More History

        M[ayer] Star Weil, Esquire (1846-1905) filed Case Nos. 1, 3 and 4, for Jacobson, Blum and Glickman respectively, the petitions and schedules of which were handwritten. Case No. 2, that of Nathan Weinberg, was filed by the firm of Steiner & Putzel (Hugo Steiner and Lewis Putzel), all of whose pleadings were typewritten. Before flat case files were mandated by court rules in the mid-twentieth century, all court pleadings were folded in fours, tied with red string (“red tape”) and kept in the clerks’ offices in narrow file drawers.

          In those days, Judge Thomas J. Morris (1837-1912) was Maryland’s only U.S. District Judge. By August 1898, Judge Morris had appointed Daniel L. Brinton (1858-1906) and Thomas Foley Hisky (1865-1936) as the first two Maryland bankruptcy referees, both of whom were Baltimore attorneys. On August 13, Judge Morris signed orders of reference assigning Case Nos. 1 and 2 to Mr. Brinton, and Case Nos. 3 and 4 to Mr. Hisky.

          Monday, September 5, 1898, was the date appointed for the first meeting of creditors in the case of Lehman Blum (Case No. 3), but because that was Labor Day, the meeting was adjourned to the next day, Tuesday, September 6, 1898. On that occasion, Referees Brinton and Hisky presided over the very first bankruptcy hearing in the Circuit Courtroom at the Federal Courthouse at Baltimore. This was the 1889 castle-like courthouse and post office that stood on the present site of Courthouse East, the former U.S. Courthouse and Post Office built in 1932.

          At the hearing, Referee Hisky appointed M. Star Weil trustee for Mr. Blum (Case No. 3), and Referee Brinton appointed Charles A. Briscoe trustee for Robert W. Spring, trading as R. W. Spring & Co. (Case No. 7). Mr. Spring ran a wholesale liquor business at 205 W. Pratt Street.

          On November 1, 1898, Judge Morris signed the very first Maryland bankruptcy discharge under the Act in the case of Nathan Weinberg (Case No.2).

          On November 2, 1898, the first involuntary bankruptcy petition was filed in Maryland by Charles F. Harley, Esquire, in the case of William J. Mitchison (Case No. 36), on behalf of the petitioning creditor, Annie B. Pinning, t/a Pinning & Co. Mr. Mitchison was a builder and Pinning & Co. was one of his suppliers. Carville D. Benson was counsel to the alleged bankrupt and also represented his other creditors who opposed the petition. On December 19, 1898, the case was dismissed by order of Judge Morris, on the ground that the petition was defective, because Mr. Mitchison had more than 12 creditors, requiring three petitioning creditors.

          On December 9, 1898, J. H. Mitnick, Esquire, filed the first objection to discharge on behalf of creditor Paul S. Levy in the case of William D. Jacobson (Case No. 1). On February 25, 1899, the objection was overruled by Judge Morris who signed the discharge the same day.