TRAPPE, Md. — He is “ye olde shoppe keeper,” spending time between customers at his bookstore pecking his computer keyboard in a musical cadence, two index fingers at a time.
But, from time to time, Jim Dawson, proprietor of the landmark Unicorn Bookshop, also delves into historical mysteries on the Eastern Shore. About two years ago, he found notes in almost forgotten files of a 1980s interview he had with the late James Wheedleton of Trappe about Patty Cannon of Reliance.
What happened there nearly 200 years back had been covered in newspapers and court records of the day. In the 1820s, Ms. Cannon was charged with murder for her role in a family gang that kidnapped freed slaves, reselling them in the South, and murdering those who got in the way. She would become the most infamous female criminal — though alleged — on Delmarva.
