Toll for the Undertaker at the Susquehanna River Bridge

When a funeral procession from Wilmington, Delaware, crossed over the Perryville and Havre de Grace Bridge in early spring 1923, the new owners, the Maryland State Roads Commission, charged $4.45 for the hearse and five automobiles to cross the span. On the return of the hearse and cars, the toll taker collected another $3.95 from the mourners.

This caused James J. Doherty, the Delaware undertaker, to seek a refund from the State Roads Commission. Funeral Director Doherty asserted that an act of the 1867 legislature ordered that no turnpike, bridge, or ferry company should collect tolls upon carriages, other vehicles, or horses going to or returning from a funeral. The lawmakers added that if someone violated this rule, the fine was between fifty and one hundred dollars.

John N. Mackall, Chairman of the State Roads Commission, wrote to Attorney General Alexander Armstrong, seeking guidance on the matter. Armstrong provided an opinion, writing that when the statute was passed, toll roads, bridges, and ferries were owned by individuals or corporations. Moreover, the legislature did not intend for the state to be prosecuted for charging a funeral.¹

When the legislature passed an act in 1922 permitting the acquisition of the Havre de Grace and Perryville Bridge, the new act contained no exception for funerals, so that took precedence over the 1867 statute. The State Roads Commission could charge whatever toll they determined. and the state wouldn’t fine itself, so the Commission didn’t have to return the money.

As a practical matter, the attorney general continued that while the act prescribed maximum limits for charges, it imposed no minimum restriction. Since it had been the policy of the state since 1867 to require these toll routes to refrain from making charges to funeral processions, the opinion noted that in the spirit of the earlier provision, which had met with public approval for so long be observed until there was further legislation on the subject.

Endnotes

1. Alexander Armstrong, “State Roads Commission, Funeral Procession Crossing Havre de Grace and Perryville Bridge Not Entitled to Toll, Exemption,” Report and Official Opinions of Attorney General, (Annapolis: Attorney General’s Office, 1923), 308-310.[↩]