August 6

Lantz sentenced to Year In Penitentiary

Howard Lantz, 37, a resident of Emmitsburg, and a charter member of the Former-Former Boozers Association, who admitted that he stole the car of Earl Singley at Pen Mar Park rather than walk to his home in Emmitsburg, has been sentenced to no less than one year or more than 15 months at hard labor in solitary confinement in the Eastern Penitentiary at Philadelphia.

The crime that Lantz was convicted occurred July 5. Lance was at Pen Mar and decided not to walk to his home. He looked over several automobiles park there and decided upon the one owned by Earl Singley of Fairfield, as the one that was best for his purpose. Without considering what the final results of his action would be, Lantz crawled into the car and drove home.

Motorcyclist Run Down

Elmer Grimes, 26 years old, of Thurmont, was struck by an automobile while the road near Catoctin Furnace and had his left leg broken. It is said that two automobiles coming towards Thurmont were racing and Grimes was unable to avoid one of the rapidly approaching machines.

Horse and Buggy ‘Stolen’

The horse and buggy of Carl Leathermanm, of Thurmont, are reported to have been ‘stolen’. While police are looking for a horse and buggy, they have not yet consider this a criminal case, as they have not ruled out that Mr. Leatherman, a notorious drunk, who was clearly inebriated when he reported his buggy missing, may have simply forgotten where he parked it on the mountain while indulging in some of the moonshine the mountain is famous for.

August 13

Takes Number 13

In order to avoid all arguments among hunters of Adams County, Roy Zinn, the County Treasurer, has decided to take hunter license number 13 and run the risk himself of being jinxed during the coming season. John Eiker of Fairfield, will receive license number one as the result of the earliest application.

Struck With Ball

Mrs. Ira Henderson, wife of Dr. Henderson of Fairfield, was rendered unconscious Saturday afternoon when she was struck near the heart by a baseball during the game between Fairfield and Arendtsville. Mrs. Henderson was sitting in a sedan parked along the first base foul line. An overthrow to the first base passed through the open window of the car and struck Mrs. Henderson. She was unconscious for more than an hour. Her condition is reported better now.

August 20

Double Suicide in Emmitsburg

Infatuation of a middle-age man, Ford Thompson, an artist, 52 years old, of Frederick, for 16-year-old Mary Ann Sneeringer, of Emmitsburg, a girl of exceptional beauty, ended in tragedy Wednesday night on the banks of Flat Run Creek. The infatuation of Thompson for his companion in the suicide pack was of years standing. They were frequently seen together in Thompson’s affections were returned. Thompson, a habitual drinker, and Miss. Sneeringer were often seen together, frequently promenading along the streets of the town.

On Tuesday, Thompson asked several Emmitsburg residents for a revolver. He explained that he frequently took long walks alone over country roads and wanted it for his protection. Wednesday afternoon the two left Emmitsburg. They strolled east on the Emmitsburg-Baltimore Pike, then into a meadow through which runs Flat Run, where their bodies were found.

The bodies of the pair where found side-by-side on the banks of Flat Run about 2 miles from Emmitsburg Thursday afternoon. There was a bullet wound in the temple of each. Each clasped a revolver.

The search for the missing couple began early on Wednesday evening. Mrs. Slagle, Miss. Sneeringer’s aunt, who employed her as a waitress at her hotel, and members of the hotel staff made inquiries in the neighborhood but we’re unable to obtain more than the fact that Thompson and the girl had been seen walking towards Flat Run.

Thompson had a wife and child in Paris. It is presume Thompson was desperately in love with a girl, and when she learned that he was married they decided upon a suicide pact, in view of the fact that the dream of love could not be legally consummated. Notes were found in the girl’s room in the hotel, which she suggested suicide the only way out of the dilemma.

Thompson had circled the globe many times. He was educated in Switzerland and France and fought in the Spanish American war in the Rough Riders by the side of Colonel Roosevelt. The son of America’s foremost surgeon, he led a life of leisure.

August 27

Suicide Determination Questioned

The Coroner’s report on the examination of the bodies of Ford Thompson and Mary Ann Sneeringer, who reportedly committed suicide on August 13, has led authorities to doubt whether the girl had killed herself. The Coroner stated that there was no doubt that Thompson had taken his own life, but, because of the position of the girl’s revolver, a doubt existed whether she killed herself. The first evidence that led the authorities to believe that the girl was killed what is the position of the girl’s revolver, which, although the girl was shot in the right temple, was found in her left side, about an inch below her left hand.

Examination of the girl’s face failed to disclose powder marks either in her hair or around the wound. Her hair was not burned or scorched, which would indicate that the gun was held some distance from her head. The Coroner is of the opinion that Miss Sneeringer couldn’t have held the pistol far enough away from her head to keep from being burned by the powder.

The circumstance revolving around the murder suicide continue to rattle the community of Emmitsburg. It has been recently learned that Thompson was extremely jealous of the girl who bore a striking resemblance to his 14-year-old daughter in Paris. So jealous in fact that he prevailed upon the girl to wear plain clothes and to wear her hair in a matter not calculated to add to her beauty. His control over the girl was so great that she gave up all her religious beliefs and remained away from the church. Until they met, she was a regular attendant at the Catholic Church in Emmitsburg and a devout worshiper. Thompson, it is said, was an atheist.

Mrs. Slagle had attempted to forbid Thompson from coming to the hotel and seeing the girl, but the girl told her and that she would meet him elsewhere if not allowed to see him at the hotel, so his visits were permitted.

Although Thompson professed to be deeply in love with the girl, and had deplored the fact that the laws of the Catholic Church forbade her marriage to him, he later, when the girl is said to have waived this objection to the wedding, raised civil objections to a marriage – stating he was not sure it was legal for him to marry a 16-year-old girl. Thompson later told the girl and her family that in spite of his love for her, he would be unable to marry her because he was not absolutely divorced from his wife in Paris and for that reason would let himself open to arrest on a charge of bigamy if he married the girl of his heart.

American Womanhood Win

On Wednesday Tennessee ratified the Equal Suffrage Amendment to the United States Constitution, making it the 36th state to ratify, three fourths of the States in the Union. The amendment has been known as the Susan B. Anthony amendment, substantially drawn by this great American women who died in 1907.

County Buys Site for Emmitsburg High School

The County School Board has purchased five acres from the Annan-Horner Bank as the site for the new high school in that place. The property is located across from the railroad station on Frederick Pike. Until the high school building is ready, the School Board has rented the old Chronicle building on West Main Street for a temporary school. This building will be arranged for the children of the first five grades. The present school building will take care of the children from the sixth grade up, including the new high school courses to be offered this year.

Worrying, Shoots Himself

Charles Eckenrode, of Liberty Township, worrying over the poor harvest of his farm and acceptance of what he consider too small a sum for the farm which had just been sold, committed suicide Monday morning in his woodshed shortly after 6 o’clock, blowing off his head with a shotgun. This is not the first time Eckenrode, who was 42 years old, had attempted suicide. The first time he used rat poison and on the second time attempted an overdose of laudanum. Eckenrode showed no signs of melancholy and had gone about his work as usual for the past two weeks. He is survived by his wife and seven children.

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