Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks

Matthew P. Mayo is the author of several fiction and nonfiction books, including Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears (TwoDot, January 2010) and the Western novels Winters’ War, Wrong Town, and Hot Lead, Cold Heart. Raised in Rhode Island and Vermont, he has spent much of his adult life in Maine, writing about the state for Down East and other publications. Visit him at matthewmayo.com.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Pilgrims’ ProgressA rough Atlantic crossing is followed by frigid temperatures, scurvy, starvation, and death. . . . Welcome to the New World. (1620)2. Dungeon RockIn a cave near Lynn, Massachusetts, pirate Thomas Veal guards his treasure—until the Great Earthquake of 1658 buries him alive. (1658)3. The Great Swamp FightThe Narragansetts are attacked deep in Rhode Island’s Great Swamp by a force of 1,200. Three hundred children, women, and old people are shot, bludgeoned, and burned to death. (1675)4. The Candlemas MassacreFive hundred Abenakis raid York, Maine, killing, kidnapping, and burning. Jeremiah Moulton sees his parents get scalped. He doesn’t forget . . . or forgive. (1692)5. A Crushing EndDuring the Salem witch trials, 150 people are imprisoned on charges of witchcraft, twenty-nine are convicted, nineteen are hanged, and five die in prison. Giles Corey is not so lucky. (1692)6. A Mother’s AngerHannah Duston of Boscowen, New Hampshire, kills and scalps her sleeping captors . . . to avenge their brutal murder of her baby. (1697)7. Boon Island’s CurseA midwinter wreck strands fourteen sailors on this barren rock six miles off the coast of York, Maine. Only ten survive for twenty-four days, without fire, by eating what meat is available. (1710)8. Pirate Treasure“Black Samuel” Bellamy captures the treasure-laden Whydah. But as the crew nears its home port of Cape Cod, a tempest strikes, and the ship’s timbers begin to crack. (1717)9. The Brutality of Ned LowVicious pirate Ned Low captures a Boston whaler, tortures the crew, steals their food, and sets them adrift to starve. But he’s still not satisfied. (1723)10. The Meetinghouse TragedyThe frame of the new Wilton, New Hampshire, meetinghouse collapses, dropping fifty-three workers three stories to the ground—followed by tons of trusses and tools. (1773)11. Ann Story’s CaveA falling tree kills her husband, and Indians burn her cabin, but Ann Story stays on her hard-won Vermont land, living in a riverbank cave and helping capture Tories. (1775)12. Bunker HoleMainer Jack Bunker hijacks a British ship full of food stolen from colonists. The British give hard chase, so he runs it into a hidden cove, cuts the masts, and waits. (1775)13. The Knox Cannon TrainColonel Henry Knox leads eighty yoke of oxen, dragging fifty-nine cannons, three hundred miles in fifty-six days over mountains, lakes, and swamps . . . in winter. The British siege is soon broken. (1775)14. A Manly ShowingDuring Connecticut’s battle of Ridgefield, Colonel Benedict Arnold’s horse, shot nine times, falls on him. A charging redcoat demands surrender, but Arnold refuses. (1777)15. Revolutionary WomanDressed as a man, Deborah Sampson is wounded fighting for the Continental Army. She pries a musket ball from her leg with a knife, but a second ball is lodged too deep. (1782)16. She-Pirate! Rachel Wall lures innocent rescuers to their deaths at the hands of her concealed crew. But the game wears thin . . . and piracy in Massachusetts is a hanging offense. (1782)17. Tough Times, Tough PeopleIn February, Seth Hubbell and his family trek one hundred miles on foot to the raw wilderness of northern Vermont. His livestock and crops die. Then life grows difficult. (1789)18. The Wild EastMrs. Graves of Brookfield, Vermont, spends all night lunging with a pitchfork at a bear intent on savaging her swine. But as she grows wearier, the bear grows angrier. (1800)19. The Black Snake AffairA century before Prohibition, an illicit load of potash instigates animosity, mayhem, and murder between smugglers and the federal militia on Vermont’s Winooski River. (1808)20. The Legend of Skinner’s CaveSmuggler Uriah Skinner is trapped on his secret Lake Memphremagog island by federal officers who take his boat—and leave him no way off the island. (1808)21. Runaway PondA Glover, Vermont, man’s plan for more water works too well: Mammoth trees, boulders, buildings, bridges, and livestock are ripped free and carried for miles. (1810)22. “1800-and-Froze-to-Death”Killing frosts in each month of the year across New England result in crop failures, starvation, disease, and mass exodus—all the makings of a famine. (1816)23. The Worst Mistake Ever MadeThreat of a crushing landslide forces Samuel Willey, his wife, their five children, and two hired men from their home in the heart of Crawford Notch. Big, big mistake. (1826)24. Massachusetts Bay Man-EaterAngler Joseph Blaney attracts the attention of two great white sharks in the middle of Massachusetts Bay. They are considerably larger than his dinghy. (1830)25. Vortex of DoomAs their mother watches from shore, two brothers in a schooner are sucked into the gaping maw of the Old Sow Whirlpool, off Eastport, Maine. They aren’t the first . . . or the last. (1835)26. Rebels . . . in Vermont!A Rebel raider and his gang attack a town on the Vermont-Canadian border, robbing banks, setting fires, and forcing hostages to swear allegiance to the Confederacy. (1864)27. Aroostook Lynch LawWhen he steals a pair of boots, Big Jim Cullen never dreams he’ll be the star of New England’s only lynching. (1873)28. The Hartford DisasterThe engineer of the night express from White River Junction works to make up time, though winter track conditions are dicey, especially on bridges over frozen rivers. (1887)29. North Woods Freeze-UpAcross northern New England, weeks of 40-below temperatures force loggers to kill their horses, cut off their own frostbitten digits, and fight like caged rats. (1887)30. The Great White HurricaneIn March, a nor’easter wallops the coast, dumping fifty inches of snow, whipping up fifty-foot drifts, and wrecking two hundred ships. It takes weeks to tally the dead. (1888)31. The Last VampireTo ward off vampiric spirits of the recently deceased, a young Rhode Island girl’s corpse is exhumed, her organs are burned, and the smoke is inhaled by family members. (1892)32. . . . And with an AxeIn Fall River, Massachusetts, thirty-two-year-old Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden opens her parents’ heads with a hatchet—and is never convicted of the crime. (1892)33. Lobstermen Fisticuffs!In December 1894, tensions cause Cape Porpoise lobstermen to sink boats, threaten lives, and brawl in the streets. The arrests instigate conservation practices still in use today. (1894)34. North Woods Ice-OutA spongy lake, a load of logs, two horses, one teamster, and an unscrupulous clerk are a recipe for disaster in Vermont’s northern forest. (1895)35. The Portland GaleAn unexpected nor’easter drags the steamship Portland’s 192 passengers and crew out to sea. The waves increase, the boilers grow cold, and the vessel weakens. (1898)36. King of the River HogsA New Hampshire line-house full of drunken rivermen, a big bouncer with arms like tree trunks, and a wiry little drive boss named Jigger Johnson. Guess who wins…. (1905)37. The Human ShingleA Berlin, Vermont, farmer takes advantage of a fair winter day to fix his barn roof. But his aging joints stiffen, the day grows cold, and he freezes to the roof. (1907)38. Malaga IslandThe mixed-race residents of Maine’s Malaga Island are evicted, and all traces of them are removed from the island. Even the bodies in the cemetery are exhumed. (1911)39. Logjam from HellThe last great log drive on the Connecticut jams 65 million board feet of logs, flooding homes, barns, bridges, streets, and railroad tracks in North Stratford, Vermont. (1915)40. Rocket RideTwo young men climb aboard illegal slideboards to descend Mount Washington’s Cog Railway tracks in mere minutes. But without brakes, their trip is quick—and painful. (1919)41. The Boston Molasses DisasterA massive storage tank bursts, and two million gallons of molasses pulse outward in a forty-foot-high wave. It’s lunchtime, and people are out enjoying a warm winter day. (1919)42. Rum-Running LobstermenOne Maine island lobsterman doesn’t like strangers nosing in his traps—which happen to hold bottles of illicit booze—but a shotgun blast solves all sorts of problems. (1924)43. Queen of the Border RumrunnersShe’s the brains of a border-hopping band of bootleggers, and one night, with five hundred clanking bottles aboard, Hilda Stone is tailed by agents . . . and her smokescreen fails. (1925)44. Kingdom Death Ride Winston Titus needs to make a bootlegging run from Canada through Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. But the smiling teen doesn’t count on two border agents—or their guns. (1927)45. Black Duck’s Big NightLoaded with alcohol on Narragansett Bay, the Black Duck is raked with machine-gun fire from a Coast Guard cutter. Soon, the deck is covered with blood, booze, and glass. (1929)46. The Sea FoxIt’s Cape Cod Captain Zora’s biggest haul of hooch—and the Coast Guard is closing in. Losing the boat will wipe him out, but it beats prison. Zora reaches for the gasoline. (1932)47. Brady Gang Slain!A lust for more firepower brings the infamous Brady Gang to a Bangor, Maine, sports store, but it’s their request for a tommy gun that draws the FBI. (1937)48. Hurricane of the CenturyThe storm savages Rhode Island without mercy: A manned lighthouse disappears, an entire beach community is obliterated, and a full school bus is claimed by the sea. (1938)49. Downeast NazisA German U-boat creeps twelve miles up Frenchman’s Bay to sleepy Bar Harbor, Maine. Two Nazi spies slip ashore, lugging suitcases—Operation Magpie begins. (1944)50. Maine Coast Trap WarsIsland lobstermen squabble over territory. Trap lines are cut, threats are hurled, gas tanks are filled with rotted fish—and then the shooting begins. (1949)Art and Photo CreditsBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

“The Wild American West be damned! Matthew P. Mayo’s Bootleggers, Lobstermen, and Lumberjacks is a fascinating—and often absolutely blood-curdling—narrative of New England’s darkest and grittiest historical incidents and characters. By a consummate storyteller with a lively, entertaining voice, Bootleggers, Lobstermen, and 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