Evening star., 1951-09-30
Frederick Clears Debt Incurred by Gen. Early Raid
BY George Kennedy
Stor Stoff Correspondent

FREDERICK, Md. Sept. 90
Final payment was made today
on the debt which Frederick City
during the Civil War to
save itself from the torch of Con-
federate Gen. Jubal Early.
Unfortunately that's not the
last we are going to hear of it..
Frederick's Board of Aldermen,
assembled this morning in solemn
session. voted unanimously to ask
the Federal Government to COM
pensate the town for the payment
of 100000 plus interest that had
the supplies of the
Union Army stored in the town
at the time as well as the town
itself.
There was a bit of levity to the
proceedings. Mayor Donald B.
Rice couldn't restrain himself
from laughing as he concluded the
And Joe Eisenhauer,
secretary, said:
"Gabby gets a great kick out
of these things"
The "gabby" he was referring
to was standing nearby. He is
Harry w. Herman. a reporter for
the Frederick News-Post who has
kept the Jubal Early story alive
in Frederick with pomp and
Early sInvades Frederick.
The story is this: On July 8,
1864, 1t. Gen. Early who had de-
feated the Union forces in the
Shenandoah Valley and crossed
the Potomac at Harper's Ferry
at Frederick on his way
to Washington with 10000 men.
He was going to burn Wash
ington but he was willing to spare
Frederick for a payment of sup
plies to the value of 100000.
While the mayor of the day,
William C. Cole. was trying to
find that much -four and bacon.
a stronger note came from the
general demanding 100000 in
cash.
The mayor and the common
council passed a resolution that
night that the town should de-
mand this amount from the five
local banks according to their
several capitals"
The Banks Produce.
Banks in small cities would have
a hard time coming across with
100000 in cash today but that
was before the check book. The
banks produced and the money
was carried to the City Hall in
baskets and given to Gen. Early's
quartermastef.
Frederick was prosperous then
as now and the banks continued
to operate despite the loss of the
cash. For Is years the only pay
ment the city made was to waive
tax collections on the bank, which
hardly met the interest. In 1882
the city had a small surplus and
paid $1,000 on the principal. In
1885 the city decided to borrow
money for water improvements
and a $3.50. 900 bond issue was sold.
A part of this money was used to
pay some of the debt to the
banks.
Since then Frederick has been
paying interest on the bonds al
though with refunding and other
borrowings. sinking funds and
serial bonds it is a little difficult
to put the finger on just what
part of the bonded debt Is the
remaining part of the ransom pay
ment.
Check to Go Into Archives.
But Frederick has always been
aware that it was still paying on
the debt. David j. Lewis. who
used to represent the 9Th District
in Congress tried to get Uncle
Sam to pay it but got nowhere.
When Frederick prepared, to re-
tire number of serial bonds at
the end of this month, Aubrey A.
Nicodemus. City Register, ear
marked $4,000 as the final Jubal
Early payment and drew a sep
arate check for that amount that
will go into Frederick's historical
archives.
mo formal ceremony has been
planned for this historic liquida-
tion," said an article in the Fred
erick News on September IA. But
Gabby filled in this hiatus.
He found that one or the bas-
kets used in the original payment
was a treasured antique of his
wife'S family.
That's the gimmick," he said.
When the Mayor and the Board