On This Day: Shenandoah family evicted

A Shenandoah family – the Morrisons and McGrails - were evicted. Barney Dolan claimed he held a mortgage on the Morrison property and that they defaulted. He claimed right to various goods belong to the Morrisons in lieu of payment. While taking the goods however, there was a bit of excitement.

Officers removed everything from the house, including the Morrison family and William McGrail, son in law to Mr. Morrison. Mrs. McGrail had fainted and was allowed to stay in the house under guard.

At one point the house was unguarded and the Morrisons moved their goods back inside. Dolan arrived again and this time McGrail threatened to shoot the first one through the door. A fight ensued and in the end Morrison and McGrail were arrested for resisting.

The events were reported in Lancaster On This Day in 1881.

Source:

Lancaster daily intelligencer. (Lancaster, Pa.), 29 April 1881. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.

On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events.

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