How difficult it was, in the days before the building of the railroads, to\u00a0travel between places in Maine that are now within two or three hours ride of\u00a0each other is shown by an exchange of remarks a hundred years ago between the e\u00a0ditors of the Skowhegan Clarion and the Portland Gazette. The Clarion editor\u00a0had said: ”We owe Brother Illsley of the Portland Gazette something for the excellent\u00a0stories that have graced his columns. We have on hand a fine, plump\u00a0turkey, and frankly we don’t care for turkey. So we will make Brother Illsley a\u00a0present of it if he will tell us how to send it to him.”<\/p>\n
To this offer Editor Illsley replied from his Portland sanctum thus: “‘Bow\u00a0are we going to get at that turkey, or rather how is the turkey going to get to\u00a0us? Can the postmaster at Skowhegan send it to us under a government frank?\u00a0We fear not. Nor can it conveniently be stuffed into a newspaper wrapper. Can’\u00a0SOllIe traveler be coaxed iuto packing it in his trunk as he journeys thither?\u00a0Won t t the geual stage driver help us out in our extremity? Confound it! A\u00a0fine, plump turkey held out to us and we cannot reach it.”<\/p>\n
The railroad reached Portland from. Boston in the fall of 1842. It was built\u00a0rapidly, for in April it had come only as far as Newburyport. By the end of May\u00a0it had reached Portsmouth, and in November came to Portland.\u00a0Before the railroad came, Portlanders had long been going on picnics, though\u00a0the word picnic was just coming into use. There was, in fact, considerable dispute\u00a0about its spelling. The Portland Gazette commented editorially in 1843:<\/p>\n
”The Augusta Age, speaking of Pic Hie (sic) celebration in that place on the\u00a0Fourth of July, adopts the spelling Pick Nlc. The Kennebec Joumal spells it\u00a0Pick Nick. We spell it Pic Nic. We have seen it in a Philadelphia paper spelled\u00a0as one word, picnic. But we shall keep on correctly making it two words.”<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, we know that picnic is not a very old word. It\u00a0appears to be a modification of the French pique-Dique, mock excitement, but\u00a0its exact origin is unknown. In Germany in 1750 it was a fashionable, social\u00a0entertainment to which each person present contributed a share of the provisions.<\/p>\n
Its first mention in English writing was in 1800. How it came to apply\u00a0to out-of-door, recreational meals no one knows.<\/p>\n
The favorite picnic spot in Portland was Deering IS Oaks, refermd to by\u00a0Longfellow in his nostalgic poem ”My Lost Youth”. Outside the city the points\u00a0that drew summer picnickers were the islands in Casco Bay and grounds below\u00a0the twin cities near the mouth of the Saco River.<\/p>\n
With the coming of the railroad, Saco saw a big picnic boom. Excursions\u00a0wem run from Portland all through the summer of 1843, and many summers afterward.<\/p>\n
On July 30 the Gazette recorded: “Some hundred or more of our ladies\u00a0and gentlemen visited Saco last week on a picnic excursion.”<\/p>\n
The greatest railroad excursion out of Portland in 1843, however, was the\u00a0trip to Boston for the dedication of Bunker Hill Monument. Hom than a thousand\u00a0Maine people made that trip. Tie railroad having an insufficient number of\u00a0passenger cars for the special train, many of the passengers crowded into\u00a0freight cars of the old flat-car type, along the sides of which crude benches\u00a0had been placed. The train left Portland at 4 A.M. on the morning of June 16,\u00a0with Editor Illsley one of the passengers. It took Dine hours to mach Boston.<\/p>\n
Putting up at hotels for the night, the Maine folks wem out early the\u00a0next moming for the events on Boston Common. Tlete was a big parade, in which\u00a0the Maine band, according to the Gazette, showed up every bit as good as the\u00a0famous Massachusetts band of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Editor\u00a0Illsley paid tribute to the marching Irish, but said they couldn’t hold a\u00a0candle to the elaborate display of the MasODS, who were out in aprons and full\u00a0regalia. Let’s get a description of the scene on the Common in the editor’s\u00a0own words:<\/p>\n
”Every inch of ground was occupied. We edged our way a while among the\u00a0crowd, but were soon convinced that the hope of a man of our height seeing anything\u00a0of the show there was preposterous; so we backed out and took our\u00a0station in the street to watch the procession. After kicking our shins for an\u00a0hour or more, amusing ourselves by looking at the sea of heads which rolled\u00a0by in one ceaseless stream., the clash of cymbols, the bugle’s blast, and the\u00a0trumpet 1S blare announced the procession. It\u00a0I told you last week that Editor Illsley didn’t think much of President\u00a0John Tyler. His feeling is emphasized by the following passage in his account:<\/p>\n
tfGreat curiosity, of course, was manifested to see the President of the\u00a0United States. Be came in an open barroche, accanpanied by his two sons and the\u00a0President of the Bunker Hill Association. His appearance exe! ted respect ful\u00a0attention, but nothing more. Some of the papers spoke of the loud and repeated\u00a0applause bestowed upon him. We did not hear any. A few faint cheers were raised,\u00a0half a dozen feminine handkerchiefs were waved languidly. It was clear that\u00a0while the office commanded the people’s respect, the man had not their hearts.<\/p>\n
The universal impression was that his presence threw a chill on the enthusiasm\u00a0which the occasion seemed so naturally calculated to call forth. There were no\u00a0hearty outbursts such as greeted the survivors of the Revolution, justly the\u00a0real heroes of the day. A friend of ours compared Mr. Tyler to an iceberg, casting\u00a0a freezing influence on all arotmd him.<\/p>\n
The procession was so long that, when the front was ascending Btmker Hill\u00a0in Charlestown, the rear had not left Washington Street.<\/p>\n
Mr. Ills ley’s account runs to three columns in the Gaze tte of June 24,\u00a01843. Interesting as it is, it contains a notable omission, explained by the\u00a0fact that our editor missed the main event. He says: ”Not expecting to get\u00a0within gun shot of hearing distance of the orator, we did not go to Bunker Hill\u00a0for the oration, but went to see the monument the following day. fI\u00a0Like so many of us who do not appreciate a great event until long after the\u00a0opportunity has passed, Editor Illsley did not know what he had missed 7 and in\u00a0his long account he doesn’t even mention the orator by name. Probably, years\u00a0afterward, he wished he had at least tried to get near the speaker’s stand, for on that 17th of June in 1843, 68 years after the battle, the address of\u00a0dedication of the lofty granite monument was delivered by Daniel Webster, and\u00a0his speech was one of the most famous orations in American history.<\/p>\n
Nor does the Gazette mention the famous scene of 18 years before, when on\u00a0the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, the corner stone of the monument was\u00a0laid, and the same Daniel Webster delivered what schoolboys came to call the\u00a0First Bunker Hill Oration, and when at the orator’s side sat the greatest foreign\u00a0friend of the new nation, the Marquis de Lafayette.<\/p>\n
We haven’t mentioned murder on this program since last October, when for\u00a0three weeks we told you about the slaying of young Edward Mathews and the trial\u00a0of his murderer, Dr. Valorus P. Coolidge. Ton:t.ght we want to tell you about\u00a0the first murder trial held under the constitution of the United States, for\u00a0that trial was held in Maine, while we were still part of Massachusetts, 30\u00a0years before we became a separate State.<\/p>\n
On July 10, 1789 Captain Henry Jordan of Cape Elizabeth was coming home in\u00a0his schooner Betsey when, ten miles out of Falmouth (then the name of what is\u00a0now Portland) he sighted and hailed another schooner. Her master, Captain\u00a0Thomas Bird, said she was the Rover, from the coast of Africa, bound for the\u00a0nearest American port.<\/p>\n
“I am bound for Falmouth”, said Captain Jordan. “That’s the nearest port\u00a0there is, not more than ten miles. If you aren’t acquainted with this coast,\u00a0just follow in my wake and It 11 pilot you in. tI\u00a0Both ships came into Portland Harbor and anchored near the Cape Elizabeth\u00a0shore. Within a few days an air of mystery surrounded the Rover. She bad\u00a0brought no cargo and seemed to be loOking for none. Ber whole crew consisted\u00a0of only three men. Several weeks elapsed, and the crew showed no sign of\u00a0moving the sbip, spending most of their time wandering about Cape Elizabeth\u00a0and Falmouth. No one could discover that they bad any definite object.<\/p>\n
It so happened that in that month of July 1789 the Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0of Massachusetts was holding a .saion at Falmouth in the Dis trict of Maine.<\/p>\n
When mysterious rumors about the Rover reached the ears of the Court, the judges\u00a0deemed it their duty to make inquiry. They accordingly sent for Robert Jordan\u00a0and William Dyer, two young men of Cape Elizabeth, who had become friendly\u00a0with the crew of the Rover and had visited the ship.<\/p>\n
Now I am interested in that William. Dyer, because I think he may have\u00a0been a relative of mine. My paternal grandmother was a Dyer from Cape Elizabeth,\u00a0and the commonest names of the place were Jordan and Dyer. There were so many\u00a0William Dyers, in fact~ in my grandmother’s time that they wete called Henry’s\u00a0William, Eli fS William, Jabez’ William, etc. to distinguish them from one another.<\/p>\n
At any rate my William Dyer and his friend Robert Jordan had indeed heard\u00a0strange talk aboard the Rover, especially when members of the crew were in their\u00a0cups. Young Dyer became convinced that there had been foul play aboard the\u00a0ship and that :Bird was not originally the captain. Dyer related an incident\u00a0that added to his convinced opinion. He said that one evening the two young men\u00a0and the crew bad consumed all the liquor in the cabin~ and Captain Bird told the\u00a0man Hanson to go into the bold and bring up a bottle of wine. Hanson didn’t want\u00a0to go. Captain Bird chided him and asked him what he was afraid of. “Are you\u00a0afraid you will see Connor?” sneered Bird. Then Bird himself jumped up and went into the hold, Coming back with a bottle of wine. Hanson asked him if he\u00a0bad seen anything of Connor down them. Whereupon Captain Bird told Hanson to\u00a0sbut up or be t d throw the bottle at his head.<\/p>\n
Naturally young Dyer became curious as to who was Connor and what had\u00a0happened to him. ‘!he COlllFt also was cur.:l.ous, and issued a warrant for the arrest and examination of the crew. Then followed such a chase as would have\u00a0delighted the heart of that old sea dog, my friend, Jim Comolly, who wrote so\u00a0many spirited yarns about the racing schoonets.<\/p>\n
Before the rowboat bearing the posse could mach the Rover, her crew\u00a0oisted sail and started for the mouth of the harbor. The officer of the pursuing\u00a0boat ordemd two more of his men to lay down their guns and put out a\u00a0pair of extra oars. ‘!be six oarsmen now buckled down to their work and sent\u00a0the craft leaping through the water.<\/p>\n
By this time the Rover was under full sail, but could not take advantage\u00a0of the wind until she rounded the point at the entrance to the harbor.It became\u00a0clear that if she got to the point befom the rowboat overtook her, she would\u00a0get away.<\/p>\n
Just befom the race reached the narrows between Cape Elizabeth and Bouse\u00a0J;sland, the rowboat came alongside, and the officer commanded Captain Bird to\u00a0heave to. The order was not obeyed, and the officer commanded two of\u00a0his men to train their guns on Bird. ‘!he latter then darted from the helm\u00a0and leaped down the companionway. His two companions speedily followed him,\u00a0leaving the Rover to steer her own course. ‘!he vessel, no longer obeying a\u00a0steersman, soon rounded to, and the men from the rowboat clambemd aboard.<\/p>\n
Looking down into the cabin, they saw B1rd amed with a musket, and the\u00a0ther two with cutlass and handspike, bidding defiance to their captors. The\u00a0officer closed the hatch, and with the help of some of bis men who understood<\/p>\n
handling a vessel, soon tacked up the harbor and made fas t to one of the wharves\u00a0on the Falmouth side. There, before some fifty armed men, Bird and his coq\u00bban-\u00a0ions called it a day and meekly surrendered.<\/p>\n
Examined separately, the three men showed no confidence in each other,\u00a0and each patently feared that the others would betray him. Pieced together,\u00a0their several stories agreed on essential points. The schooner belonged to one\u00a0Hodges in England and was commanded by Captain Ccmnor. They had been trading\u00a0for some time off the coast of Africa. Besides Thomas Bird, the other men ofthe\u00a0crew were Hans Hanson, a Swede, and Mathew Jackson, who said he bailed\u00a0from Newton, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
They agreed that Captain Connor was a vety brutal shipmaster, abusing his\u00a0men beyond endurance, and that finally they had sought revenge by taking his\u00a0life. Hanson and Jackson said that Bird had fired the fatal shot, while Bl.rd\u00a0contended that Hanson was the killer. All three agreed that the murder had taken\u00a0place in the cabin and that the weapon was a loaded musket which Captain\u00a0Connor kept there. They took the body on deck and threw it into the. sea.<\/p>\n
Afraid to return to England with the schooner, they decided to come to\u00a0the Un1ted States, dispose of such articles as they had on board, sell the vessel\u00a0at the first opportwity, separate, and go to their respective homes.<\/p>\n
Upon this examination and confession, the court committed them to the Falmouth\u00a0jail for murder committed on the high seas. At that time the supreme\u00a0judicial courts of the several states, with the judges of admiralty, were by an\u00a0ordinance of the old Congress, author1zed to try piracy and felony c01lllll1tted on\u00a0the high seas. But before the next session of court in Falmouth the new Congress,\u00a0under the new federal Constitution, had passed the act establishing the\u00a0U. S. Courts, committing the trial of crimes on the high seas to the circuit\u00a0court of the United States. That court held no session in Falmouth until 1790.<\/p>\n
In June of that year Bird and Hanson were tr1ed, Jackson having turned state’s\u00a0\u00a0acquitted Hanson, but found Bird guilty of\u00a0murder. On June 25, 1790 he was hanged in public at a gallows on MUI1joy Hill.<\/p>\n
Year: 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #103, broadcast on April 8, 1951<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}