Abe Buzzard: Illustrious Lancastrians #4

An orphan of the Civil War, Abe Buzzard was born on Christmas Day, 1852 in Lancaster County and died on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1935, in Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia. He lived 50 of his 86 years in jail, mostly for horse and chicken thievery (but never, it should be noted, for murder). His exploits, and those of his infamous Buzzard Gang, were headline fodder from Lancaster to New York City. He often appeared at tent revivals around the state preaching a sermon he called “Ruin and Redemption” while his brothers disappeared with the town’s poultry.   He once escaped Lancaster County Prison with a vial of acid and a pet canary.

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