Otho Snyder (b. circa 1811 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-3373
Accomplice to slave flight, Washington County, Maryland, 1840

Biography:

On November 24, 1851, the 4th Judicial Circuit Court of Maryland in Hagerstown indicted Otho Snyder on charges of enticing a slave to escape.  The slave belonged to David Hezekiah Clagett.  Snyder, a forty year old native of Washington County, pleaded not guilty to the charge against him during his trial.  The Court found Snyder guilty on December 27, 1851, and sentenced him to be confined in prison for six years and six months.  On December 29, 1851, Judge Thomas Perry released him to the custody of Sheriff Daniel South, ordering him to submit Snyder to the Maryland State Penitentiary to complete his sentence.

According to the 1840 Washington County Census, Snyder was orphaned in 1823 at age twelve, later married, and may have been the father of one girl and one boy. The Maryland State Penitentiary released Snyder June 27, 1858, after he completed his sentence.

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