Maryland has lost in Mr. Carter another man of light and leading and professional genius, and has added the name of another son to the long and brilliant roll in her hall of fame.

AUSTIN L. CROTHERS.

Austin L. Crothers was born near Conowingo, Cecil County, in the year 1860. He is the eighth son of Alpheus Crothers and Margaret Aurelia Porter, who lived on a farm of about 150 acres.

Mr. Crothers, coming from sturdy stock, attained large proportions, standing nearly six feet high and built proportionally large, without impressing his casual acquaintance as being stout. As a boy he evinced keen desire for study, and at the public schools and at West Nottingham Academy, where he received a greater part of his education, he laid the foundation then for his future successful life.

After completing his studies he taught school for a time, but soon found that the quiet humdrum of the school room was not at all suited to his ideas of life. Following a natural inclination, he took up the study of law, and finished his course at the University of Maryland, where he was graduated in 1890 with honors, and admitted to the Cecil Bar.

He was elected State's Attorney in the year 1901, and served out his term of four years. In 1897 he was elected to the State Senate to succeed his brother, the late Charles C. Crothers. He immediately became the Democratic leader of his party in that body. He was appointed chairman of the Committee of Finance, and while holding this position he made an impression upon the State officials, which has never been forgotten.

Mr. Crothers was conservative and cautious, but at the same time so logical in his rulings of the committee that his course in every matter was followed with acclaim. He showed a tendency to guard the outlay of the people's

money, and in his administration saved the State thousands of dollars that might have been expended on wildcat legislative schemes. In 1892 he ran again, but was defeated, as was also the case four years later, his defeat being due to factional differences in the county.

In March 28, 1906, Governor Warfield appointed him Associate Judge, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Edwin H. Brown. The appointment was accepted by Democrats as being a proper move on the part of the Governor. Judge Crothers remained on the Bench, serving with genial ability until his nomination for Gov

ernor.

Mr. Crothers served as Governor for four years with great credit to himself, and died at his home in Elkton, Cecil County, May 25, 1912.

SYDNEY E. MUDD.

Sydney Emmanuel Mudd died on the 21st day of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eleven, after prolonged illness.

He was born at the home of his father, the late Jeremiali T. Mudd, near Bryantown, in Charles county, on the twelfth day of February, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.

He entered Georgetown College in 1873, and left that institution at the end of his sophomore year in 1876; then, matriculating in the junior class, St. John's College, Annapolis, in the Fall of 1876, he was graduated from this college in the Summer of 1878.

He attended the Summer Law School, University of Virginia, in 1879 and 1880; and he was admitted to the bar of this Court at the November term in the latter year.

He was elected a member of the Maryland House of Delegates at the general elections of 1879, 1881 and 1895, serving as such at the 1880, 1882 and 1896 sessions of the

General Assembly, and being Speaker of the House at the last named session.

He was elected to the Fifty-first, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth and Sixtyfirst Congresses of the United States as the Representative from the Fifth Congressional District of Maryland.

Mr. Mudd was a man of forceful character; his intellectual attainments were of high order; and he was upright, straightforward and honest in all his relations and dealings with his fellow-men.

He filled the public offices which he held throughout most of his adult life with fidelity, and with earnest purpose to serve well his State and his Country, and much legislation for the welfare and the uplift of the people was either initiated or actively supported by him. He was loyal to his friends and generous to his enemies; and before his death he had commanding position, both in State and Nation, in the counsels of the political party to which he belonged.

As a lawyer in the preparation of his cases he was painstaking and thorough, careful and accurate in pleading; and his alertness of intellect, his quickness of perception, his keenness of insight, his fearlessness of spirit, his powers of analysis and synthesis, and his command of language, controlled by a logical mind, with a natural gift of oratory, made him a strong, aggressive and formidable advocate at the trial table.

By his death this community has lost a good and publicspirited citizen; the State and Nation a valued and useful servant, and this Court an able and helpful attorney and counsellor.

GEORGE L. VAN BIBBER.

George L. Van Bibber, Associate Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit, after an illness of more than one year, died at his home, near Belair, Thursday, October 5th, 1911,

in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His funeral was held on the following Sunday afternoon, with services at Emanuel Protestant Episcopal Church, Belair, and interment at Churchville Presbyterian Cemetery. Mt. Ararat Lodge, No. 44, A. F. and A. M., of which the Judge had long been a member, was in attendance, and a large number of distinguished citizens of the State paid their last respects.

Judge Van Bibber was the only son of George L, and Hannah C. (Archer) Van Bibber, and a grandson of Chief Justice Stevenson Archer, of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. He was born at Medical Hall, Harford County, December 14th, 1845, received his early education at Deer Creek Academy, conducted by Thomas Archer, and was graduated from Princeton in 1865. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and for a number of years was the law partner of the late Stevenson Archer. From the date of his admission until elected Judge he was in the active practice of the law, and soon established the reputation of being in the first rank both at nisi prius and in chancery. For many years he represented the Baltimore and Ohio. Railroad and the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad in Harford County. In the year 1903 he was nominated by the Democrats of the Third Judicial Circuit, composed of Baltimore and Harford Counties, for associate judge of the circuit, and was elected without opposition from the Republican party, and served continuously until interrupted by his final illness and death.

Judge Van Bibber stood high both as a lawyer and as a judge. During his years of practice he was what might be termed a lawyer's lawyer. His advice was frequently sought by the members of the bar, and it was sound and cheerfully given. Well grounded in the principles of the common law and chancery, the Judge was, as a rule, qualified to pass upon many propositions without resort to the books. A number of the younger members of the Harford bar were at one time or other students in his office, and by cach of them the time so spent is regarded as the most

1

profitable periods in his legal education. As a judge, he had the united respect of the bar, and his administration of the Court was in keeping with its best traditions. As a friend and associate he was unsurpassed. Of a kindly nature and genial disposition, he was a delightful companion. By his many friends he will long be remembered as a true and trusty friend. His taking off in the fullness of his powers is a cause of genuine regret by the bar and laity of the circuit he served in good conscience and with clean hands.

C. AUGUSTUS E. SPAMER.

C. Augustus E. Spamer was born in Baltimore September 25, 1843. Mr. Spamer was of German descent, his father, Ludwig Spamer, having been born in Oberschmitten, near Frankfort on the Main.

Mr. Spamer was educated in the public schools of Baltimore and at the Baltimore City College, from which institution he was graduated in 1860. He studied law in the office of Hinkley & Morris, and was admitted to the Bar of Baltimore City on March 16, 1870. He was married on March 29, 1870, to Miss Abbie O. Smith, of Boston. Mr. Spamer leaves a son and two daughters surviving him, his wife having died in 1886.

He was a devout member of the Baltimore Society of the New Jerusalem Church, of which he was for many years president and superintendent of the Sunday school. He was secretary of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem Church for twenty years up to the time of his death.

He was much interested in charitable work in many different fields, and was chairman of the District Board of the Federated Charities. He was also treasurer of a special relief fund of that body.

He was for a number of years treasurer of the Bar Association of Baltimore City, which position he resigned on the occasion of taking a trip to Japan in 1909.