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their statements of the claims of their State, said to the
commissioners of Virginia: "It is remarkable, too, that
in the compact of 1785, while conceding that the rights
of fishing in the Potomac River shall be common to and
equally enjoyed by the citizens of both States, Maryland
omitted to secure by express terms reciprocal rights in
the Pocomoke River." " By the Virginia act of 1875,
Marylanders were distinctly forbidden to take oysters in
Pocomoke and Tangier Sounds. The position now taken
by Maryland was to base her fishery privileges on the
compact of 1785, and prove that Pocomoke River
included the Bay and Sound. The question came to a
definite issue in the trial of Marylanders for taking
oysters in waters which Virginia had reserved to her own
citizens.
In March, 1893, Robert L. Wharton and Severn
Nelson were arrested by the Sheriff and indicted by the
Grand Jury of Accomack County, being charged that
they "did unlawfully take and catch oysters in the waters
of Virginia and within the jurisdiction of said County
on Ledge Rock in Pocomoke Sound."1°°
The case was taken from the County Court of Acco-
mack on a question of jurisdiction. On a writ of habeas
corpus it was transferred to the United States Circuit
Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and after-
wards on appeal by the Maryland authorities, to the
Supreme Court of the United States.
While this case was pending in court, serious conflicts
took place on the waters in question, between the Vir-
ginia authorities and Maryland oystermen. Governor
O'Perrall, in the early part of x894, sent a message to the
Virginia Legislature calling attention to the great dep-
redations in Tangier Sound, and making recommenda-
e° " Report of Boundary Commission," i $74, p. t6.
i°°" Briefs of counsel in U. S. Supreme Court, Wharton v. Wise,
i53U.S.i55.
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