A LECTURE — For the Hereditary Order of the Signers of the Bush Declaration, I was recently asked to examine the era in our criminal justice system when the sheriff was the county executioner or hangman. This gruesome responsibility was eventually centralized in the state prison systems, but the duty remained in the hands of…
When Death Came Calling, Salem County Needed a Hospital
In the early 20th century, residents of Salem County, NJ generally gave birth, endured illnesses and even surgery at home. For the few requiring inpatient care, a trip to distant hospitals in Camden, Bridgeton or Wilmington, DE was required. But in the first two decades of the twentieth century medicine was advancing rapidly and changes…
The Salem County Executioner and His Grim Task
It was a gruesome, emotionally draining responsibility, one most officials preferred to elude on their watch, but occasionally the Salem County Executioner had to carry out a hanging. Once the wheels of justice turned and the bench handed down the death warrant the ghastly duty, dispatching a condemned man, fell to the sheriff in New…
Dixon Receives Historic Preservation Award from DAR
At the Harbor of Grace Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) meeting in Havre de Grace on May 11, 2019, I was pleased to be the recipient of the DAR Historic Preservation Recognition Award. I had been invited to speak about the history of the Mason-Dixon Line, and…