This Day in Delaware History: February 26

This Day in Delaware History:

1865 Lt. Samuel Boyer Davis, grandson of his namesake who defended Lewes during the British attack in 1813 and who was reprieved from a death sentence for being a Confederate spy, was imprisoned in Fort Delaware.

1917 A bill giving women the right to vote failed in the state senate.

1923 The Delaware Trust Company opened a branch office at Four Corners in Middletown.

1926 After Governor Robert Robinson called out the National Guard at 21 year old Negro Harry Butler’s trial, he was hanged in Georgetown prison yard before a crowd of 5,000 onlookers. He was convicted for the murder of Eleanora Steinmetz of Bridgeville.

Today’s facts were compiled by historian Roger Martin and the Delaware Public Archives.