SKETCHES OF STATE OFFICERS. 181

Biographical Sketches of State Officers.

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

Austin L. Crothers was born near Conowingo, 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
proportions, standing nearly six feet high and built propor-
tionately 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 gradu-
ated 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 brothers, 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 eveify 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 wild-cat legisla-
tives 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.