.
In terms of figuring out land ownership, there are a couple of ways to do it. Each block in Baltimore is numbered and there is an index that tracks every sale on that given block. See this map to get the
block number: http://www.mdhistory.net/msaref07/bc_ba_atlases_1876_1915/html/bc_ba_atlases_1876_1915-0381.html.
510 Tyson, Block 549
118 W. Franklin, Block 550
408 Cathedral, Block 564
Baltimore City Block Books are available via www.mdlandrec.net, which has all of Maryland's land records online. You need a user name/password but the site is free. The block books list all the real
estate transactions for a given block, so you will be able to find out the full ownership of all the properties you're interested in. It would interesting to know, for example, if Sedonia Young owned her own
building, or if someone else owned it while she operated a bawdy house. Using the Block Books isn't always very easy, especially since they often don't identify the properties by their street address but rather
by describing their locations, as in "west side of Tyson (formerly Larews Alley) street, 75 feet north of W. Franklin." I spent a while yesterday trying to find 510 Tyson (which is on the west side of Tyson,
approximately 125 feet north of W. Franklin) but I couldn't find anything.
The other way to figure out property ownership is to use the grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer) indices, though those only work if you know who owned the property. Those are on mdlandrec.net as
well.
To my knowldge, none of Mahool's files are at the MSA. If he wrote to someone in state government (i.e. the governor) those letters would be here, but none of his own papers are here.
We are working on arranging a time to go to the Police Department and inventory their records. We may be able to see what they have re: Baldwin (or Ward) while we're there.
Owen
-----Original Message-----
From: "Santiago-Blay, Jorge"
Sent 1/10/2011 2:07:26 PM
To: "edp@maryland.gov" Cc: "rwozniak@brynmawr.edu"
Subject: James Mark Baldwin: questions
Dear Dr. Papenfuse:
Dr. Wozniak and I have made significant progress towards reconstructing the events of the early summer of 1908 "incident", thanks to the help of many archivists and historians. We are now interested in
the post-incident events (especially, ca. February - March 1909) and their connection to the eventual resignation of Baldwin from Johns Hopkins University. The fundamental question I have now is, given the
publicity the "incident" had in at least two newspapers (in one of them with great candor!) *as well as* the personal connections between members of the justice system that eventually handled the cases (e.g.
against Baldwin, the madam of the brothel, and the police Captain), the Democratic party administration of J. Barry Mahool, and the administration of Johns Hopkins University, how could Baldwin have even
be considered as a viable candidate for the vacancy at the Baltimore School Board?
Specifically, I would like to know if your Archives have information on the following:
1. Are the any files re. Mahool's administration at the MdSA?
2. Are there documents that document in detail the transactions involving Baldwin houses (e.g. when purchased/sold, how much, realtor? etc.)? Baldwin lived at 408 Cathedral Street in 1904-5 and 118
W. Franklin Street from 1906-1909.
3. Three Board of Trustees of JHU at that time of Baldwin's incident that have been connected with the resignation (I have already asked Dr. James Stimpert at JHU Archives but, apparently, there are
some documents at MSA)
A. Ron Mueller
B. Robert Brent Keyser
C. Henry David Harlan - Henry David Harlan (1858-1943), 3rd Chief Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City 1888-1913 (MSA SC 3520-13491), also Professor of Law University Maryland
(1883-1913) and Dean of Law School, (1910-1932) - http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013400/013491/html/13491bio.html <-- NOTE!
4. Any documents of the Baltimore School Board: mid February 1908 and mid March 1909, especially the Minutes of the School Board?
Eventually, I will have to write to the Records at Baltimore City Central Records re. Sidonia Young and especially Captain Bernard J. Ward (Report of Police Commission). In that case, may I mention
your name and affiliations as having helped us in this project? Although I will be using Smithsonian letterhead, nobody knows me in history but everybody knows you :-) in the context of history of Baltimore.
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Jorge
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Fw: Are any of these materials likely at the MDSA?
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 09:44:01 -0500
From: Santiago-Blay, Jorge
To: Owen Lourie , Edward Papenfuse
Hello Owen:
That is the same impression I have, particularly that some police officers were "extracting bribes from everyone along the way" and that " Baldwin was caught in a raid that was unrelated to his presence,
and someone took the opportunity to shake him down while he was there". Let us see what else pertinent, if anything, the documents may reveal.
I would very much like to know: 1) what motivated Baldwin to go there and, a less explored question, 2) how did Baldwin ended been considered Baldwin for the position at the School Board some
8-9
months later.
Sincerely,
Jorge
________________________________________
From: Owen Lourie [owenl@maryland.gov]
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 9:24 AM
To: Edward Papenfuse; Santiago-Blay, Jorge
Subject: Re: Fw: Are any of these materials likely at the MDSA?
Jorge,
I'll send you more specific information later, but in answer to your last question, the impression I've gotten is that the police were mostly running a protection operation aimed at bars, alcohol sellers and
drug dealers. The governor of Maryland launched a trial of the Board of Police Examiners (who oversaw the Police Department--essentially a board of directors) a few years after Ward was dismissed.
Most
of the accusations were that the police had been shutting down some illegal saloons and gambling places and protecting others, and extracting bribes from everyone along the way. At the time, the police were
carrying out many undercover operations to see if bars were selling alcohol illegally (especially selling it on Sundays), and certain police officers were accused of tipping off bartenders who the undercover
officers were. My impression is that Baldwin was caught in a raid that was unrelated to his presence, and someone took the opportunity to shake him down while he was there, but that's just my guess.
Owen
-----Original Message-----
From: "Jorge A. Santiago-Blay"
Sent 1/1/2011 12:52:39 PM
To: edp@maryland.gov
Cc: "Robert H. Wozniak"
Subject: Are any of these materials likely at the MDSA?
Dear Dr. Papenfuse:
Happy 2011! In the event that the case of Sidonia Young continues to look as a good fit, do you know if any of the following documents would be at the MDSA?
a. Photos of 501 Tyson Street (ca. 1908): That is the reported address of Young's house/establishment. I already asked the Pratt Library but no reply yet.
b. Blue book of Prostitution for Baltimore (ca. 1908)
c. Legal papers on Alvyn H. Tyson and on Judge Stockbridge (I cannot remember his first name)
d. Any documentation on the criminal activities of policemen at that time? I wonder if Baldwin was the only white (prominent) man with money caught in such a situation. In other words, was Baldwin one
of several people from which money was requested to save their reputation? Was this an organized "ring"? Was their modus operadi to have people on the streets to make people foolishly yield to the
suggestion made by someone who would not look like a prostitute to visit the color house of social sorts?
Also, although Owen hypothesize that, if the paperwork on the case against Captain Bernard J. Ward still resides at Police Headquarters in Baltimore, it may be difficult to find, is it possible that only one
copy of that report was made? In other words, if other copies were made, where would they reside?
At my end, if the Sidonia connection still looks good, I intend to visit the National Archives (just across my office in DC) to check Sidonia's in 1900 and 1910 and what was her reported occupation,
etc. Also, I am going to contact the Wilson Library again and see if there is correspondence from Ira Remsen (President of Hopkins) and/or J. Barry Mahool.
Sincerely and gratefully,
Jorge
From: Edward Papenfuse [mailto:edp@maryland.gov]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 8:20 AM
To: Santiago-Blay, Jorge; edp@maryland.gov
Cc: Michael McCormick; owenl@maryland.gov; kathrynb; Kim Moreno; mattd@msamail.maryland.gov
Subject: Re: Should I infer that the Baltimore City Police did not yield records connectable to Baldwin?
The list I sent you was derived from the internal guide which is only accessible at the Archives. You can, however, review the same list in the external guide, but there will be no further details in the
Guide
than what I sent you. I did not have time to eliminate the hyperlinks which simply accompanied the list that I 'scraped' from my search of the internal guide.
Mike:
Talk with Owen. He has been working with Jorge and attempted to see if there was anything of value in the records that we have at MSA and BCA relating to Baldwin, and should work with him when he
comes, if he is free. The problem is that the subject may have given an alias and working through the dockets is a laborious task for which we simply do not have the time or the resources at present. What
will probably be most useful to Jorge is getting a good picture of what raids there were and where they were located, something that should be noted in the dockets. Owen is maintaining the topic/bio file on
this case for me, and is tracking there what we have done to date. My goal is to incorporate into the Guide a better understanding of the usefulness of the dockets and other court materials relating to this
case,
just as we are going with the BCA records that Jorge has already consulted (particularly the Mayor's papers). What I failed to make clear to Jorge at the outset was that the Police department was a State
Agency during the period he is interested in and that what records that have survived except for a few museum items on display at headquarters (or at least were on display the last time we looked for any
remaining historical records) have already been gathered up by us and are in the Guide. There is a slim chance that there may be more records from the period at Police Headquarters, but I sincerely doubt
it. In any event we do not have the appraisal resources to pursue that question for now. If I were Jorge I would pay a visit to see if the exhibit of memorabilia is in the lobby and follow up with whomever is
charge of it to see if there is anything else. They once had extensive mug shot files (the department was a strong believer in Phrenology during the early decades of the 20th century and did maintain mug
books of habitual criminals--I doubt they took Baldwin's picture, but they may have). Their exhibit had on display one of the books.
One major problem with the Guide is that we are continuing to show transers externally that have been accessioned. Those need to be suppressed on the outside only and Matt needs to devise a
switch/check off that ensures that happens once a transer has been accessioned. Otherwise it is confusing to the user as is the case here.
Ed
-----Original Message-----
From: "Santiago-Blay, Jorge"
Sent 12/10/2010 7:49:49 AM
To: "edp@maryland.gov"
Cc: "Michael McCormick"
Subject: RE: Should I infer that the Baltimore City Police did not yield records connectable to Baldwin?
Dear Dr. McCormick:
I would like to visit the Maryland State Archives on December 21st and December 22nd (Tuesday and Wednesday) to examine documents pertaining to the arrest of Dr. James Mark Baldwin and any
other persons at a "colored house of the social sorts" in the "early summer of 1908". Would these days be OK with you?
These records may shed some light on the plethora of questions we have, including, for example,
What were the circumstances under which the dinner the preceded the arrest happened, where did the dinner took place, who else was present at the dinner, who suggested going to the establishment,
how many dinner companions eventually went to the establishment and under what circumstances (e.g. were they drunk?), did anyone else joined (e.g. a minor, who?) as he (they) marched to the
establishment, name and address of the establishment, who was the Captain commanding the raid (was having a Captain a typical thing to do for a raid) and why was the Captain later charged of supporting
crime (if court documents are still available, get them), who were the proprietors of the establishment who wrongly charged Baldwin and later were “sent up” (if court documents are still available, get them),
did Baldwin give a false name, did Baldwin bring a minor or in any way “corrupted a minor” to the brothel, why were there newspaper reporters in the place Baldwin was taken after the arrest (was this
something common those days?, if court documents are still available, get them). Did Baldwin give a "false name" at first? Who else was arrested in that establishment on that day? Who where the owners of
the establishment and where was the establishment located? What police officers were involved and what was the motivation (a liquor raid)?
The attached file contains the list of potentially pertinent documents that Dr. Papenfuse sent me. Those that are temporally potentially pertinent (because they include 1908) are highlighted in green.
Those
that *could* be pertinent but lack a time frame are highlighted in yellow.
I clicked on the links (e.g. http://intranet.maryland.gov:8081/guide/series.aspx?action=viewSeries&ID=C2110) to get a better idea of the documents (and decide whether they are truly pertinent) and they did
not work. SOS! Do I have to be inside the MDSA site? The documents highlighted in green on page 4 may, after closer examination, turned out not to be pertinent to this investigation.
Sincerely,
Jorge Santiago-Blay
________________________________________
From: Ed Papenfuse [edp@maryland.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 10:49 PM
To: Santiago-Blay, Jorge
Cc: Michael McCormick
Subject: Re: Should I infer that the Baltimore City Police did not yield records connectable to Baldwin?
The reference department at the Archives in Annapolis would be pleased to have you and your colleagues visit. We are open Tuesday-most Saturdays. You might want to write in advance with regard
to the volumes you particularly wish to check so that they can be waiting for you when you arrive.
Ed Papenfuse
On 12/7/2010 10:34 PM, Santiago-Blay, Jorge wrote:
Hello Dr. Papenfuse and Hello Owen:
Your email has surprised me because I was under the impression that there was a rather large gap in the Police Records at MDSA for the summer 1908 (= Murphy’s Law), thus forcing us to rely on
Baltimore Police records in downtown. How did I get this so wrong? I have highlighted the potentially important documents (in yellow). Others (??? Time Frame ???) lack time frame, hence I suspect we
will have to look at them and decide whether they are pertinent.
How should I proceed to request permission to visit the MDSA and see the archives? Would it be OK if Dr. Wozniak comes along? Also, a friend of mine, who used to be a law enforcement officer
for
many years and has a good smell for this type of documents may be interested in coming along. He who serves as a Volunteer in the Museum helping me. Should he be interested and have time, would it be
OK if he comes along with me? Thank you.
Our other explorations (e.g. entertainment scene) have yielded little additional, pertinent information leading to Baldwin, however, it has been extremely interesting. Perhaps the Police records will bring
us back into the hot trail. Thank you.
Sincerely and gratefully,
Jorge
From: Ed Papenfuse [mailto:edp@maryland.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 10:16 PM
To: Santiago-Blay, Jorge
Cc: Owen Lourie
Subject: Re: Should I infer that the Baltimore City Police did not yield records connectable to Baldwin?
We have the following records available in Annapolis relating to the Police Department:
BALTIMORE CITY
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Arrest Record, Index) T2439, 1891-1912 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Arrestees Physical Description) T2291, 1908-1923 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Bond Record) T2292, 1943-1946 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Central District) T2296, [Paper] ??? Time
Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Central District) C2117, 1893-1960 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Consolidated) T2212, 1873-1916 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Eastern District) T2271, [Paper] ??? Time
Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Eastern District) C2111, 1863-1959 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Middle District) T2297, [Paper] ??? Time
Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Middle District) C2109, 1870-1884 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Northeastern District) T2264, [Paper] ???
Time Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Northeastern District) C2110, 1900-1960
[Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Northwestern District) T2277, [Paper] ???
Time Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Northwestern District) C2112, 1876-1959
[Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Northwestern District) CM1260, 1881-1900
[Microfilm]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Southeastern District) T2280, [Paper] ???
Time Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Southeastern District) C2115, 1959-1961
[Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Southern District) T2278, [Paper] ??? Time
Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Southern District) C2113, 1867-1960 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Western District) T2279, [Paper] ??? Time
Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Criminal Docket, Western District) C2114, 1959-1961 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Docket, Consolidated) CM1259, 1865-1866 [Microfilm]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Homicide Docket) T2290, 1954-1955 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Housing Docket) T2288, 1947-1951 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Invoice Record) T2293, 1913 [Paper]
* [cid:part1.03060203.08050408@maryland.gov] BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Juvenile Docket) T2294, 1948-1952
[Paper]
* [cid:part1.03060203.08050408@maryland.gov] BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Juvenile Docket, Eastern District) T2263, 1943-1971
[Paper]
* [cid:part1.03060203.08050408@maryland.gov] BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Juvenile Docket, Northeastern District) T2262, 1943-1954
[Paper]
* [cid:part1.03060203.08050408@maryland.gov] BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Juvenile Docket, Northwestern District) T2274, 1943-1952
[Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Marshalls Docket) T2437, 1891-1894 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Matrons Record) T2276, 1940-1951 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Military Docket) T2440, 1942-1944 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Miscellaneous Docket) T2295, [Paper] ??? Time Frame ???
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Motor Vehicle Maintenance Record) T2436, 1942-1944
[Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Patrol Wagon Record) T2441, 1944-1948 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Police Casualties) T2300, 1870-1964 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Police Commissioner Reports) T2438, 1910-1914 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Roll Book) T2275, 1871-1950 [Paper]
* BALTIMORE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT (Traffic Docket) T2289, 1941-1961 [Paper]
On 12/7/2010 10:02 PM, Santiago-Blay, Jorge wrote:
Hello Dr. Papenfuse:
Because I have not heard from you or from Owen in a while, should I infer that the Baltimore City Police did not yield records connectable to Baldwin? Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jorge
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Baldwin: Possible earlier date for "incident"
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:24:58 -0500
From: Santiago-Blay, Jorge
To: 'Edward Papenfuse' , 'Owen Lourie'
CC: 'Robert Wozniak'
Dear Dr. Papenfuse and Dear Owen:
I do not know if either of you have heard from the Baltimore Police Department re. Baldwin’s arrest records. The last 2-3 weeks have had a lot of activity at our end (Cha’vez = Baldwin’s contact in
Mexico letters are in, Wilson’s letters are on their way, and we have just requested James et al. correspondence at Oxford). All potentially pertinent in helping Dr. Wozniak and I flesh what happened to
Baldwin in the “early summer of 1908”. Importantly, the attached letter (Baldwin to Cha’vez, dated May 18, 1908) seem to have forced Dr. Wozniak and I to correct our most recent estimates on the timing
of the incident, from June-July 1908 to May-June 1908 (this was our original guess). Here is why we think a correction, back to the original, is in order.
Our June – July 1908 estimate was based on an interpretation of “early summer” in the context of the academic world. This would have put the academic summer from 20 June 1908 to 30 September
1908. We thought this reasonable. However, the attached letter from Baldwin (assuming he is telling the truth) indicates that he is planning to be out of town on 13 or 20 June 1908 and headed to England.
Thus, if Baldwin is telling the truth, the latest the incident could have happened is 20 June 1908. Cha’vez, to who his letter is directed, visited Baldwin, we guess in early May 1908, then Cha’vez writes to
Baldwin saying, “I arrived safely”, then Baldwin replies.
Sincerely and gratefully,
Jorge
Attached file
On 10/14/2010 1:38 PM, James Watson wrote:
Owen,
Here is the info that I got from the Legal Affairs Dept. at the BC Police (410-637-8684).
They may have microfilmed copies of Arrest Records from 1908-1909, but without a arrest number, you would not be able to locate them. We do carry indexes to the Arrest Records in T2439, but the
entries go from 1897 to 1912. This most likely means we have a large gap. As for the Board of Commissioner Reports, our earliest ones date back to 1910 (T2438). There may be earlier ones at the Police
Department, but there is no guarantee. They did believe that they had at least as far back as the teen's.
Let me know if you need anything else.
James
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kim and Kathryn,
I have been working with a researcher who is interested in records from the BC Police department from the early 20th century beyond the dockets that we have. Would if be possible for you to
determine whether they have arrest records from approx. 1908-1909 (available for use by a researcher?)? In addition, I'm looking for the records from a hearing by the Board of Police Commissioners from
1909-1910. We don't have anything from the board from then, I'm not sure where such records might be. Do you have any thoughts if there is an agency which might still have them?
Thanks,
Owen