Horace O. Cropper

In the record (2)

1. 1938 · 1938-08-01

   Ocean City turned out its mayor of four years in August 1938 and elected its own lawyer, on 323 votes cast between two o'clock and six

   The minute of 1 August 1938 records 'A Special town Election was held in Firemans Building for purpose of Electing one person for mayor and three persons for Councilmen to serve two Years'. The returns, filed by the election judges Stephen J. Quillen, Horace O. Cropper and Williams, were: 'For Edmund H Johnson for Mayor 323 Votes. Harold J Rayne for Councilman 219 Votes. E Raymond Bounds 216. C.P. Cropper 199. John D Ayres 149. C Parker Smith 136. Dr. Francis J Townsend 154. No other Votes were Cast. Election held from 2 O'Clock P.M. Until 6 O'Clock P.M.' Six men ran for three council seats and the sitting councilman, Dr. Francis J. Townsend, came fourth and lost. W. Thomas Elliott, mayor since 1934, does not appear on the return at all - no votes were cast for him, and he did not stand. The man who replaced him was the town's own solicitor, Edmond H. Johnson, who nine weeks earlier had been appointed the council's attorney to collect Ocean City's share of the Worcester County liquor profits and had been paid $915 for the work on 31 May.

   A four-hour poll in the firehouse, 323 votes, and the resort changed hands. Ocean City did not so much elect an outsider as promote its lawyer - and the councilman who had spent the year pushing sanitary ordinances the council would not second was the one the voters removed.

   Edmond H. JohnsonW. Thomas ElliottHarold J. RayneE. Raymond BoundsClifford P. CropperFrancis J. TownsendStephen J. QuillenC. Parker Smith

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

2. 1939 · 1939-10-03

   The same council that refused the Colored Recreation Hall refused a white man's building on 9th Street in 1939 - and had granted him one in March

   Thomas Shill appears three times in 1939. On 21 February his permit for a building on 9th Street drew Mrs. Della K. Powell, P. C. Dennis and Mr. and Mrs. Benson to the council room; 'Mr. Shill was very indefinite as to just what he proposed to build and finally said it was unimportant to him whether he built or not and he left the Council room & no further action was taken.' On 31 March he and Rudolph Dolle applied to build on the Ayers lot at 9th Street for retailing popcorn; the same objectors attended - Mrs. Della Powell, Mr. and Mrs. Benson, H. O. Cropper, Phil Dennis and Mrs. Virginia Ayers - and 'Permits were granted to applicants with understanding they were to comply with building line and operate as requested in applications.' On 19 September he came back with C. H. Clark to enlarge and roof the entire structure, and the mayor sent him away to fill in an application so the clerk could notify everyone within 250 feet. On 3 October the application 'was taken up and discussed with adjoining owners of property Mr & Mrs Benson, P. C. Dennis & Della K. Powell & letters from H. O. Cropper and application refused.'

   This complicates the 1938 case and it should. The notice-and-hearing machinery refused white men too, and it refused this one after granting him a permit on the same block six months before. What it does not show is a single instance in 1939 of a Black applicant being put through it at all - which is the more exact indictment: the procedure was real, and Black Ocean City had already been taught what it produced.

   Thomas ShillRudolph DolleDella K. Powell

   Source · checked 2026-08-11