Biographical Sketches of State
Officers-Elect.

Governor-elect: AUSTIN L. CROTHERS (Democrat), of Cecil
county.

Austin L. Crothers, the Governor-elect, was born near Cono-
wingo, Cecil county, in the year 1860, and is now 47 years of
age and unmarried. 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 pro-
portions standing nearly six feet high and built proportionately
large without impressing his casual acquaintance as being
•stout. As a boy he evidenced a 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 founda-
tion then for his future successful life.

After culminating 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 in-
clination 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. Croth-
ers. 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 ten-
dency 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 wild-cat legislative schemes. In 1892