The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1947-10-30

fire started in an agricultural inn
plement store on Antietam street,
opposite the Bro. railroad station.
The exact cause of the fire was not
known, but it was thought to be of
incendiary origin. The greatest loss
from the fire was the destroying of
ST Johns Episcopal Church, which
was located on South Jonathan
Street, and the Court House. At
that time these were HagerstoWn's
two main buildings. Both were
built about 1920. For time the
business section of the town was in
grave danger, but was saved by the
determined work of the fire COM
panies and citizens. At this time,
and for years later, the water was
supplied by several large cisterns,
and the fire apparatus consisted of
one steam fire engine and several
which were operated by hand.
John Fridinger, a fireman, was
killed during the fire while attempt
ing to reach the Court House cupola,
and Henry Bester was seriously in
jured.
The cost of the Court House orig
inally had been $4,000, but it was
no permanent loss to the people, be-
ing poorly arranged. The land and
other records of the County and the
wills and papers in the office of the
Register of Wills were in fire proof
vaults and were uninjured. The
papers and records of the County
Commissioners office were in an
iron safe and they also escaped in
jury. There was no insurance on the
Court House.
The following May, while the
walls were being torn down to make
way for the new building, a rear
wall fell on three of the workman
namely, Alexander Smith, Wesley
Finnegan and Frederick Fridinger.
The latter, youth of seventeen, was
the son of John Fridinger, who lost
his life in the fire.
The following is from the Herald
and Torch Light of December 10,
1871, concerning the burning of the
Court House:
CAS- the venerable Temple of Just
ice was falling a prey to the flames,
there were not few of our older
citizens who gazed upon it with sad
dened eyes, and called from the
store-house of memory many pleas
ant and possibly also some unpleas-
ant associations with it. The last
trials that took place in the original
Court House, which stood in the
Public Square, were those of the
three Cotterills, father and two sons,
convicted and hung for the murder
of Adams, their uncle, the parties
being all EngliShmen. This was at
the November Term in the year 49,
10, the executions having taken
place in the month of February 1920,
81 tIldI lllC 1lISl OOClI IlluoI lloN6
been held in the late building in
March of that year. We are in
formed that it was commenced about
the year 1918 and completed two
years thereafter. It's original cost
was not less than sixty or seventy
thousand dollars, and the frequent
alterations to which it was sub
jected, from time to time, no doubt
doubled this amount But it has
passed away, as its builders, its early
Bench and Bar, its Jurors and Of
ficers, as all persons and things
must do from this perishable world"
The insurance on st. Johns Church
amounted to only $4,000 and on the
organ $500. The cost of the building
being about $4,000.
During the time of the completion
of the new Court House, which was
about two years, sessions of court
were held in the Sunday School
room of the Methodist Church on
North Jonathan street, being rented
by the County Commissioners. AT
this same time the trial of Joseph
Davis for murder was held in
Junior Hail." a large apartment in
the building of the Junior Fire De-
partment on North Potomac Street.
This was rented because the Sunday
School room was not large enough
TO accommodate the crowd that at
tended the trial.
It was several months before the
County Commissioners decided to
build an entirely new Court House.
The walls of the old building were
strong and many people were in
favor of using those, but at a meeting
of the Bar, resolutions were adopted,
favoring new building on entirely
different plans than the old one.
A contract was drawn with Robert
c. Thornburg to tear down the old