Matthew P. Mayo - Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of Hardscrabble New England

Matthew P. Mayo is the author of fiction and nonfiction books, including the novels Winters War, Wrong Town, and Hot Lead, Cold Heart, and the recent best-selling nonfiction work, Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West. Raised in Rhode Island and on a farm in Vermont, Mayo is a member of Western Writers of America, Western Fictioneers, Maine Historical Society, and Historic New England. He and his wife, documentary photographer Jennifer Smith-Mayo, live on the coast of Maine and explore New England year-round. Visit him on the Web at matthewmayo.com.

Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks

The Wild American West be damned! Matthew P. Mayos Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks is a fascinatingand often absolutely bloodcurdlingnarrative of New Englands darkest and grittiest historical incidents and characters. A consummate storyteller with a lively, entertaining voice, Mayo has brought to life New Englands most evil pirates, scalpers, witch-hunters, and ax-murderers, along with a few equally chilling accounts of accidents and natural catastrophes. For good measure, there are even a couple of raids on New England by Nazi and Confederate soldiers. Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks is American history at its most violent and authentic. Edgar Allan Poe would have loved every story in it.

Howard Frank Mosher, award-winning author of A Stranger in the Kingdom, Where the Rivers Flow North, and Walking to Gatlinburg

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Copyright 2011 by Matthew P. Mayo

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing; from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Project editor: Gregory Hyman

Text design: Sheryl P. Kober

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mayo, Matthew P.

Bootleggers, lobstermen & lumberjacks : fifty of the grittiest moments in the history of hardscrabble New England / Matthew P. Mayo.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7627-5968-2

1. New EnglandHistoryAnecdotes. 2. Frontier and pioneer lifeNew EnglandAnecdotes. 3. New EnglandBiographyAnecdotes. I. Title.

F4.M16 2010

974dc22

2010030113

Printed in the United States of America

10

For Gayla, Bill, and Jeffrey Mayo, hardy New Englanders

For Rose Mary and David Smith, who chose New England

For Jennifer, who chose me

For Guinness and Nessie, who arent choosy at all

My thanks to many, including Charlie Campo, chief librarian at Bangor Daily News , Bangor, Maine; Ann Zuccardy at National Life Insurance Company, Montpelier, Vermont; U.S. Coast Guard; Library of Congress; National Archives; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce; Belfast Free Library; Portland Public Library; University of Maines Fogler Library; Historic New England; Maine Historical Society; and New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Thanks to Melissa Falcon for the sweet molasses tip; to Dale Kuhnert and Barney, a most dynamic duo; to the Pezzanis, a salty salute from HMS Bucket ; to Guy, Ace of Adventure; and to my editor, Erin Turner, for admitting that New England has grit, too....

My humble thanks to the people of New England, past, present, and futurespecial people in a special place.

And last, though first in every way, my deepest thanks go to my dear wife, Jennifer Smith-Mayo, for all of her invaluable effort, help, and support. How bout some chowdah?

M.P.M.

I was raised in New England, born into families with deep roots here. My parents are both hearty and hale, complex and straightforward, much like the climate in which they were raised, and in which they raised me. They grew up on the ocean in Rhode Island to hardworking families and worked hard themselves, quahogging in their own skiffs and generally messing about in boats. That they ended up dairy farming in the lush hills of Vermonts Northeast Kingdom isnt so ironic, considering their rural New England heritage.

Before our move to the Green Mountains, I spent my first decade in Little Rhody. I recall hearing from my folks all about its global significance, despite its diminutive size. And I remember reading a sign explaining something called The Great Swamp Fightnever has a phrase been so evocative to me. It continues to intrigue me, even after all these years.

The New England of my childhood is remarkably the same as that of my adulthoodit is still largely a rural place of rolling fields, close-cropped in summer; of cows in pastures; of hot-sand beaches and rolling surf; of old stone walls and historic markers; of the clank of rigging on masts in small fishing harbors; of rows of dinghies jostled by a lobster boats slow wake; of the spiced scent of oak and maple leaves, all colors, drying in the autumn sun; of the late-fall crunch of acorns underfoot; of shoveling paths in the snow, to the barn from the house, well before sunrise.

New England is a place of watching the Red Sox with Grandma, while Yaz rounded third and headed for home; of taking long Sunday rides with my parents and little brother (I wont mention the lollipops he worked into my hair as I dozed in the backseat) while my father said, I know just where we are.... Much of the time he did, but the times he didnt were richer, for not only did he take the ribbing well, but we all surveyed the undiscovered countryside of those Sunday rides, each of us finding some new detail to mull over as we headed back home to feed and milk the cows.

But not before we happened upon a new ice-cream stand, each one somehow better than the previous weeks discovery. And that brings me to another New England truthits home to the best ice cream youll find anywhere. And chowder. And lobster, johnnycakes, maple syrup, pies, beef stew with dumplingsmaybe not gritty, but darn tasty. Perhaps Im biased....

And whats more, New England is known and loved the world over. Just mention the phrase New England or Maine lobster or Rhode Island clamcakes or Vermonts Northeast Kingdom in a room full of folks from the Midwest or the Deep South or the West Coast or Australia, for that matter, and youll have the attention of everyone in the roomand youll see wistful looks and hear yearning in their voices. Thats because in addition to a long and fascinating history that in one way or another touches everyone in the United States, New England also offers the promise of a simpler, humbler time.

Here in rural New England, houses still wear white clapboards, general stores still get the bulk of your shopping business, backyard gardens are the rule and not the exception, and county fairs still hold livestock in higher esteem than midway attractions.

New England also represents the countrys first frontier. Long before settlers dared venture west, they traveled north from their coastal settlements to the rugged terrain of northern New EnglandVermonts Green Mountains, New Hampshires Whites, the Longfellow Mountains in Maine. It is from these intrepid, hardy folk that the well-known Yankee traits of frugality, resourcefulness, and, yes, even suspicion of strangers arise.