thousand pounds improving the wharf site by extending logs into
the water which eventually filled with soil above the ordinary
tide. He also subleased seven or eight lots to speculative
builders.109

Then the bubble burst. The sublessees failed to pay Harbaugh
the sub-rent, and Harbaugh failed to pay Hughes the rent.
Harbaugh claimed that the parcel was not worth twenty dollars
under the prevailing conditions and that he could not continue to
pay an annual rent of over two hundred pounds.110

When Hughes moved to repossess the partially improved land
Harbaugh took it personally and responded with a public airing of
his grievances in the columns of the Maryland Journal and
Baltimore Advertiser. Harbaugh called Hughes a crocodile, made
fun of his obesity and questioned his honesty. In the midst of
the dispute Harbaugh left town one step ahead of his creditors,
leaving his improvement to go to ruin. Hughes retook possession
of the land111 (Figure 12) .

Harbaugh's precipitous exit left unanswered a number of
legal questions concerning the title to Gist's Inspection and to
the other shifting sands, marshes and mud flat surrounding the
basin. First were the lingering doubts as to the validity of
proprietary patents to land submerged under navigable water.
Some currents of the common law suggested that pursuant to Magna
Charta such lands were held in public trust and could not be
transfered to private ownership.112

Next came the problem as to how riparian rights changed over

43	.