Larry Stanford - Scandalous Newport, Rhode Island

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2013 by Larry Stanford

All rights reserved

First published 2013

e-book edition 2013

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.62584.491.0

Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.035.1

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Scandalous Newport, Rhode Island is a result of the popularity of the first incarnation of this idea, Wicked Newport, detailing some of Newports most scintillating scandals, eccentric characters and unsolved mysteries. After receiving numerous suggestions and ideas from readers and fans of the first book, there appeared to be sufficient stories to weave into a second publication.

Scandalous Newport is a collaboration of input from Newport locals, as well as personal research to uncover some even more outrageous and previously underexplored narratives while keeping the subject matter as relevant to Newport as possible.

Newport, Rhode Island, is a wonderful place in terms of both historical occurrences and natural beauty. The multiple layers of history and the perpetual reinvention of the city and its image are some of the things that make Newport so unique. It is a place that has been enjoyed by numerous generations and hopefully countless more to come. It is my hope that within these chapters, a small piece of this charming towns history will be preserved. It was really my intention to convey, through these small snapshots of the past, the diverse and distinctive events that have occurred here, as well as to introduce you to some unique people who have graced Newport with their presence.

I hope you enjoy Scandalous Newport and any time you have to spend in the City by the Sea. It is truly a one-of-a-kind place.

CHAPTER 1

SHE COULDNT STAY AWAY

Did Newport, Rhode Island, suffer through a similar mania like the one that transpired during the witch trials of its northern neighbor, Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1690s? Did Newport hold court proceedings for people who espoused the teachings of Satan? Were Newport citizens accused of blasphemy and put to death in front of the entire town? Did superstitions and rumors create a frenzy in which people were terrified that the devil himself walked amongst them? Well, the short answer is no. Newport, upon its founding in 1639, was a haven for all religions. This freedom was eventually guaranteed by a colonial charter from King Charles II in 1663 and deemed a lively experiment to allow a person to practice any religion of his or her choosing. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of Boston, which expelled and even executed dissenters who did not completely follow the doctrines of the Puritan faith.

However, Newport did have one citizen who constantly preached her beliefs to the point where she was expelled from Boston, told never to return by the Puritan powers to be and threatened to be put to death if she ever set foot in Boston again. Yet despite all these warnings, she constantly returned, over and over again, to the very place where she could be executed for her religious beliefs. Finally, one day, the threats of capital punishment became reality, and she was hanged in Boston Common for her beliefs about God, religion and faith. Her name was Mary (Barrett) Dyer.

Mary Barrett was born in England around 1611 and married William Dyer in London in 1633. Records indicate that the couple immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony around 1635. Soon after the couples arrival, problems would arise for Mary Dyer. Originally a puritan herself, Mary was intrigued by the teachings of a local Quaker named Anne Hutchinson, who promoted the radical idea that God could actually speak directly to his followers and not just through the clergy. Of course, this flew in the face of everything the Puritan clergy preached at that time. God spoke only through them! Eventually, Anne Hutchinson was tried and convicted of heresy and exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Anne Hutchinson and her followers were labeled Antinomians, after the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality as presented by religious authorities. So Anne Hutchinson and her small band of godless souls did what everyone else who was banned from Boston did: they moved to Rhode Island. The Antinomians finally settled at the northern tip of Aquidneck Island in a town they named Pocasset. (The town is Portsmouth, Rhode Island, today.) Marys husband, William, was on of the eighteen men who signed the towns compact. All should have been well for this little band of religious seekers, but more bad news was on the way.

It seems that Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop would do everything in his power to discredit any new religious movement that could threaten his position as a religious zealot. Winthrop had discovered that while living in Boston, Mary Dyer had given birth to a stillborn baby that was hastily buried before the Antinomian exile from Boston. Winthrop ordered that the fetus be exhumed and an autopsy performed on the remains. What was uncovered was truly shocking.

Governor Winthrop was obsessed with the fetus, studying the twisted remains endlessly. The mangled fetus was horribly deformed and, in his words,

of ordinary bigness: it had a face, but no head, and the ears stood upon the shoulders and were like an apes; it had no forehead but over the eyes were four horns, hard and sharp. Between the shoulders, it had 2 mouths and in each of them a piece of red flesh sticking out; it had arms and legs as other children do but, instead of toes, it had on each foot three claws, like a young fowl, with sharp talons.

Whatever your religious beliefs were at this time, this creature, human or otherworldly, was a hideous sight to behold. Winthrop was certain of the mangled fetuss origin. It was a devil child, sent as punishment by God, and was hard and fast evidence of the heresy and sacrilege of the Antinomians.

Up to this point, Mary Dyer was just a devotee of Anne Hutchinson and her wild beliefs. In 1652, however, this would officially change. Mary and her husband would travel back to England with Providence founder Roger Williams and an early leader of the Baptist faith, John Clark. It was on this visit that Marys life would be forever altered. After hearing the preaching of Society of Friends founder George Fox, Mary Dyer was hooked. She immediately became a Quaker. While William returned to Pocasset later in 1652, Mary remained in England to strengthen her beliefs and become a Quaker preacher herself.

Mary finally returned to the colonies in 1657 and arrived inwhere else?Boston, where she was immediately arrested. She had sailed there to protest a new law that banned Quakers from the strictly Puritan city. Her protests were rejected, of course, and she was once again banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and told that if she returned, she would be executed.