the land for the Jewish community because the State had not recognized officially a Jewish congregation. In 1832 both men took title to a small plot of land on the north side of North avenue about sixty yards east of Pennsylvania avenue. For years it was used by the family as its burial ground, although the tombstones reveal the graves of other Baltimore Jews.

Solomon Etting was one of the founders of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and a director of many other financial institutions and charitable societies. The Baltimore Sun, August 9, 1847, speaking of Etting's death, said:

"Our obituary column today records the death of this venerable citizen, at the age of eighty-three. Mr. Etting was a native, we believe, of York, Pa., but he resided in Baltimore for about sixty years. During the whole of that period, up to a month of his death, his career was one of unwearied activity. He possessed, in the most eminent degree, that first of civic virtues, public zeal, and his name is connected with every important enterprise which looked to the promotion of the city's prosperity. His judgment was sound and clear above that of most men; his habits of business were models of industry; and his integrity, impartiality, and rigid sense of justice, were never doubted or suspected. Although long past eighty years of age, he was chosen president of the board of control and review, under the new assessment of the real and personal estate, and continued, until confined to his bed, to discharge the responsible duties of the important post with an industry, fidelity and perspicacity most remarkable, indeed, in one so aged, but perfectly characteristic of him. In his family and social relations, Mr. Etting was equally worthy of honor and imitation."

The historian of the Masonic Lodge No. 43, has written: "He was a man of sterling integrity, of great wit and drollery and was beloved and respected by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He was distinguished for his considerable and indiscriminated charities and was in his old age affectionately hailed by all as 'Father Etting.

Ever true to his traditions, the Jew made his true spirit

felt by the organization of synagogues, philanthropic societies, and the like, in the period following the death of Thomas Kennedy. Not in vain have the Jewish people in Goluth won for themselves a reputation for giving Zedokah, -a characteristic of the Jew frequently commented upon with admiration by the non-Jew.

In Baltimore several Jewish names are found as incorporators of the charitable Marine Society, organized and chartered by the General Assembly, as far back as 1796. The objects of the society were "the relief and aid of the of the distressed widows and orphans of the members. Ephraim Merchant, Jacob Reese, Jacob Meyers, Jacob F. Levy were among the incorporators. On March 4, 1834, there was incorporated the United Hebrew Benevolent Society of Baltimore. The charter for the society shows the following names: Simon Eyting, Joseph Osterman, Leon Dyer, Jacob Ezekiel, S. I. Block, Joseph Simpson, Levi Flaut, Levi Benjamin, Aaron Reutter, Benjamin Seixas, Leopold Schneeberg, Selig Strupp, H. M. C. Ellion, Emil Niewiehl, L. Hammerschlak, Levi Hess, M. Tobias Meyers, Solomon Benjamin, H. Hein, Wolf Myers, Levi Keothen, Abraham Leon, Lazer Levi, Lewis Myers, Joseph Jacobs, Meyer Hertzburg, A. D. Wachman, Jonas Baumann, Joseph J. Posnanskie, Isaac Strupp, Julius Kahn, John M. Dyer, Solomon Hunt, David Taub, Jacob Aaron, Samuel Muntzer, Michael Heilbrunn, Solomon Carvolho, Joseph Anger, Levi Collmus, Jacob Leiser, Morris A. Cohen, Jonas Friedenwalt, S. A. Waterman, Gustabus M. Heinwald, Kritz Kayser and Carle Schlectern.

The year 1846 brought ominous clouds on the political horizon and it looked as if the United States was destined to wage a prolonged war with Mexico. The young Jews of Baltimore, appreciative of what Columbia meant to them and their people, and realizing the plight of the Union, promptly planned to organize a company of volunteers. The New York Herald of July 15 contained the following item, after the call of President Polk for 50,000 volunteers. "Baltimore, July 3. Among the companies which have

been formed here, a volunteer corps of Jews attracts particular attention. Although composed for the most part of immigrants they have given, by the raising of this company to fight with the native militia on behalf of our institutions, a splendid instance of their love and devotion for these and for their new fatherland. Yes, this love for the fame and independence of our country has been displayed all the more pointedly as they have organized their company by selecting one not of their faith as their chief officer, namely, Captain Carroll, who was paymaster of the Fifth Regiment, who willingly resigned his position to accept the command of this patriotic company of volunteers. Its other officers are: Mr. Levi Benjamin, First Lieutenant; Joseph Simpson, Second Lieutenant; Samuel G. Goldsmith, Third Lieutenant; S. Eytinge, First Sergeant, and Dr. J. Horwitz, Surgeon." Later in the same year, the first seed of what may be styled organized charity was sown. Through the active work of Leon Dyer, the United Hebrew Assistance Society was launched. Leon Dyer, who was chosen president, was the son of John M. Dyer, who had been one of the organizers of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. The young man was apparently well liked in the community wherein he lived. His name appears on many committees, whose objectives were the improvement and betterment of the community. He held a number of minor public offices and during the famous Bread riots served as Acting Mayor of Baltimore. In the Texas Revolution for independence he was awarded a commission of Major by the War Department. He served on General Scott's staff during the Seminole uprising. He was appointed to a colonelcy in the Mexican War and suffered a severe wound in battle.

The society for the education of poor Jewish orphans was organized February 8, 1852. Its first president was Louis Hammerslaugh, who was succeeded by Jacob Gazan and Jonas Friedenwald. Several years later the Hebrew Ladies' Sewing Society was organized with the following officers: President, Mrs. H. Hecht; Vice-President, Miss H. Benjamin; Secretary, Mrs. F. Schloss; Treasurer, Mrs. J. Behrends.

CHAPTER VI

A SPIRIT OF TOLERATION

A spirit of liberalism seemed to have permeated the minds and consciousness of both city and state legislators, following the removal of the civil and political disabilities at Annapolis in 1826. Shadowy and blurred connections between Church and State seemed to be gradually vanishing and the Jews of Baltimore were warmly welcomed to the ranks of citizenship and office-holders. Several poems written by Kennedy relative to the splendid and heroic qualities of the Jew, which have been printed in publications outside of Maryland, were reprinted in journals of this State. One of his poems, which had been composed by Kennedy immediately after the first rejection of the "Jew Bill" and published in the Franklin Gazette, Philadelphia, ran as follows:

"What! Still reject the fated race,
Thus long denied repose-

What! Madly striving to efface
The rights that heaven bestows.

Say, flows not in each Jewish vein,
Unchecked-without control-

A tide as pure, as free from stain
As warms the Christian soul?

Do ye not yet the times discern,

That these shall cease to roam,

That Shiloh pledged for their return,

Will bring his ransomed home?

Be error quick to darkness hurl'd!
No more with hate pursue,

For He who died to save the world,
Immanuel—was a Jew."

In 1847 the General Assembly, spurred on to activity in a desire to remove from the statute books some of the objectionable measures which had been left as relics of a "darker age" proceeded to action. A discrimination enacted in 1717, relative to the admissibility of evidence of slaves and certain others, when Christian white persons were concerned, was repealed.

In the historic Constitutional convention of 1851 it was maintained by numerous delegates that to predicate such civil rights as the privilege to give testimony and to serve as a juror, on a belief in future rewards and punishments, was an interference with religious freedom. The conscience of man must and should be free, it was urged, and no human agency should fetter it. The mere avowal of unbelief in future rewards and punishments, it was asserted, itself revealed an independence which attested to truth, conviction and sincerity. An amendment was finally adopted that no witness or juror should be incompetent who believes in an Almighty God and reward and punishment in this world or the world to come.

The oath of office remained in the Constitution as it has been amended by the General Assembly in 1826. If one was a Jew, a belief in future rewards and punishments had to be professed; if a Christian, a belief in that religion.

During the debate in the Constitutional Convention of 1864, a delegate urged the adoption of an amendment requiring a belief in the existence of a God and the future state of rewards and punishments, without making any special mention of the Jew. He declared that the object of his amendment was to get rid of the provision which singled out the Jew and provided the mode in which he should declare his belief. He maintained that Jews were a large and respectable class of society and that an invidious mention was made of their religion.

Other delegates went so far as to argue that there ought