About Worcester Democrat. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1880-1921
Pocomoke City, Md. (1880-1921)

Worcester Democrat

Established in 1880 in Pocomoke City by Samuel M. Crockett, the Worcester Democrat merged with the Ledger-Enterprise in January 1921 to form the Worcester Democrat and the Ledger-Enterprise. The Ledger-Enterprise had been founded in 1896 by the merger of the Peninsula Ledger and the Worcester Enterprise with W.B. Vane as editor. The Worcester Democrat merged with Democratic Messenger of Snow Hill on March 1, 1973 to form the Worcester County Messenger.

Samuel M. Crockett (1864-1922) served in the Maryland House of Delegates as a Democrat for two terms, 1920-1922. His obituary in the Democratic Messenger newspaper on August 26, 1922 noted that he had learned the newspaper business as a young man printing the Somerset Herald in Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland.

Originally known as Newtown, Pocomoke City was renamed in 1878 during a time of major growth and development. Local boosters chose the name anticipating the town's emergence as a center of business and industry on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. Its location close to the mouth of the Pocomoke River supported maritime industries including the Clarke and Tull shipyards. Bay craft built in Pocomoke City and later the railroad, which arrived in the 1880s, allowed for the transport of lumber, fresh and canned agricultural goods north to Baltimore/Philadelphia and south to Norfolk/Hampton Roads. The town's success was slowed by catastrophic fires in 1866, 1888, 1892, and 1922 that destroyed much of its business district and housing. Of the later, the Worcester Democrat reported that "plans were already underway for a bigger and better city." However, the financial strain caused by these losses, as well as the collapse of shipbuilding and the rise of competing towns, such as Salisbury, meant that news in Pocomoke City remained that of a small-town variety. A major attraction covered by the Worcester Democrat was the Pocomoke Fair, which hosted annual exhibitions from 1901-1917 and included carnival rides, baseball games, and horse races.

On June 14, 1906, Pocomoke City was the site of a lynching in which African-American farmhand Edd Watson was murdered by a mob. News coverage of lynchings on the lower Eastern Shore gained more national attention in 1931 when the noted Baltimore writer and critic, H.L. Mencken, harshly criticized the local press for not condemning the mob that lynched Matthew Williams in nearby Salisbury. Columns in the Baltimore Evening Sun reprinted editorials from the Worcester Democrat that responded to Mencken, which he used to illustrate his negative characterization of residents of the Eastern Shore. On October 17, 1933, a Pocomoke City resident, George Armwood, was lynched by a mob in Princess Anne, where he had been jailed on rape charges. This was the last known lynching in Maryland.

Provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD