Living in an area so steeped in local history with everyday reminders of the past – the historical homes, narrow village streets, open pastures and gristmill ruins – it’s likely that while walking about the Tri-Town we’ve paused to imagine what our neighborhoods were like long before us.

We might imagine the ladies in their fine dresses and hats strolling about town, the men with their closely-groomed beards and formal attire congregating to discuss politics or business, the whaling ship workers bustling towards the wharf, and the schoolchildren with their books walking to the old schoolhouse to the ring of the church bells that still sound today.

We’ve wondered about the individuals who used to inhabit these old homes, who built them, what must have gone on there both outside and behind closed doors. The lives, the deaths, the loves, the quarrels, the very hearts of the people and the deeds they’ve done – good and bad – inside the very walls we now inhabit where the past seems as palpable as the present.

We humans have a way of keeping the past alive in the form of tradition and the preservation of what remains, the physical evidence of where we came from. Whether it is in books, in museums, or in monuments – statues in parks, plaques on walls, even headstones in cemeteries – the past is never that far behind.

We humans also share an inherent appreciation of a good mystery; we ponder them, probe them, and once in a while we conjure up our own. Some mysteries endure, obscuring the truth buried like scant remains beneath the sands of time in a shallow grave that, when unearthed, produce not a period to a question mark, but rather an ellipsis to a story’s end that was never written, only supposed.

We humans also possess an inherent preoccupation with death, maybe a degree of existential angst of danger and mayhem and a fascination with crime and, especially, murder. But why?

Local author John B. “Red” Cummings, Jr., who recently released his latest work, Volume One of Murder, Manslaughter, and Mayhem on the SouthCoast, says, “Murder is not a pleasant subject.” Nonetheless, when your grandfather was once an attorney, one who was solicited by Lizzie Borden to represent her during her trial (but declined), it was a subject that was sometimes explored during family meals and dinner parties.

Cummings’ new book features the murders that occurred in the SouthCoast between 1800-1969 (a second volume will focus on 1970 and on), from the 1832 murder by the married Minister Ephraim Kingsbury Avery of a pregnant Sarah Maria Cornel, 29, who was found hanging from a stack pole in South Park in Fall River (once a part of Tiverton, RI), to the infamous Lizzie Borden in Fall River accused of bludgeoning her father and stepmother to death with a hatchet in 1892, all the way to the 1969 shooting of Russell Goldstein, an antiques shop owner in Fall River, still unsolved today.

Murder, as Cummings stated, is not a nice topic. “Neither is manslaughter and mayhem, but they were prevalent in the SouthCoast, especially between 1937 and 1969.” And, just like the specific aforementioned unsolved murders, sadly, so are many within Cummings’ book, including a murder-suicide on November 21, 1926 that occurred right here in the Tri-Town.

Chances are you’ve driven by the house, or maybe you walk by it every day. Perhaps you’ve even been inside it or maybe even live in it! Although there was never any true closure to the tragedy, what is known to this day is that at 8 North Street in Mattapoisett, James Ebenezer Norton Shaw, 50, shot his wife Helen Macomber (Sherman) Shaw, 46, to death in her upstairs bedroom and then shot himself. The housekeeper found them both lying dead on the floor.

Because the incident was deemed a murder/suicide, no trial ensued and no evidence was collected and reviewed openly. “[A]nd the public was left to their intense speculation as to the motive for Shaw’s actions in the tragedy” (Page 139).

Initially, the incident was declared by the medical examiner to be an accidental shooting and suicide. The housekeeper recalled in her statement that Mr. Shaw “took a gun he had in the house and remarked that he was going to shoot a rat” (Page 137). After the first gunshot, the housekeeper ran to the bedroom and, seeing Mrs. Shaw on the floor, Mr. Shaw claimed he accidentally shot his wife and instructed the housekeeper to get help. While on the telephone, the second shot rang out and the housekeeper found Mr. Shaw lying dead in his own blood.

At the inquest held in January of 1927, the judge stated, “Mr. and Mrs. Shaw were a singularly devoted couple and there was not a lack of harmony between them” (Page 138). So what went awry?

The details and documents Cummings uncovered during his two years researching and writing the book with the assistance of colleague Stefani Koorey, PhD, reveal Mr. Shaw, a prominent New Bedford attorney, may have had dubious financial entanglements with the estate of a client, of which Shaw was the executor of the will, and the young, married, pregnant woman his client loved, who paid the woman $40,000 “to name the child after him” (Page 138).

Cummings’ book, the only one written on the comprehensive history of murder in the SouthCoast, provides enough details of the case, as well as many others, to allow the reader to make their own assumptions.

So, again, why are we so aroused by mystery and murder? Perhaps from the victim’s perspective, it stems from an inner vulnerability, acknowledging (against our will) our impermanence here and the impermanence of our loved ones and the inability to protect them from their own mortality. Or maybe our fascination with murder is rooted in repressed guilt. A fear of the inner shadows of the self or the disturbing possibility that inside the soul is a subjugated seed of evil that if exposed to just a speck of light could propagate out of passion and emerge out from us or onto us from another like in this book that documents the dark pages of history, the bloody words written by the hands of the wicked, an ellipses ending for us to read into the faded details of the forgotten names of SouthCoast slayings.

“I enjoy the fact that I’m going to give some peace to the people, the family members and the people who were murdered to give them some attention, not just to the ones who murdered,” said Cummings, who led an author’s talk on the book at the Mattapoisett Library on June 28. He reveals in the book that he had no idea that so many murders had occurred on the SouthCoast – 250 featured in Volume One and 75 slated for Volume Two.

Cummings dedicated this work to law enforcement officials, honoring the men and women who bring about justice for the victims – cops killed in the line of duty, children slaughtered by their mothers, women who died during illegal abortions and were chopped up into pieces – who were murdered during crimes that went down along the very streets on which we now dwell, the very buildings we visit.

“I wanted to keep their memories alive and not simply recall them as statistics,” wrote Cummings in his preface to the book. “The time is now to stop the hate. Stop the brutality. Stop the Murder, Manslaughter, and Mayhem on the SouthCoast.”

Murder, Manslaughter, and Mayhem on the SouthCoast is published by Hillside Media, 245 Old Harbor Road, Westport, Massachusetts. The author can be reached at John@hillsidemedia.net.

Mattapoisett resident Susan Wainio, who admitted that she just finds reading stories about true-life murders fascinating, bought her copy on Amazon.com. “It’s a quick, great read,” she attested.

By Jean Perry

It was a hot morning for the 46^th running of the Mattapoisett July 4^th Road Race, but that did not deter runners and supporters alike. The village streets were lined with cheering crowds, and houses were decorated with patriotic colors, demonstrating the spirit of America steeped within our community.

“The weather is exceptional!” remarked Race Director Bill Tilden when asked about the day. The Mattapoisett Road Race is close to Tilden’s heart because it is the first race he ever ran. “It was started by high school students back in 1971, to have a race to run in Mattapoisett,” he said, and while there is certainly a competitive edge to the race, Tilden noted, “What we are looking for is for people to roll in with five people, with their family to all run together.”

Over 100 volunteers help make the race happen, in addition to help from all the town departments. With the help of fellow volunteers whom she describes as family, Gloria Bousquet, also known as “The Fruit Lady,” cuts up 50 watermelons, three cases of bananas, and three cases of oranges for the runners after the race. Asked why she volunteers for the road race, Bousquet said that her oldest daughter Lauren received the scholarship over 10 years ago, and she believes in giving back to the community.

Tilden said that in years past they have given as much as $15,000 of scholarship money to ORR athletes. They get between 8-20 applicants for the scholarship and try to provide money to all of them. The recipients are chosen prior to the race, and many of them come to the race to volunteer.

Tilden acknowledged the community effort that makes the race so special, with folks providing extra water stops for the runners as well as music to spur the runners on.

Crowds gathered in Shipyard Park for the beginning of the race, and after a moving rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner by a local men’s singing group, the runners were off.

Marlboro, MA runner Madeline Mondo came in first in the women’s overall followed by Rochester’s Meg Hughes and in third place was Erin Lohrenz of Charlestown, MA.

First in the men’s overall was Taylor Days-Merrill of Fairhaven, who was also first overall. Michael Vaz of Dartmouth came in second, and Charles Berg of Mattapoisett finished third.

Korean War veteran Larry Cole of Harwich came in first ahead of Jim Lanagan of Mattapoisett in the male over-80 category, with Barbara Belanger of Fairhaven finishing first in the same category for women. The youth of the area made a significant showing at this race, which bodes well for the future of this event.

By Sarah French Storer

The June 30 Marion Art Center exhibit opening of “Coastal Vision X 2” was as glorious as a perfect summer day. Works of art by two local artists, Sarah Brown and Heide Hallemeier, inspired by the summer season and coastal images, were paired with floral arrangements, created by the Marion Garden Group, that were breathtaking to behold.

While it was a bit difficult to maneuver around the intimate gallery spaces due to the overwhelming turnout for the opening, clearly those in attendance felt it was triumphant.

Sarah Brown has been creating art since she was old enough to hold a crayon, and over the decades that have since passed, she has produced hundreds of paintings as well as been a teacher of the craft to many others.

“I’ve been painting for over fifty years,” Brown said. Beginning first with watercolors, she now works in pastels that she finds “exciting” while being a “very forgiving” medium, she explained.

Pastels, Brown said, are raw pigments suspended in a neutral medium. The resulting rich colors of the pastel solids are vibrant while also allowing the artist to apply the paint thickly, giving the finished works depth. Her themes of boats racing across the water in full sail, landscapes, and even farm animals are all drawn from the local area where Brown has lived and worked for many years.

Brown studied at DePauw University in Indiana and then spent two years in France at the Fontainebleau. She’ll resume art classes in her Marion studio this year.

Heide Hallemeier loves watercolors, saying, “It excites me to see where the water goes. It is difficult to direct water, but seeing the color float on the water and how the light plays on it … it’s thrilling…. There are happy accidents.”

Hallemeier was born in Germany but has lived in this area for years. “I love living here,” she exclaimed. Her enthusiasm is reflected in her works that represent her vision of sailing, water in movement, and coastal scenes.

She was educated at the Art Academies in Vienna, Austria and she worked as a graphic designer in Germany. “My parents encouraged me to study graphic arts,” Hallemeier shared. “They wanted me to have something I could work at to support myself.” Now she paints for the joy of it. Hallemeier lives in South Dartmouth.

While the themes the two artists shared were similar, the finished works demonstrated their unique styles and paint choices. While pastels gave Brown’s works contours where light can move across the surface shading the images, Hallemeier’s watercolors capture light in the fluidity of the paint itself. Needless to say, both mediums produce amazing results when executed by masters.

And speaking of masters, the floral arrangements accompanying the paintings were equal to the task.

Again, this year the Marion Garden Group members arranged flowers in new and truly fanciful ways, creating not only a complement to the works of art on the gallery walls but creating art itself.

One of the more imaginative arrangements was done by Ashley Briggs. Briggs used flowers to depict a painting on canvas with a painter’s pallet and brushes – truly inventive.

Also providing floral interpretations were pieces created by Terry Aufrane and Bronwen Cunningham, Suzie Kokkins, Judy Hagan, Michelle Russell, Kitsie Howard, Connie Dolan, Diane Kelly, Bobby Faller, Kym Lee, Lynda D’Amico, and Tommie Desmond. Desmond said that the majority of the flowers came from the arrangers’ own gardens.

“Coastal Visions X 2” will be on view at the Marion Art Center until July 29.

By Marilou Newell