Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks: Fifty Of The Grittiest Moments In The History Of Hardscrabble New England

by Matthew P. Mayo

Overview

The story of New England is built on an endless armature of fascinating tales of Yankee ingenuity and hardy, intrepid characters. Bootleggers, Lobstermen, and Lumberjacks takes the top fifty wildest episodes in the region's bygone days and presents them to the reader in one convenient, narrative-driven package. Including incredible but true tales of hardy Yankee hill folk and crusty seafarers engaged in all manner of amazing activity—from witch-hunting to log rolling, sometimes with tragic results—this book is a perfect stroll through New England's past for resident and visitor alike. Yankee history is rife with all manner of shipwreck victims surviving any way they know how; Indian, pirate, and shark attacks, cougar and bear attacks, and, of course, rum runners and bootleggers doing what they do best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762759682
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/05/2010
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	627,306
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

1 Pilgrims' Progress 1

2 Dungeon Rock 7

3 The Great Swamp Fight 13

4 The Candlemas Massacre 18

5 A Crushing End 23

6 A Mother's Anger 29

7 Boon Island's Curse 34

8 Pirate Treasure 40

9 The Brutality of Ned Low 44

10 The Meetinghouse Tragedy 50

11 Ann Story's Cave 54

12 Bunker Hole 60

13 The Knox Cannon Train 66

14 A Manly Showing 73

15 Revolutionary Woman 79

16 She-Pirate! 85

17 Tough Times, Tough People 90

18 The Wild East 95

19 The Black Snake Affair 102

20 The Legend of Skinner's Cave 107

21 Runaway Pond 111

22 "1800-and-Froze-to-Death" 116

23 The Worst Mistake Ever Made 122

24 Massachusetts Bay Man-Eater 128

25 Vortex of Doom 133

26 Rebels...In Vermont! 137

27 Aroostook Lynch Law 142

28 The Hartford Disaster 148

29 North Woods Freeze-Up 153

30 The Great White Hurricane 159

31 The Last Vampire 166

32 ...And with an Axe 171

33 Lobstermen Fisticuffs! 177

34 North Woods Ice-Out 183

35 The Portland Gale 189

36 King of the River Hogs 194

37 The Human Shingle 201

38 Malaga Island 206

39 Logjam from Hell 211

40 Rocket Ride 217

41 The Boston Molasses Disaster 222

42 Rum-Running Lobstermen 226

43 Queen of the Border Rumrunners 232

44 Kingdom Death Ride 238

45 Black Duck's Big Night 243

46 The Sea Fox 248

47 Brady Gang Slain! 253

48 Hurricane of the Century 259

49 Downeast Nazis 265

50 Maine Coast Trap wars 270

Art and Photo Credits 277

Bibliography 279

Index 288

About the Author 298

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher