AUGUST 1905 TRAGEDIES DREW NATIONAL ATTENTION TO READFIELD AND WINTHROP

August, 1905 was not a particularly eventful month in most parts of the country. August 5^th President Roosevelt hosted the Russian and Japanese peace commissioners at his home in Oyster Bay, NY; on the 6^th a record high rainfall occurred in Indiana; on the 24^th the Chicago Cubs beat the Phillies 2-1 in 20 innings. Nothing in particular made titillating headline news on the national level except for two tragic events that occurred in Readfield and Winthrop, Maine.

Mattie Hackett of Readfield, ME

The stage was set when a young Readfield woman named Mattie Hackett was murdered on August 17^th. She had been a student at Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female College (Kents Hill School) and was working at the Elmwood Hotel in Readfield Corner.  After supper that evening Mattie’s father found her near their farmhouse on P Ridge - lying in the road and gasping for air. After he carried her to the house he found a piece of rope wrapped around her neck but it was too late - she died minutes later.

A novice reporter was sent from the Kennebec Journal to cover the story but his editor soon realized he had fodder for headline news and assigned an investigative reporter. Articles soon began to appear across the country with headlines like “All shrouded in mystery. No clues in Mattie Hackett murder”. In the days that followed all eyes were focused on small town Readfield, Maine and details of every movement on or near the Hackett farm on Kents Hill gave rise to another news report.

By August 24^th a suspect had been identified – Mrs. Elsie Raymond of Readfield Corner. Mattie worked with Raymond’s husband at the Elmwood and investigators theorized it may have been a crime of jealousy. A guard was stationed outside Raymond’s home and Maine’s Attorney General Hannibal Hamlin took personal interest in the inquiry. Townspeople were all abuzz and emotions of fear and insecurity were running high.  

Meanwhile, only two miles away as the crow flies, Maranacook Lodge was in full swing for the season. Guests had arrived by train and filled the hotel to capacity.  It was exceptionally hot that summer. Starting in June, temperatures hit 100 degrees in New York and New England and stayed above 90 from then on. The lakeside resort gave blessed relief to the weary city dwellers. A Malden, MA resident - 17 year old Robert D. Boutwell - was among the employees at Maranacook Lodge that year.  He was a well-fit student athlete, who had worked there as a hotel clerk in 1904, when his strong swimming skills were discovered by the hotelkeepers. So, upon his return in 1905, in addition to his duties as clerk, Boutwell was asked to ride on excursions when the 60 foot, 75 passenger steamboat the Steamer Maranacook set sail for sightseeing tours around the lake.

On the evening of August 25^th, as they cruised near Craig’s Point (Tallwood), the Steamer Maranacook collided with a rowboat and its two passengers were thrown into the lake. One managed to swim to safety but as the other went down for the second time young Boutwell sprung into action and saved her. He was hailed as a hero and a story appeared in newspapers the next day “Boston Girl Saved by Steamer Passenger”. Festivities were planned for the evening of August 27^th when the hotel management would present Boutwell with a plaque and recognize him as a hero, but it was not to be.

The evening of August 26^th began uneventfully with dinner in the dining hall followed by adult conversation on the swings, in the lounge or on the croquet court. Mattie Hackett’s murder had to be fresh on the minds and tongues of these folks who surely thought they would be safe in Maine away from the throng of city life. They must have watched their children closely for there was a murderer on the loose. Little did they know that hours later a perpetrator of another kind would invade their haven.

Most retired to their rooms at a reasonable hour and all were asleep when sometime in the night Boutwell and another employee were awakened by the sounds and smells of fire. Boutwell immediately ran through the hotel pounding on doors calling “FIRE! GET OUT NOW!”  With his hands, face and neck severely burned he helped carry ladders and placed them as alternate escape routes. Guests fled down the stairs, jumped from the roof or windows and exited down the ladders. There were many injuries – three doctors were brought in from Readfield to attend those in need. Guest ledgers were destroyed so there was uncertainty about whether everyone had escaped. It was not until the next day, when the rubble had cooled enough to sort through, that remains of a young family named Martin from Roslindale, MA – husband, wife and 7 year old son – were discovered.

Had it not been for the valiant efforts of the now second time hero Robert Boutwell, many more lives would have been lost. He did not know this because he had been transported across the lake to the Sir Charles Hotel (Tallwood Inn) where doctors were monitoring him closely for severe burns and inhalation of smoke and fire. The outlook was grim and his father was summoned to come from Malden posthaste!  Mr. Boutwell arrived in time to hear his son’s final words early the next morning - “Good bye father. God bless you and dear mother.”

On the following day the Boston Globe, New York Times and other newspapers across the country printed headlines such as “Hero of hotel fire succumbs” and “Hero’s dying prayer”.

The press coverage of the Mattie Hackett murder continued off and on for years. Elsie Raymond was brought to trial but found innocent. The crime was never solved.  

Oral tradition has kept both stories alive over the years. A book titled “In Search of Mattie Hackett” was authored by Emeric Spooner and published in 2011. Readfield musician Ellen Bowman recently wrote a ballad in memory of Mattie Hackett which, Bowman says pays long overdue tribute to Mattie’s memory. On July 22^nd a cousin of Boutwell, Lois Buchan of Manchester, N.H., visited Maranacook Lodge to share information about the young hero and to pay tribute to his memory. As others looked on she stood on the spot where young Boutwell had spent his last days and played Amazing Grace on her fife.

Mattie Hackett, Robert Boutwell and a young family died tragically that August long ago, before any of them could make their marks on the world. But then, perhaps they did? One-hundred and nine years later they are still touching lives.

January, 2024 A new, deeply researched historical novel by Peter Pettingill chronicles the murder and subsequent, years long investigation. The book is titled The Murder of Mattie Hackett and can be purchased via amazon.com as a paperback or kindle. 

(c) 2014 All Rights Reserved Dale Potter-Clark

This story appeared in Discover Maine Magazine, Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys, 2014

WHO WAS BILL MORGAN, FOUNDER OF MARANACOOK BOYS’ CAMP? by Dale Potter-Clark

Thomas College in Waterville calls business students in their accelerated degree program the “Keist-Morgan Scholars”.  The title honors Harry Keist and William “Bill” Morgan – two men who owned and managed Thomas College during its fledgling era.

 

When Keist and Morgan owned the business school they were in their twenties. Both men were sons of farmers and each married children of professional men – Keist to the daughter of a Maine Methodist minister, and Morgan to a daughter of Dr. Eli S. Hannaford, a well known Readfield physician. In 1905, after Keist’s untimely death, his wife sold the school to Bill Morgan, and he changed its name to “Morgan’s Business College”.

Bill Morgan was a 10^th generation New Englander, born 1879 in Weld, Maine, and the elder of two brothers. His parents moved to Readfield in 1882 where they bought a 245 acre farm – east of and adjacent to the present day Maranacook Community School. Bill was a go-getter from the start. He attended Kents Hill School and afterwards, according to the 1911 Maine Chamber Catalogue, he went to New York where he served as “head of a business college turning out 1,500 students a year”.  In 1905 he returned to Readfield and married Pearl Hannaford, who was also a Kents Hill School alumnus. By age 27 Bill Morgan owned Morgan’s Business College where he and Pearl taught and Bill served as the principal. A few years later he entered into a second successful enterprise, in Readfield.

A 1908 advertisement proclaimed Morgan’s Business College as a “…high grade commercial school which secures employment for its graduates… and special rooms for every department.” Even in Morgan’s time students were assisted in “securing desirable employment.” Thomas College provides that feature to this day with their “Guaranteed Job Program”. The 1911 Chamber catalogue related that Morgan’s Business College was “on the highest standard of efficiency with all modern office devices, including billing machines, mimeographs, letter presses and other pieces of labor saving machines, which are kept in actual daily use.” This promotion went on to say that “Under Mr. Morgan’s management the college has been phenomenally successful from the first.” The entry boasted that Morgan enlisted only the most competent commercial teachers and graduated hundreds of students who readily found business positions throughout the state. 

Back in Readfield, Bill’s parents sold their Readfield farm in 1906 and bought another house nearby - also on Main Street but with frontage on Lake Maranacook. In researching various census records, directories and Kennebec County property deeds one can see Morgan’s life story unfolding. The elder couple shared the lakefront home part-time with Bill and Pearl, who were living in Waterville by that time. Morgan bought Birch Island on Lake Maranacook in 1907 where he built a cottage that same summer. From there he began to develop Camp Maranacook, an eight-week summer adventure camp for young men ages six to sixteen. More than likely Morgan was inspired by John Chase - another Readfield native and educator - who had established Chase’s Boys Camp on Torsey Pond ten years earlier, reputed to be the first summer boys camp in Maine.

 In 1911 Bill ran an advertisement in the Chamber Catalogue that included a picture showing large canvas tents set-up in a woodsy setting. The caption read “Real tent life at Camp Maranacook for boys, Readfield, Maine under the personal direction of W.H. Morgan of Waterville, Maine.”  Morgan, who was known as a suave and likeable people-person with drive, had simultaneously developed a second venture - this one to satisfy his ambition during the summer months. That same year Bill sold his school in Waterville to John L. Thomas, Sr., who renamed it, Morgan-Thomas Business College. In 1962 it was finally named Thomas College.

 After that Morgan was devoted fulltime to building Maranacook Boys’ Camp into a successful business that served hundreds of boys from all over the country. He and Pearl continued to live in Readfield during the warmer months, and in the winter they kept an apartment on Boylston St. in Boston where they could more easily meet and recruit campers.

 As the camp evolved Bill managed to accumulate two islands and one-hundred-eight acres with over a mile of wooded lakeshore. Fifty buildings for every need were built on the property, as well as athletic fields and a horse riding facility. He also owned a forty-three acre outpost on Tumbledown Mountain in Weld. Campers were exposed to every kind of outdoor sport and athletic activity imaginable as well as photography, music, theater, woodworking and boat building.

Bill Morgan ran Maranacook Boys’ Camp for thirty-eight consecutive years until he was stricken with heart disease and forced to sell out. In 1965 Camp Maranacook’s subsequent owners sold the camp to a Massachusetts developer, who subdivided all the land into cottage and year-round house lots. A few of the original buildings remain as the only reminders of what once was.

 Bill Morgan died suddenly in 1947 at age sixty-seven. His home passed to his niece, Joanne Hunt, who owned it until 1974. In the meantime she subdivided part of Morgan’s land into Hunt’s Lane. Morgan is buried at Readfield Corner Cemetery with his wife, infant daughter, parents and brother along with Joanne and her husband Donald Hunt.

 

This article was written by Dale Potter-Clark who is a founding member and consultant for Readfield Historical Society and co-leader of Readfield History Walks. She is currently in the process of co-researching and writing two books. One with Charlie Day regarding the evolution of summer resorts and kids camps in Readfield; and another with Bill Adams about old houses in Readfield and the people who lived in them. FMI about her works visit www.readfieldmaine.blogspot.com

(C) 2015 All Rights Reserved by Dale Potter-Clark

This article appeared in Community Advertiser Nov. 21, 2015

TRAVELING INTO THE BACK COUNTRY OF CENTRAL MAINE DURING COLONIAL TIMES

Unlike today, in 1770 there were no roads from southern New England into central Maine, or from Hallowell towards Winthrop and Farmington. The Kennebec River and Cobbosseeconte waterway was utilized because all that even resembled a road were some blazed trails left by the earliest trappers and scouts. So, how did our forefathers manage to get to their new homeland in the “back country”, and what were some of the challenges they faced?


In the Colonial era cargo schooners – called “wood coasters” - were the quickest and cheapest route from southeastern Massachusetts and Portsmouth towards the central Maine frontier. During the warmer months dozens of them plied the coastal waters carrying country goods to and from those ports to Maine – one being Hallowell. Those vessels were the work horses for coastal trade and carried everything from timber and coal to bricks, general cargo, or loads of hay. They also provided cheap transport for aspiring pioneers.


With good weather and favorable winds mid-coast Maine was a day’s sail away from Boston for a fare of about $2.00 - about a week’s wages. Most often the men folk went ahead first to pave the way and to prepare primitive homes for their wives and children.


They sailed to Phippsburg, and then up the Kennebec River to the head of tide at Hallowell. From there most of them stopped at Fort Western to purchase provisions, familiarize themselves with the area and to talk to local people about what they might encounter on the journey ahead.


Fully equipped with tools and whatever provisions they needed, they may have hired someone with an ox cart to haul their belongings. The trail into the backcountry was still rough and rugged at that time, so more than likely they rigged up some kind of primitive carriers and did their own lugging. From Hallowell they proceeded westward towards no man’s land.


Some newcomers had the benefit of following a marked trail, which was created sometime around 1766. It was a primitive pathway on which a few bushes had been cleared and a line of trees blazed, and it led to the more populated southern section of Pondtown (Winthrop). In the northern part of Pondtown (Readfield) it is reasonable to say another trail would have been used – the same one traveled by Indians from Bombahook (Hallowell) towards the Sandy River.


They climbed steep hills, forded streams and inched their way through dense forest until they reached their destination. There was no semblance of civilization when they stopped several miles west of the Kennebec River. The trail from Hallowell to northern Pondtown was described as a “tortuous road” by someone who used that route in 1799. Imagine what it must have been like in 1770 when the earliest adventurers passed through. 


It was around this time that geographer Thomas Prentiss wrote of the mid Maine backcountry:

“When a traveler attains the summit of a hill, the whole around him appears like an ocean of woods, swelled and depressed in its surface like the great ocean itself.”

The countryside was completely unsettled, and populated with animals such as bear, wolves, fishers and wildcats. The pioneers were constantly vigilant for any signs of marauding Indians – or worse yet - attacks. No one had warned them about the terrible onslaught of the tiny but virulent black flies and mosquitoes. The trekkers had no immunity to the venom of black flies. Their eyes swelled shut and the insects literally became embedded in their swollen, inflamed skin. would be so interesting to hear the settler’s stories first hand, but those opportunities passed long ago. So, to put their trek into perspective just imagine hiking into the wilds of Baxter State Park with no firsthand knowledge of the area, without a map, compass, insect repellant or sufficient shoes and clothing. Add to that vision - with all of your worldly possessions in tow.

Those men and women were truly courageous, adventuresome and eager for a new start. Those of us who live in beautiful Central Maine today can thank them for their sacrifices and for paving the way into the Central Maine back country.

This article was written by Dale Marie Potter-Clark who is the Historical Consultant for the Readfield Historical Society. She also offers community education about Readfield’s history, and organizes "Readfield History Walks".   FMI visit www.readfieldmaine.blogspot.com. 

(c) 2015 All Rights Reserved by Dale Potter-Clark

This story appeared in Lakes Region Reader, 10/9/2015