William W. Bride
Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia
The District of Columbia's Corporation Counsel, who spent his 1928 vacation at Ocean City, Maryland while, as the Evening Star put it, 'many other attaches of the District government are at nearby beaches and watering places' — and who, taking a farewell splash on Monday 23 July with the surf running high, was knocked down by a wave and finished his holiday confined to bed at Edgemoor, Md. with a badly sprained leg. He is a minor figure here and a useful one: the incident dates high surf at Ocean City three weeks before the storm that came over the boardwalk.
In the record (1)
1928 · 1928-07-23
Washington's Corporation Counsel takes a farewell splash at Ocean City, is knocked down by a wave, and ends his holiday in bed with a sprained leg.
Evening Star, 28 July 1928, under "Wild Wave Sprains W. W. Bride's Leg; He Ends Vacation With Siege in Bed": "With a painfully sprained leg, Corporation Counsel William W. Bride, it was learned today, is confined to bed in his home at Edgemoor, Md., the victim of a wild wave from the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Bride was just about to terminate [a] pleasant and restful vacation trip at Ocean City, Md., last Monday, when he decided to take a farewell splash. The surf was running high at the time." Five days earlier the same paper had reported him "spending his vacation at Ocean City, Md., while many other attaches of the District government are at nearby beaches and watering places."
Trivial, and worth keeping for two reasons. It dates high surf at Ocean City to Monday 23 July, nearly three weeks before the storm that took the boardwalk. And it is a small measure of what the town had become to Washington: when the District's chief lawyer hurt his leg in the Maryland surf, it made the Evening Star twice.
Source · checked 2026-08-06