Part 1 (1879-1880) Philip Grace Jr. as a Youth

There exist a collection of 11 newspaper articles that were published in the Baltimore Sun from December 1879 to October 1880 detailing the arrest and trial of Philip Grace and about a dozen others involved in what was called the “Midnight Train Rioting” which look place on Christmas Eve 1879 at about 11:15pm. Apparently, the train consisted of an engine and two cars. If you take the time to read the articles, it would seem that the first car is what they referred to as the smoking car and the second or last car is referred to as the ladies car.

It’s unclear whether the riotous acts took place from Camden to Relay Stations or vice versa. The stations mentioned are Camden, Mt. Winans’, Carrsville, Smearden and Relay. The trial interest seem to focus on whether this rioting or disorderly conduct look place within the city limits which, at that time, would have been between the Mt. Winans’ and Camden Stations.

What specifically initiated the fighting is unclear. There seem to be racial overtones in these articles, but that may also be because we are reading them today. In today’s news, accused are seldom identified as black or white, but back in the late 1800’s and even in the mid 1900’s,  many people were identified as “colored” or “black” in most publications. Keep in mind that this is also 1880 and only 17 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

One of the good things that came about as a result of this riot was a change of empowerment for the conductor of such vehicles or any public transportation vehicle. The name of the company that owned the train is undisclosed, but as a result of the incident, they deployed the 1860 Presidential Commission Act giving conductors, as “employees of the road”, sovereignty. As such, the conductor is fully empowered to arrest offenders in such occurrences.

Those initially implicated as participants in the riot were Thomas Chisley, William Gray, Philip Grace, George and Richard Smarden, Henry Dearing, Jr., William Wade, Edward Effert, Robert Coursey, Wesley Wade, John Tabb, Frank Robinson, Silas Beall, Jason Reilly, Christian and Henry Heile and John Crabb .Later indicted were Adam Bender, William Morgan. Having done much reading on the history of Lansdowne and the boulevard as well as Federal Census Records, I readily recognize many of the these names as those who lived or owned farms in this area at that time.

Moving through the articles, it became a process of elimination through testimonies. Philip Grace and William Wade were among those that could not make their initial court appearances due to the severity of their injuries as attested to by the local Dr. Hall.  Other impediments were the failure to appear of witnesses for the prosecution so this prolonged the trial for several months.

Finally on Wednesday, October 20, 1880, Henry Dearing, George Smearden and Philip Grace were found guilty.  The following day, a fine was imposed on all three men for their participation in the riot which amounted to $20 plus court cost. That amounted to $71.43 each.

Doesn’t seem like much? Using a 2.4% inflation rate, this would amount to $2,129.78 in today’s dollars.

Philip would have just turned 21 years old at the time of this offense and it would appear he was a bit of a hellion as a youth.

Part 2 (1906-1919) Philip’s Health & Career

February 28, 1906  One article, which is very interesting, reports of an incident involving Michael John Goeller 14 years before John J. Grace (Philip’s son) would marry Margaret Goeller (Michael John Goeller’s daughter). It is also telling of a time line. In the 1900 Census, Philip’s occupation was a machinist so somewhere between 1900-1906 he became a fireman with the Mt. Winans’ Fire Department. In the 1900 Census, Michael Goeller’s occupation was railroad watchman living in Westport, which is adjacent to Mt. Winans’ so he was likely an employee of the B&O Railroad working at Mt. Winans’ Station. Just a note, the 1910 Census finds both of them with their same respective occupations living on Washington Boulevard.

August 7, 1909  According to the article, there was apparently a bit of a rumpus or argument between the Mt. Winans’ Fire Dept. and the Lansdowne Volunteer Fire Dept. who it would seem responded to the same fire. I am guessing the dispute would be procedural because there was likely no standardized training in place, especially for volunteers. Philip would be 50 years old at this time with 5 of his 6 children (ages 10-22) still living at home. I have an interesting note about the Patrolman Ruhland mentioned. In 1893, Michael Goeller and wife purchased 2 lots (873,874) on Fifth Ave. in Lansdowne, but  never built on them. Michael sold these lots to a William Ruland and his wife Rose in 1905. William Ruhland was a Baltimore County Police Officer.