George Briscoe, a notorious robber,
is reported to have been lynched on
Wednesday night by a party of mask-
ed men at New Bridge, in the Third
district of this county. Briscoe had
been arrested in Baltimore on a war-
rant issued by Justice Jacobs of the
Third district, charging him with rob-
bing the residence of George Scheme-
nant, on the 18th of November, and
was being conveyed to the Annapo-
lis jail when the constable was met by
a party of masked me, near New
Bridge and the prisoner taken from
him by force and lynched on the spot.
The cause assigned for the lynching
was the frequent robberies that have
occurred in the neighborhood of Ston-
ey Creek recently and the belief that
Briscoe was the robber. The events
which led to the tragedy form a chap-
ter of interesting reading. Last spring
Dr. Lynch's house was entered and
robbed of $700. Suspicion pointed to
Briscoe, but nothing came of it. There
were other petty robberies in the
neighborhood last summer. They
grew so frequent that ladies were
afraid to remain in their homes after
nightfall without the men of their
families staying home.
    A general feeling of insecurity es-
sued. This was heightened by the
robbery of J.C. Armiger's dwelling
about four weeks ago. The theif se-
cured by the operation $150 in money.
Shortly afterwards Addison John-
son's store was broken open and rob-
bed in of money. The dwelling of Thos.
Jacobs was also entered and robbed
of money. Richard Phelp's house
was entered one night, but the burg-
lar was seen by Mrs. Phelps, who
gve the alarm, and he made good
his escape. After this a vigilance
committee visited the dwelling of
Briscoe to warn him to leave the
county. Other robberies not men-
tioned above were constantly taking
place in the neighborhood; and the
people became so insensed against
Briscoe, that they determined to re-
sort to the summary mode of dispos-
ing of so dangerous a character, by
hanging.
    Confermation of the report of the
lynching of George Briscoe, reached
here to-day through the finding of the
coroner's jury in the case. Justices
Thos. S. Jacobs and Thos. Boone held
the inquest and sent the report to day
to the sheriff. The finding of the jury
is that Briscoe came to his death by
strangulation from hanging at the
hands of parties to the jurors un-
known.

The Evening Capital, 28 November 1884.