One of five new interpretive signs for local African Americans being crafted by the Beach to Bay Heritage Area will be in Pocomoke City and dedicated to a “Tireless Defender of Education” who came to a tragic end.

Stephen H. Handy was born at the close of the Civil War in April 1865 in Pocomoke City, and orphaned at an early age. He grew up in Boston under the care of an uncle, and graduated in 1893 from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University, where he was educated as a lawyer.

He returned to Pocomoke to teach, and found a job in Somerset County in Fairmount. He later took a teaching job in Pocomoke and in May 1914 was appointed Supervisor of Colored Schools in Worcester County.

During his tenure he lobbied for more funding to educate Black students, and to raise teacher salaries.

On Sept. 13, 1921 Prof. Long was coming along the bicycle shop of Noah Gunby in Pocomoke City when John A. Pilchard who was inside allegedly heard pistol shots.

William Pilchard, John’s brother, was outside and accused Long of “carrying a gun” which he denied.

An argument ensued and John Pilchard when he came outside attacked Long with a pocketknife. Long was taken to Dr. N.E. Sartorius’s office in town but died while being transported to the hospital in Salisbury.

“The dead man was perhaps the leading colored citizen of the town, having been principal of the colored school there for a number of years. He recently made county superintendent of colored schools for Worcester county,” reported the Marylander and Herald the following week.

John Pilchard was arrested and charged, and following a trial in November the 43-year-old farmer was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison. The Wilmington Evening Journal on Nov. 25, 1921 stated that the jury deliberated for three hours and “could not agree on a charge of murder in the first degree, the vote standing eight to four for acquittal. They found the prisoner guilty of manslaughter and recommended clemency.”

It is said the real reason for the murder was not self-defense as the defendant tried to claim but because Prof. Long was keeping orphaned boys in school which was at the expense of the Pilchards who wanted them on their farm working.

Meanwhile the funeral for Prof. Long according to The Baltimore Afro-American of Friday, Sept. 23, 1921 was attended by over 2,000 persons with a crowd so large that it was necessary to hold the services on the (Mt. Zion) church lawn. The casket was almost covered with flowers and the string of automobiles seemed endless.”

“Stephen H. Long as a colored resident of this town, has always had the respect and esteem of our people generally,” said the Worcester Democrat after his death. “He, too, was a man of quiet and inoffensive disposition and the community mourns the fact that he should meet such a tragic death.”

He was buried in Mt. Zion United Methodist Church Cemetery.

His widow Victoria Long submitted a Card of Thanks for publication in the Worcester Democrat “to express thanks to the people of this community both white and colored for their many acts of kindness to may and my family in this tryin ordeal….”

Mrs. Long in January 1922 filed suit against John Pilchard for the death of her husband, claiming $20,000 in damages for her husband’s death.

Two months later the case was settled out of court.

In August of 1922 the Long’s Linden Avenue home and contents were advertised for sale at public auction due to a default on the $3,000 mortgage with the Pocomoke Building and Loan Association.

There was a school for Black students named for Prof. Long prior to integration, and the Steven Long Guild Inc. organized to raise money for scholarships at UMES.

No future references to Mrs. Long or her burial site could be readily found. A 1994 book about Prof. Long was written by Hammett Worthington-Smith but is apparently out of circulation and not on the shelves at any regional library.