USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > History of Piscataquis County, Maine : from its earliest settlement to 1880 > Part 22
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In the late civil war, this county filled its quotas with promptness and liberality. Their names and companies are all in the adjutant-general's published reports.
The roll of honor repeated on the annual return of each decoration day shows that we bled away our life, as well as our money. While the names of Col. C. S. Douty, and of Maj. C. P. Chandler, a native of Foxcroft, and many other heroes, who fell upon the battle field, are gratefully honored, the sacrifices of this part of Maine will not be forgotten.
CHAPTER XXX.
FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.
Secret societies of various orders have long existed in this county, and a brief account of them will now be given.
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.
This ancient Order, claiming to have existed in the days of King Solomon, was early planted in the British Isle. It is known that King Henry VI, as early as 1492, was a Grand Master mason, and that other English sovereigns after him held high degrees of masonry. So now, many of the crowned heads of Europe are Free Masons. But it was not intro- duced into our American Colonies till more than a century from their first settlement. In 1733, Henry Rice, a Master Mason from England, established lodges in Boston, Phila- delphia, and other cities, and set the ball in motion. It was quite early planted in this county.
PISCATAQUIS LODGE, No. 44 was chartered October 23, 1823, and installed soon after at Sebec village. Its meetings were held there for several years. But as many of its mem- bers resided in Milo, it eventually removed its place of meet- ing to Milo village. It has recently rebuilt the building in which it met, and is in a prosperous state.
MOSAIC LODGE, No. 52 was chartered July 16, 1827. It was installed soon after in Sangerville village, the late J. S. Holmes Esq. delivering the public address. Elder Wil- liam Frost was its first Master. About this time an exten- sive anti-masonic excitement prevailed, awakened by the al- leged abduction and murder of William Morgan, in the State
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of New York. Some religious bodies entered strongly into it, and other persons made it a political issue. For several years masonry sat still and kept quiet. 3 This lodge suspend- ed its meetings from 1832 till 1845.
It then resumed its usual activity. It afterward removed its meetings to Fox- croft and Dover village. In company with the "Piscataquis Royal Arch Chapter," it built the "Masonic Building," in which a well fitted hall accommodates both lodges, while other parts rent to advantage. From its first organization, 314 members have been connected with it, and now it has a membership of 170, and is in good working order.
MOUNT KINEO LODGE, No. 109, Abbot, was chartered May 8, 1862. As many were then going into the army, its numbers increased rapidly. It owns a building containing a hall, and stores on the lower floor, which it rents. Its pres- ent number is 126.
DORIC LODGE, No. 149, is located in Monson village. It was chartered May 7, 1868. This lodge, in 1876, erected a large and elegant building, at a cost of $4000, in which it has a spacious hall. It is in debt for one-half of its cost, but the amount received for parts rented more than pays the annual interest. This lodge is in a prosperous state.
PLEASANT RIVER LODGE, Brownville, was chartered July 28, 1871. It rents a hall for the present. It has occasional initiations, and now numbers 46 members.
PISCATAQUIS ROYAL ARCH CHAPTER was chartered in May, 1866. This order is composed only of masons who have taken seven degrees in the scale of masonry. In its work, discipline and forms, it is truly masonic, but on an ad- vanced plane of the system. It meets in the Masonic build- ing in Foxcroft, in which it is an equal owner.
THE SONS OF TEMPERANCE once had flourishing lodges in this county, and they succeeded in reclaiming and holding many hard drinkers. They had a benefit system, and some of their sordid members took advantage of it. The disburse-
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ment of their funds was unsatisfactory, and this became the rock of offence upon which the lodges, formed on a good basis, and doing a good work, were wrecked. They all be- came extinct, not one now existing in this county.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.
It is claimed that this order arose in the Roman army, near the commencement of the Christian era. It existed in Spain, in the fifth century, in France, in the twelfth, and aft- erward in England.
Mr. Thomas Whidden, an Englishman, introduced it into this country, in 1829, establishing the first lodge in Balti- more. It has had a large increase, so that now $50,000 an- nually are paid into their treasuries, aside from the life in- surance department, and a large part of that sum goes to their needy and unfortunate members, and their families.
DIRIGO LODGE, No. 63, in Milo, was established Jan. 21, 1869, the first in the county. It has had a prosperous course, owning a hall which cost $1400, now having $700 funded, and a membership of one hundred and twenty.
KINEO LODGE, No. 64, in Dover, was the next organized, March, 1870. This is a vigorous body, having funds a- mounting to $2,600. It reports seventy-seven members.
GOOD CHEER LODGE, No. 37, in Guilford, dates from September, 1874. It had funds amounting to $1500, but has built a superb hall the past summer (1879), which has exhausted them. This is in a prosperous state.
ELDORADO ENCAMPMENT, No. 20, meets in Dover bi- monthly. It belongs to the 10th district of the Grand En- campment. This is composed of members that have taken the fifth degree or more, and corresponds in some respects to the "Royal Arch Chapter " in Masonry. -
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS.
This is the youngest of these secret fraternities, but it has
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PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.
a large and growing membership. It has its pledges, forms, officers, quarterly payments, countersigns and fraternal aid, as they all do. It is more expressed on the temperance ques- tion than any of them. As an advanced step, it admits fe- males to its lodges and its meetings.
The list of lodges in this county, as reported in 1878 and 1879, is as follows, to wit:
CENTENNIAL, No. 18, in Guilford. HEBRON POND, No. 102, Monson, 80 members.
GOOD CHEER, No. - , Sangerville.
SEBEC LODGE, No. 150, South Sebec, 50 members. HARMONY, No. 160, Dover, 70 members.
EUREKA, No. 170, Atkinson, 100 members.
CONSTANTIA, No. 237, Milo.
A. J. W. STEVENS, No. 47, Parkman.
These lodges are subject to an ebb and flow of interest; consequently to variant success. Some are well established, others have dwindled and expired. It has so been in the past, it may so continue to be.
PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.
This new order has arisen recently. Like the foregoing, it is close in its affinities, signs, meetings and benefits. Its main object is to modify trade, to prevent the multiplying of profits by middle-men, to buy and sell in their own frater- nities, on specific terms, somewhat like Union Store Associa- tions. Seven Granges have already been established, with distinct names and locations, within this county, and they re- port favorably. The order is young, and reports are not available for a reliable history.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
MISCELLANIES.
STEADMAN THE IMPOSTER.
In the summer of 1878, the Baptist church and people in Foxcroft and Dover were without a supply, and were invit- ing candidates. They were informed that a young man call- ing himself Carlisle M. Steadman, from the Province of New Brunswick, was at Georgetown, waiting a call to some field of labor. He reported himself to be the son of a Baptist min- ister, an educated and ordained clergyman of that order. When asked for his credentials, he replied that he had such, but had left them in the Province, and he exhibited certain letters from Baptist clergymen, which showed that he had been known to them as a Baptist preacher. Herein com- menced a grave mistake. Had they required fair testimoni- als of his ministerial standing, as every church should do, be- fore making any engagement with a stranger, it would have saved them and the community from serious and prolonged difficulties.
He preached a few Sabbaths on trial, impressed some fav- orably, others less so. He had a marked foreign accent; his utterance was rapid and often indistinct; his pronunciation of many words was entirely barbarous. Those who caught his discourses, pronounced them able, but in the routine of his public services, prayer occupied a very small place. A cer- tain show of smartness attracted the curious, and some of the drifting class were drawn to hear him. A permanent stay was proposed, though they could not raise the salary that he wanted. He stated to the committee that he had a wife then in Georgetown, Maine, who was an accomplished
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organist, and if he remained, she could play the church or- gan, in place of the paid organist, and thus increase their contributions for his support.
An engagement was concluded for one year, and on the 9th of September he set off, as he pretended, for the Prov- ince, to get a horse and other things that he had left there, expecting his wife to meet him at Newport, on his return, and come to Foxcroft with him. The next day, a dispatch di- rected to him from Bath, signed J. A. S., was received at Foxcroft, announcing that his wife had been thrown from a carriage, and was in an insensible state, and, the next day, another came, saying that she was dead. His sympathizing people sent messages to places on the way to the Province, to intercept him, and waited in painful suspense. In a few days, a letter from Mr. Steadman reached one of his people, written in Georgetown, saying that he heard the affecting news in St. John, had hurried to that place to find his dear wife dead and buried, and that he would soon return to Foxcroft. He reached there Saturday evening, but pro- fessed to be so overcome with sorrow, that he could not preach the next day. In other ways he showed his deep af- fliction, and alluded to it in his pulpit services. But his grief soon subsided. His demeanor was far from being grave and ministerial. As a preacher, he violated ministerial and denominational courtesy, but this was silently endured. His confiding friends, procuring the assistance of a civilian, ob- tained an appointment from the Governor, for him to solem- nize marriages, and he did not hesitate to administer the sac- raments of the church. In December, he began to show 'a peculiar interest in a successful female school teacher, alleg- ing as a reason that she resembled his departed Nellie. This was reciprocated; the attachment rapidly ripened; and in February, not six months after the alleged death of his wife, they were married.
It was conceded that he preached able sermons, but many wondered when he prepared them, and the suspicion of pla- giarism was sometimes expressed.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
At length fast day came. The four congregations usually unite in one service, each pastor preaching in turn. It fell to Mr. Steadman. A full house waited on him. One of the pastors was absent; all the others were in attendance. His discourse was remarkable for its scholarly method, its range and freshness of thought, its chaste and elevated lan- guage, but it was not appropriate to the occasion; it was blighted in some places with ideas and expressions that sort- ed strangely with the general drift; but it unmasked the fraudulent preacher, and set him in his true light before the community. The Methodist clergyman who listened to it, a few days afterward stumbled upon it, all printed in the Homiletic Monthly. It was one of Dr. R. S. Storrs' very best, hence the portions interpolated by Mr. Steadman cropped out like the long ears in the familiar fable. The discovery soon became public. A tempest immediately arose. One of his stated hearers borrowed that periodical, and found three other discourses in it, which he had listened to, from Steadman's lips. It has since appeared that many of the published sermons of distinguished ministers in New York and Brooklyn had been copied and preached, and some given as lectures, by this unblushing plagiarist, as his own great productions.
He denied the charge of plagiarism, and told other obvious falsehoods, but this only assured his condemnation. The Baptist people now rejected him, and published him as an imposter. Anticipating this, he had already written to Rev. Mr. Battles, who was about vacating the Universalist pul- pit in Dexter, stating that he had changed his views, and could not preach acceptably to Baptists any longer, and mod- estly asked to be introduced to the Universalists in Dexter, reserving however the next Sunday, which he felt con- strained to improve in explaining his change and the reasons for it, to his highly esteemed people. He was not grabbed up by that people.
The secular press now began to publish his proceedings. Rumors soon came that he had a wife and two children liv-
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ing in the Province, and these were soon confirmed. Doubts then arose respecting the death of his wife at Georgetown. The Methodist minister from Georgetown soon came to Do- ver to attend their annual conference, and he affirmed that no such death and burial had taken place there. Steadman, on hearing of these reports, resorted to another characteris- tic trick.
He vainly tried to inveigle his uncle, and induce him to come to his defence. This uncle, by the way, Dr. John A. Steadman, had formerly been a Baptist minister, but now was engaged in the practice of medicine, in Georgetown. He was inquired of respecting his nephew, after the difficul- ties arose, and had answered cautiously. He had sold his nephew the horse which he had introduced to us as from the Province. Steadman wrote his uncle that certain Meth- odist ministers had contradicted some of his statements; therefore he wished him to write Mr. Prentiss, affirming "that he did bring a wife from the Province to his house, that she died there as he had publicly stated, that his name was on the Provincial Minutes as a regularly ordained Baptist min- ister, and that he was what he had represented himself to be." This letter was written May 8. It did not bring the desired response. But Dr. Steadman telegraphed to learn if he could find his nephew there, if he came directly on, and soon started for Foxcroft. That purchased horse had not been paid for, and such a letter boded no good. Steadman now began to equiv- ocate in various ways, some of which must not be written, but they were utterly rejected by all but his too confiding wife. Before this, he had sold his horse, and now was selling his books and other effects, preparatory to leaving the place.
He did not wish to see his uncle in Foxcroft, so he met him at Dexter. They had a long, searching and distressing interview, in which Steadman disclosed much that his uncle would not believe. Each returned to his home, and Stead- man soon started for the West, his wife consenting to the sale of her own acquired property, to pay off his debts, and to help him off, and then returned to her friends.
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
He was soon heard from in Minneapolis. He had obtained employment there as a bookkeeper, and wrote to his wife to come on, and live with him, eventually sending her a small sum of money to defray her traveling expenses. By this time her eyes were open. She now believed him to be per- fidious, but did not let him know it, since legal measures were on foot to arrest him, and wrote him as a blind, that she could not start for a few days. His relatives in the Prov- ince had written her, exposing his previous marriage, and ex- pressing their pity for her present condition.
Legal proof of his marriage in the Province was obtained, and an officer started with a requisition on the Governor of Minnesota for his arrest and delivery. He was brought back, but his trunk was withheld, as his board bills were unpaid.
On arriving at Foxcroft, he was kept in close custody un- til witnesses from the Province arrived. He grieved sorely that his last-married wife did not fly to his arms, but she vis- ited him only once, in company with friendly attendants. When arraigned before a trial Justice for bigamy, he affirmed that it was all a mistaken identity. He denied all knowledge of the witnesses who were present at the former marriage. He affirmed that his father's name was J. Harvey Steadman; that he himself was born in Berwick, Nova Scotia; that his father lived there; all which he pronounced false in his sec- ond trial. He was held to appear at the Supreme Court, and in default of bail, was committed to Bangor jail.
By certain persons in Bangor, his cell was carpeted and neatly furnished, fragrant flowers were sent in to ornament it, books and periodicals were profusely furnished him, dis- believing, it would seem, that he had ever committed the most infamous crimes, and perpetrated the grossest frauds upon the honest and unsuspecting. It would have been well for these persons to have heard his own defaming statements of himself in his testimony.
Among his former people he found but little sympathy. Some were highly indignant, and advanced money to secure his arrest, and bring him to justice. As he alleged that his
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STEADMAN THE IMPOSTER.
trunk contained valuable clothing, and papers important in his trial, they contributed a small sum to release it, and have it sent by express to him. But unfortunately it did not ar- rive in season.
As our object is to exhibit the hypocrisy of this man, a full report of his legal trial will not be given, only such parts as reveal his infamous career.
At the September term of the Supreme Judicial court for the county of Piscataquis, 1879, Chief Justice Appleton pre- siding, Manly C. Steadman was indicted by the Grand Jury for the crime of bigamy, and plead not guilty, and was put upon trial. No case had ever aroused such an interest. The court-house was crowded to its utmost capacity, ladies making up a large proportion. Able counsel had undertaken his defence, on condition that he would make a clean breast, and tell them and all others, nothing but the truth.
A select jury was drawn, each man questioned as to biases for or against the arraigned, and the case proceeded. The proof of his regular marriage to Rachel M. Smith of Pollet's River, New Brunswick, in August, 1875, and that she was still living when he was married in Dover, in February, 1879, was indubitable. He was permitted to take the stand, and upon his oath, to testify in his own case. The substance of it, with occasional refutations, will be briefly given, for in this, the chief interest clustered.
He stated that "in 1873 and 1874, he was in Amherst, No- va Scotia; there he made the acquaintance of a young lady, Georgie E. Campbell, who was attending school in or near Sackville, New Brunswick, that he courted her, seduced her and married her to save her character, without the consent of her father, that the ceremony was performed by a Catho- lic priest named Groucher, in the presence of two witnesses, in August, 1874, and a certificate of it given to his wife, that her father, on learning what had been done, was angry, and forbid his living with her, that he left, and went to his former home, and taught school at Pollet's River, that his incensed father-in-law, a few months later, sent him a notice of his
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HISTORY OF PISCATAQUIS COUNTY.
wife's death, which he supposed was true." Subsequently, the Roman Catholic bishop was asked if there was a priest of that name, and he answered that there had never been one of that name in the diocese. But an aunt of Steadman testified that she witnessed that marriage, and signed the marriage certificate as a witness. But that certificate was not in court, as his trunk had not arrived. The principal of that school was also asked if a young lady of that name had been there, and he answered that no such name was on their catalogue.
He also testified that "sometime after this, he made a mar- riage engagement with Miss Rachel M. Smith, and was again married in August, 1875, by his father, Rev. James C. Stead- man, which event ought to have taken place sooner, as he affirmed; that in 1877 he professed religion and united with his father's church, and soon commenced preaching; that in the fall of that year, he left his family at his father's house, and preached at various places; that he was at Kars, New Brunswick, several months, boarding with John C. Camp- bell; that his daughter Nellie G. informed him that she was acquainted with his first wife, and knew her to be still living, and through Nellie he sent messages to her, inviting her to meet him in St. John; that he met her there, and with her went to Tauntonville, New Brunswick, in June, 1878, and that she agreed to join him in Maine, if he became settled here."
Mr. J. C. Campbell testified that he had never heard his daughter speak of such a friend at that school, that he usu- ally carried her letters to and from the post-office, and had never seen one directed to that name. But certain things which leaked out, indicated that Nellie G. Campbell was the person whom Steadman described to the committee of Fox- croft as his wife, and whom he might then be hoping to ob- tain as such, but failed.
" He did not acquaint his wife with his second marriage, but when he wrote her to come to Maine, she wrote him that . she had heard of it, that her father would not let her come,
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RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT LOW'S BRIDGE.
and now, she repudiated him forever. He received this let- ter at Bath, Maine, whither he directly went, though pre- tending at Foxcroft that he was starting for New Bruns- wick. He affirmed that he sent those false telegrams to Foxcroft, to help him out.of his dilemma. After his return to Foxcroft, he received a letter saying that his first wife, Georgie E. Campbell, was dead, and again he believed it, and so contracted this last marriage, as his second marriage was illegal, and he had resolved to disown that second wife."
All of the other testimony, except that of Steadman's aunt, conflicted with his, and his was not believed by judge or jury.
Steadman's testimony showed that he had never been li- censed to preach, nor ordained; that he had sworn falsely about his own name, and that of his father's, and also his place of residence; that he tried to entangle his uncle in the deception; and that much of his past life had been infamous.
His counsel plead that, if the marriage to Georgie E. Campbell was legal, and she was living when he married Ra- chel M. Smith, then that marriage was invalid, and the in- dictment on which he was under trial failed, and that legal proof was in that expected trunk. The charge to the jury was searching, clear and unbiased, as far as such a case would allow. The jury, in a half hour, returned a verdict of guilty. His counsel filed exceptions, and petitioned for a new trial. This petition waits the decision of the full bench. Meanwhile Steadman is a prisoner in Bangor jail.
Whatever the glorious uncertainties of the law may have in reserve, the hypocrisy and fraud of this individual are unmistakable, and these, mainly, it was attempted to expose.
RAILROAD ACCIDENT AT LOW'S BRIDGE.
At Low's Bridge there is a flag station, about midway be- tween Dover and Guilford depots. At this, freight was hauled to be loaded. As there was no side track, cars were often left on the main track, to be pushed up by the next train to the nearest turnout, and to be passed there.
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4
October 18, 1879, three platform cars were so left by a down train, to be loaded with shingles. Conductor Swan, who left them, met the upward bound train in Lagrange, and told the conductor, engineer and fireman on that train of their position. Conductor Chase told all these men to remember it, and keep a sharp lookout, as they should not reach that place till it was dark. But they all forgot it ! The conductor said it just entered his mind as they started from Dover depot.
The train consisted of seven freight cars, and one passen- ger car in the rear. They were running at great speed ; the engineer, Fred W. Green of Mattawamkeag, was watching the cars as they passed a curve, and did not see those loaded cars, though it was moonlight, until nearly upon them. He whistled " down brakes," and reversed the engine, just as it struck the first loaded car. It rushed on, driving the second also, but kept the track until they collided with the third. This threw them off the track, and the engine followed, and they were smashed to a fearful pile, burying the engineer be- neath the ruins. The fireman, Wadlin of Oldtown was thrown clear of the wreck, and but slightly hurt, and all the rest es- caped injury. The crash was heard two miles, and many hastened thither. The engineer was soon drawn out, with both legs broken, with internal injuries, and also scalded badly. He was taken to the nearest house; surgeons hastened; and everything done that could be, to relieve his distress. He lingered in great pain, from Saturday evening till Tuesday noon, and died supported by the arms of his mother.
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