Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in New England History

by Matthew P. Mayo

Overview

The lives of notorious bad guys, perpetrators of mischief, visionary–if misunderstood–thinkers, and other colorful antiheroes, jerks, and evil doers from history all get their due in the short essays featured in these enlightening, informative, books. Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in New England History features twenty short biographies of nefarious characters, from Charles W. Morse, serial monopolist, cheat, liar, and swindler, to Emeline Meaker & Mary Rogers, otherwise known as the Lady Killers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762778621
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/05/2013
Series:	Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Histo
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	1,106,023
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Matthew P. Mayo's short stories have appeared in a variety of publications, including Six-Guns and Slay Bells, Beat to a Pulp, Out of the Gutter, Moonstone Books anthologies, and the DAW Books anthologies Timeshares and Steampunk'd. His stories have been nominated for Western Writers of America's Spur Award and Western Fictioneers' Peacemaker Award. Matthew's novels include the Westerns Winters' War; Wrong Town; Hot Lead, Cold Heart; Dead Man's Ranch; Tucker's Reckoning; and The Hunted.His critically acclaimed non-fiction includes the books Cowboys, Mountain Men & Grizzly Bears: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West; Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of Hardscrabble New England; Sourdoughs, Claim Jumpers & Dry Gulchers: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of Frontier Prospecting, and Haunted Old West, all published by Globe Pequot Press.He has also written for Globe Pequot Press, in collaboration with his wife, photographer Jennifer Smith-Mayo, the coffee-table books Maine Icons, New Hampshire Icons, and Vermont Icons. Matthew roves the highways and byways of New England and out West with his wife and their wee dog, Nessie. Visit him on the Web at www.matthewmayo.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction x

Rhode Island

Chapter 1 Mother Nature: The Biggest Jerk of All 1

Chapter 2 Gov. Josiah Winslow & Metacomet: Warmongers 12

Chapter 3 Pirates: No Honor among Jerks 22

Connecticut

Chapter 4 The Troubled Turtles: Flirts, Adulterers, Murderers! 33

Chapter 5 Benedict Arnold: From Hero to Traitor 42

Chapter 6 Barnett Davenport: America's First Mass Murderer 54

Chapter 7 Samuel Colt: Brilliant Inventor, Shameless Huckster, Bullying Braggart 60

Massachusetts

Chapter 8 John Endecott: Hotheaded Puritan, Intolerant Tyrant 73

Chapter 9 Masterminds of the Salem Witch Trials: A Horde of Hysterics 82

Chapter 10 Jane Toppan: Nurse from Hell 93

Maine

Chapter 11 New World Slavers: Kidnappers for Fun and Profit 103

Chapter 12 Neal S. Dow: The Napoleon of Temperance 114

Chapter 13 Charles W. Morse: Serial Monopolist, Cheat, Liar, Swindler 122

New Hampshire

Chapter 14 Judge John Pickering: Drunk, Insane, Impeached! 131

Chapter 15 Isaac Hill & William Loeb III: Crotchety Newsmen 140

Chapter 16 Seth Wyman: Self-Professed Pathological Pilferer 149

Chapter 17 Louis H. E Wagner: The Smuttynose Killer 159

Vermont

Chapter 18 Lt. Bennett Young & His Confederate Cohorts: Bank-Robbing Rebel Raiders 172

Chapter 19 Emeline Meaker & Mary Rogers: The Lady Killers 181

Chapter 20 Dr. Henry F. Perkins: Eugenicist, Purveyor of Purity 195

Bibliography 205

Index 214

About the Author 218