The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-09-03


took the office up town to the building
now occupied by Frank J. Kerr, and OF
the porch of,which building in 1S43 the
fatal encounter took place between P
G. Ricketts,, editor of THE WING and
Amor 7 Forward, editor of Tie Demo
crdt. An old grain fan stood for years
buried during the affray, and which
remained there many years after, silent
witnes: of the exciting events of those
days. The old Washington House which
stood where the Howard House now
| stands was the Wing headquarters il
those times. Roland Ellis father of the
late Francis A Ellis kept it when l first
recollect it, then J. Ford Cazler, George
II. Joyce, Josiah Ford, Samuel Ii
Miller, Smiley King and NJ. Gebhart
were in turn its landlords, until DR.. II
II. Mitchell and Jacob G. Howard built
the present Howard House, when it was
opened by Jacob Johnson in 1854. Pre-
vious to the opening of the p. w. e B.
railroad ia 1886 the building immediately
opposite the Court House and now occu
pied by Richard l.. Thomas had been
kept as hotel Robert G. Lusby who
had been sheriff OF the county, remov-
ing from that house to Chesapeake City
where he rented hotel from Abram
Bennett father of the late George w
Bennett. This was in the anti railroad
days of Cecil, when a hot competition
existed between the Union line which
carried passengers from Philadelphia to
Baltimore by.hs way e FiTencchtogn
and New Castle. sd the Peoples line,
which took them through the Delaware
and Chesapeake canal from Chesapeake
City to Delaware City in fast barges,
drawn by horses, AS the Union line was
the faster, the trade of the Peoples line
began to fall off and Lusby's hotel bus.
mess grew bad | remember very well
a doggeral verse that George Turner a
witty Irishman from Sassafras Neck got
off on Lusby, and which the boys used to
repeat with sport at Elk Sheriff Bob S
expense.
Why Bob says
Don't look SO dry,
Are times now alarming?
The Chesapeake tho once so slick,
Isn't quite so charming.
So you prepare better fare,
For you must leave this place sir,
For Bennett he, like louise Or flea,
Will bite your back. or sting sir.
"Bob" Lusby as he was popularity
called did leave the Bennett house, and
some years afterwards died, his widow
being subsequently appointed light house
keeper at Turkey Point, where she re-
manned many years. 1t may interest
some of your female readers to know
that Miss Sallie Sullivan opened the first
millinery store in Elkton in 1885 in the
store room now occupied for the same
purpose by Mrs. Nelson. James Brown,
who married Jane lamar, sister of the
late Reuben ID. lamar, three years after.
wards IN 1888 began the manufacture of
hats in the same location. Immediately
opposite the court house George II. Joyce
and John Conkey merchandized in 1887,
and Conkey withdrawing from the firm
was followed by Charles Manly the father
of Mrs. Alexander Evaus. The upper
hotel known in recent years as the old
Exchange Hotel, in those days was
Democratic headquarters. Daniel Rich
ardson, father of Joshua Richardson, first
kept, it. and was followed by George
Peaccck, in the thirties, then William
Kiukaid, then George Mccullough, who
We're followed by Samuel Dehaven and
jacob Johnson. BILLY Falls kept bal
for Mr.. Dehaven in this house for many
years, and afterwards married his dau9h
ter. When Mrs. General Sewell first
brought to Elkton the receipt for making
ice cream it caused quite sensation
among the society ladies OF Elkton
There being no saloon in the town n
which this then great delicacy could bt
had, Mrs. Thomas Howard, mother o.
Jacob Howard, the present Elkton ict
man, served this refreshment to the ladies
of the iowa on the east end of the hote
porch. Ellis Jones, who afterward:
opened an ice cream and confectionelN
store where Hecht's saloon now is, alst
| began its sale. He only made one kind
lemon-the lemons being cut iu slices
and which you piled up by the side %
your plate as you ate your cream from
| around them. Elkton in those days o
the ancicuts, was as it is now, we'll sup
piled with the ardent" John Cain KEEP
a corner grocery where Patrick McGread.
| now is, and Robert Johns kept a simila
establishment on the lot where you
house now stands. In the rear OF it stoot
an old log house occupied by Jos. Mahal
who did a thriving business i'll the stag
| lire and livery. At one time he had a
| high as ninety horses, and ran stages t.
Port Deposit, Wilmington and French
town In partnership with Jesse Shar
of Wilmington, in 1884 and 1885 he ra
pony mail express bet" cen Philadelphi
and Baltimore, receiving from the COVER
meut $4,000 year for the service. Maha
was an hearted and free handle,
man, and speut his money as fast as b
made it. Just above the Presbyteria
Church in a house that stood out upo
the line of the street John Ande
son lived. He and his soD-in la
John Baldwin, who was a tailor b
trade opened al Irish groggery, an
to attract the Irish lAborerS many {
whom were employed on the z. W. II
Railroad, put up Il sign that hung ov'
the sidewalk Oh which was inscribed
flaming letters DANIEL OCoNNEI
THE LIBERAToR OF IRELAND" II
bait took, and the Baldwin doggel
became the scene OF many mldnigf
! and bloody orgie. There We're oaly tr
; houses on the North sids of Main sire
then. east of the Presbyterian Churc
5 one a frame house in which Tn0m
A. Biddle lived who was the miller
!. Ryland's Mill (uow Vinsiuger's) al
4 which stood where Mr.. j. T. Bro'
# now lives, and the other furth
H. a.,