Record Observer from Easton, Maryland • Page 17

other material found in the Queen County Free Library, the post was put up on either Aug. 20 or Aug. 26, 1718. While the whipping post may have been used for a number of different types of punishments in the early days; it is most commonly thought of in connection with administering justice against wife- beaters. All the historical references to Queenstown indicate the small courthouse was built in the center of town in 1708.

For more than 75 years, court was conducted here before moving to Centreville later in the century when the courthouse was moved and completed around 1794. A map in Dr. book indicates where the whipping posts, stocks, pillory and the hangings took place. It was known as Gallows Field, somewhere south of the courthouse, and is probably the site of or near where the Prime Outlets now stand. His book states: records indicate it (the whipping post) was erected Aug.

20, noting also that Langton was there tied and given twenty lashes on her bare back till blood The Queen County Free Library has a number of scrapbooks compiled by the late Centreville attorney, Edwin H. Brown. A clipping from the Centreville Record issue of March 1913, gave some Queenstown history and mentioned the Langton whipping, but claimed the date was Aug. 26, 1719, not Aug. 20.

Another small book in the Library, published in 1979, after the Colonial courthouse in Queenstown was restored, explains it thusly, Act of Assembly, April 1, 1707, to erect a town at Hawkins Plantation on Creek, where a courthouse will be The story went on to mention Gallow Field punishment was meted out, including a whipping post erected Aug. 20, A court entry read: Langton was there tied and given 15 lashes on her bare back until blood None of the research or history notes mentioned what the crime was to be so punished. Frederic comprehensive History of Queen County mentions only that early courts used the whipping post for punishment, and that one was in use in Centreville in 1818, but he gave no specific details. Returning to Dr. history, he wrote that 1910, the last whipping at the post, now located in Centreville (presumably behind the jail where the Liberty Building now stands at the corner of Broadway and Liberty) was administered by a Queenstown resident, Sheriff Williams S.

Delahay. Acting under instructions from Judge Philemon B. Hopper, the cat-o-nine tails was discarded and a short, stiff, rawhide whip was used. The victim of the beating was a Another book, Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland also notes the use of the whipping post and that was the most usual form of punishment. No specific examples were given.

However, we had better luck in one of the three volumes complied by Dr. Charles B. Clark, a former history political science professor at Washington College, published in 1950. He had included a short history of each county on the Shore. Dr.

Clark declared the early courts in Queen were strict, even He writes that lots were laid out for the town of Queenstown in 1706, and that the courthouse and jail were built on two acres recounts the same story about the whip- ping post being the first legalized whipping post on the Eastern Sore and used the Aug. 20, 1719, date for Katherine punishment obtained from court records. He went on to note that the pillory, stocks and branding were in use and that in 1748 a man was branded with the word on his back for being convicted of reducing a peck measurement. A Talbot County history by the late Dickston Preston, gives a number of examples of whipping post punishment. Several were noted as applied to the bare backs of servant girls who with without benefit of marriage.

It did report the court its humane feelings by postponing 30 lashes until after the child was delivered. The fathers, if known, usually got off with a Finally, the only mention we could find of a whipping post being used in Kent County appeared in the History of Kent County by Fred G. Usilton, later updated by Bill Usilton, one of the former editors of the Kent County News under a and chapter. It stated that a New Yarmouth (now Rock Hall) man in the late 1600s was convicted of perjury. He was nailed to a pillory on the village green and prior to his release was whipped on the back 20 times.

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Offers expire Criswell Acura 1701 West Street Annapolis, Md. 21401 443-482-3200 www.criswellonline.com RDX TSX TL RL 2007 MDX, months All new, totally redesigned! Several in stock! Criswell Acura MDX Advantages: 7-passenger seating Standard! Super Handling All-Wheel Standard! Leather Interior Standard! Tri-zone Climate Control System Standard! Wireless Telephone Interface Standard! XM Satellite Radio Standard! 2007 RDX, 2.9%** Financing Available! 240-hp i-VTEC turbo engine, Super Handling All-Wheel 2007 TSX, months 31 miles per gallon! Heated Seats Power Moonroof Automatic, 2007 TL, months 29 miles per gallon! Premium 8-speaker Surround Sound System 258-hp V-6 engine Automatic, 2007 RL, months 290-hp, Super Handling All-Wheel Leather Seating, XM Satellite Radio HUGE SAVINGS! OUR JANUARYSALES EVENT! MDX be a number of times the west span be able to reopen by 5 a.m., said Kolberg. Kolberg said the project is an effort, but the installation of the pre-cast concrete deck sections is a method that has been used on other structures. American Bridge has set up a fabrication shop in Sparrows Point outside Baltimore to make the new deck sections, which are steam cured, then brought by barge to the bridge. The new pre-cast sections have to fit exactly.

to a degree, like a large jigsaw said Kolberg. MdTA officials presented a large chart to the county commissioners, which showed calendar year 2007 with most days assigned one of nine code letters (from A to I) to represent the times for west span overnight closures. Kolberg said the chart represented the constraints placed on the contractor, not necessarily when the closures will occur. Depending on the letter code, the west span will be closed to traffic at night sometime between 8 and 11 p.m., then reopened to traffic sometime between 5 and 10 a.m. the next morning.

According to MdTA, all full bridge closures are subject to change and may not be allowed at the indicated start time because of high traffic volumes, traffic incidents, weather, or wind warnings, The MdTA west span chart also shows 59 days (shaded in green) between late March and late October when overnight bridge closures will not be allowed, and another 35 days (shaded in yellow) between April 6 and Dec. 31 when overnight bridge closures will not be permitted because of holidays (with the exception of single lane closures during the Christmas and New holidays). Queen County Commissioner Gene Ransom said overnight closure plan looks on paper, but when you have to close the bridge that many times, there are bound to be problems. BRIDGE From Page A1 base to attract agricultural type said Gunther. Large blocks of preserved land also a tremendous difference for the he said, by providing large areas to collect rainwater.

The goal is simply to provide an incentive for landowners to make their land more environmentally friendly. The amount of money offered to each landowner is assessed based on the type of land he or she wants eased. For example, waterfront property is generally worth more than inland property. Property that is an endangered species habitat is more valuable than land that is not. In theory, the deal is pretty sweet.

But just because the county is requesting $20 million mean going to get it. In 2006, the county requested $6.7 million to ease 411 acres of land. They only got $1.75 million. Smith said the chances of getting the full $20 million are And if local landowners feel they are being lowballed, they can refuse the offer. got one-quarter of what we asked for last year, maybe get one-quarter this year.

I Smith said. Queen County currently has 10,492 acres in Rural Legacy Areas, 7,498 acres of which has been eased. This acreage is broken up into two major Rural Legacy Areas. The Lands End area between Chestertown and Centreville along Lands Ends Road and the Chester River encompasses 3,739 acres, 2,279 of which have been eased. The Foreman Branch area in the northern part of the county has 6,753 acres, 5,219 of which have been eased.

According to Smith, the section of Lands End the county is looking to ease right up to the Corsica River, which is working along with the initiative that the governor had for the Corsica River restoration Since part of it is just outside Centreville, it will also complement the consideration of establishing a greenbelt of farmland around it to restrain growth. belts of forested land and open space surrounding populated areas protect water quality by reducing pollution runoff into streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake the Department of Natural Resources said on its website. same green belts provide habitat critical to the survival of many native plants and The county wants to almost triple the Lands End Rural Legacy Area to 10,394 acres and expand the Foreman Branch area by 425 acres to 7,178 total acres. In the proposed Lands End area, seven farmers have requested that about 1,500 acres of their land be eased. The proposed Foreman Branch expansion spans the property of three landowners, all of whom have property that is already part of that Rural Legacy Area.

Those and other landowners are asking that 1,078 acres in the Foreman Branch area be eased. year it seems that more people are interested in preserving and protecting their parcels of land, so we try to get as much funding as possible to preserve as much land as we possibly Smith said. Rural Legacy Program was signed into law in 1997. Queen County first took advantage of it in 2000, when it wanted to purchase 600 acres of land off Lands End Road to provide permanent access to Conquest Beach. After its own property was eased, the total preserved area grew over the years as more landowners became interested.

LEGACY From Page A1 QUEENSTOWN From Page A1 Boy, 15, beats 14-year-old with piece of rope WORTON A 15-year-old boy from Betterton was referred to the Department of Juvenile Services for second-degree assault after using a small piece of rope to hit a 14-year- old in the arm and stomach at Kent County High School last Friday. The 14-year-old was treated by the school nurse for a small wound. Red F-150 stolen from Stevensville home STEVENSVILLE A Ford F-150 truck belonging to Jeff Titus of Log Canoe Circle, was stolen from his home sometime Monday night. The truck is dark red with a white stripe in the center and a Maryland license plate with the number 84L799. The truck also contains toolboxes and a construction rack.

Anyone with information regarding the truck or its whereabouts is asked to contact Deputy Jeremy Davidson of the Queen County Office at (410) 7580770..