Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15

giermen explain. was that nobody
could appear on the street or sit on q
front porch while church services
were in progress. COnnorton ordered
young Parks to get inside. and fired
only when the youth resisted him in
the performance of his duty.
Tangier had all sorts of laws-and
still has them. But some of them
have become dead letters. For in
stance. it now is possible to hold a
tug of war in the street-illegally, of
course. Not many years ago several
young men We're arrested on warrants
and taken before a magistrate, where
they were properly and StifflY fined
for such a demonstration of youthful
energy Shooting marbles still is
frowned upon by the law, but enforce
ment is at a low ebb. The island
now has a base ball team in which
the younger element of the populace
takes considerable interest. Two
wears ago this game was considered
by the elders as a ruSe of the devil,
although never actually prohibited by
statute.
TANGIER'S fall from the paths of
virtue-or rise from the swamps
| of tradition, if YOU prefer-may be
considered as the direct outcome of
that church shooting.
Connorton fought conScientiously
and courageously the battles of Tan
gier's God. With club. gun and war
rant he battled without compromise
the dragon of the new day whose
Shiny feet were set on Tangler S
peaches.
Now Roland Parks was popular.
He was a member of a powerful and
70
tions. BY the way. nearly everybody
on Tangier is a Parks. "a Crockett or
a Pruitt-sturdy old fisher folks who
for more than a century have kept
their blood undefiled. In fact. some
folks say that the whole affair was
due to a family row. the roots of
which were deep in the history of the
island. There were bold murmurs of
protest at the rigor of Tangier law.
Connorton died like a soldier in the
midst of his long battle for law and
virtue. a year ago last April. while
he was ENJOYING a meal of steamed
oysters in a Tangier restaurant, he
fell beside the table. mortally wound
ed from a bullet fired through the
window. The slayers of Connorton
never have been apprehended, al
though everybody on Tangier has his
suspicious.
There followed three months in
which Tanger was without police
man. None of the islanders wanted
the job. There were too many family
conflicts to consider AS a result,
MAYOR Willie I. Crockett took the
bold step of hiring professional po-
liceman from outside. 7. G. Redman,
a member of the Baltimore force. was
a veteran who had learned his trade
under Maj Sylvester. former Wash
ington superintendent of police, at the
du Pont powder works.
Now. RedmanS ideas of law and
order were not at all those which he
found in Tangier. Al first he was
very lonely man. He was the only
individual on the island who was not
a Methodist. He was Presbyterian.
He served notice at once that he
wasn't going TO shoot anybody for
not going TO church. that an innocent
game in the street was not sufficient
cause TO arrest a man. law or no law,
and that he would devote his efforts
10 what he considered the proper
functions of policeman-protectio
Of life and property. Furthermore.
MAYOR Crockett hacked him up. Fol
lowing the shooting of Connorton.
liberal element had been asserting it.