Camel, Buffalo, Zebu and Llama Race in Bowie

Walk a Mile

February 25, 1972 (42 years ago today): The Noah's Ark Animal Race was held at the Bowie Race Track, featuring a camel, buffalo, llama and a zebu (a single-humped cow from Asia).

Two camels were scheduled to race, but one of the camels died at the race track after traveling to Bowie from Missouri.

Walk A Mile, Llama Fleece and One Large Hump

The second camel had to be muzzled for the race after it injured a track worker earlier in the week.  The camel became aggressive in the starting gate during a practice run.  It bit the arm of Michael Pearson, an "exercise boy" at the track, and then shook Pearson's arm violently.  Pearson suffered a broken arm, and he required surgery for his injuries.

One Large Hump (the zebu) won the race, followed by Llama Fleece (the llama), and Walk A Mile (the camel) came in third.  Home on the Range (the buffalo) "wallowed in the mud," according to The Baltimore Sun, and it didn't finish the race.

Walk A Mile (the camel) was favored to win after easily winning two heats earlier in the week.  Walk A Mile, however, was forced to wear a muzzle during the last race after breaking Pearson's arm, and jockey Charley Cooke speculated that the muzzle caused the loss.

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The Four Degrees of Separation between Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Belair Mansion

Philip Seymour Hoffman played the part of Truman Capote in the 2005 movie “Capote.”

In 1975, Truman Capote wrote a short story called “La Côte Basque 1965” that appeared in Esquire magazine. Although the story was technically fiction, Capote let it be known that it was about high society socialite Ann Woodward. The pending publication of the story drove Ann Woodward to commit suicide.

Ann Woodward was married to Billy Woodward. She killed her husband in 1955 in an incident that Life magazine called “The Shooting of the Century.”

Billy Woodward became owner of the Belair Estate, including the Belair Mansion, in 1953 upon the death of his father, William Woodward, Sr.

Bowie Race Track Ravaged by Blizzard and Fire

January 31, 1966 (48 years ago today): An early morning fire at the Bowie Race Track destroyed five barns and resulted in the deaths of more than 40 horses.

The track had been closed as the region took shelter from an intense storm that would later be known as the Blizzard of '66.  Wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour fanned the flames, and caused the fire to spread quickly.

Firefighters took more than 30 minutes to navigate the snow covered roads along the way to the track.  According to Robert Nelson of the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department, crews from the station had to push a stranded car from the roadway and shovel their way through three separate snow drifts in order to get their apparatus to the track.

Arriving personnel found a chaotic scene.  Flames were shooting high into the air, and panicked horses and ice made for a hazardous situation.

Approximately 100 horses were let loose in an effort to save as many lives as possible.  Some horses were later found roaming at the Belair Shopping Center and Glenn Dale Hospital.

Seventeen-Year-Old Donna Dustin Murdered

Memorial plaque in Bowie's Acorn Hill Park

November 17, 1973 (40 years ago today):  A seventeen-year-old Bowie girl was murdered.  Donna Dustin's body was discovered by a hunter that morning in Anne Arundel County not far from the Bowie Race Track.  Dustin's murder remains unsolved.

Pictured here is a memorial plaque that can be found in Bowie's Acorn Hill Park.

Much has been written about the Donna Dustin murder case.  This January, 2000, Washington Post article provides a fairly complete summary:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-01/16/076r-011600-idx.html

Although no one has been charged in Donna Dustin's murder, an attempt was made to link the Dustin murder to the 1987 murder of Jacqueline Roberson in Bowie.  Richard McLeod was convicted of the Roberson murder, but in an appeal, McLeod argued that someone else likely committed the Roberson murder.  He named several people that he suspected were involved.  One of the men that McLeod implicated, was, according to the motion filed by McLeod, likely present during the Dustin murder.  No one knows the whereabouts of the man that McLeod identified.  http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca4/07-6551/076551.u-2011-03-15.html

Jeff Krulik created this video in remembrance of the 40th anniversary of Donna Dustin's death.

"Greaser Gang" Attacks Seven Youths at Bowie High

Bowie High School, 1973 (photo by Arnie Miles)

October 25, 1968 (45 years ago today):  Seven Bowie teenagers were beaten by a Lanham/Seabrook area "Greaser" gang while waiting for rides outside Bowie High School following Teen Club.  According to the Bowie Blade, two car loads of youths arrived at the school looking for "Big John," the supposed head of the Bowie Greasers.  After failing to find Big John, the out-of-town boys attacked the Bowie teens with bats, fists and tire chains.  Two of the local youths were rendered unconscious by the attack.

The Bowie Blade reported that "Greaser" gangs existed in many of the area towns, including Belair, and a "considerable rivalry" existed between the various Greaser factions at the time.  The term "Greaser" is derived from the slick, greasy hair style that was popular among the gang members.  According to one source interviewed by the Blade, Greaser gangs were "composed of high school drop-outs and other toughs."

Photos of Bowie Maryland 1973 through 1975 by Arnie Miles is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

The First Edition of the Bowie Blade is Published

October 19, 1967 (46 years ago today):  The first edition of the Bowie Blade was published.  The headline near the top of page one was, "Belair's NEWS Newspaper Begins Publication," and Editor Bob Reid declared the paper to be the "first area paper to offer total news coverage."

In his introduction to the newspaper, Reid said, "we are calling The Bowie Blade the 'pajama newspaper.' We desire it to be so well delivered that residents can bring it in without getting out of their pajamas. It should be right at the front door, and if it isn't, we wish you would let us know. It shouldn't happen twice!"

Reid went on to say, "The Bowie Blade will bring to local residents all the news, total and complete. We hope to not overlook anything that can conceivably be of interest to Bowie residents, and in addition, we intend to pack the paper with interesting features, lively photographs, a sprightly woman's page, and a complete sports section covering the local sports picture."

The newspapers staff worked out of offices above J-Mart in 1967.

Here is a sample of some of the headlines from the first edition:

"Wilson, Conroy Clash Over 197"; "Bowie Senior High Enrollment Hits 1,410: Shifting 9th Grad to Junior High Eases Load (Bowie High will double in size with the new edition currently under construction in the read of the existing school.)";  "Students Driving To Bowie Classes Curtailed"; "DuVal Tigers Stun Bowie High With 26-0 Victory: Favored Bulldogs Hurt by Fumbles"; "Mobile Library Use Proves Bowie Readers are Voracious"; "New Home Site for Knights of Columbus"

Here is a sample of some of the advertisers from the first edition:

Mister Chicken, Bowie Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad, The Bowie Inn, Rip's Restaurant and Motel, Belair Theater, Belair Maintenance Company, Dwyer Maintenance Company, Tidewater Belair Realty, Hi-Gear Discount Auto Center, Belair National Bank, Bob's Barber Shop, Levitt and Sons, Keystone Footwear, T&T Liquors, V.M. Razanno, W.F. Mann Realty

Protesters Arrested at Levitt & Sons Model Homes

The Levitt Manor House on Sussex Lane

September 14, 1963 (50 years ago today):  Eight people were arrested inside the the Levitt & Sons sales office on Sussex Lane after participating in a sit-in to protest Levitt's policy of refusing to sell houses to blacks.  Most demonstrators remained outside while six entered the Levitt office.  The Prince George's County Police arrived, arrested the six protesters, and the police were forced to carry some of the protesters to an awaiting patrol wagon.  After the police left, two more protesters entered the sales office, and they were subsequently arrested.

All eight people arrested were charged with trespassing, and they spent the night in an Upper Marlboro jail after refusing bond. The arrested protesters later claimed that they were held in the "drunk tank" without access to bedding.  Jail officials claimed that the protesters were causing a disturbance in the jail by yelling and singing loudly, and they were put in the "tank" to restore order to the jail.  Officials also claimed that the protesters refused an offer for bedding.

The incident occurred during months of protests organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and other organizations.  Multiple sit-ins took place, including one that turned into a "sleep-in" as three protesters spent a quiet night in the sales office with a guard from Levitt & Sons.  Episcopalian Reverand Reinhart Gutmann, a Belair at Bowie homeowner, organized a protest that included eighteen Episcopalian clergymen carrying signs and singing religious songs.  Although most protesters were opposed to Levitt's discriminatory policies, three men from the Fighting American Nationalists organization carried a sign during one protest that said "Integration Stinks."