Evening star., 1960-10-07
By PAUL HOPE
Star Sta1 Writer

FOINCu III q Audl OCI LIlllllOIl
dollar park condemnation suit
by the State of Maryland.
Standing to pick up a major
share of the purchase price is
the Cecil Amusement Co., a
once-defunct firm which Rep
resentative Brewster, Democrat
Of Maryland. helped reorganize
four years ago.
The State has filed suit to
obtain about $40 acres of the
island, slender barrier along
the Atlantic Coast where a
Washington promoter. Leon
Ackerman, sold several million
dollars worth of lots a few
years ago.
The Maryland Legislature
has appropriated $250,000 for
purchase of the park property.
but several persons familiar
with the area say this is not
likely to be enough. Mr.. Acker-
man, whose subdivision was
just south of the park site,
once placed the value of the
land in the park site at $3.5
million.
Lawyers involved in the case
call it a title searcher's night
mare" because of the compli-
Gated ownership situation.
Assateague Island, sandy
wasteland south of Ocean City,
was known mostly to duck
hunters, wild ponies and the
Coast Guard until a large tract
was subdivided and put up for
prizes in a Baltimore depart
ment store promotion stunt in
1917. This tract, then with the |
paper name of Atlantic City |
Md, is the same tract involved |
in the present condemnation
suit.
About $500 store patrons won
lots and half lots. Most of these |
people never showed up to |
claim their property and are
known to attorneys for the
State only as names without
addresses.
After the residue of the At
lantic City tract changed hands
several times, it came into the
possession of Marion R Owen
of New Jersey during the 1920S,
and he put the title in the Cecil
Amusement Co. which was set
up in May 1926 to run theaters
in Baltimore. The firm faltered
within few months, after Mr..
Owens son Cecil (for whom the
company was named) filed suit
against his father in an at
tempt to get title to a piece of
Baltimore property.
In August. 1926, the son
asked the circuit court to dis
solve the company and appoint
receivers to collect the assets
and distribute them. He said
the corporation was insolvent.
The court appointed two re-
ceivers who filed papers, saying
the chief assets were "numer-
Gus unimproved lots in Wor-
ceSter County (Assateague
Island) the exact number and
value unknown"
The Cecil Amusement Co.
lost its charter in 1880 because
of failure to pay State taxes
and file annual reports.
The receivers got an offer to
sell the island holdings for $3.50
in 1881 and the sale was ap-
proved by the court, but the
man who made the offer could
not raise the money.
Numerous other attempts
were made to sell the property,
the receivers said, but they re-
ported in 1887 that the title
was so involved" that it was
impossible to make a sale.
In 1850, Leon Ackerman be-
gan buying up property to the
south of the old Atlantic City
tract. His engineer was Robert
Craighead Walker of Berlin,
Md,
Mr.. Walker staked out the
Atlantic City tract on what
was, and still is, vacant land.
and applied to the State for a
"land patent" The patent to
what was called Walkers Re
covery" was granted by former
Gov. Theodore r. McKeldin in
March, 1851 to North Ocean
Beach, Inc, a firm owned by
Mr.. Walker and Mr.. Alderman.
They paid some $4,000 for the
patent, figured on the basis of
$6.75 an acre.
In September 1852, the sur
viving receiver for the Cecil
Amusement Co., Louis E. Macht
of Baltimore, reported to the
court that he had an offer of
$500 from Mr.. Walker for what
ever interest the Cecil company
had in the land.
Mr.. Macht said Mr.. Walker
told him he wanted to use the
land for a duck blind"
THE offer made is far
greater than could be secured
for the assets of the estate"
Mr.. Macht told the court.
Mr.. Walker said the other
day that the $500 offer for a
"quite claim" by which he was
trying to clear up the title to
the land he had patented.
Mr.. Macht said in court
papers that he had tried to sell
the land to Mr.. Ackerman, but
Mr.. Alderman was mot inter-
ested." He said he had tried
numerous other times to sell
the land.
Report on Island
In a report written after he
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