-
ney-general advised that proceedings
against West Virginia be begun in the
Supreme Court Of the United States or
that the question be submitted to arbi-
traitors appointed BY the States.
The bill filed by Attorney-G General
Whyte is printed. It recites in brief
the long-pending controversy between
Virginia (and, since the war, West
Virginia. and Maryland about the exact
line which bounds the western limits Of
MARYLAND II recites the granting Of