Evening star., 1951-01-08

ton. Mr.. Lyon, Cnen q young law
yer and publisher of the Monitor,
a reform newspaper, was one OF
them. T. J. DeLashmutt. whose
son recently bought President
Monroe's country place in Lou
doun County, was another. They
persuaded the engineer Of a Penn
sylvania Railroad passenger train
to stop there. Some one had
tipped Jimmy off and he was not
operating, but the posse broke in
with axes and demolished every
thing in the place.
They did the same at the St.
Asaph track.
Armed for Protection.
There were a lot of threats
about what was going to happen
to the Commonwealth Attorney
and he went armed constantly. 1t
was brought up against him by a
defense attorney on one occasion
when he was prosecuting gamblers
in the county court house. The
attorney said the prosecutor had
brought a gun into court.
That's right" said Mr.. Mackey
pulling back his coat and display
ing a IS automatic in a shoulder
holster. The judge made no objec-
ton.
The murders were little more
difficult to end. BY getting rid
of a couple of saloons at the
Rosslyn end of the bridge that
had been hangouts of the Grim
inal element, that crossing was
made safe even on Saturday
nights. But in his first year of
Office, Mr.. Mackey remembers
there were eight murders in Dead
Mans Hollow, a gully wiped out
by the Pentagon network of roads.
Victims and perpetrators all were
Negro.
No one had bothered to prose-
cute this type of crime before
Mr.. Mackey got indictments ano
one man was sentenced to bt
hanged, sentence which wa.
commuted to life imprisonment
Things quieted down and every
ones existence, white or colored
became safe. Although the popu-
lation of the county has almost
multiplied by so, crimes of vio-
lence are the rare exception in
stead of the rule today.
Centenary Celebrated.
In 1916. Arlington celebrated
its centenary. The county got
its start when, along with the
city of Alexandria, it was ceded
back to Virginia by Congress.
Old timers in the county think
this had something to do with
the coming of the Civil War, that
fugitive slaves sought the Federal
jurisdiction. Why they should do
so is not clear. because the District
was slave territory. Apparently
this is an instance where hind
sight is at fault.
w. M. Bryan, who did much
research on the subject for his
History of the Nations Capital
make no mention of this as a
cause. Both Georgetown and
Alexandria wanted to go back to
the States in which they were
born.
The reasons were political and
economic. In the case of George
town, it was indignation over Con-
gress rebuilding the Long Bridge
(now the highway of Fourteenth
street BRIDGE. Any bridge be-
low Georgetown was considered
a menace to navigation in that
port. Both communities were out
ragged by the refusal of Congress
to renew bank charters of the
District in 1840. It was an after
math of the Jackson fight on pri-
vate banking. The Maryland
legislature tabled a resolution to
readmit Georgetown and that part
of the District west of Rock Creek
Interesting Speculation.
It's an interesting speculation
as to what Congress would have
done if the resolution passed. Six
years later there was little dis
cussion and almost no opposition
in Congress to a bill allowing the
citizens of Alexandria, city and
county, to decide for themselves
whether they should stay in the
District or go back to Virginia.
The bill was introduced because
Alexandrians had reason to believe
that Virginia would subscribe to
a block of Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal Co. shares which would
enable completion of the canal to
Cumberland, Md. There was no
hope for more money from the
Federal Government.
Alexandria was the eastern
terminus of the canal which
crossed the Potomac at George
town on the old Aqueduct
Bridge.
The Alexandrians were right.
Virginia bought a large block OF
the shares as soon as Alexandria
was readmitted and the canal
was completed in 1850 just in
time to encounter rail competi-
ton.
The free, white male citizens
of Alexandria voted on the ques-
ton on September l and 2, 1846,
The vote was 1853 for retroces-
sion; 222 against it. Without
further act of Congress, terri
tory now worth millions whose
population would put that of the
Nations Capital over the million
mark, was relinquished.