Showing results by author "James Rada Jr." in All Categories

Curious how to pronounce the title? It's CAN-all-ers. It's what boatmen on the C&O Canal called themselves. Just about everyone else said, "canallers," but the C&O Canal boatmen spoke with an accent. They also had a challenging and dangerous job during the Civil War. Canawlers brought coal and other goods 185 miles from Cumberland, Maryland, to Georgetown along the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia. The C&O Canal ran along the border of two warring nations, the canawlers were caught in the crossfire. Hugh Fitzgerald is a proud canawler. For ten months a year, he and his family ...

Matt Ansaro returns to his hometown of Eckhart Mines in the Western Maryland coal fields. It has been five years since Matt was here, and he swore when he left in 1917 that he would never return. Although Matt’s parents are dead, the rest of his family welcomes him home with open arms. Joseph McCord, the superintendent of the Consolidation Coal Mines and a classmate of Matt’s, is not so happy to see Matt return. He has plans for Matt’s old girlfriend, Laura Spencer, and Joseph thinks he will need to compete with Matt for her attention. Matt has his own plans. He is a Pinkerton ...

In the midst of a World War, the true enemy was unseen. It came with a handshake or a breath and it left behind 40 million dead. In October 1918, World War I was winding down, but the world had yet to face the deadliest killer known. Spanish Flu would devastate the world. In Cumberland, Maryland, Dr. Alan Keener, a young doctor fresh from medical school, suspects the flu has reached Allegany County. He wants to take steps to prevent its spread, but he is met with resistance from old-school doctors who believe that the flu’s deadliness is overblown and easily treated. They soon learn ...

The rain began on March 16, 1936, and with it, the rain came pain. Raymond Twigg hates the rain because it gives the Rain Man power. It is a power to bring Raymond to his knees or drive him to deadly action. As the March 1936 rains bring the St. Patrick’s Day Flood, the worst flood ever seen in Cumberland, Maryland, it also unleashes the power of the Rain Man on the citizens of the city. While most of the police force is diverted trying to deal with the flooding in the city and the problems it is causing, Sergeant Jake Fairgrieve is called out to investigate a murder. Murders are unusual ...