Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
"BLACK MARIA''
"BLACK MARIA." The "Black Maria" was the term given to a horse-drawn wagon used to transport prisoners. The origin of the term has long been in question. As the result of research by George Thompson, however, it appears the term was into use in New York in at least two newspaper reports, one of 1835 and the other of 1836. The former was in the New York Transcript of December 24, 1835 and said, “A man named Henry Stage ... contrived to make his escape on Saturday last while on his way from Bellevue prison to the city in the carriage generally known as ‘Black Maria'."
The last Black Maria went out of use in Dubuque with the purchase of the first police automobile.
See: DUBUQUE POLICE DEPARTMENT
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Source:
World Wide Words. www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bla1.htm