Eddie Mulcahy

 My Father
   I don't post much of a personal nature in MM so you readers looking for the stuff I usually provide will have to wait until tomorrow. (The stuff I usually offer is difficult to characterize and that is why I had to resort to calling it "stuff.") This post is simply about the death of my dad. 
  I thought about him because he died fifty years ago, while on vacation. I have had many more vacations than he, and have already lived many more years. That is rather unfair; he was a much better father than I was a son. 
  In 1974 the small town in which he lived still had a local newspaper and since Eddie had been the proprietor of "Eddie's Restaurant", his passing was noted on the front page. I see that the "Wilson Funeral Home" held the service. I remember when the owner used to come into "Eddie's", one of the guys sitting and lying in a back booth would usually say, "Here comes the 'Buzzard'." There were nicknames for everyone and it could have been "Hacksaw" Payne who referred to the mortician. 
  I was unable to go to the funeral, so I probably last saw my father around fifty-two years ago. My children will have no recollection of him, nor the grandchildren who never met him. Below, they will at least see a trace of his existence. The front page is provided along with the article. 

 

  Here is one of the ads that appeared in the Marylander and Herald. It was continued by the Somerset Herald, which ceased publication in the mid-1980s.  At least digitized copies still exist. My father, and my mother, are both buried near the Legion home mentioned. 

   Princess Anne is located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In the early 1950s, a trip to the Western Shore and the mainland was made easier when a bridge across the Chesapeake Bay was constructed. (See, "The Eastern Shore.") 

Have a Merry Christmas.   

The Great Huron County Chicken Heist(s)

 Have You Seen These Chicks, Or Any of the Other 44,996?

   Perhaps it is because I grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where Perdue is located and poultry and pullets were often discussed, that I noticed recently a report which indicated that 30,000 chicks were stolen from a farm here in southern Ontario. Soon after that, another 15,000 went missing from the same farm near Exeter in Huron County. Apparently this farmer was not guarding the henhouse.

   The raising of poultry is still very important on the Eastern Shore and Perdue is one of the largest agribusinesses in the U.S.. Ontario is Canada’s largest chicken producer and those involved contribute $5 billion to the province’s economy. Although the scale of the operations, both here and in Maryland is huge, one would think that the stealing of 45,000 chicks is worth noting and that the monetary loss is not just ‘chicken feed.’ The stealing of 45,000 of anything is worth noting.

   I am noting it here, for two reasons. The chickens are still missing and the thefts have not been solved. If you know anything about this heist, call the Huron County OPP. I also think that the great Ontario chicken thefts will be a major story on CBS’s 60 Minutes or NBC’s Dateline, either soon (since it is a big story), or when the thieves are caught (which surely will be an interesting one.) If you watch only the CBC, you will appreciate the background I am providing and will not be totally surprised when this news appears in the U.S. and eventually comes to your attention. That such a story will not be on the CBC is explained by the fact that it is lacking in diversity, in that all of the members of the flock were of the same colour and age. As well, no Indigenous people were involved, as far as we know. 

  The questions you now have are many, the first one likely to be, “Why such a rambling prologue?” The others will be related more directly to the crime(s) and I will quickly present some here, along with brief answers which can be verified by consulting the sources provided.

   How does one sneak up on a farmer or the chicks, in the middle of the night without causing a bit of a ruckus? Particularly since more than one person would have to be involved, along with some very large vehicles. How does one corral 30,000 chicks and then have enough nerve remaining to return and grab 15,000 more? Or, are there other groups of chicken stealers? Is this only a misdemeanour, or are the 45,000 chicks worth something? Each chick costs about $1.40 and that number is a small one compared to the number of eggs they would have produced, or the number of breasts for the BBQs. These issues and more are covered in the references below, but the major question, “Who stole the chicks?” remains unanswered at this time.

   Readers of Mulcahy's Miscellany who noticed my recent post about urban crime, (Signs of the Times - Shoplifting), may now have another question about the magnitude of criminal activities in the country. In short, other farm thefts have been recorded and you now have something else to worry about. For example:

- Not long ago, 44 pigs were stolen from a farm near Stratford and in 2019 

130 pigs disappeared in South West Oxford Township. The pigs were much heavier than the chicks;

- Eight beehives were taken from a bee-keeper near Peterborough;

- Using as many as a dozen trucks, 400 tonnes of corn were taken from a farm northeast of Montreal and that probably reminds you of "The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist", when 16,000 barrels of it were taken from a warehouse in Quebec.

-Even dead animals aren't safe. In Caledon, around $1.5 million worth of moose, elk and stag antlers were stolen from a taxidermist.

Sources:

"30,000 Chicks Stolen From Huron County Farm," CBC, April 21, 2023.
"Someone Stole 30,000 Chicks From Ontario Farm," National Post, April 24, 2023.

"Police Investigate 30,000 Chicks Stolen in Ontario," AGDAILY, April 24, 2023.

"How Does Someone Steal 30,000 Baby Chickens," Calvi Leon, London Free Press, May 16, 2023.

"Great Exeter Chicken Heist Still a Mystery," Calvi Leon, Clinton News-Record, May 24, 2023.

The Second Theft:

"Another 15,000 Chicks Reported Missing From Ontario Chicken Farm," Kevin Nielsen, Global News, June 19, 2023.

"More Chicks Stolen From Ontario Farm," Andrew Joseph, Farms.com. June 20, 2023.

"$1.5 Million Worth of Antlers Stolen From Ont. Taxidermy Shop," London Free Press, Aug. 14, 2016.

Nothing Is Sacred and Nothing Is Safe.

Footner Down Under

 

   This will be the third post in a row relating to the author, Hulbert Footner. I quietly introduced him when I told you about “Where I Went on My Spring Vacation." I went to Maryland and part of the reason for doing so was to visit Footner’s granddaughter and the Calvert County Historical Society where a room is dedicated to him. More recently, you learned that he became engaged to the daughter of the Canadian journalist, “Kit" Coleman, whose visage is now found on some Canadian coins.  And you just found out that jousting is the official state sport in Maryland and read Footner’s account of a tournament held in the 1940s in southern Maryland.

    This is likely Footner’s Last Post in this blog, so before leaving him I should explain why he has shown up in MM. Before that is done, you would probably like to be reminded of who he is and for that I will just direct you to the Wikipedia entry. That was the only source about him that I could find. After reading his non-fiction works, I couldn’t understand why more was not known about him. Additional catalysts were the facts that he was born close by in Hamilton and died in Maryland, the state in which I was born, and where they had declared March 14 as “Hulbert Footner Day.”

   Considerable research was done. I have often undertaken massive amounts of research related to a wide variety of subjects, as well as a number of people, and the paucity of finished output is truly astonishing. In this case, I thought the references gathered should not be wasted. The Footner family would find them useful, plus he is worthy of examination as a novelist and historian. They ended up in book form and to prove that this post is not a plug for that publication, I am only including the title here in the concluding sentence of this paragraph and will not note that it can be easily and cheaply purchased in print, or as an e-book from Amazon: Hulbert Footner: Author of Adventure Novels, Detective Novels and Historical Nonfiction: A Bibliographic Account of His Life and Work.

                              Additional Evidence From The Antipodes

   

   For that book, I searched throughout North America and the United Kingdom for references to Hulbert Footner  and for indications that he was, in fact, a popular author. There was little to be found about him, but there was considerable proof that he was relatively well-known. More data to support that were not needed and to plough through even more references would have been a chore for even the most dedicated Footner fan. But, there are now a few who are interested in Footner who are reading this blog and that is the reason he has shown up. They will be pleased to know that his stories, books and movies were popular with the Aussies and I now know that he was even liked by the Kiwis.

Even if you are not interested in Footner, but are in Australia, then you should visit TROVE, an immense digital treasure. You can search thousands of newspapers and sort the results in a variety of ways. (They have also figured out a way to placate ‘sensitive’ readers who might stumble across a one hundred year old word that is now offensive.) I found Footner information in it a few years ago, but did not include the Australian material in the book. The references to Footner  found in Trove have increased as new publications and years are added.  Apart from the ads for his books there are often reviews of them and apparently the Aussies frequently found them to be ‘rattling good.’ Here, for example, are some sentences from a review of The Fugitive Sleuth which appeared in The World’s News (Sydney) on Saturday, May 3, 1919:
“The Fugitive Sleuth is a rattling good detective story, breathless, pauseless, full of life and go. In Hulbert Footner the public has found the adventure story writer par excellence. The instant success of his brilliant romance, The Sealed Valley, will always ensure a wide welcome for a new book by the same masterly hand.”

You can now also do the same for publications in New Zealand in “Papers Past.” They are both free! Footner samples from both are provided below. 

When I searched for “Hulbert Footner” on TROVE a few years ago there were over 500 “hits.” Now there are 887. The results can be restricted in a variety of ways: you can look in particular papers or cities and separate the ads from the articles. Here are some of my notes from the earlier searches: [NB - note that these are from old 'notes'. They should be checked on TROVE and verified.]

"The Shanty Sled is described in similar fashion as “a rattling fine yarn of the frozen north.” Readers in Brisbane are told that Footner “is endowed with a sense of humour and the dramatic ease of a born story teller.” (The Queenslander, Saturday, Nov.14, 1925).

Advertisements and reviews for his films are also found. For example: Even in Tasmania - a review of “Ramshackle House,” The Mercury, (Hobart), Thursday, Dec. 20, 1925. As well in the West (Perth), The Mirror, Saturday, Jan. 9, 1926: “Similes fail in finding a fitting word for Betty Compson, star of The Ramshackle House, the picturisation of the Hulbert Footner novel of the same name now screening at the Palladium.” The earliest mention of Hulbert Footner found was in an ad for The Sealed Valley in 1915 (The Advertiser, (Adelaide), August 28, 1915. The latest is a mention of his name in a review in 1951.”

   I recently did a bit of searching again and here are some examples. One learns that the University of Sydney Library has a copy of De dubbelganger, which is apparently a Dutch version of Two on the Trail. The earliest mention of Footner is now found in 1908 when it is reported that an article of his is appearing in Century Magazine. In 1943, The Northern Advertiser (Western Australia) excerpted a piece from his New York: City of Cities: “One of the World’s Great Avenues” [Park], Feb. 27.

This is the title of an article in The World News Sydney, Sep. 6, 1919 “Have You Read?” Thieves' Wit (Hulbert Footner). "Those who read and enjoyed, as each reader surely did, this author's "Fugitive Sleuth" will welcome this latest story from his pen. It is a new type of detective story, and quite a good one at that. It is fashioned on new and fascinating lines, and it is quite difficult to forecast the end until the author chooses to take the reader into his confidence.” “Backwoods Breezes” The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.) May 23, 1917 “Canadian novels never lack In vigor and freshness of scene. The Fur Bringers, by Hulbert Footner, is conspicuous in that respect. The breezes of the pine forests blow through it, and make up a peculiar attraction for readers who nave tired of the old haunts and devices of the story tellers….Mr Footner has made a study of his subject, he is full of the spirit of the region, knows its moods and intrigues, and has fashioned a romance at once rugged and beautiful.” "The Folded Paper Mystery" , Sunday Times, Perth, Sep.28, 1930 “A good story can always be expected from Hulbert Footner. And "The Folded Paper Mystery" is one of his best productions.” Even Footner's book about his house in Maryland gets reviewed: The Australasian, (Melbourne), July 13, 1940

"Charles Gift " “Many readers will like to think of "CHARLES' GIFT," by HULBERT FOOTNER (Faber and Faber), as a delightful writer's gift to a reading public. The world is so unsteady, the present so uncertain, and the future to many unthinkable. In these days it is often hard to feel relaxed even when reading, but '•Charles* Gift" is a joy to read. Its tempo is one of leisure and of peace; one is lulled by the soothing prose. “

From New Zealand

A search in 2023 for "Hulbert Footner" in the newspapers digitized on Papers Past yields 950 "hits." The first (oldest) is his story "Melodrama in Fulton Street," in the Lyttleton Times, April 4, 1908. Soon after, "The Simple Adventures of 2112," appears in the Dunstan Times, Sept. 6, 1909. Reviews of Footner's works are easily found. For example: There is a short review of "The Nation's Missing Guest" in the New Zealand Herald, May 27, 1939, under the title, "Sultan Disappears", where it is described as "a diverting story." In the same newspaper on Sept. 22, 1934, Dangerous Cargo is reviewed. See: "Two Mystery Novels." "Always to be relied upon for an exciting and entertaining story, Hulbert Footner has thrills a plenty in his latest mystery novel, "Dangerous Cargo," a Crime Club book. Advertisements can be searched separately and many are found for the film, "Ramshackle House (e.g. Evening Post (Wellington), Sept. 14, 1926. Twenty years later Footner's book, Unneutral Murder is advertised by Hyndman's bookstore in the Otago Daily Times, Nov. 21, 1946.

There are many more for Footner aficionados to use and study. Although the global popularity of his writings may not be a proxy for the quality of them, one can still surely argue that Hulbert Footner deserves more attention and I am glad to see that he is getting some from the Calvert County Historical Society.

Surely You Joust

   You will likely be surprised to learn that jousting is Maryland's official state sport and has been since the early 1960s. There were jousting tournaments long before and they still exist in the form of "Ring Tournaments." Instead of tilting toward another knight coming from the other direction, one attempts to put the lance through a suspended ring while galloping at a high speed. Valour may have been sacrificed for safety reasons, but fine equestrian skills are still required and chivalrous behaviour expected.
   This form of mediaeval activity still exists in the mid-Atlantic states and farther south and during this time of "culture wars" some may characterize such activities negatively, as most activities are, since something about them will be upsetting to someone. Instead of tilting at ring tournaments I will present here a description of one from the last century when Maryland planters appreciated the "good things of life -- wines, handsome furniture and plate, fine clothes and blooded horses." Pomp and pageantry are displayed and one can simply regard it as a prom in a pasture which people of all ages could dress up for and enjoy.
    

                                    Ring Tournaments

   This description of a ring tournament held in Maryland in the early 1940s is found in Hulbert Footner's, Maryland Main and the Eastern Shore. It appears in the chapter, "Calvert", which is the county in which he lived and, as the last sentence indicates, loved. One reviewer notes that it is a book "with a quite particular charm" and another that it is "a handsome tribute to one of our most civilized states..." Footner had, a few years before, published the book, Charles' Gift" which was about his Calvert county house, and a couple of years later he finished Rivers of the Eastern Shore: Seventeen Maryland Rivers. They were well received, as well, and a new edition of the latter one has just been released by Schiffer Publishing. Perhaps someone should do the same with Maryland Main...

[caveat lector. If you are the type of reader who gets upset by the racial terminology used in the past, you should skip this part, since the one minor occurrence may be a major one for you.]

"The most picturesque fiestas in Maryland are the tournaments. Formerly held in all parts of the state, they are now pretty well restricted to Southern Maryland, though I hear occasionally of one in Harford and there have been sporadic attempts to revive the custom on the Eastern Shore. When a smart society is in the ascendant, tournaments are quickly abandoned; it is only in the unfashionable parts that they flourish. I have asked many of the old men how they started and the answer is always the same; they didn’t start, they have come down uninterruptedly from medieval times. I am inclined to suspect that this is a myth; nevertheless, the rite is an ancient and gallant one. 

   Each little community holds its tournaments once a year, generally  in the month of August. The proceeds are devoted to the local church.  A flat pasture field is chosen and measured off and three wooden arches erected in line. From the middle of each arch depends an iron rod with a claw in the end which holds an iron ring  of the sort you snatch at from the hobby-horse of a merry-go-round.  Meanwhile every boy has been practising assiduously on his own farm. Nowadays they don’t tilt at each other but at the rings. The boy who spears the most rings on the point of his lance is privileged to crown the Queen of Love and Beauty; the runners-up crown her Maids of Honor. 

  The tournament I saw at Mutual last week differed little from the first one I saw more than thirty years ago. True, the slick automobiles, all so much alike, were a poor substitute for the quaint family chariots, some of which dated from the Civil War. They have all disappeared; they ought to have been preserved in Museums.  The Marshal  and the Herald, fearful of appearing ridiculous, no longer stick the wife's willow plume in their old felt hats, or hang the parlor lambrequin over a shoulder. On the other hand, the riders are beginning to dress up again. They wear striped silk jockey caps and gay scarfs across their breasts; most of them have achieved riding breeches and boots. It is remarkable how many of these plain farmers boys still contrive to keep a good riding horse.

  Mutual is not even a village, but only a scattered community. Their tournament is always the best because they put their hearts in it. The people of Prince Frederick are becoming too worldly wise. How the women of Mutual work to prepare and serve the supper! And what a supper! Country-cured ham, fried chicken, deviled crabs, and fixings. They have adopted the cafeteria style of serving which I deplore, because it deprives you of the opportunity to exchange a bit of persiflage with the charming waitresses, but of course, it is a great saving of labor. Tom Mackall runs the soft-drink stand both afternoon and evening, the hottest and most thankless job of all; Dr. Everard Brisco manages the whole show and is everywhere at once.

The scene on the field is an animated one. The long straight course is roped off and the automobiles are lined up two or three deep. The modern steel body permits those in the rear to sit on top of their cars. On a very small scale, it is like the famous painting of “Derby Day.” Midway a little judges stand has been built with a few dignitaries down in front and a band of five or six pieces behind. Up at the start the horses are held by colored boys while the knights await their turn. Up at this end, the real sports are always to be found kneeling in a row with bills between their fingers watching the track and offering odds in low voices, for fear the parson might overhear. The Marshall and the Herald patrol the course on horseback. Of late years it has been customary to furnish the Herald with two of the prettiest girls as pages, an innovation I endorse.

  To equalize their chances, the contestants  are divided into novices, amateurs, and professionals. There are crowns for novices and amateurs and usually cash prizes for the professionals.  Each knight adopts a pseudonym for the riding, the name of his home place, such as Knight of Preston, Knight of Parrot's Cage; Knight of Tulip Hill; or  a fanciful appellation, as Knight of Nowhere, Knight of Last Night, Knight of Failure. In choosing such names the lads, without knowing it, are upholding a  tradition of their earliest forbears, who were fond of calling their plantations "Dear-Bought," “Happy-be-Lucky,” “Penny Come Quick” and so on. 

The band plays a few bars and the Herald bawls out his first command: “Knight of Rousby Hall, on deck!” Somebody lately pointed out the absurdity of this order, so now he has changed it to: “Knight of Rousby Hall, get ready!” The next order follows shortly: “Knight of Rousby Hall, prepare to charge!” Then: “Charge, Sir Knight!” and he comes thundering down the track. He leans far over his horse’s neck with his eye trained along the lance and the true knight’s expression of derring-do. If he takes the rings the band blares a few more triumphant notes; Marshall, Herald, and pages gallop to meet him and escort him back to the judge’s stand. If he misses, there is silence, and he generally makes a detour back of the spectators to the starting point.

So it goes throughout the long, sunny afternoon. The star riders of other years bring their wives and babies to the field; each year there is a new crop of skinny youngsters to take their places. Each knight takes three tilts at the rings. At the end there are always ties to be ridden off, and this furnishes the most excitement. I have seen it take an hour to settle a tie between two tight-lipped boys. They put up smaller rings and when that fails, rings only a half-inch in diameter. This provides a marvelous exhibition of skill. 

When the riding is over, there is a free-for-all back to the Mutual Hall for supper. It used to be served out-of-doors, but the meal was so often interrupted by a thunderstorm that now the tables are set in the hall. But you can still carry your food outside if you like it that way. Following this delectable meal, after an interval to give the girls time to change their dresses, comes the ball. The tables have been whisked out; the brass band transforms itself into an orchestra. Calvert County is famous for its pretty girls, and each year, I swear, they grow prettier. 

There is a deal of oratory spilled on these occasions. Political aspirants are always to be had; one is invited to address the assembled knights in the afternoon, another (of the opposite party) to open the ball. The speeches bear a strong family resemblance with frequent reference to “our brave knights and fair ladies; the ancient chivalry of Maryland” and so on. It is a pretty sight to see the successful knights and their crowned ladies lined up in front of the platform. The crowns are fillets of wax orange blossoms, becoming to every feminine head. Everybody heaves a sigh of relief when the orator finishes his peroration. The first dance, “the royal set,” is reserved to the knights and ladies.

“Tou’nament Day” provides Calvert County with its grand opportunity of the year to get together. All the sons and daughters who have gone out into the world try to get home for that day. In the afternoon there is continual visiting from car to car; in the evening the older ladies sit around the stifling hall, fanning themselves, and of course, you must speak to them all. It is wonderful for anybody like me, brought up in an unfeeling city, to have a community where I belong.”

[pp.284-287. The above was all typed by me. Anyone using it should check the original.]

Sources: 

Here is the website of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association. 

See this good article in Atlas Obscura. 

It appears as though you can see real jousting at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. 

Canadian Content:

  Canadians will want to know that LACROSSE is the official team sport of Maryland. 

Pedagogical Notes

Cursive Returns To The Classroom

   Some of the knowledge imparted in Ontario schools is being questioned by some parents, but perhaps the re-introduction of handwriting will be accepted, unless, of course, it is promoted as "penmanship." The announcement in the news was made last month and portions of it are provided below where one will find some of the arguments made in support of the idea that the ability to write by hand is a useful skill for students to acquire.

   One assumes that one of the collateral benefits of learning handwriting is that one will be able to read it. Even if you are one of the ones who think that such a skill is no longer needed or relevant, you might agree that being able to read what has been written could be useful. I hadn't thought of that until I read this piece a while back:
"Gen Z Never Learned to Read Cursive: How Will They Interpret the Past," by Drew Gilpin Faust in The Atlantic: 

  "It was a good book, the student told the 14 others in the undergraduate seminar I was teaching, and it included a number of excellent illustrations, such as photographs of relevant Civil War manuscripts. But, he continued, those weren’t very helpful to him, because of course he couldn’t read cursive.

Had I heard him correctly? Who else can’t read cursive? I asked the class. The answer: about two-thirds. And who can’t write it? Even more. What did they do about signatures? They had invented them by combining vestiges of whatever cursive instruction they may have had with creative squiggles and flourishes. Amused by my astonishment, the students offered reflections about the place—or absence—of handwriting in their lives. Instead of the Civil War past, we found ourselves exploring a different set of historical changes. In my ignorance, I became their pupil as well as a kind of historical artifact, a Rip van Winkle confronting a transformed world."

The 'signature' aspect is an interesting one. If, like me, you do little writing, then your signature may look as messy as mine. Under the best of conditions in calm circumstances the signature I produce doesn't look much different than the scrawl I leave by finger on the device of the deliveryman.

Falling Test Scores - Rising Grades?

   Given that I used the plural "Notes" I will offer another one about education. It is based on data from south-of-the-border, data that were found in a column written by someone we would call a "Tory", so you may want to skip to the cursive announcement below. Although it seems that most people agree that children lost a lot during the plague, one hopes the loss up here was not so profound and that such a loss would not be hidden under grades that had gone up. Here they are:

“California now leads the country in illiteracy. In fact, 23.1 percent of Californians over age 15 cannot read this sentence.”

"In math, 73% of 11th-graders earned A’s, B’s, and C’s. Tests scores showed only 19% met grade-level standards.

For eighth-graders, 79% earned A’s, B’s and C’s in math. Test scores showed 23% met grade-level standards.

In English, 85% of sixth-graders earned A’s, B’s and C’s, while 40% met grade-level standards.

For seventh-graders, 82% earned A’s, B’s and C’s in English. Test scores showed 43% met standards."

The Cursive Announcement:

Relegated in 2006 to an optional piece of learning in Ontario elementary schools, cursive writing is set to return as a mandatory part of the curriculum starting in September.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said it is about more than just teaching students how to sign their own name.

“The research has been very clear that cursive writing is a critical life skill in helping young people to express more substantively, to think more critically, and ultimately, to express more authentically,” he said in an interview.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, to create a very talented generation of young people who have mastered the fundamental skills, like reading, writing, and math, that are the foundations of any successful productive life in the country....”

The curriculum reintroduces cursive writing as an expectation starting in Grade 3. That’s welcome news for language education experts.

“I think it is long overdue,” said Shelley Stagg Peterson, a curriculum, teaching and learning professor at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

“Cursive should never have been taken out of the curriculum.”

There isn’t a lot of research specifically on cursive writing, Peterson said, but the work that has been done shows that it not only teaches students the skill of writing that script in and of itself, but it helps to reinforce overall literacy...."

[There is more.]

Sources:

  If you now feel the need to go shopping for a writing instrument, "Fahrney's Pens" is the place to visit, or a shop to which your email orders can be sent. You should know that some of the pens cost more than a laptop. "An Old Pen Shop Proves Mightier Than the Pandemic and the Death of Cursive," Tara Bahrampour, The Washington Post, March 14, 2023. 

  The troublesome data are found here and I doubt they are dubious, but the ideological bias of the columnist has been noted: "Why K-12 Education's Alarming Decline Could be a Dominant 2024 Issue," George F. Will, The Washington Post, June 28, 2023. 

  Although it is reckless to confound U.S. and Canadian educational issues, here is an education-related headline about Maryland that could soon be found in a newspaper in Ontario: "Hundreds of Md. Parents Protest Lessons They Say Offend Their Faiths: A Crowd of Mostly Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox Parents, Wants the State's Largest School System to Exempt Their Kids From LGBTQ Content," Nicole Asbury and Katie Shepherd," The Washington Post, June 27, 2023. 
    The image below is from: "Most Americans Haven't Written a Personal Letter on Paper in Over Five Years," Fred Backus, CBS News, Oct. 11, 2o21. 

Post Script:

   When was the last time you wrote a letter by hand? Or when was the last time you wrote a thank you note, or even typed one? I was so shocked when I received a hand written thank you note a few years ago, I posted about it: "Gratitude: Say It In Writing." 

The Bonus: A Mild Defence of Teachers

 Omitted from the portion of the "Cursive Announcement" provided above are some remarks from teachers, who indicated concerns. For example:

"The four major teachers’ unions have slammed the timing of the new language curriculum, being made available for teachers to learn for September with less than two weeks before this school year ends.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has said the changes are vast and is calling for a minimum two-year implementation period."

Needless to say, these comments elicited many responses, most of which could be subsumed under the category of "ridicule." "How much time do you need to learn to teach writing?" or "Use your PD Days to bone up," etc. are typical of the types of reactions (I made those up, but you can find real ones yourself.)

The defence: perhaps cursive is not that simple. See the Wikipedia entry. Here are a few sentences from it: 

"After the 1960s, a movement originally begun by Paul Standard in the 1930s to replace looped cursive with cursive italic penmanship resurfaced. It was motivated by the claim that cursive instruction was more difficult than it needed to be: that conventional (looped) cursive was unnecessary, and it was easier to write in cursive italic. Because of this, various new forms of cursive italic appeared, including Getty-Dubay Italic, and Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting. In the 21st century, some of the surviving cursive writing styles are Spencerian, Palmer Method, D'Nealian, and Zaner-Bloser script."

Blogging While Travelling

   For my very few loyal readers I feel I should provide something. My excuse this time for lack of activity is that we were on the road and one is not allowed to text while driving, let alone blog. Even in the U.S., where one should be allowed to do anything.

  Although I don't usually blog about things personal and certainly don't provide photos of things personal, the one above is a photo of what our destination would look like if we arrived after the Memorial Day holiday. 

   There is a lot to be said for the "Shoulder Season." The real photo above is what the beach looked like when we arrived. The view is north and the one looking south is much the same. If you look very closely, you might spot, at the top, tiny figures who may be large Secret Service Agents since President Biden has a place nearby in Delaware. Otherwise, there are not many people around. One of the things one can say about the "Shoulder Season" is that it is cheaper than the peak one. That is odd to me since I would have thought that people would pay more to have less people around. Rich people do, but they have other ways to give the rest of us the shoulder.

 

  The trip south in search of the spring became more colourful in lower Pennsylvania and now that we are below the Mason-Dixon line it is much greener, although one does notice spots of political red. The route chosen from Harrisburg, PA to Ocean City, MD was the less travelled one on the right above and it took us through very tidy Pennsylvania Dutch country where much was in bloom.

  The sun that we have not seen for a while showed up on time and is expected to arrive every day for the next few days. We gather that will be true up in Ontario as well and perhaps it will be a little greener when we return

Post Script:

   Admittedly, the short piece above is a slight one and for something better read about Edwin Way Teale, who slowly came North With the Spring. Very slowly, since he meandered about each day, until the spring was ready to move along. Just how much wandering he did to get from Florida to New Hampshire is revealed in the subtitle of the book: A Naturalist's Record of a 17,000-Mile Journey with the North American Spring.

The Bonus: (For Adults Only)

Among the red blemishes amid the blooms were some signs for "Adult Stores" and these two caught our attention. The first one may be difficult to interpret for the growing number of people who have never worked a full week, but here it is: "Every Day Is Hump Day." The crassness of the name of the next one is mitigated  somewhat by a hint of tenderness, but it is more likely that even purveyors of porn appreciate irony: "Bend Over: A Romantic Adult Store."

Druthers

 Newspapers

    So many newspapers have closed in recent years there is a Wikipedia entry for "The Decline of Newspapers." It is odd then, that I received another new one last week. You may recall my post about The Epoch Times back in January. This week our subject is Druthers which is pictured above. That is the third issue and 100,000 copies of it are being distributed across the country. The title, as the masthead indicates, means what it implies, as in "If I had my druthers, we all would know the truth," and apparently that is all that Druthers publishes.  You can decide for yourself at druthers.net where you can access and assess all the issues currently available. 

   Not only does Druthers give you the truth, it also points you to other places where more of it is found. On p. 5 of the issue above you will find "Websites of Interest" and the first one listed is "Vaccine Choice Canada" and the second is "The World Doctors Alliance." The first one cannot be said to be vaccine friendly and the second appeared in the headline: "World Doctors Alliance" Shares False and Misleading Claims About the Covid-19 Pandemic." Still, one wants to trust the publisher Shawn Jason Laponte, who says on the last page: "Please world, be kind to one another. We really are just one big earth family. Thank you. I love you. Keep on passing it on." He is publishing Druthers "Because Mainstream Media Sucks!" One London reader was impressed enough to offer to hand out copies at his place of work. Before you make such a decision do have a look at Druthers where you can also buy this T-shirt. 

Vaccines

   I thought most Canadians were worried about not getting the vaccine which, at this point, is a legitimate thing to be worried about. I forgot about the fact that vaccines cause autism and that many movie stars and wealthy and influential people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are ardent anti-vaxxers. But, if you are a vaccine fence sitter, where can you go for the real truth?

      The few employees still remaining at Statistics Canada have been looking into it. That chart is from, "Misinformation During the Covid-19 Pandemic," by Karine Garneau and Clemence Zossu and here is some prose to go with it and the news is not good:

During the pandemic, nine in ten Canadians (90%) used online sources to find information about COVID-19. The three main sources were online newspapers or news sites (63%), social media posts from news organizations or magazines (35%), and social media posts from other users or influencers (30%).

The survey found that many Canadians were not in a regular habit of checking the accuracy of information they found online, with only 21% reporting they always check the accuracy and 37% saying they often check. However roughly 36% of Canadians reported that they only sometimes (24%) or rarely (12%) checked the accuracy of COVID-19 information they found online, which facilitates the sharing of potentially misleading, false or inaccurate information.

The most common reason identified by the 1.5 million (6%) Canadians who never verified the accuracy of the information was that they trusted the source (53%). Of the other reasons, 22% reported that they did not think about checking the accuracy of the information, 20% did not care about checking, 11% said they did not know how to check and 10% did not have time to check. Men and women both reported similar proportions for the reasons they didn’t fact check the information found online.

  While the pandemic is serious, the infodemic is as well and is likely to last longer:

An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance alternative agendas of groups or individuals. Mis- and disinformation can be harmful to people’s physical and mental health; increase stigmatization; threaten precious health gains; and lead to poor observance of public health measures, thus reducing their effectiveness and endangering countries’ ability to stop the pandemic.

   

Sources:

  An early report about Druthers is found here: "New Covid Conspiracy Newspaper With Extremist Ties Eyes Canada-Wide Distribution," by Rayne, Dec. 18, 2020 at Antihate.ca.

  For a recent article: "How This Man's Newspaper is Pushing Anti-Covid-Restrictions Rhetoric Across Canada," Alex McKeen, The Toronto Star, Feb.7, 2021.

The Bonus: 

  You have probably read about the new Novavax, vaccine that is going to be produced here in Canada (in a Montreal facility still under construction.) See: "Novavax's Vaccine Will Be Produced in Canada. What Do We Know About It?" Patricia Treble, Maclean's, Feb. 4, 2021.

Novavax was developed in Maryland. This from Reuters:

Chief Executive Stanley Erck and three of his top lieutenants have sold roughly $46 million of company stock since the start of last year, according to a Reuters review of securities filings, capitalizing on a near 3,000% rally in Novavax shares fueled by investors betting on the success of the shot under development. The lucrative liquidations, which have not previously been reported, underscore the transformation in Novavax’s fortunes during the global pandemic and the opportunity for its executives to lock in big profits from market optimism.

The Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company was worth only $250 million until about a year ago, when news of its experimental vaccine and its participation in Operation Warp Speed drove its valuation up to as much as $11 billion.

At least there is some good news to report. 

The Eastern Shore

Another Chesapeake Bay Bridge

  My last post, which was about an event that happened on the Eastern Shore of Maryland back in 1933, included a map like the one above, minus all the red lines. Those red lines are the potential locations for the proposed new bridge which is needed to ease traffic congestion. When one is built it is likely to be beside the other two which are located on the map in the middle between Annapolis and Queenstown. 

   Prior to the early 1950s, the peninsula was more isolated than it looks and, before the arrival of TV, the residents on it were more insular than they now are. I was born there and those of us who were, did not sound like those on the Mainland when we talked and we were perceived to be, and generally were,  more southern in orientation. Harriet Tubman was also born there. 

   The geographical and social isolation caused by the Bay, meant that those on the Shore had to either drive many miles to catch a ferry, or drive many more miles all the way up to the top of the Bay and then go back south to get to Baltimore or Washington. It was somewhat like driving from London, Ontario to Cleveland, Ohio.

As a ferry leaves its slip, a motorcade crosses the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge after dedication, July 30, 1952. In the lead cars are then-Maryland Gov. Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin, Delaware Gov. Elbert Carvel, former Maryland Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. and their wives. Prior to the completion of the bridge, a ferry brought passengers and about 50 vehicles across the water, from Annapolis to Matapeake. The trip took about 45 minutes, although lines to get on board often backed up hours, especially in summer. (Photo: AP)

As a ferry leaves its slip, a motorcade crosses the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge after dedication, July 30, 1952. In the lead cars are then-Maryland Gov. Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin, Delaware Gov. Elbert Carvel, former Maryland Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. and their wives. Prior to the completion of the bridge, a ferry brought passengers and about 50 vehicles across the water, from Annapolis to Matapeake. The trip took about 45 minutes, although lines to get on board often backed up hours, especially in summer. (Photo: AP)

   The trip was made easier in 1952 when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was built. We could head off to the cities without worrying about ferry schedules and the urban folks could visit Ocean City. Problems remained, however, since the much larger number of cars had to travel on two-lane roads and bridges and through the streets of small towns. Heading out of Baltimore on a Friday for the beach at Ocean City quickly became problematic, and equally so on the return trip Sunday night. It was somewhat like travelling from Toronto to Muskoka.

   By the early 1970s it was clear that another bridge was needed and it was built next to the other one. Highways were also improved on the Shore and bypasses were built around the towns. Ocean City grew, along with the size of the waterfront lots along the many rivers. The charms of the Shore lured many to the counties closest to the bridges which are now clogged with those trying to get to work in Baltimore and D.C. 

   Now, because of repair work on one of the bridges there are again major traffic jams. A third span is required and there will soon be construction along one of those red lines. Many Marylanders are in favour, particularly the daily commuters and hotel and restaurant owners in Ocean City. Some in the small towns, like Saint Michaels and Easton, which have been gentrified and already have too much traffic, are not. I am not sure how the Lower Shore watermen and farmers feel, but they will probably not benefit from what is gained and feel most what is lost. 

Sources:

There is a web site for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (with some live cameras) and a Wikipedia entry.

For an article about the proposed new bridge see: "A New Bridge Close to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Would Provide the Most Traffic Relief, Study Says," Katherine Shaver, Washington Post, Aug. 27, 2019.

Post Script:

 At the southern tail-end of the peninsula one also had to take a ferry to get to the Mainland until 1964 when a bridge-tunnel was built. The bridge goes out into open water to some artificial islands and then goes under the channel. The distance across is about 28km as opposed to the 7km of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 

The Last Lynching

   I grew up on the Eastern Shore of the state of Maryland, on a peninsula that is separated from the mainland by the Chesapeake Bay. The distance to the more civilized counties, and the cities of Baltimore and Washington, is farther than it looks and the attitudes held by those who lived on the Shore were typically more ‘southern’ than the latitude suggests.

   Apart from reminiscing about a fine and warm mid-Atlantic childhood spent along the rivers and between the Chesapeake and the Atlantic, I have often told stories about the society on the Shore which was a segregated one. I went to an all-white school and our parents had a restaurant that did not serve blacks.  Even though my small town had a small all-black college and a sizeable black population, they existed in a situation that was separate and definitely not equal. We generally co-existed peacefully, but a black person had been lynched not long before I was born and it was an event not discussed. I remembered that a good friend and classmate wanted to write an essay about the subject, but was told not to do so. I didn’t think he did.

   My memory was incorrect. Although I am sure many people tried to discourage him, he did in fact choose the lynching as a topic for the“Old Home Essay”, which those of us in our senior year were expected to write in 1961. The title of his essay is: “Princess Anne Ties A Noose.” Given my faulty memory, I will tell the rest of the story using the facts I have found and choose to use. Keep in mind that the ‘facts’ surrounding such an event are many and some are likely to be fictitious.

The Crime

It is a fact that George Armwood was lynched in Princess Anne, Maryland on October 18,1933. One is less certain about the crime he allegedly committed. A local newspaper close by described it this way:

The attack which was a very brutal one, occurred early Monday morning as Mrs. Mary Denston was walking back to her home near Manokin after a visit at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Albert Wagner. As she passed a wooded spot the Negro seized her, dragged her into the woods, stripped her clothing from her body and brutally attacked her. In her desperate struggles against him, Mrs. Denston was badly bruised and lacerated and her condition is regarded as serious.

There seems to be little doubt that Armwood attacked the woman, but the nature of the attack and the reasons for it remain unclear. It has been suggested that his white employer was somehow involved, but most accounts report (as most such accounts do) that he raped her.

The Lynching

   While one does not know what George Armwood did, it is known what was done to him. Three reports follow and the first one was authored by an employee of the Associated Press.

“Boy Slashes Negro’s Ear” New York Times, Oct. 19, 1933.

   “The march to the scene of the lynching of Armwood was wild in the extreme. The mob members seemed crazed, continually leaping on the Negro, even after he fell to the ground and was unable to rise. One boy, apparently about 18 years old, slashed the Negro’s ear almost off with a knife. Under the oak tree, despite the presence of women and children, all the victim’s clothes were torn from his body and he hung there for some minutes nude.”

   A more detailed account appeared in the newspaper published in the small town of Crisfield just south of Princess Anne. 

“Mob Storms County Jail Wednesday Night: Lynches Negro Accused of Attacking White Woman Monday: Crowd of Several Thousand People Drag Body of George Armwood Through the Streets After Battling With Guards: Captain of State Police and Eight Other Officers Were Injured in the Attack," Crisfield Times, Friday Oct. 20, 1933.

Judge Robert F. Duer drove to the scene and in a speech to the crowd entreated them to go to their homes and let the law take its course. The Judge stood on the running board of his car and urged the people to allow the Negro to remain in the jail. He promised that the grand jury would meet Monday and that Armwood would have a speedy trial. He was met with derisive shouts.

   Following Judge Duer's speech the mob again attempted to storm the jail, but were met by a hail of tear gas bombs which momentarily checked them. Bricks, stones, and other missiles were hurled at the officers and many of them were injured. Several poles were secured by the attackers

which were used as battering rams with which to beat in the door of the prison.

   After securing entrance they dragged the Negro forth with a noose around his neck. He was dragged for a considerable distance through the streets of the town while the ring leaders debated the question on where to hang him. It is doubtful if the Negro was still alive when the question was finally settled.

   Several members of the mob wished to hang the man from a tree on Judge Duer's lawn, but they were outvoted. A tree was finally decided on in the lawn of Mrs. Thomas H. Bock on the Main Street. A rope was thrown Over a limb and the Negro hoisted several times and allowed to fall.

Tiring of its sport after a time, the mob then dragged the body to a spot near the Court House where a quantity of gasoline was poured over it and set afire. It was reported that the local undertakers refused to remove the body, but after several hours a truck arrived and the body carted away by State officers.”

   The lynching of Armwood was not reported at the time in the Princess Anne newspaper, The Marylander and Herald. To my surprise the lynching is vividly described in that paper by my friend and classmate in his "Old Home Essay" in 1961. 

 He [Armwood] was dragged from his cell, down the stairs of the jail, and thrown to the mob outside.  During all this, Armwood made no statement and offered little resistance. He was severely beaten while still in the jail, and one ear was razored off. When he was thrown to the crowd, he was beaten and kicked and stabbed several times around the head and shoulders. Then a rope about thirty feet long was brought up, and a noose tied around his neck. Then, with as many hands as could find a spot on the rope, he was dragged to death up Broad Street. Dead by the time his body reached Main Street, he was dragged about a half mile up Main to the home of Judge Duer, where he was hung from a tree on the lawn of Mrs. Thomas Bock, next to the judge’s lawn. By this time, the mob had grown to a size estimated at three thousand. Their frenzy had reached a zenith, and after hanging for a few moments, the body was cut down and dragged back up to the center of town past the crowds which lined the sidewalks. The corpse was reviled and cursed as it passed, and when the ringleaders reached the traffic light in the center of town, the body was strung up over the light cable, and a fire built beneath it. The body burned for a short time before the kerosene fire ate through the rope and the body fell into the flames. A plan to cut up the body and distribute it throughout the Negro section of town apparently in an effort to emulate the Williams mob in Salisbury, never developed. The body of the dead man lay in the street as the mob broke up as quickly as it had formed. There it lay until midnight when the town garbage truck came and hauled it to a nearby lot. Attempts to receive the help of a Negro undertaker in order to bury the body proved fruitless. M&H, June 9, 1961, p.3.

More reports can be found and sometimes details differ, but there is no doubt or disagreement about the fact that George Armwood was lynched.

The Prize Essay - "Princess Anne Ties the Noose"

   I misremembered the fact that my friend had actually written about the lynching in 1961. A further indictment of my memory can be levelled since I also did not remember that the essay was deemed the “Prize Essay” and was published in The Marylander and Herald and contained an actual lurid account of the event. Although it was written twenty-eight years after the lynching, many of those involved were still around, the society was still segregated and racial problems were simmering.  If there was much of a reaction, I don’t remember. But, I can tell you about what he wrote.

   It may seem odd to have begun this section with a picture of Martin Luther King; a picture which I do recall having been shown around town in the early 1960s. Perhaps it will seem even odder that “Princess Anne Ties The Noose” begins with this quotation from Karl Marx:

“Communism must be taken to, and if necessary, forced upon the world. Our plan is not one of negotiation, but action; not dependence on time but on violence and chaos.”

   It ends with the suggestion that the lynching “vividly demonstrates the means by which the Communist party achieve their avowed ends. Their constant goal is to tear down orderly government processes in any way possible. They also desire to stir up people, and cause them to commit acts of unlawfulness; racial hatreds are eagerly seized upon by the Communists as weaknesses of a nation and are exploited to their fullest."

    Lest you think my classmate held rather extreme views, I can offer in his defense the facts that it was believed both, at the time of the lynching and at the time of the writing of the essay, that communist influence was involved, and there is some truth behind the assertion. In a couple of other racially charged crimes on the Shore, the International Labor Defense League and Bernard Ades had worked hard to defend the Negros involved. The ‘communist front’ International Labor Defense League represented the Scottsboro boys and Ades was a white communist lawyer from Baltimore. A letter writer to The Marylander and Herald right after the event "Lays Blame For Lynching on Shoulders of Bernard Ades and The Communists” and there were many headlines suggesting socialist influence, such as this one from the Los Angeles Times: “Lynching Stirs Socialists’ Ire: Maryland Party Demands Ritchie’s [the Maryland Governor] Impeachment; Communists Asks Arrest of County Authorities, Governor Says Safekeeping of Negro Promised.”  It should also be noted that my classmate does not offer this reason as an excuse and says clearly that the lynching was abhorrent, a “display of human brutality and inhumanity.”

   An economic rationale for the lynching is also offered and the times were not good for most blacks or whites during those depression years. My friend notes that “this story evidences to the sociological fact that when economic conditions in an area are particularly bad, the incidence of crime, and especially crimes of mob violence goes up considerably." He also reports that “It was also the opinion of most Princess Anne citizens that the mob was led by outsiders from Virginia…”, but I am sure he doubted that was true.

   The real villains, it was contended, were other outsiders, those in the more civilized areas on the Mainland. In two episodes just prior to the Armwood lynching, the Negros involved had been taken, for safety reasons, to Baltimore where they were defended by the communists, and considerable money was wasted during hard times to prove the obvious. Armwood had also been taken to Baltimore, but was returned because of pressure from those on the Shore and because Judge Duer promised he would be safe. The Baltimore press was hostile and Mencken in particular berated the morons in “Trans-Choptankia” and ridiculed “Eastern Shore Kultur”.  An editorial in The Marylander and Herald asked the question: “Who Took Armwood to Baltimore?” “In the answer to that question, will be found in our minds, the cause of the lynching."

  The hostilities between the Shoremen and the Mainlanders were real and significant and the condescending attitudes toward the Shore morons led to attacks as this headline from The Marylander and Herald indicates: “Sunpapers [published in Baltimore] Are Unpopular Here: Incensed Citizens Confiscate and Burn Bundles as Rapidly as They Arrive.” Taunted, poor and angry, some Shoremen felt they could better take care of their own business and lynch more cheaply those who would be hanged by the State in any case. (One of the blacks who had been tried and re-tried on the Mainland was ultimately hanged.)The essay acknowledges the emotions which were at high tide on the Eastern Shore:

"And finally, this story makes it clear to us on the Eastern Shore that while heritage and self-reliance are valuable and to be cherished, we, or any group under like conditions of environment, must not let these admirable aspects of our lives degenerate  into a clannishness which disregards those laws made for the common good. An incident like that of the Princess Anne lynching must never again enter into the annals of Eastern Shore history."

The Aftermath:

   The Armwood lynching was the last in Maryland. There were some investigations, but those responsible were never held accountable:

“The grand jury issued its report to Judge Duer, and the Armwood lynching case was over. The Armwood lynching may be the only one in the history of the United States in which nearly a dozen lynchers were identified based on the sworn affidavits of police officers, and in which four lynchers were arrested by the National Guard, and yet still no indictments were issued. And so the nine men identified by state police officers as leaders of the lynch mob lived out their lives, several in Princess Anne, for years thereafter, suspected by blacks and whites of being the men who lynched George Armwood and known, more importantly, as a symbol of the legal system’s shameful alliance with white supremacy.”

   In the 1960s the arrival of integration led to violent racial encounters and race riots. In 1964, some students from that small black college attempted to eat in the local white restaurants and were refused service. Police using K-9 dogs and volunteer firemen using hoses clashed with the students. An editorial in the Saturday Evening Post had the title "Nazi Tactics in the 'Free State." An editorial in The Marylander and Herald responded to the comparison of the Maryland State Police to Nazis this way: 

"In an editorial entitled "Nazi Tactics In the 'Free State' the Post gives, as the gospel truth, its own interpretation of what happened in Princess Anne. If the Post had happened to be right its editorial conclusions would have been right. But it was dead wrong, just as dead as a number of persons would have been in Princess Anne if police dogs and fire hoses had not been used. The only alternative to that degree of force would have been guns in self defense. The State Police, with  their K-9 dogs, and the Princess Anne firemen, and their use of water by restraint, to quell but not maim by the use of their hoses, are to be commended and not condemned.”

   By then both the author and I had left the Eastern Shore. I do not know how the racial  relationships are now, or to what degree integration has been achieved.

Digging Up Dirt on the Eastern Shore

It is Black History Month, but I re-visited this event and those times because of the recent publicity generated by the efforts of the Equal Justice Initiative and the establishment in Montgomery, Alabama of what is informally known as "The National Lynching Memorial." One initiative is to collect soil from the places where lynches occurred, so as to increase awareness of what transpired.
The soil has been collected from such sites in Somerset County. In the adjacent county, where there was a lynching in Salisbury just before the one in Princess Anne, they have established "The Wicomico Truth and Reconciliation Initiative." For more details see:"Eastern Shore Lynching Victims Remembered in New Memorial," Jeremy Cox, Delmarva Today, April 30, 2018.
See also the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project. For more about the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which is also known as the National Lynching Memorial see: https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/.

Sources:

The local newspapers have been digitized and made available and the quotations from The Marylander and Herald  can be easily found. 

The "Old Home Prize Essay" by David Pusey is in the issue for Friday, June 9, 1961.

The account of the lynching from The Crisfield Times will be found on Oct. 20, 1933.

The quotation about the lack of consequences for the lynchers is found in: On The Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-first Century, Sherrilyn A. Ifill.

The Saturday Evening Post editorial about the incident in 1964, is in the issue of  March 28, 1964.

There is a Wikipedia entry for "The Lynching of George Armwood" and one for Bernard Ades.

There had been other lynchings in Princess Anne. Canadians would have read about this one:
                    "A Lynching in Maryland," The Globe and Mail, June 10, 1897.
"Princess Anne, Maryland, June 9.
Wm. Andrews, the young negro accused of felonous[sic] assault upon Mrs. Benjamin T. Kelly, was taken from the Sheriff here today and beaten into insensibility and then hanged to a tree by an infuriated mob immediately after having been arraigned in court and sentenced to death for his crime."

Post Script:

You may wonder why I don't just clarify all of this by asking my old friend David Pusey, the author of the essay. During the Viet Nam war, David served in the U.S. Navy where he was injured on a ship in the Pacific. He was in a coma for years and passed away a few years ago. He was a fine fellow.

The Bonus Material
Recently, John Stormer, the author of None Dare Call It Treason, also passed away. The following is from the obituary which appeared in the Washington Post on July 16, 2018:
"The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 did not blunt Mr. Stormer’s concern about spreading communism. He said front groups in America and elsewhere continued to promote a subversive, pro-communist agenda.
In an interview on America’s Survival TV in December 2014, he cited claims by police of communist-instigated protests in the wake of the police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014. “There were hundreds of people from all over the country put in hotels and organized those protests,” he said. They were, he added, “looking ultimately to bring about revolution.”