Milford chronicle., 1931-11-06
GLENDALE
Scenes OF Long AgO-NO. I3
The Old d-(cOntinuedl

happening which would fnall.
place this country of ours, upon tn,
verge of a civil war.
The debates i'm Congress had beeI
so bitter between the Northern ant
4 Southern Senators, that the thought
ful people looked upon the scene as
one which would finally disrupt th(
Union of the States.
The election of the fall of 1860
Mr.. Lincoln was elected President
of the United States. This seemed
what was needed TO incite The South
and cause on the States (SOuth
Cardinal TO pass resolutions OF Sc
eession. which occurred December
90 1860. which was soon followed
| by other Southern States, and which
ended in a civil war between the
States.
Looking the matter over, one
would have thought that a majority
of the people would have been deep
ly interested in the news then pre-
yailing. that u conflict was mimi
nent between the North and South,
but the people of some parts Of
Sussex county were in those days
very illiterate-daily papers were
scarcely seen outside of the larger
towns. and q very few were even
taken in them; so the people knew
nothing about what was happening
in the country at large only when
being told by some one else II was
a time when the word Of a Bayard
or salisbury had more weight with
people in some parts of Sussex
county than all the daily papers
which could be sent there. The wri-
fer knew of several large families
who grew up. unable to read or
write and some of these were The
offspring of prosperous farmers. SO
the people seem not to care what
was happening out of the section in
which they lived. This was the con-
dilion of the people when an event
happened which they seemed to full
ly understand and this event was TO
happen i'm the month of December.
1860. the same month that the State
of South Carolina, seeded from the
Union. which seemed to attract no
interest whatever, but when it was
spread aboard that Il triple hanging
would take place at the county seat
on the 18th day of December, 1860,
at once an interest was created cV
erywhere, and women, men and
children prepared to go to George
town and witness as they thought
the hanging of one woman and two
men, all cOlored, on the above date
We must remember that we had
no railroad in the southern part of
the county in the year 1860 and the
only means of communication be-
tween one point and another was
through the means of the stage |
coaches which carried the mail. but |
how the people so far away from |
the county seat should know about |
the hanging is a mystery. No tele-
graph or telephone in those days;
yet they knew, and on Friday. the
14tf day of December, 1860, George
town witnessed one of the largest |
crowds gathered there in its history. |
Old timers will remember that
Friday, the 18th day of December |
was one of the coolest days of
which Delaware had any record up
to that time.
The Delaware Bay was complete
ly frozen over from the shore at
Lewes to the Breakwater and men
carried provisions over the ice to
vessels lying in the harbor al that
time, as ii was the only means for
them TO communicate with the
shore. Mill ponds were frozen over
solid and gave people who housed
ice in those days wonderful har-
vest. Amid scenes like depicted
above the people from all parts of
Delaware and Maryland wended
heir way TO Georgetown. Drawing
he Arctic winds prevailing. suffer-
ng in untold measures from frozen
ears and feet. but they arrived in
lVery conceivable kind of vehiFle
n vogue at that time. The Cradle
Spring Jig, as only the rich had. and
hen down 10 the cart with one OK.
which was the conveyance used by
he poor.
All night long before the day of
execution women. men and children
we're arriving in the county seat
rom ali parts. and when the sun
'ose there was ON the public square
/ motley crowd of people trying in
very way TO keep themselves warm.
The public square at that time was
'nly bed OF sand; it. was before
nyone thought of beautifying ii by
etting out trees. sowing grass seed
II laying cement walks. The sand
vas so deep that people used to
ompare it with an old county road
from Concord to Seaford,
allied Feather bed lane"
On this space was gathered the
'cople-they had purloined all che
'arrels and boxes which the mer-
hants had left outside the night
'efOre. Many fires were started in {
ifferent parts of the square, and
round these women, men and chill
ren were gathered, trying TO shut /
ut the cold Arctic winds which ]
'ere blowing. Old timers used TO s
all these winds Jim Steel winds. It {
'aS a good natured crowd. They | ]
ang and danced to the sound of the S
anjo and violin, and had a general
0od time until the time for the
ansings to take place. They rushed f
Dward the Jail expecting to go right 7
4 when the Sheriff informed them i
My a selected few would be per- G
lifted to view the hangings, but Ire
lsO promised that if they would be a
uiet and make no disturbances un- f
i after the hangings had taken {
lace he would open the back doors n
{ the iaiI yard and Let The nnhlic /