Local Author to Discuss True Crime Book in Berlin

By Tara Fischer

Staff writer

Local author Stephanie L.Fowler will be at The Greyhound Bookstore in Berlin this weekend to meet readers and sign copies of her new book about a 1960s double homicide at the Salisbury jail.

On Saturday, Dec. 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Fowler – a true crime author and co-owner of Berlin’s Salt Water Media, a self-publishing company – will be signing copies of her third book, “Into the Night: A Jailbreak and Double Homicide on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.”

Fowler’s book examines the night of Sunday, Dec. 8, 1968, when 21-year-old prisoner Joseph J. Bartholomey Jr. of Baltimore escaped from the Wicomico County Jail and murdered Sheriff Samuel Graham and jailer Albert L. Kelly.

According to Fowler, Bartholomey had been arrested for several robberies in Wicomico and Somerset counties. Two days before the murders, on Friday, Dec. 6, 1968, a friend and girlfriend visited Bartholomey and smuggled a gun to him hidden inside a box of candy. Bartholomey used the gun to shoot Kelly around 10 p.m., and then attacked Sheriff Graham, who came running after hearing the commotion.

At the time, the county jail was on the top floor of the district court building, often called the “penthouse prison.” The sheriff’s department was located in the basement.

After the shots were fired, another prisoner went to find the deputy in the sheriff’s office. By the time they reached the top of the courthouse,both Kelly and Graham had died. That deputy was Fowler’s grandfather.

Bartholomey escaped but was later captured and sentenced to life in prison.

The book details the crime in its opening pages.Fowler then explores the history of Salisbury, the courthouse, the lives of those involved, and how the events unfolded. She also thoroughly examines the