Peninsula Enterprise, September 8, 1894

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Sea -- Shellfish - Oystering : BaysideSea -- Shellfish - Oystering : Poaching

Mr. William Ellinger, who owns Fox Island, in Pocomoke Sound, and is largely interested in oyster-culture, has invented a device which he thinks will effectually prevent dredging in forbidden waters. This consists of strong stakes driven fast in the bottom, with strong galvanized wire fastened around the stakes and forming a net work over the oyster-rocks.

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Transportation -- Water - Freight

A. H. G. Mears has just loaded the third boat with sweet potatoes at Wachapreague wharf for New York city, and will continue to load more throughout the season.

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Professionals -- Teachers

Mr. G. Walter Mapp, of Keller, left last week to accept a professorship in Hogsett Military Academy, Danville, Kentucky.

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Infrastructure -- Public - Government : Town

Mr. John W. Carroll has resigned as mayor of Cape Charles, and Capt. George G. Savage has been elected as his successor for the unexpired term.

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Infrastructure -- Public : Churches

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Harborton, will be dedicated on Sunday, September 23rd. A dinner will be served free to everybody in attendance.

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Fields -- Livestock - HorsesFields -- Livestock - Mules

Fred Savage will be at Onancock, to-day, with a large drove of horses and mules, suitable for farm and road purposes -- and later will make a tour of the country with them. He will be assisted in handling them by his father, Duffield Savage.

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Infrastructure -- Public : Churches

The Baptist Church at Harborton will be dedicated October 7th. President Henry P. Weston, D. D., L. L. D., of the Crozer Theological Seminary, will preach the dedicatory sermon. All Baptist pastors on the Shore will be present. Each church is expected to send its pastor and three delegates and at 3 p. m., recognition services will be held presided over by Rev. Dr. A. Judson Reamy.

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Infrastructure -- Commercial - Residential development

Thirteen actions of ejectment have been instituted in the circuit court of this county by E. A. Outen et al., through Burrough & Bro., and L. B. Allen, attorneys of Norfolk city, against certain residents of Onancock to recover possession of what is known as the Outen lot, which belonged to Henry P. Parker at the time of his death and afterwards divided into lots and sold by U. B. Quinby, special commissioner, for distribution among said Parker's heirs at law. The cases will be on the docket to be heard at the October term of the circuit court.

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Fields -- Crops - CornInfrastructure -- Public : Churches

Atlantic.

The corn crop is far above an average -- indeed it is very fine.

The M. P. Church has just painted their building and will put in new pews in a few days. Then we will have two of the most comfortably seated churches in the county.

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Infrastructure -- Public - Government : Postal serviceTransportation -- Water - StrandingsMoral -- Firearms

Chincoteague.

S. E. Matthews has bought steamer Lillie Agnes, of Jackson & Co. Florida, mail contractors, and will run the mail under contract with them from Franklin City to this place for the next 34 months.

Three masted schooner S. C. Smith went ashore on Assateague Beach, two miles above Assateague station, 11 o'clock at night of 1st inst, and remained there until 8:30 a. m., 3rd inst., when she was pulled off by tug boats. She was loaded with lumber and was bound from North Carolina to Boston, Mass.

Mr. A. T. Bowden was shot in his bed through a window, near which he was sleeping last Saturday night, and died in a few hours thereafter. At the coroner's inquest held over the dead body, Irving Sturgis testified, that he with twelve other young men had been up to the Island in search of members of what is known here as the "Sanctified Band" who have made themselves offensive to the citizens of the Island generally by their lewd habits, and that on their return while near the residence of Mr. Bowden, he shot in the air to frighten his companions and supposed he accidently shot Bowden. The deceased was a highly respected citizen and his death has cast a gloom over the whole Island. He was a poor man and had a wife and six children dependent upon him for support.

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Sea -- Shellfish - Oystering : BaysideSea -- Shellfish - Oystering : SeasideSea -- Shellfish - Oystering : SurveyingInfrastructure -- Public : ChurchesTourists and sportsmen -- Other recreation - Baseball

Parksley.

Capt. J. B. Baylor arrived at Hunting Creek a few days ago in his steam launch Petrel, to finish up some work in surveying, but has left for Chincoteague bay, and will proceed to survey the oyster grounds there.

The protracted meeting at Hunting Creek church has been going on this week, with several professions.

The game of baseball last Friday between Parksley and Dr Mason's team, resulted in favor of Parksley.

The Oyster Navy.

reprinted from Richmond Star.Sea -- Shellfish - Oystering : Law enforcement

A meeting of the Board of the Chesapeake and Its Tributaries was held last evening at the Executive Mansion. The session consumed several hours and a great deal of business was transacted.

Mr. L. R. Stokes, of Portsmouth, was elected mate of the Accomac, and the salaries of the officers and crew of the vessel were fixed as follows:

Captain, J. H. Costin, $100 per month; Engineer, John F. Talbot, $75 per month; mate, L. R. Stokes, $35 per month; two firemen, $35 per month, and four seamen, $25 per month each.

The Accomac will be ready for service in a few days. A metal sheathing will be placed upon her bottom. With this steamer the Virginia navy consists of four vessels (two steamers and two schooners) and will give the oyster marauders a warm reception.

To Develop Oyster Beds.

reprinted from Crisfield Times.Sea -- Shellfish - Oystering : SeasideSea -- Shellfish - Oystering : PlantingTransportation -- Water - Channel and harbor dredging

The Isle of Wight Inlet and Oyster Planting Company of Worcester Co. Md., has determined to go ahead with the salting of the Isle of Wight, Assawoman and Sinepuxent bays and their tributaries for oyster planting and farming.

The company has authorized capital of $400,000, and a Baltimorean has undertaken to promote the enterprise and raise funds for the work. He expects to go to Connecticut in a short time to interest the oyster dealers of that section in the project.

The franchise of the company authorizes it to construct and maintain a canal across the narrow strip of land lying between the inland bays of the Maryland coast and the Atlantic ocean, thus impregnating the bays with salt water and making them available for oyster planting. As a reward for the construction and maintenance of the canal, the company is given control of one half of the oyster beds in the inland bays.

Major Hutton, engineer of the Baltimore harbor board, says the project is feasible, and the company has determined to begin constructing the canal at a point opposite the St. Martin's river, above Ocean City.

It is said that by producing a current of salt water from the ocean through the bays an area of 75 square miles of oyster ground will be made available -- 48,000 acres -- capable of accommodating an annual oyster crop of 40,000,000 bushels, worth at the landings about $20,000,000. Chincoteague Bay alone would give 40 miles of oyster ground. The beds made available for oyster planting would practically extend between the Virginia and Delaware State lines.

Dedication.

Infrastructure -- Public : Churches

Grant Memorial M. P. Church [Tasley] will be dedicated Sept. 9th. Ministers from abroad will be present and officiate. Preaching at 2.30 p. m. and 7.30. The meeting will be protracted.

Dedication of Broadwater Chapel.

Infrastructure -- Public : Churches

Broadwater Chapel will be dedicated next Sunday, 9th inst. Revs. T. N. Potts and C. D. Crawley are expected to conduct the services. Arrangements will be made for all to be seated that will come.

W. L. ELZEY, Sec. of Committee.

Temperance Rally and Fair.

Moral -- Alcohol

There will be a grand temperance rally and fair next Wednesday, 12th inst., near Willis Wharf. Orations will be delivered by prominent speakers. Supper will be served on grounds at reasonable price -- also ice cream and other refreshments. Come one, come all and have a good time.

WELCOME LODGE.

A. T. Bowden Shot and Killed.

Moral -- FirearmsInfrastructure -- Public : Churches

Mr. A. Thomas Bowden, as reported elsewhere in these columns, was shot and killed last Saturday night, at his home on Chincoteague, and eleven young men charged with being in the party that killed him, were brought to Accomac C. H., last Wednesday.

Upon application for bail, Judge Gillet, after hearing the testimony, agreed to bail them under bond in the penalty of $1,000 each.

Henry Savage, Daniel Beebe and Oliver H. Jester, three of the prisoners gave the required bail and were released. The others, Irvin S. Sturgis, Fred Fresh, D. J. W. Lewis, Arthur C. Byrnes, William B. Mumford, Solomon Daisey, William B. Bloxom and John Daisey, in default of bail were committed to jail.

The young men were sent to jail by Justice Maffit, after an inquest held by him, assisted by Justice L. F. J. Wilson, the verdict of the jury being "that A. Thomas Bowden came to his death on the night of September 1st, 1894, by a bullet from a pistol fired in the hand of one Irvin S. Sturgis and the rest of the crowd, (given above), equally as guilty." The circumstances under which the fatal shot was fired, as detailed before the jury substantially were as follows:

That Sturgis with the others, upon invitation of some of them, went up the Island in search of a man by the name of Workman, who is a member of what is known as the "Sanctified Band" -- that failing to find Workman and "to get a move on him," as they declared was their intention, they started for home and while on their way a shell was thrown against the house of John Bowden and soon after the shot was fired with the fatal result stated above. According to their own account, when they started to look for Workman none of them were armed, but on the way somebody gave Irvin Sturgis a pistol. He fired it in the air and as he did not know Bowden and could have no feeling against him, that the ball from the same passed through the window and killed Bowden, appears to have been accidental.

The young men when they went in search of Workman made the mistake in attempting to punish him for his immoralities by taking the law into their own hands, but there is no doubt that so great is the indignation of people of the Island generally against him and others of the "Sanctified Band," that they reflected by their action, the sentiment of the best people of the Island, and the wonder is, that the lewd and lascivious habits of the Sanctified crowd, practiced by them under the guise of religion, has not led to bloodshed before.

The young men implicated in the affair are among the best on the Island, and no one more sincerely deplores the killing of Bowden, we presume, than they do.

Mr. Bowden, though he had once been a member of the "Sanctified Band" left them in August, when the improper motives of the leaders were disclosed to him, and it is stated, so great was his disgust for them, that he was known to be in sympathy with the crowd that went to drive Workman from the Island.

Turlington's Grove Camp-Meeting

Infrastructure -- Public : Camp meetings

The camp-meeting held at Turlington's grove during last month, represented the joint interests of Wachapreague and Pungoteague circuits. By the concurrent act of the two pastors and their committees, our Presiding Elder, Rev. W. P. Wright, was placed in charge of the meeting. Accepting this high trust, he discharged its obligations with great faithfulness and guided the meeting to great success.

This meeting will be remembered for its rainy Sunday. From early morning until nearly sunset, the rain fell; poured down, deluged the low places, but as fast as it fell it ran off the elevated camp-ground. Few of the tents leaked, none of them seriously. Under the tabernacle it was dry and dusty. The tentholders gathered to the services, but the wall of rain kept outsiders outside until nightfall. This camp-meeting will also be remembered for its unparalleled good order. And this came about with no planning for it and but little effort made to secure it. The few "rules" were almost unknown to the public -- and also to most of the managers. The gentlemanly and the ladylike deportment had the charm and merit of spontaneity, of a free-will offering, of a voluntary bearing in harmony with the true religious meaning of the occasion. Even during the intermissions no loud talking, no boisterous laughter could be heard within the square of tents. At the hour of preaching, the quiet, respectful attention made preaching a pleasure, and enabled the preacher to be heard to the utmost limit of the throng. And this was true, even when the tabernacle was crowded and the overflow crowded around it. When the hour for retiring had come, restful silence that invited to repose was like that of the isolated, country home, where night's unbroken stillness is at once the harbinger and surety of blessed sleep. To say that the good order was perfect is to speak within its deservings. Perhaps it is explained largely by another fact that will long be remembered, namely: Its mighty spiritual influence of rare and increasing power. I have participated in five of the many camp-meetings held at this place, but never before -- neither here nor elsewhere, have I witnessed such a peculiar display of divine power. A county fair is not the best school of preparation for a religious meeting. But in this instance, the last day of a fair, coincided with the first day of the camp meeting. Naturally, it required several days to counteract the worldly influence of the one, and to bring the people under the spiritual influence of the other. But this being accomplished, there was a widening, a strengthening of the spiritual grasp; until, to come to the meeting was to come to its divine seizure; to be brought into the sweep of its divine energy. Those best prepared to form an opinion, feel assured that the number of conversions would have reached into the hundreds if the meeting had been continued. There were twenty-seven conversions on the last night, and several at the last morning meeting; making in all, sixty who professed saving faith in Christ.

Many will long remember that last night, with its quiet, its marvelous power. And "there abideth" the memory of the final meeting, on that tranquil morning. Who can forget that hour of earth's recession and Heaven's approach; of the lingering spiritual joy -- "full," yet unmodified by solicitude for some unsaved ones there; of its closing moments when hands were clasped in good-byes that held the pledge and hope of Heavenly reunion, of meeting "in the city of the new Jerusalem?"

I cannot close without mentioning another characteristic, and that is -- the good preaching on this occasion. I have attended a great many campmeetings, and I have heard some great sermons, but I have never before heard so many good sermons -- one after another, as I heard at this meeting. Leaving unjudged my own humble effort, there was not a dry, dull, tedious sermon preached. They were all 'in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power." No wonder that God blessed the word. The visiting brethren from outside the district were Revs. W. J. Twilley, of Matoaca, J. T. Bosman, of Portsmouth, and L. T. Williams, of Lunchburgh. Of the brethren within this district, there were with us: Revs. H. C. Cheatham, of Hampton, T. N. Potts, of Salisbury, J. G. Lennon, of Belle Haven, and E. F. Garner, of Onley. Rev. J. R. Griffith, that genial genius of the Pungoteague circuit, was my colleague, and therefore not a visitor on this occasion, but being "a new man" on this Shore "we preached him" frequently to the advancement of the spiritual interests and influence.

Under the leadership of the Rev. J. G. Lennon, good singing was secured from the beginning and maintained to the close.

JOSEPH R. STURGIS.

Sept. 3d, 1894.