As a delegate to the Continental Congress, and its president, John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. His signature appears first and is the largest by far. It is likely apocryphal that he said he wrote it large so that King George could read it without his spectacles.
His name became a synonym for “signature,” although perhaps less so in recent years. But you may have been prompted at some time or another to put your “John Hancock” upon some document.
This is one of those times and one of those opportunities. The Milton Taxpayers Association (MTA) is sponsoring a petition warrant article (“Tax Cap”) that would limit future Town budget increases, and therefore, future Town tax increases, either to 2% or to the amount of the Consumer Price Increase (CPI), whichever amount is the lesser.
Now, a Tax Cap is no panacea. It will never change the mindset of those who think that more and more of your money, year after year, is never “enough.” You need to identify them and cease gifting them your vote. A Tax Cap can not by itself restrict their other methods of increasing taxes, nor their excessive “fudge factor.” We can work on that. And the Tax Cap’s limitation begins at the current absurd baseline, rather than backing out past excesses.
One might think of the Tax Cap as a place to start. When you find yourself in a hole, it is time to stop digging. Past time really.
There is really no doubt that the Tax Cap will appear on the March ballot. But will your “John Hancock” appear on this declaration?
As mentioned previously, a representative of the MTA may be found at Milton’s Dunkin’ Donuts shop this Saturday (tomorrow) between 8:00 and 10:00 AM. (There is no reason to suppose that the Dunkin Donuts corporation has any part in this). I have been given to understand that they will proceed from there to the front of the Milton Mills post office, where you may sign from about 10:15 AM until 11:00 AM.
If you would like to further assist in this groundbreaking effort, petition sheets may be obtained from MTA representatives for you to use in canvassing your friends and neighbors. (Those friends and neighbors that are Milton registered voters, that is).
I have been given to understand that signage will become available also as the election approaches.
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 19, 2019
In this year, we encounter a fire at the Milton Grammar School, the youngest grange master, a job application, the death of a former minister, a blackout vote in Lebanon, ME, a missing Milton girl, cottages for rent and for sale, a delayed death, help wanted at the Milton Hotel, homegrown coffee, a Nute High teacher, and the Nute High headmaster.
In this year the initial Axis run of successes stalled. General Doolittle bombed Tokyo (April). The Allies fought the Japanese empire to a draw at the Battle of the Coral Sea (May), the Japanese lost four carriers at the Battle of Midway (June), and the U.S. invaded Guadalcanal (August). After early successes in southern Russia, a major part of a National Socialist (Nazi) German army group was encircled at Stalingrad (November) (and would be utterly destroyed early in the following year). The Allies occupied French Morocco and Madagascar.
Save This Newspaper. Uncle Sam needs waste paper – including this newspaper – to make boxes for defense. Call your dealer or the Salvation Army when you have accumulated 100 pounds or more (Portsmouth Herald, January 7, 1942).
The Milton Grammar school building took fire in the early hours of Tuesday, January 6, 1942.
Late Blaze Causes Costly Damage to Milton School. Damage amounting to several thousand dollars resulted early Tuesday morning from a fire at the grammar school in nearby Milton. A young man named Cleveland, returning to his home from work at the navy yard in Portsmouth discovered the blaze and sounded the fire alarm just at 1 o’clock. Sleepy-eyed residents of the town rushed to the streets thinking it was a blackout. When they discovered the lights did not go out, they realized it was a fire and not an air raid. Chief Charles Wilson said that the blaze started in a supply room in the basement where a quantity of paper towels and janitor’s supplies were stored, and spread to the airshaft and third floor. When Milton firemen arrived there was fire on all three floors the chief stated and it had broken out in the two rooms on the north side of the building. Two lines of hose were hooked onto a hydrant near the school and the blaze was under control in about a half hour despite the fact that the firemen were handicapped by zero weather. There was no damage on the south side of the building which is of brick construction with a wooden roof and contains eight rooms and an office. Chief Wilson said last night it was expected that repairs would be made this week so that it would possible to use the building for school purposes next week. Most of the damage was caused by water, although there was damage to the air shaft and one ceiling will have to be replaced (Portsmouth Herald, [Wednesday,] January 7, 1942).
Miss Elsie M. Bigelow succeeded her mother, Rev. Marian S. (Turner) Bigelow, as Nute Ridge Grange master. Her parents were joint pastors of the Nute Ridge Chapel.
Youngest Grange Head. WEST MILTON, N.H., Jan. 10 (AP) – The Nute Ridge Grange claims to have the youngest grange master in the nation. She is Elsie May Bigelow, 17, installed last night. A high school senior, she succeeded her mother, the Rev. Marian Bigelow (Fitchburg Sentinel, January 10, 1942).
E. Lincoln Bigelow, aged fifty-two years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Marian Bigelow, aged forty-one years (b. MA), and his children, John Bigelow, aged twenty years (b. VT), William Bigelow, aged eighteen years (b. VT), Florence Bigelow, aged sixteen years (b. VT), Elsie Bigelow, aged fifteen years (b. VT), and Gerald Bigelow, aged twelve years (b. ME). E. Lincoln Bigelow rented their house on Nute Ridge, which was valued at $1,000.
The Portsmouth Herald put forward the example of a Milton man’s rapid response to a help wanted ad to demonstrate the efficacy and reach of its advertising.
It Pays – In yesterday afternoon’s Portsmouth Herald was a story that the Board of Street Commissioners were meeting last night to decide on an engineer for the new water project. Within two hours after the delivery of the edition had been completed, the Board of Street Commissioners received a telegram from Engineer Harold M. Bryant of Milton, N.H., applying for the job. “The Portsmouth Herald certainly gets around,” observed Clerk Americo J. Fransoso of the board (Portsmouth Herald, January 24, 1942).
Rev. Scott Foster Cooley died in Hinesburg, VT. Other sources identify him as having been a Milton Methodist minister in 1912-1913.
Obituary. Rev. Scott F. Cooley. Special to the Free Press. HINESBURG, Jan. 28. Rev. Scott F. Cooley, 53 years of age, died at his home in this village late this evening. He was born in Landaff, N.H., a son of Hiram K. and Julia (Foster) Cooley. In his immediate family Rev. Mr. Cooley is survived by his widow, Mrs. Amelia (Allen) Cooley; one daughter, Mrs. Evelyn Ryan of Burlington; one brother, Earl D. Cooley of Peacham and by four nephews and two nieces. Rev. Mr. Cooley was a graduate of Lisbon high school in 1901, was graduated from Montpelier seminary in 1904, and from Drew Theological seminary at Madrum, N.J. He served in several parishes in the Vermont conference and the Troy conference since 1920. He retired from active work last April. Funeral arrangements are not as yet completed. H.P. Brown Funeral Services of Richmond in charge (Burlington Free Press, January 29, 1942).
Scott S. Cooley, a Methodist minister, aged fifty-six years (b. NH), headed a Hinesburg, VT, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Amelia Cooley, aged fifty-three years (b. VT), and his foster child, William Cooley, aged fourteen years (b. VT). Scott S. Cooley owned their house, which was valued at $4,000.
The Budget Committee of Lebanon, ME, sought to blackout the entire town for the duration of the war. (See also the NH state-level requirements at the close of 1941).
Permanent Blackout for Lebanon? Will the entire town of Lebanon, Me., which stretches from the Rochester bridge to the Sanford, Me., line and up to North Rochester and Milton, N.H., be permanently blacked out at night for the duration of the war? Article 28 in the warrant for the meeting reads as follows: “To see if the town will vote to discontinue all street and road electric lights for the duration of the war.” Underneath the article the budget committee recommends “Yes.” Article 29 is to see what sum of money, if any, the town will raise for street and electric lights in the town and the recommendation of the budget committee is “None.” Proponents of the “all out” measure argue that with no street lights burning at night town will always be ready for a blackout and at the same time will be saving money. Those who oppose the putting out of the lights contend that it will be an unwise economy and could easily result in accidents, holdups, and similar incidents. Lights can be out quickly enough in the event an alert. Stygian blackness is also bad for the morale of the townspeople they contend. The town warrant also contains two civilian defense measures, one being a proposal to raise money for digging and cleaning out water holes to supply water for use in house fires or grass and wood fires. The other asks for money to purchase additional fire fighting equipment for the fire company and fire wardens. Both articles have been acted upon favorably by the town budget committee. Lebanon is without ample protection and if a bad fire occurs it is necessary to call for help from either East Rochester or Sanford, Me. (Portsmouth Herald, March 10, 1942).
Three Nute High girls were sent home for skipping classes and they went instead to Boston, MA. Two of them returned home, but the third stayed away for three months.
Boston Police Asked to Find Girl Missing From Milton, N.H. MILTON, N.H., May 7. Police of this town asked aid of Boston authorities tonight in locating a 16-year-old girl, Lena Anderson, missing from her home two days and last reported in the Massachusetts city. Two companions of the girl, Pauline Dupuis, 15, and Charlotte Weare, 16, returned today and said Miss Anderson had remained in Boston (Boston Globe, May 8, 1942).
Wilfred L. Dupuis, a fibreboard mill machine tender, aged thirty-five years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Gertrude T. Dupuis, aged thirty-five years (b. NH), and his children, Pauline J. Dupuis, aged thirteen years (b. NH), Lorette B. Dupuis, aged twelve years (b. NH), Robert R. Dupuis, aged eleven years (b. NH), Louise T. Dupuis, aged nine years (b. NH), Roland J. Dupuis, aged seven years (b. NH), Norman B. Dupuis, aged five years (b. NH), and Franklin R. Dupuis, aged three years (b. NH). William L. Dupuis rented their house on the Old Road (near Spaulding Ave.), for $9 per month.
Charles E. Weare, a fibreboard mill machinist, aged fifty-one years (b. ME), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Bertha M. Weare, a fibreboard mill counts clerk, aged fifty years, and his children, Donald E. Weare, a fibreboard mill scaler, aged nineteen years, Charlotte Weare, aged fourteen years, and Ruth E. Weare, aged ten years. Charles E. Weare rented their house on Spaulding Ave., for $10 per month.
Rochester. Missing Milton Girl For Whom Search Made Here, Found. (Correspondent: Basil Blake; 806-J). Lena Anderson, 16, missing since May 5, has been located in Providence, R.I., where she has been working in a defense plant. Search was made for her with two other girls here and in Portsmouth at the time of their disappearance. The Milton girl, for whom a New England-wide search had been instituted, will return home Sunday, according to Patrolman John P. Kimball of the Milton police, who was in charge of the search and who has been working on the case since May.
Leslie W. Anderson, a wood heeler, aged forty-four years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Hazel M. Anderson, aged forty-two years (b. NH), and his children, Elaine A. Anderson, aged sixteen years (b. NH), and Lena E. Anderson, aged fifteen years (b. NH). Leslie W. Anderson owned their house on Nute Ridge, which was valued at $1,200.
Claim Skipped Classes. On the afternoon of May 5, Lena and two companions, Charlotte Weare, 16, and Pauline Dupuis, 15, were allegedly sent home from the Nute High school and told to tell their parents that they had skipped classes in the morning. Instead they all hitch-hiked to Rochester, according to the other two girls who returned home a few days after their disappearance. Instead of going home the girls went to the Boston and Maine station in Milton and from the funds of the three which had been pooled, bought tickets for Rochester. They were seen in Rochester that night and then hitch-hiked to Boston. Patrolman Kimball and Patrolman Pierce Butler of Milton went to Boston after two of the girls returned home voluntarily and said they left the Anderson girl in Boston. They told how the three girls and three sailors met outside at Boston theater and the Anderson girl, learning the others were going home, said she was going to remain as she was afraid to return. Since then she had not been heard from until yesterday (Portsmouth Herald, August 8, 1942).
Here are offered for rent vacation cottages on Northeast Pond, and for sale a five-room camp in a pine grove of Tri-Echo Lake.
REAL ESTATE FOR RENT. Shore, Mountain, Lake, Country 112. WRITE OR SEE Stevens’ Cottages, Northeast Pond, Milton, N.H., $15-$25 (Boston Globe, June 24, 1942).
REAL ESTATE MARKET. SUMMER CAMP. WAKEFIELD, N.H. For Sale: Camp, 5 rooms, porch, bath, fireplace, furniture. garage, sandy beach, in pine grove of Tri Echo Lake at Milton, N.H.; price $1500. For further information on camps, farms, or shore lots in vicinity, write PALMER of Wakefield, N.H. (Boston Globe, September 4, 1942).
Rev. Leland L. Maxfield conducted funeral services for Mrs. Alberta G. (Shorey) Large. Mrs. Elizabeth (Bronson) Maxfield had been driving the Red Cross automobile in which she and Mrs. Large had been injured in July 1939.
Victim Of Train Collision Dies. Rev. Leland L. Maxfield, pastor of the Community church at Milton, conducted funeral services yesterday afternoon at the Edgerly Home for Mrs. Alberta S. Large, 64, of Lebanon, Me., who died Monday. Mrs. Large, who was the wife of Henry Large, had been ill for some time as the result of an accident at the crossing in Milton when the machine in which she was riding was struck by a train. She was a native of Rochester and was the daughter of the late Stephen F. and Catherine (Lynch) Shorey. Burial was in the family lot in Rochester cemetery (Portsmouth Herald, [Thursday,] July 30, 1942).
Mrs. Anna Shaw sought a woman to work in her Milton Hotel. She advertised her hotel, which was situated on Route 16, between at least the years 1942-45.
HELP WANTED. Woman for general hotel work, one with some knowledge of cooking. Preferably someone to live at hotel. Inquire of Mrs. Anna Shaw, Milton Hotel, Milton, N.H. (Farmington News, September 4, 1942).
Wilfred J. Poisson sought to augment his coffee ration by growing his own beans.
ODD ITEMS from EVERYWHERE. In Milton, N.H., Wilfred J. Poisson has just harvested his first crop of coffee beans. The yield was small this year, but the new coffee farmer thinks he knows just what to do next year to be sure of producing much more, and feels that he has proved to his doubting neighbors that coffee is not necessarily a tropical crop. (Boston Globe, October 6, 1942).
The Twin State Gas & Electric Company advised customers on coffee-making conservation, under the heading ConserVation, Chief Weapon of the Home Front:
How Best to Use Your Coffee Maker. 1. Be sure to keep it very clean. 2. If you use a cloth filter, rinse it thoroughly with cold water after each using. 3. To clean metal coffee maker, use one tablespoon of baking soda, add water, and proceed as though making coffee (Farmington News, June 5, 1942).
Cloth coffee filters, interesting. The capital “V” in the middle of ConserVation symbolized or signified “Victory.”
Harvey Perkins is here identified as a faculty member at the Nute High School.
ALTON AND ALTON BAY. Mrs. Harvey Perkins has joined her husband in Milton, where he is a faculty member of Nute high school (Farmington News, December 4, 1942).
Mildred A. [((Trask) Perkins)] Emerson, aged fifty-eight years (b. MA), headed an Alton, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her son, S. Harvey Perkins, a building trade carpenter, aged thirty-five years (b. MA), her son’s wife, Hilda A. [(Berg)] Perkins, aged thirty years (b. MA), her grandson, Lloyd A. Perkins, aged seven years (b. NH), her son’s [Lloyd A. Perkins’] wife, Harriet S. [(Seavey)] Perkins, a grade school teacher, aged twenty-six years (b. MA), and her granddaughter, Patricia Mae Perkins, aged ten years (b. NH). Mildred A. Emerson owned their house on the Main Road [from] Alton Bay to Alton, which was valued at $3,000.
Stephen Harvey Perkins, of Alton, NH, registered for the WW II draft in Alton, February 16, 1942. He was thirty-seven years old (b. Marblehead, MA, June 10, 1904), and was employed by the William Colby. His next of kin was Hilda Perkins. He was 5’6″ tall, weighed 130 pounds, and had a light brown complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes.
Nute High School headmaster Robert R. Anderson gave a talk on aeronautics at the Kiwanis club in Farmington, NH. (He had been headmaster since at least 1938).
Robert R. Anderson, a public school teacher, aged thirty-one years (b. MA), headed a Milton Mills household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Lalue B. [(Zappa)] Anderson, aged thirty years (b. LA). Robert R. Anderson owned their house on [Milton Mills’] Main Street, which was valued at $1,000.
Robert Rettig Anderson, of Milton Mills, registered for the peacetime draft in Milton, October 10, 1940. He was thirty-two years old (b. Boston, MA, June 11, 1908), and was employed by the Trustees of Nute High School. His next of kin was Lalue B. Anderson. He was 5’8″ tall, weighed 150 pounds, and had a light complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes.
(Note that at this point, October 1940, the Nute High School was still a private organization, whose officers are responsible to its trustees (rather than a Town board). The headmaster is still the principal “master,” i.e., teacher, rather than solely an administrator).
KIWANIS CLUB SPEAKER THIS WEEK WILL BE ROBERT ANDERSON, MILTON. Headmaster Robert Anderson of Nute high school will be the speaker at the Kiwanis club meeting this Thursday evening. He will talk about “Aeronautics,” a course which is being given in many high school, including Nute. Election of officers will take place at this meeting and it is hoped that all members will be present (Farmington News, December 11, 1942).
By the end of this same month, Robert R. Anderson had been commissioned as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the U.S. Naval Reserve (he had three days service as of January 1, 1943). He was classed as a Deck Officer, who was qualified for specialist duties (Volunteer Reserve (Special Service)). He would eventually become a Lieutenant Commander in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
Robert R. (Lalue B.) Anderson appeared in the Portland (ME) directory of 1949 as an advisor to the Portland VA (Veterans’ Administration), with a house at 3 Longfellow drive (South Portland P.O.). By the time of the Portland directory of 1950, they had removed to Togus, i.e., the Togus Veterans Administration Medical Center at Chelsea, ME.
We received today the following demand letter from the Town Treasurer, Mr. MacKenzie Campbell:
Name: Mackenzie Campbell, treasurer
Email: [omitted]
Comment: Hello I read opinionated and categorically false information relating to the Treasurers position. I am happy to give an interview that I can back up with facts and additional information. The article was about an upcoming Selectman’s meeting and I need to reach someone to discuss. If no contact attempts are made to me within 5 business days or 1 calendar week. I will follow up to request your proof in writing. If proof cannot be furnished within 30 days I will proceed accordingly to avoid defamation to my name and character as well as my ability to serve in the role of treasurer.
You are herby notifies to cease and desist the information regarding to the treasurers position without providing substantial evidence.
I appreciate your time and have a great day!
[phone number omitted]
[*misspellings and typographical errors are original]
Well, this Treasurer guy certainly thinks a lot of himself, doesn’t he? More than I do anyway.
I will thank him to keep his empty threats between his teeth for the next 5 business days, 1 calendar week, 30 days, or pretty much until the sun winks out. As an elected official, he is a public figure. This is black-letter law. I might suggest he seek satisfaction in a nice long walk on a short pier, and that he should “have a great day” while doing it.
Doesn’t he know that the Board of Selectmen (BOS) meetings are recorded? Nothing has been said here that was not said aloud in recorded public meetings.
(Some might even recall that when Selectman Lucier was obsessed with trash in yards, it was said aloud – for a recording – that Mr. Campbell’s yard was among the worst of them).
Mr. Campbell did not specify which part of our meeting notice was “categorically false.” I’m going to call just plain nonsense on that. Facts that you do not like are not false because you do not like them.
In the BOS meeting of December 3, 2018, the Town Clerk’s reluctance to be the Town’s Depository was discussed at length (minutes). Mr. Plissken wrote about it at the time (Town Clerk Working-to-Rule), and quoted both the Treasurer’s remarks and those of the BOS directly from the recording at length.
In the BOS meeting of December 17, 2018, the Treasurer was among those trying to browbeat the Town Clerk. According to the minutes.
M. Campbell suggested the Town Clerk/Tax Collector remain the central location as determined with the bank and auditors this past spring.
The Treasurer, the bank and the auditors had “determined” that the Town Clerk should do the work. Nice of them. Might I ask which of them, if any of them, asked the Town Clerk? Don’t you just love it when other people “determine” things for you? I know I do.
They went around and around, but she did not budge. You see, she is not the handmaiden of the BOS or anyone else in Town government. She is a duly elected constitutional officer, as opposed to most down there. She promised certain office hours for the taxpayers, as a constitutional officer might. This central depository thing would interfere with her promises to her constituency. She explained all this.
I invite you to watch the video. You have never seen such a confused bunch in your life. Like ducks hit on the head. (You will admire her determination: steel true, blade straight).
Vice-chairwoman Hutchings suggested a drop safe, but Treasurer Campbell said that lacked security and accountability. The Police Chief agreed. Selectman Lucier liked the drop safe idea. Chairman Thibeault disagreed with the drop safe idea. He did not want to go against the opinions of lawyers and auditors. (He thinks “outside the box”).
Remember, the Town Clerk is an independent elected official in her own right, with constitutional responsibilities of her own. Her responsibilities do not include being a central depository. No amount of others wanting it to be so makes it so. She is not answerable to the selectmen or treasurers, and even less so to their hireling police chiefs, lawyers, and auditors.
The BOS stopped finally the merry-go-round by asking that the Town Administrator call a meeting to iron out a solution by the end of January. Yeah, good luck with that. There was no mention in end of January minutes of any ironed-out solution.
How were the problems attendant to the “solution” devised by the Treasurer, auditor, and lawyer ultimately solved? They had to give the Town Clerk the assistance she requested. The additional cost of that assistance is not being paid by the Treasurer, the BOS, nor the departments, but by the taxpayers, as our meeting notice said.
Should we have said that we need to thank the Treasurer, and the auditors, lawyers, banks, selectmen, police chief, town administrator, butcher, baker, and candlestick-maker for this “solution”?
The Milton Board of Selectmen (BOS) have posted their agenda for a BOS meeting to be held Monday, December 16.
The BOS meeting is scheduled to begin with a Non-Public session beginning at 5:30 PM. That agenda has one Non-Public item classed as 91-A3 II (c).
(c) Matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person, other than a member of the public body itself, unless such person requests an open meeting. This exemption shall extend to any application for assistance or tax abatement or waiver of a fee, fine, or other levy, if based on inability to pay or poverty of the applicant.
Likely someone is seeking some partial relief. There were many, many of these after the false “push-button” valuation and mistaken rate-setting of 2016, and we have just experienced yet another preposterous “push-button” valuation. One might expect to see many of these secret 91-A3 II (c) sessions scheduled going forward.
The BOS intend to adjourn their Non-Public BOS session at 6:00 PM, when they intend to return to Public session.
The Public portion of the agenda has New Business, Old Business, Other Business, and some housekeeping items.
Under New Business are scheduled nine agenda items: 1) Town Clerk / Tax Collector Letter of Appreciation, 2) 2019 Encumbrances Discussion, 3) Town Report Dedication Discussion, 4) Police Patrol Room Equipment Purchase Request (R. Krauss), 5) Heritage Commission, 6) Capital Improvement Program Recommendations Discussion, 7) Preliminary Town Warrant Article Discussion, 8) Approve Town Deposit Process and Policy, and 9) Solar Garden Ratification Discussion.
Town Clerk / Tax Collector Letter of Appreciation. There are no doubt many reasons to express appreciation of the Town Clerk.
2019 Encumbrances Discussion. Several commenters have expressed their strong disapproval of this. This could be a contentious discussion involving money approved at the ballot for one or more specific purposes during a calendar year. If the money is not spent, or is not fully spent, it may be “encumbered” for use in another year.
Has the originally authorized purpose has been fulfilled? If so, any extra monies should be returned promptly as tax reductions. (Note that the rate has been set prior to this, from which one might infer that there was never any intention of returning any money).
Having slush funds and large fund balances relieves the Town of having to seek voter authorization – a taxpayers’ check on its expenditures. “It’s just easier that way.” As you may well imagine, the bypassing of checks and balances is an indication of unaccountable government.
Last year, the BOS neglected to “encumber” money approved to fight European Naiad until after the deadline. They then took that amount from their “emergency fund” for European Naiad. Did you know they even had an emergency fund? I mean, apart from the excessive fund balance that is? Presumably, they replenished the “emergency fund” in some other way. They covered also a significantly larger budget overflow and presented it as a rate reduction by drawing from the fund balance. The BOS does this sort of thing fairly often.
When last numbered in a public meeting, The Town had then over twenty-nine different bank accounts. (Their bank wanted to charge them fees on all of them, which added up to a tidy sum).
Town Report Dedication Discussion. Is this the year in which the Town Report will be dedicated finally to its taxpayers? Without their ever-increasing contributions, nothing contained in the report would have been possible at all.
Police Patrol Room Equipment Purchase Request (R. Krauss). Aren’t the police cars the patrol rooms? I must be misunderstanding this.
Heritage Commission. Would Milton have a heritage without having a Heritage Commission? Yes, of course it would, absolutely.
Would another commission be yet another expense? Let us hope not. If so, its very existence would hamper Milton’s heritage to some degree.
It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors. – Plutarch
Capital Improvement Program Recommendations Discussion. An increasing number of Milton taxpayers recommend that the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) be scrapped entirely. Its supposed advantage, that of “smoothing” expenses, has instead resulted in a constantly rising trend in expenses and, therefore, taxes. (See Capital Reduction Program (CRP)).
Preliminary Town Warrant Article Discussion. Where the increases fostered by the CIP plan process begin to make their way along the conveyer belt to the ballot. Unanimous approvals anyone?
Approve Town Deposit Process and Policy. The Town Treasurer and the BOS dumped his Town Deposit Process onto the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk objected rightly to extra tasks without extra staffing.
After a bit of a donnybrook, the BOS provided the necessary clerical support after the fact. Missing from all of this was any discussion of the time gained by the various departments that had offloaded their deposit tasks to the Town Clerk.
How are they using the time that they gained thereby? In the absence of any explanation, one must assume the departments simply gained more time in which to do fewer tasks.
Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. – Parkinson’s Law
The Town Deposit Process worked out nicely for the departments, but was perhaps less advantageous for Milton taxpayers. The taxpayers “gained” another salary, benefits package, etc., with which to accomplish the very same tasks previously performed by the departments. Remember to thank the Town Treasurer for his new, more expensive Town Deposit Process at his next election outing.
By the way, did anyone ever apologize to the old Town Treasurer for the calumnies heaped upon her by BOS Chairman Thibeault on the eve of her election outing? The Treasurer emeritus seems to be still in good standing at the county level, while we have gained a new process, a new policy, and a new expense.
Solar Garden Ratification Discussion. These things never pay for themselves. Every one that you see, be they at the transfer station, or on individual houses and buildings, is made possible by Federal and state subsidies. That is to say, the savings decrease, or even disappear entirely, when one remembers that the subsidy was taken from your other pocket.
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL).
Under Old Business is scheduled two items: 10) Request to Repair Ladder Truck (N. Marique), and 11) Budget Progression Discussion.
Request to Repair Ladder Truck (N. Marique). The fire chief seeks authorization for the maintenance and repair expenses for the used firetruck purchased from Gray, ME. (See Gray, ME, Voted to Sell Fire Engine to Milton).
Budget Progression Discussion. Regrettably, the Budget has never regressed in recent years, or remained the same, or even “progressed” at merely the inflation rate. However, in this context, this might be simply a status report of [default] budgeted versus actual expenditure at this particular point in the fiscal year. Or a discussion of the extent that the new budget has progressed through the bureaucracy.
Other Business That May Come Before the Board has no scheduled items.
There will be the approval of prior minutes (from the BOS Meeting of December 4, 2019), the expenditure report, Public Comments “Pertaining to Topics Discussed,” Town Administrator comments, and BOS comments.
The BOS meeting is scheduled to end with another Non-Public session. That agenda has two Non-Public items classed as 91-A3 II (a) and 91-A: 3II (c):
The agenda has, for the third time in recent weeks, a Non-Public item classed as 91-A3 II (a): investigation, discipline, dismissal, promotion or compensation of employees.
(a) The dismissal, promotion, or compensation of any public employee or the disciplining of such employee, or the investigation of any charges against him or her, unless the employee affected (1) has a right to a meeting and (2) requests that the meeting be open, in which case the request shall be granted.
One would like to think that investigations, disciplines, and dismissals of employees are not required at the rate of three times over four meetings. The more likely topic would be promotions and compensation, i.e., raises and COLA.
(c) Matters which, if discussed in public, would likely affect adversely the reputation of any person, other than a member of the public body itself, unless such person requests an open meeting. This exemption shall extend to any application for assistance or tax abatement or waiver of a fee, fine, or other levy, if based on inability to pay or poverty of the applicant.
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 15, 2019
In this year, we encounter a Wolfeboro carnival queen, a Milton winter carnival, a chain grocery store, a union election, a former Nute Ridge schoolteacher, the Ice Box again, the death of Fred P. Jones, a Milton Mills house fire, a problematic Acton auto registration, and state air raid instructions.
This was also the year in which National Socialist (Nazi) Germany invaded Yugoslavia, Greece, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). The Japanese empire attacked the United States on December 7, 1941. It invaded French Indochina, Thailand, Sarawak, Borneo, Hong King, Malaya, Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies.
The younger Milton Mills cousin of several matrons of Farmington, NH, was elected carnival queen of the Wolfeboro, NH, winter carnival.
LOCAL. Miss Peggy Fletcher of Milton Mills was unanimously elected the carnival queen at the Abenaki Outing club winter carnival, which was held in Wolfeboro last Saturday night. Miss Fletcher is a cousin of Mrs. Leslie French and Mrs. Granville Tozer of this [Farmington] town (Farmington News, January 31, 1941).
This description of this Teneriffe Sports Club’s Sixth Annual Winter Carnival permits us to date its first event to 1936. (A description of the Fifth Annual Winter Carnival followed the event in 1940 and a bare notice of the Fourth Annual Winter Carnival appeared in 1939).
SIXTH ANNUAL CARNIVAL AT MILTON. The Teneriffe Sports Club has completed plans for its sixth annual winter carnival, which for two days, Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9, will attract carnival sportsters from at least three states. On Saturday morning and afternoon, there will be intra-school sports, while in the evening snowsuits will [be] doffed and replaced with evening dress for the carnival ball. Every section of Milton is represented by a contestant for the honor of carnival queen, and this is not the least in the exciting events of anticipation. On Sunday there will be representative teams from the Associated Outing Clubs, which includes several towns and cities, and swarms of winter sports fans and spectators will fill the town to overflowing. The terrain of Milton is naturally adaptive to carnival purposes, for the slopes range from a very slight incline to an almost perpendicular descent, for the pleasure of skiers, a lake is right in the center of activity, and the whole playground is within easy motoring distance of many localities (Farmington News, February 7, 1941).
Milton had a First National Store (Finast), i.e., a chain grocery store, as early as September 1934. First National Stores had branches also in Alton, Farmington, Rochester, and Sanbornville, NH.
PERSONAL. Gideon Marcoux was employed at the First National Store in Milton for a few days this week (Farmington News, February 14, 1941).
Gideon T. Marcoux of Farmington, NH, aged twenty-three years (b. NH), worked a few days at the Milton store. (He married Miss Helen M. Gilbert in Somersworth, NH, November 22, 1944).
Milton Leatherboard Company employees opposed forming a union by a 31 (54.4%) to 25 (45.6%) vote.
Milton, N.H., Workers Against Unionization. MILTON, N.H., June 13. Employees of the Milton Leatherboard Company here do not favor joining a union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, it became known today when the result of a special election to decide the issue was made public. A Labor Board election held at Town Hall Tuesday showed 31 employees opposed to joining the union and 25 in favor (Boston Globe, June 14, 1941).
At least forty-two leather and fibreboard mill employees – although not their union preferences – may be identified in the census of the prior year: Alta M. Belleman, Louise Belleman, Raymond Belleman, William Belleman, Carl M. Burrows, Edwin Burrows, Edward V. Butler, Martin Davis, Willard R. Davis, Charles L. Dickson, Ernest F. Dickson, William W. Dorr, Roy M. Downs, Fred Eldridge, Everett E. Goodson, Albert A. Gosselin, James J. Ham, Rex W. Harris, Donald A. Hopkins, Raymond F. Horne, Herbert N. Kenney, Roy P. Leavitt, Ludger J. Labrie, Fred J. Lavoie, Leslie S. Libby, Peter J. Lover, Wilbur C. Lover, George C. McIntire, John Pearson, Alfred V. Pippin, Ralph W. Pugh, Earl L. Rand, Lauren V. Ramsey, Jerome J. Regan, Raymond Regan, Clara M. Smith, Elmer O. Stillings, John Sullivan, Charles E. Weare, Ralph J. Williams, Ernest F. Witham, and Samuel Young.
Mary Davis, secretary; Christine Libby, office clerk; Ernest A. Lord, clerk; Harold A. Stillings, clerk; and Earl Wentworth, bookkeeper, worked in the mill’s offices.
Mrs. Elizabeth Burrows McCorrison is here identified as having been a Nute Ridge school teacher of the late 1860s. (It appears that she would have done so under the name Lizzie Ricker).
WEST MILTON. Mrs. Elizabeth Burrows McCorrison of Union, Me., was a Sunday caller at the home of friends and former neighbors. “Aunt Lizzie,” as she is affectionally known, is in her 92nd year, and with the exception of a bothersome lameness, enjoys the best of health. Until within a short time she has managed her farm, with blueberries a specialty. Her childhood days were spent in the Nute Ridge sector of West Milton, where she attended the Nute Ridge school and later served as teacher (Farmington News, June 27, 1941).
Annie Ripley, a farmer, aged sixty-four years (b. ME), headed an Appleton, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her boarder, Lizzie B. McCorrison, a widow [of Addison McCorrison], aged ninety years (b. NH). Annie Ripley owned their farmstead on the Appleton Ridge, which was valued at $1,000. Mrs. McCorrison had finished the eighth grade.
The Ice Box mentioned in 1939 is here described as being the Ice Box Grill. Other mentions have it associated with a campground along Route 16. Some number of free meals were a benefit for campers, while other customers paid for their meals.
Saxtons River. Miss Ida Hall and Miss Mary Bissell, who have worked at the Ice Box Grill in Milton, N.H., for the past month, are spending a few days at their respective homes before returning to the University of Vermont (Brattleboro Reformer, September 11, 1941).
Valerie Hall, a widow, aged fifty-one years (b. VT), headed a Saxtons River, Rockingham, VT, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her children, Ida Hall, aged twenty years (b. VT), Warren Hall, aged eighteen years (b. VT), Evelyn Hall, aged sixteen years (b. VT), and Benjamin Hall, aged twelve years (b. VT), and her boarders, Yvonne Simonds, aged nine years (b. VT), Gloria Simonds, aged eight years (b. VT), Stanley Hill, aged two years (b. VT), and Harold Hill, aged two years (b. VT). Valerie Hall rented their house on Pleasant Street, for $18 per month.
Here we bid farewell to Fred P. Jones, who among other things had been father to famous theatrical designer, Robert E. Jones. (His wife, Emma J. (Cowell) Jones, had died in Milton, April 13, 1941).
Rochester Locals. Private services were held yesterday afternoon at the home on Plummer’s Ridge in Milton for Fred P. Jones, 82, who died at ancestral home late Monday night. He was born in Milton, the son Charles and Betsy (Varney) Jones and was a lifelong resident of that community. He leaves three sons, Charles, Robert Edmund and Philip Cowell Jones and two daughters, Mrs. Alice M. Varney and Miss Elizabeth Jones. Burial was in the family lot on the Jones property (Portsmouth Herald, [Thursday,] November 13, 1941).
Harold Johnson lost to fire his historic eight-room house in Milton Mills, known variously as the Daniel Philbrick house or as “Milton Acres.” Milton Mills and Union firemen were hampered in their efforts by the lack of a fire pond from which to pump. They managed to save the barn and the adjoining properties of his neighbors, after laying hose to a more distant brook.
Rochester. Milton Mills Landmark Destroyed by Flames. Correspondent Basil Blake; 806J. Fire yesterday morning destroyed an eight-room house, a long ell and house on the Daniel Philbrick property in Milton Mills. The buildings, one of the old landmarks of the town, were originally owned by Mr. Philbrick, but of late have passed through several hands. The driver of a bakery truck noticed flames coming from two sections of the house as he was passing his route yesterday morning. Members of the household were not home so he notified a neighbor who gave the alarm. The Milton Fire department answered an alarm but when they arrived Chief Charles Wilson discovered that the water hole near the property had gone dry. More than 2,000 feet of hose was laid to pump water from a brook on the property of M.G. Chamberlain, but the flames had made so much headway before discovery that it was impossible to save the house. Firemen concentrated their efforts on the barn and although a corner of that structure was damaged, the barn was saved. The loss was estimated at about $5,000, with some insurance. Homes of Miriam Paschal and Victor Evans were in danger several times, but firemen prevented the spread of the flames to these nearby structures (Portsmouth Herald, December 6, 1941).
To add insult to injury, investigators discovered that Johnson’s surviving automobile had been registered in neighboring Acton, ME, rather than in Milton. In point of fact, Johnson had lived in Acton, ME, in the prior year.
Florence A. Benson, a widow, aged sixty-three years (b. MA), headed an Acton, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her lodger, Harold F. Johnson, a hardware salesman, aged forty-three years (b. MA). [And, presumably, his Acton-registered automobile]. Florence A. Benson owned their house on Hubbard’s Ridge, which was valued at $3,600.
Rochester. Basil Blake; Correspondent: 806-J. Fire Investigation Results In Auto Charge. Old Man Jinx still is camping on the trail of Harold Johnson of nearby Milton Mills. Over a week ago the large, eight-room house owned by Mr. Johnson, known as “Milton Acres,” in the town of Milton Mills was destroyed by fire in the absence of Mr. Johnson. Firemen of Milton Mills and Union, handicapped by lack of water, saved the large barn and its contents. State Police and investigators from the sheriff’s department spent several days investigating the fire but were unable to tell how it started. During this investigation it was found out that Johnson, while living Milton Mills, had registered his car just over the town line in Acton, Me. He was brought to the police station by State Trooper Frank D. Manning and released over the weekend in bail of $25. Arraigned Monday morning before Special Justice Leonard C. Harwick, through his counsel, Atty. Kenneth F. Graft of Manchester, pleaded nolo to a charge of operating an improperly registered car and was fined $10 and costs of $6.40 (Portsmouth Herald, December 16, 1941).
In the week after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the NH State Council of Defense issued air raid instructions.
ISSUE AIR RAID INSTRUCTION. The following instructions were issued by the State Council of Defense, Tuesday, in the event of an air raid alarm. The principal thing to remember if an air raid should occur is to keep cool. Everyone should stay in their houses, do not crowd in the streets. If you are in the street, walk. Do not run to your home. Do not shout or make any unnecessary commotion. If a blackout should be ordered simply turn out all the lights in your house until proper measures can be taken. It is suggested that all unnecessary light bulbs be taken out now. The New Hampshire Air Raid Precaution is organized and will aid you to protect your home. There will be an opportunity for everyone in the state to attend air raid classes, the first one in Farmington to be held this Friday evening at 7.30 in the town hall. Use your common sense. Keep cool and you will be helping the United States in its war efforts. Beulah Thayer, Vice Chairman (Farmington News, December 12, 1941).
These blackout measures had an element of “security theater” in them, as neither the Japanese nor the Germans possessed any bomber airplanes capable of reaching New Hampshire. (General Doolittle’s 1942 bombing of Japan was an only barely possible one-way trip because it was launched from an aircraft carrier, of which the Germans had none). Nor would any Farmington or Milton lights have been visible to any enemy ship or submarine offshore.
I am given to understand that representatives of the Milton Taxpayers’ Association (MTA) will be out collecting signatures in the next month so that a Tax Cap warrant article may appear on the March ballot.
You may share their concern that in recent years that Town officials seem to be either unable or unwilling to restrain themselves in creating Town budgets. They thereby create tax burdens that increase at rates much greater than inflation. This could be your opportunity to “assist” the Town in finding some upper limits.
Last year the Board of Selectmen (BOS) voted unanimously to use your fund balance – the money they took “in error” due to their preposterous 2016 valuation – to cover their rather incontinent budget. Their budget was rejected by the voters, but many of its features were funded anyway by an excessive “fudge factor” included in their process.
This year the BOS voted unanimously to “guide” their Town department heads in drafting budgets that included 2% raises and 1.7% COLA increases. Selectman Rawson said immediately, i.e., without any apparent consideration at all, that he was “just fine” with that; the other selectmen all agreed with him.
In a public BOS meeting this past year Town Planning Board member Laurence D. “Larry” Brown spoke rather unguardedly about his “vision” for Milton’s future. (He had requested a secret meeting, but went ahead anyway in a public session). You might find that you are not present in the future he plans.
Mr. Brown expressed publicly his utter contempt for manufactured homes. They do not serve as “attractions.” (Quote: “No one travels to see the double-wides of New Jersey”). Yes, that old saw again, as if creating “attractions” was ever a legitimate concern of government. He said forthrightly that there are “far too many” manufactured homes in town (13% of Milton’s households). That is to say, for those of you that live in them, there are far too many of you in town.
Mr. Brown expressed his glowing approval for “gentrification” – a process by which wealthier incomers displace those with less wherewithal. Can’t keep up with our increasing government and the increasing taxes needed to pay for it? You can be replaced by better, wealthier taxpayers.
Mr. Brown congratulated himself on having personally prevented the establishment of many businesses over the years, both as an officeholder and an individual. As if that were an accomplishment. (He bragged that he had even spent his own money on lawsuits to do so).
These are the people that are Planning our future, creating and approving the Town budgets, and setting the tax rates. One might almost embrace a slogan from the national scene, and claim that these persons are “Not My Planning Board” and “Not My Board of Selectmen.”
There might be some few among you who think that these trends and these people have not been a burden and a problem for Milton. You should sign the Tax Cap petition anyway, if only to support the principles of democracy. You would be ensuring that there are more ballot options from which voters might choose, rather than fewer options. And there would be no danger that a fully satisfied electorate would pass such a measure, right?
If an MTA volunteer finds their way to your house, you should smile upon their efforts. If you do not encounter one, you may find an MTA volunteer seated in the Dunkin’ Donuts, for the next few Saturday mornings, between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM.
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 12, 2019
In this year, we encounter the death of a former Nute High principal, a housekeeper situation wanted, the Teneriffe Sports Club’s winter carnival, the Wolfeboro winter carnival, the death of the Milton station agent, the collapse of the Pineland Park pavilion, the Spinney Farm for sale, an Eliot versus Nute baseball game, vacationing principals, Miss Carmichael goes to the World’s Fair, President Roosevelt signed a Federal conscription act, a Mrs. DeMerritt visits Kittery, and a stolen grocery truck.
This was also the year in which National Socialist (Nazi) Germany invaded and occupied Denmark and Norway, invaded and occupied the Netherlands and Belgium, and defeated and partially occupied France, but failed to gain air superiority in the Battle of Britain. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R) occupied Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
At the beginning of the year, we bid farewell to Arthur Thaddeus Smith, who collapsed suddenly in Boston’s South Station and died en route to Boston City hospital.
Lawyer Expires in Railway Terminal. Winchester, Mass., Jan. 2 (AP). Services for Arthur T. Smith, 64, Boston lawyer and corporation official, who collapsed and died last night, will be at his (235 Mystic Valley Parkway) home Thursday afternoon. Smith, Dartmouth honor graduate and former principal of the Nute High school, Milton, N.H., died in Boston’s south terminal a few minutes after seeing his daughter, Jeanette, off for New York (Boston Globe, January 4, 1940).
Smith had been the Nute High School’s second principal before taking up a law practice in Boston.
IN MEMORIAM. Arthur Thad Smith. While bidding goodbye to his daughter on New Year’s morning, Arthur Thad Smith, prominent Massachusetts barrister, collapsed at the South Station and expired before reaching Boston City hospital. This death reaches deeply the communities of Farmington and Milton and rekindles enduring affections that are shared universally in these quarters where he began an illustrious career before the ink was hardly dry on his college diploma. Mr. Smith was born at Silver City, Idaho, May 1, 1875, the son of Dr. Arthur Noel and Mary Hattie (McCann) Smith. As a lad he came to Dover, where his father engaged in a medical practice for a number of years. The deceased graduated from Dover high school and from Dartmouth college with a degree of A.B. and highest honors in 1896. The same year he was elected principal of Nute high school in Milton, and served that post for five years. He resigned his post as teacher in 1901, having entered Harvard Law school and was graduated in 1904 with a bachelor of laws degree. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar the same year and immediately joined the law firm of Bartlett & Anderson. Soon after he married one of his former high school pupils, Miss Ora S. Dickie. Of this union two children were born, a son, Arthur T. Smith, Jr., who was associated with him in a Boston law practice, and a daughter, Miss Ora Jeanette Smith, now a student in New York City. It was while he was located at Milton that he formed deep attachments with the late Elmer F. Thayer, prominent New Hampshire shoe manufacturer and financier, who later settled both manufacturing and residential interests in Farmington. Mr. Smith became treasurer and director of the Thayer-Osborne Shoe Cp., continuing this capacity and extending his connections to the Farmington National bank. Mr. Smith renewed associations with this locality not infrequently and always with the warm-hearted fellowship which his affections embraced (Farmington News, January 5, 1940).
Mrs. Margaret O. (Newell) Corbett sought again a housekeeper position as she had in 1934.
Charles O. Stillings, a fibreboard mill oiler, aged sixty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Susie [(Newell)] Stillings, aged sixty-four years (b. Nova Scotia), his children, Harold A. Stillings, a fiberboard mill sample clerk, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), and Elmer E. Stillings, a machine tender, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), and his sister-in-law, Margaret O. Corbett, a private home house maid, aged fifty-seven years (b. Canada). Charles O. Stillings rented their house, for $13 per month.
Milton’s Teneriffe Sports Club held a winter carnival in late January 1940. (Likely they sponsored also the winter carnival of the prior year).
Wilbur Lover Is Ski Star at Milton, N.H., Carnival. MILTON, N.H., Jan. 28. Wilbur Lover, with victories in the downhill and slalom races, was the individual star in the final day’s events of the annual Winter carnival of the Teneriffe Sports Club today. Miss Myrtle Durkee was elected Queen of the carnival last night and presided over all festivities today. The summary: Downhill Ski Race Won by Wilbur Lover, Teneriffe Sports Club; second, Ed Senechal, Pow-Wow Club, Amesbury, Mass. Time. 59.6s. Slalom Race Won by Lover; second, Elmer Skillings, Teneriffe Club; third, William Warneke, Teneriffe Club. Time, 1m. 4s. Ski Jump Won by Guy Smith; second, Everett MacIntyre; third, Wilbur Lover. Distance. 68ft. 9in. (Boston Globe, January 29, 1940).
Peter J. Lover, a leather-board mill machine tender, aged fifty-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Alice M. [(Downs)] Lover, aged fifty-one years (b. NH), his son, Wilbur C. Lover, a leather-board mill finisher, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), and his boarder, Marion Atwood, a public school teacher, aged thirty years (b. NH). Peter J. Lover owned their house on Church Street, which was valued at $1,150.
Porter J. Durkee, a grocery store storekeeper, aged thirty-nine years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife Estella [(Swinerton)] Durkee, a grocery store clerk, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), and his children, Myrtle T. Durkee, aged sixteen years (b. MA), and Edward A. Durkee, aged eleven years (b. NH). Porter J. Durkee rented their house in the Milton “Community,” i.e., Milton Three Ponds, for $15 per month.
Milton schoolboy skiers Leeman and Leavitt placed first and second in the Wolfeboro Winter Carnival slalom race. Leavitt came second in the downhill race. (Their first names were not given).
Rochester, N.H., Ski Club Takes Wolfeboro Team Prize. WOLFEBCRO, N.H., Feb. 4. – Handicapped by adverse snow conditions. the Wolfeboro Winter Carnival skiing events were held today, with a large group of spectators in attendance. In the hockey game last night, the Sacred Hearts of Concord administered a crushing defeat to the Abernaki Indians of Wolfeboro, winning by a 17-to-6 score. The summary: Team prize won by Greenwich State Outing Club (Rochester), combined time 11m. 29 2-10s.; second, Abernaki Outing Club (Wolfeboro). 11m. 40 4-10s. Downhill Race Won by Pouliot (Greenwich). 1m. 15s.; second, L. Couture (Greenwich), 1m. 17s. Slalom Race Won by R. Marden (Abernaki), 43s.; second, L. McHugh, 46 2-10s. Open Downhill Won by N. Davis (Abernaki). 23 6-10s.; second, L. McHugh. 25s. Junior races, children under high school age, slalom for boys, won by Leeman (Milton, N.H.), 1m. 6 5-10s; second, Leavitt (Milton, N.H.) lm. 19 3-10s. Downhill Won by B. McHugh (Wolfeboro), 33 1-10s,; second, Leavitt (Milton, N.H.). 33 3-10s (February 5, 1940).
It would seem, by a process of elimination, that the Milton junior race champions were George H. Leeman, aged fifteen years, and Roland R. Leavitt, aged fourteen years.
Edgar J. Wyatt, no occupation listed, aged sixty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Hattie E. [((Hayes) Dewolfe)] Wyatt, aged seventy-one years (b. NH), his son, Luther A. Wyatt, a sample room clerk at a leather-board mill, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH), his step-daughter, Helen M. [(DeWolfe)] Leeman, aged forty-nine years (b. NH), and his grandson, George H. Leeman, aged fifteen years (b. NH). Edgar J. Wyatt owned their house on Old Road, which was valued at $1,500.
Roy P. Leavitt, a leather-board mill operator, aged forty-eight years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Bertha E. [(Baker)] Leavitt, aged forty-seven years (b. NH), his children Pauline B.W. Leavitt, a shoe shop operator, aged twenty-six years (b. NH), and Roland R. Leavitt, aged fourteen years (b. NH), his grandchild, Daniel H. Whitehouse, aged two years (b. NH), and his lodger, Raymond Cleveland, a repair shop welder, aged nineteen years (b. NH). Roy P. Leavitt owned their house on Remick Street (near its intersection with Church Street), which was valued at $1,000.
Here we bid farewell to Milton’s long-term B&M railroad station agent Hugh A. Beaton. He dropped dead while working at the Milton train station.
H.A. Beaton appeared in the Milton directory of 1905 as Milton’s American Express Co. agent.
IN MEMORAM. Hugh A. Beaton. Announcement of the sudden death of Station Agent Hugh A. Beaton at Milton on February 12 brings sorrow to many friends and acquaintances in this locality. Mr. Beaton dropped dead while he was about his duties in the B&M railroad yard at Milton, Monday afternoon. The deceased was 67 years of age and had been in the employ of the B&M for about 45 years. For nearly 40 years he had held the position of station agent, freight agent and telegraph agent, and was widely known among his townsmen and to the traveling public. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, a brother Charles Beaton, also a railroad man of Portsmouth, and one sister, for all of whom much sympathy is expressed. Funeral was held Wednesday morning at the Baptist church in Milton, with services in charge of Fraternal Chapter, No. 71, A.F.&A.M., of which he was a member (Farmington News, February 16, 1940).
Milton had a popular dance pavilion at Pineland Park, at Milton Three Ponds, which was active from about 1924 through at least 1937. (See Milton and Frolic Haven – 1925-37).
Here we learn that the pavilion’s structure was damaged by the heavy gale winds of Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7. The pavilion collapsed on Sunday afternoon, April 7, 1940.
LOCAL. While no local reports of damage to property have come in since the gales of Saturday and Sunday, there was a total collapse of Pineland Park Pavilion at Milton Three Ponds on Sunday afternoon. For a number of years this has been among the chief summer amusement resorts of this region and its destruction inflicts a heavy property loss on its owner, Albert Green of East Rochester (Farmington News, [Friday,] April 12, 1940).
Grace L. Mills, a widow, aged sixty-four years (b. NH), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her lodgers, Albert L. Green, second hand in the weaving room of a woolen mill, aged fifty-four years (b. MA) and [his second wife,] Lena M. [(Companion)] Green, a weaver at a woolen mill, aged forty-six years (b. NH). Grace L. Mills owned their house at 2 Green Street, which was valued at $2,000.
The Spinney Farm on Milton Mills road, i.e., Applebee Road, in Milton Mills, went on the market.
Summer Cottages & Houses. FOR RENT FOR SEASON – Furnished 8-rm, old colonial, beautiful setting, modern, bathing, fishing, near White Mountains. Spinney farm, Milton Mills rd., Milton Mills, N.H. May be seen the week-end or call Bel. 3569, Thursday. 2t my 30 (Boston Globe, May 30, 1940).
Eliot (ME) High school won a baseball game against Milton’s Nute High school in the last two innings of the game.
Eliot High Pins Defeat On Nute At Milton, 3-0. Milton, N.H., June 5 – Eliot, Me., high tallied three runs in the last two innings here yesterday to win over Nute High 3 to 0. The locals were held to two hits by Lapointe in the seven-inning affair.
Eliot 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 – 3; Nute 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0
Runs – Bourgiois, Spencer, Lapointe. Errors – Bourgiois, Richardson, Lord, Davis, Craig. Two-base hits – Bourgiois. Three-base hits – Morin. Stolen bases — Bourgiois, Morin, Spencer. Sacrifices – Dyer, Lapointe. Double plays — Bourgiois, to Spencer to Sylvester. Left on bases – Eliot 4, Nute 3. Base on balls – off Warneke. Struck out, by Warneke 9. Lapointe 13. Hit by pitcher – by Warneke, (Spencer). Umpire – O’Brien. Time of game -1:45 (Portsmouth Herald, June 5, 1940).
The Nute High School team would appear to have been third baseman James L. Ramsey (aged 16 years), shortstop Kenneth R. Stowe (aged seventeen years), pitcher Donald S. Warneke (aged sixteen years), left-fielder Phillip E. Lord (aged seventeen years), center-fielder Frederick W. Comfort (aged fifteen years), right-fielder Fred E. Clough (aged fifteen years), catcher Charles H. Logan (aged seventeen), and second baseman Charles F. Husser (aged eighteen years). First baseman Craig remains somewhat elusive; he might have been an out-of-town tuition student.
Two Cambridge, MA, grammar school principals, daughters of Patrick and Julia (Coleman) O’Keefe, were vacationing at their Milton summer home.
CAMBRIDGE. The Misses Ellen and Elizabeth O’Keefe, Rindge av., North Cambridge, principals of the Wyman and Abraham Lincoln Grammar Schools, respectively, are vacationing at their Summer home at Milton, N.H. (Boston Globe, June 29, 1940).
Mary O’Keefe. a public school matron, aged sixty-four years (b. MA), headed a Cambridge, MA, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Her household included her sisters, Elizabeth J. O’Keefe, a public school principal, aged sixty-three years (b. MA), and Ellen T. O’Keefe, a public school acting principal, aged sixty years (b. MA). Mary E. O’Keefe owned their house at 184 Rindge Avenue, which was valued at $4,500. They had all resided in the “same house” in April 1935.
Principal Elizabeth J. O’Keefe had attended four years of college, while her sister, acting principal Ellen T. O’Keefe, had attended two years of college, and her other sister, matron Mary E. O’Keefe, had attended two years of high school.
Margaret Carmichael of Foxcroft, Milton Mills, accompanied Mary E. Clapp of Brattleboro, VT, to the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Just prior to taking up residence at Foxcroft, Margaret Carmichael, a private nursing school teacher, aged twenty-six years (b. ME), had shared an apartment with Martha Martin, a public school school nurse, aged twenty-eight years (b. VT), in Wolfeboro, NH, at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. Their apartment on Waumbeck Street cost them $25 per month.
Personal. Miss Mary Elizabeth Clapp and guest, Miss Margaret Carmichael of Foxcroft, Milton Mills, N.H., have gone to New York on business. They also will attend the World’s Fair (Brattleboro Reformer (Brattleboro, VT), July 18, 1940).
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the first-ever peacetime conscription act, September 16, 1940. All men aged 21 to 45 years of age were required to register for the draft. Draft boards established themselves in October and some registrants were being called up as early as November 1940.
Mrs. Carrie S. (Tobey) DeMerritt, wife of Delphin G. DeMerritt, and her children here visited with her sister-in-law in Kittery, ME.
Kittery Point. Mrs. Delwin DeMerritt and children of Milton, N.H., are visiting her sister, Mrs. Schyler Tobey of Haley road (Portsmouth Herald, September 30, 1940).
She was a daughter-in-law to Mrs. Musetta A. (Dorr) DeMerritt, who one may remember and admire for her gift to ailing patients in 1918,
Jack Howard of Farmington, NH, who formerly managed Frolic Haven at the Pineland Park pavilion, in Milton Three Ponds, as late as 1937, commenced a winter dance series at Central Hall in Milton Mills.
DANCE AT MILTON MILLS. Jack Howard will have a grand opening dance at Central hall, Milton Mills, on Saturday evening, October 1. Music will be furnished by the Four Aces. For those who love to sway to romantic tunes or jump to jitterbug music, this should be as ideal way to spend the holiday evening. Columbus would have liked it no doubt (Farmington News, October 4, 1940).
Some culprit stole a delivery truck from the Furber & Sons grocery store in Farmington, NH. The grocery store partners were Leon F. Furber and his two sons, Otto J. Furber and Myron F. Furber.
Leon F. Furber, a grocery store owner, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Flora [A. (Jones)] Furber, a packer, aged fifty-three years (b. NH), and his boarder, Clyde Nutter, a public school student, aged twelve years (b. NH). Leon F. Furber owned their house on Mechanic Street, which was valued at $2,000.
The truck thief jammed it between two trees on the West Milton road, i.e., on Milton Road in Farmington, or its continuation as Park Place in Milton.
DELIVERY TRUCK STOLEN. A delivery truck used in the business of Furber and Sons was stolen last Saturday night and was found wedged between two trees on the West Milton road. As yet, it has not been determined who is directly responsible for the theft but it is still being investigated and it is hoped that the culprit or culprits will soon be brought to justice, for the business has been somewhat handicapped this week by the loss (Farmington News, November 15, 1940).
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 8, 2019
In this year, we encounter volunteer woodsmen, a police investigation, a winter carnival, a cottage for rent, an auto stalled on the tracks, a possible ice cream venue, mice in the radiator, a two-family house for sale, a fatal fire, a coed colonel, a Milton Mills lodge for ski travelers, and Christmas bonuses.
This was the year of the Horne murder, in which John H. Howland murdered Milton-native Maude F. Horne, on Friday, February 3, 1939.
This was also the year in which the Second World War began, when National Socialist (Nazi) Germany invaded Poland, on September 1, 1939. (Let us not forget the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which invaded Poland from the other side, and murdered 22,000 Polish officer prisoners and civilians in or near the Katyn forest).
Eighteen men and four horses gathered at the Nute Chapel woodlot in West Milton to clear away wind-blown timber. It might have been freshly damaged timber, but more likely it had been brought down in September by the Hurricane of ’38.
ODD ITEMS from EVERYWHERE. Eighteen men recently gathered at the parsonage woodlot of Nute Chapel, West Milton, N.H., and worked with four horses to salvage the blown-down timber, while the women of the community did their part in the kitchen, preparing winner for the toilers (Boston Globe, January 11, 1939).
HERE and THERE. Eighteen men gathered a short time ago at the parsonage woodlot of Nute Chapel at West Milton and worked with four horses to salvage the blown-down timber, while the women of the community did their part in the kitchen, preparing a dinner for the workers (Portsmouth Herald, January 11, 1939).
One wonders what the dinner might have been. Something both wholesome and toothsome, no doubt.
Here follows some additional details regarding John H. Howland’s February murder of Miss Maude F. Horne (beyond those set out already in Milton and the Horne Murder – 1939).
Milton’s then Police Chief Downs had appointed the felon Howland as a special or reserve police officer during the Hurricane of ’38. The Chief had supplied him at that time with a coat and a heavy flashlight. The same flashlight is discussed here as possibly having been the murder weapon. George McKeagney replaced Chief Downs at the March election.
Seek to Question Pal. MILTON, N.H., Feb. 6. After questioning scores of townspeople in the new Nute High School at Milton, N.H., during the day, Strafford County Solicitor John F. Beamis announced tonight that an appeal would be broadcast for information on Edwin (Buddy) Howard, pal of John N. Howland, missing suspect in the case, who assisted the suspect in writing several pieces of music. Beamis appealed to Howard to come forward and submit voluntarily to questioning. The solicitor said that the state officials were seeking additional information about Howland. Beamis also said that the state officers now have corroborative testimony that Howland and his 15-year-old girl friend were seen near the home of the murdered woman, at about the time the murder occurred. Last Saturday, a neighbor, Mrs. Charlotte Garyait, placed the young man and girl in Miss Horne’s home at the approximate time of the crime. The latest evidence, Beamis said, places the pair on the Farmington road [now Elm Street], a few hundred feet away from the Horne residence. He would not reveal the identity of his informants.
Kept Little Cash in House. To assure full cooperation from the 1200 farmers and mill workers who live in Milton, Atty. Gen. Thomas P. Cheney issued a circular today which was distributed to every home, calling upon anybody with information to get in touch with investigating officials. The townspeople were also asked if they had any recent conversations with any of the three. That the murderer obtained less than $35 from Miss Horne’s purses was ventured by Beamis. He said that the murdered woman was not in the habit of having much money in the house despite the fact that her uncle, who died four months ago, left her $3322 in cash as part of his estate. The uncle’s estate was valued at more than $10,000. Mrs. Ina Shaw of West Lebanon, Me., a former resident of East Rochester, told the authorities that she called on Miss Horne Friday and she was in good spirits. She said she showed her around the house and even went to the garage where the car, which is now missing, was located. The mother of Howland, Mrs. Rose Abrams of Reading, Mass., who has been residing in a one-story house on Main st., went to Boston last Wednesday, Beamis stated. She did not know where her son was while in the city. She returned here after the crime. Howland is a parolee from an Ohio prison to which he had been sentenced from one to 20 years for the larceny of an automobile. He served as a special police officer in Milton, during the weeks immediately after the hurricane last September, Chief Downs asserted. At that time he borrowed one of the Chief’s police coats and also five-call flashlight, neither of which were ever returned. The medical examiner has been asked to report whether or not a heavy flashlight could have caused the wound to the murdered woman’s head (Boston Globe, February 7, 1939).
John W. Shaw, a private shop barber, aged seventy-three years (b. England), headed a Lebanon, ME, household at the time o the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ina M. [(Blaisdell)] Shaw, aged sixty-three years (b. ME). John M. Shaw rented their West Lebanon house, for $5 per month. (They had lived in Rochester, NH, as late as April 1, 1935).
Milton held a winter carnival Friday and Saturday, February 11-12.
Week-End Events. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. Milton, N.H. – Carnival (Boston Globe, [Friday,] February 10, 1939).
The Portsmouth owner of a Milton beach-front cottage offered it for rent. It had several attractive amenities.
FOR RENT. FOR RENT – Furnished cottage Milton, N.H. Fireplace, sleeping porch, conveniences. Sandy beach with boat. Tel. Ports. 2732-14. 3t J5 (Portsmouth Herald, June 6, 1939).
An automobile driven by Mrs. Elizabeth (Bronson) Maxfield, wife (since July 1938) of Rev. Leland Maxfield, stalled on the railroad tracks, at Porter’s crossing in Milton. She and one of her two passengers were seriously injured when the automobile was struck by a northbound train.
Two Women Hurt as Train Hits Car at Milton, N.H. MILTON, N.H., July 8 (A. P.) – Two women were injured critically and a man escaped with cuts and bruises today when a Boston to North Conway railroad train struck an automobile stalled across the tracks a mile beyond Milton. The injured were listed as Mrs. Elizabeth Maxfield of Milton, driving a car owned by the Milton Red Cross Chapter, and two passengers, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Large of Lebanon, N.H. Names of the two women were placed on the danger list at Rochester Hospital. Doctors said Mrs. Maxfield had several broken ribs and internal injuries and Mrs. Large suffered a fractured leg and probable internal injuries (Boston Globe, July 8, 1939).
Mrs. Large never fully recovered from her injuries. She died three years later in July 1942.
Harry D. Large, no occupation given, aged sixty-six years (b. NH), headed a Lebanon, ME, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife [of thirty-six years], Alberta G. [(Shorey)] Large, aged sixty-four years (b. NH). Harry D. Large owned their house, which was valued at $1,500. They were said to have lived in the “same house” in 1935. (They had resided in Malden, MA, in 1930).
Miss Meredith E. Corkins, aged about twenty-six years, put aside her apron at her brother’s Green Shutters ice cream parlor in Wilmington, VT, in order to put on another at The Ice Box in Milton, NH.
Wilmington. Miss Meredith Corkins, who has been assisting at the Green Shutters for several weeks, has left for Milton, N.H., where she will be employed for two or three weeks at The Ice Box (Brattleboro Reformer, September 9, 1939).
When it opened in May 1935, the Green Shutters was described in the Bennington, VT, newspaper. The paper provided few details of the parlor’s menu, but its description of the color scheme was quite complete.
WILMINGTON. The “Green Shutters” opened last Saturday under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Corkins. The outside has been newly painted white with green shutters. The interior is attractive in red and cream. A modern soda fountain has been installed with novel lighting effects. The booths are finished in mahogany. The waitresses, Louise Ray and Lilla Shultz, are dressed in green and white (Bennington Banner, May 10, 1935).
Milton’s “The Ice Box” ice cream parlor has proven somewhat elusive, assuming it existed in Milton at all. Editors, reporters and typesetters sometimes mistook Milton for Wilton. In looking for it, one finds that the newspapers were overflowing with offers to take one’s old ice box in partial trade for a new electric one, and overflowing too with many, many recipes for ice box cakes and cookies. Both of which made searching for “Ice Box” like looking for a needle in a haystack.
One remembers Charles L. Morrison, the Boston & Maine Railroad gate tender mentioned in 1929 as having a large appetite for ice cream.
Mice fled the radiator of a wood-sawing machine when it was filled with water. It might have been their mousey descendants that built a nest in the air duct of my automobile.
Probably it was the same instinct which causes rats to leave a sinking ship that made mice leave the radiator of a wood-sawing machine at Milton, N.H., when the owner began to pour in water preparatory to starting operations. The mice had built a nest inside the radiator and it blocked passages in the cooling system so that nearly a full day was required to make repairs on the system. That’s something for Ripley to work on (Burlington Free Press, October 6, 1939).
Here we find advertised an offer of a seller-financed mortgage. The owner wanted 25% down, and would apparently negotiate payment terms for the other 75%. (Other sellers on the same page offered to finance fifteen or twenty-year mortgages).
THE REAL ESTATE MARKET. BARGAIN! – $1500 buys my Milton, N.H., 2-family; fully rented, $26 monthly; cost $6000. OWNER, P 414. Globe (Boston Globe, October 25, 1939).
The $6,000 price would have today the spending power of $109,757. Few would consider that to be much spending power when buying current two-family houses.
One might almost suppose that government guarantees of mortgages, like its guarantees of student loans, and guarantees of other things, actually causes a greater rate of inflation in those “guaranteed” markets.
David Knight Pinkham, also known as David Knight, died when the “one-room board camp” in which he was sleeping “burned to the ground.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE MAN DIES IN FIRE AT CAMP. MILTON, N.H., Nov. 20 (AP). David Knight, 52, perished in a fire which during the night destroyed a woods camp on Jones river, five miles from Milton. Medical Referee Forrest L. Keay reported death was accidental. Knight formerly lived at South Berwick, Me., and at Dover and had served in the navy (Rutland Herald, November 21, 1939).
His Milton death record explained that “His charred remains [were] found in camp of Bard B. Plummer near Jones River at northeastern part of Teneriffe Mt., Milton, N.H.” The camp was described also as a “wood chopper’s camp.” The unfortunate Mr. Knight was buried on the Milton Town Farm.
Identify Victim of Milton Fire. Milton, Nov. 24 – The body of a man tentatively identified as that of David “Knight,” aged about 53, discovered as the victim of death by burning Sunday evening, Nov. 19, at a lumberman’s camp on the northeast side of Teneriffe Mountain in this town, has been identified as that of David Pinkham, Both names belong to the same man. From investigation by Deputy Sheriff Lyman Plummer, whose father owns the land on which camp is located, it was learned that the name “Knight” was that of man’s step-father, Fred Knight. He has a daughter by the name Beatrice J. Pinkham, born May 1922, in Dover, but her whereabouts is unknown. Unable to locate any relatives, Deputy Plummer and Chief of Police George McKeagney of Milton buried the remains in the town cemetery here (Portsmouth Herald, November 24, 1939).
Ruth Phyllis “Phyllis” Iovine of Milton, a Boston University student in the Class of 1940, was a leading candidate for coed colonel of the annual B.U. military ball.
B.U. Co-Ed Colonel Candidates. Phyllis Iovine, Milton, N.H., at left, and Georgianna Harris, Carlisle, Penn., are leading candidates for coed colonel at the annual Boston University Military Ball, Friday night, in the main ballroom of the Hotel Statler. The affair is sponsored by the university chapter of Scabbard and Blade (Boston Globe, December 14, 1939).
Ruth Phyllis Iovine, of Milton, NH, a schoolteacher, married in St. Thomas (Episcopal) Church in Dover, NH, October 27, 1946, Robert Samuel Boak, Jr., of Portsmouth, NH, a radio announcer.
Boston doctor and pharmacist Fred M. Drake opened a vacation lodge at Milton Mills.
Fred M. Drake appeared in Boston directory of 1939, as running a retail drug store at 54 Fairmount av. in the Hyde Park district of Boston, MA. He and his wife, Marjorie F. [(Folger)] Drake, resided in the Squantum district of Quincy, MA.
WINTER SPORTS. Dr. Fred M. Drake, formerly of Hyde Park, has opened a vacation lodge at Milton Mills, N.H., and is recommending it as a stop-over for snow parties en route further north. It’s 100 miles from Boston, north of Rochester off Route 16 (Boston Globe, December 15, 1939).
Dr. and Mrs. Drake do not appear in the Boston directory of 1940, nor in the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. One supposes they were in Milton Mills. However, Fred M. Drake appeared in the Boston directory of 1941, as an osteopathic physician, at 15 Fairmount av. in the Hyde Park district of Boston, MA. He and his wife, Marjorie F. Drake, resided at 475 Washington street in Dedham, MA.
The Spaulding Fibre company, having considered its financial situation, chose to give out Christmas bonuses to its employees ten days before Christmas.
The $2.50 rate it gifted to someone having worked in any month would have today the spending power of about $45.75. (The six-month bonus would have the modern spending value of $274.50, and the full-year bonus would be worth $549.00). Ho, ho, ho.
Rochester, N.H., Dec. 15 (AP) Employes of the five mills of the Spaulding Fibre company, owned and operated by the former New Hampshire governors, Huntley N. and Rolland H. Spaulding, received Christmas bonuses today. All employes of record last December, who worked part of each month in 1939, received $30; those who worked in six months received $15, and others received $2.50 for each month. The mills are in Townsend Harbor, Mass., Rochester, North Rochester and Milton, N.H. (Bennington Evening Banner (Bennington, VT), December 15, 1939).
Rolland Spaulding, a fibre manufacturer, aged sixty-seven years (b. MA), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Vera G. [(Going)] Spaulding, aged fifty-seven years (b. MA), his children, Virginia Spaulding, aged nineteen years (b. MA), and Betty Spaulding, aged seventeen years (b. MA), and his servants, Alice Beckingham, a private family maid, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), and Eleanor Higgins, a private family cook, aged thirty-eight years (b. NH). Rolland Spaulding owned their house at 76 Wakefield Street, which was valued at $45,000.
Huntley Spaulding, a fibre manufacturer, aged seventy years (b. MA), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Harriet [(Mason)] Spaulding, aged sixty-three years (b. MA), his servants, Ina [(Brown)] Wood, a private family cook, aged thirty-eight years (b. NH), and Wendell Wood, a private family chauffeur, aged forty-five years (b. MA). Rolland Spaulding owned their house at 78 Wakefield Street, which was valued at $35,000. (Joshua Studley, a greenhouse proprietor, aged forty-two years (b. MA), resided at 82 Wakefield Street).
Those interested in orthography may note that the news article used still the original French spelling of employé or employe, with a single trailing “e.” Also that the company name features the British spelling “Fibre,” rather than the more American “Fiber.”
Due to holidays and snowstorms, we join the celestial show already in progress.
December 2. The Pheonicid meteor shower will originate from the Constellation Phoenix.
December 4. The first quarter phase of the Moon should shine brightly in the evening sky. The Moon is at its apogee (its greatest distance from the Earth), which will result in it appearing smaller than usual.
December 6. The Cassiopeia meteor shower from Andromeda should be visible.
December 7. The Puppid-Velid meteor shower from Veda will appear in the night sky.
December 9. The Monocerotid meteor shower from Monoceros should be visible.
December 10. The Moon will be at its farthest distance from the Sun. This is commonly referred to as the Moon at aphelion. Also this evening, Saturn and Venus will both rise at a right ascension,
December 11. Saturn and Venus will be passing one another.
December 12. The Moon will be full on this date. This Moon is the third full autumn Moon of 2019, known as the Oak Moon (in-the-sky.org, 2019). The Hydrid meteor shower from the Constellation Hydra presents itself. An object in space orbiting the Milky Way, known as the Large Magellanic Cloud or LMC will present itself today (Wikipedia, 2019).
December 13. Venus and Pluto will be rising otherwise known as conjunction.
December 14. The Geminid meteor shower from the Constellation Gemini is upon us this date.
December 15. From the Constellation Cancer, the Beehive Cluster will be making a close approach to the Moon. An open cluster from Orion will be visible, also known as NGC 1981.
December 16. From the Constellation Leo comes the Comae Berenicid meteor shower.
December 18. The Moon will be at perigee meaning at its closest point to the Earth. This Moon should appear larger than usual. This date also brings us to the last quarter of the Moon.
December 20. December Leonid Minorid meteor shower from the Constellation Leo Minor.
December 21. December Solstice and shortest day of the year.
December 22. Both the Moon and Mars will ascend a.k.a be in conjunction. As well, they both will be moving close together.
December 23. Ursid meteor shower from the Constellation Ursa Minor.
December 26. There will be a new Moon. The Moon will also be closest to the Sun.
December 27. The Moon and Saturn will ascend. Jupiter will move very close to the Sun.
December 28. From the Constellation Monoceros comes an open star cluster generally referred to as NGC 2232. The Moon and Venus will rise and will be approaching one another.
December 29. Once again coming from the Constellation Monoceros comes an open star cluster commonly referred to as NGC 2244.
December 30. Mercury will be located at its greatest distance from the Sun, otherwise referred to as aphelion.
We wish you a very Happy New Year! My resolution will be to issue this report in a more punctual manner. But you know how it is with New Year’s resolutions.
By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 5, 2019
Milton barber John H. Howland brutally murdered Miss Maude F. Horne in her Farmington Road (now Elm Street) home on Friday night, February 3, 1939, after 8:00 P.M.
Howland escaped in his victim’s black 1935 Plymouth automobile, accompanied by his teenage cousin.
The Victim
Maude Francis Horne was born in Milton, July 9, 1877, daughter of John R. and Olive R. (Corson) Horne. Her mother died in Milton, May 22, 1879 (before Maude’s second birthday).
Miss Horne attended Nute High School with one of its first classes (probably during the tenure of Principal Norton). She taught in Milton schools for several years after graduation. Thereafter, she worked in Milton’s shoe industry as a shoe stitcher, shoe repairer, shoe operative, etc.
Susan F. Horne, aged fifty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. Her household included her brother, John R. Horne, a widowed farm laborer, aged forty-seven years (b. NH), her sister, Martha A. Horne, aged forty-five years (b. NH), and her niece, Maude F. Horne, a school teacher, aged twenty-three years (b. NH).
John R. Horne, a general farm farmer, aged fifty-four years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his sister, Mattie A. Horne, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), and his daughter, Maude F. Horne, a shoe factory stitcher, aged thirty-two years (b. NH). John R. Horne owned their farm on the Plummer’s Ridge Road.
John R. Horne, a farmer, aged sixty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his sister, Mattie A. Horne, aged sixty-four years (b. NH), and his daughter, Maude F. Horne, a shoe shop shoe repairer, aged forty-two years (b. NH). John R. Horne owned their farm on the Plummer’s Ridge Road.
John R. Horne, a widower, aged seventy-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his sister, Mattie A. Horne, aged seventy-five years (b. NH), and his daughter, Maude F. Horne, a shoe factory operator, aged fifty-two years (b. NH). John R. Horne rented their house on Silver Street, for $10 per month. They did not have a radio set.
Maude’s father, John R. Horne, died in Milton, April 11, 1938. Her uncle, Charles A. Horne, a retired Milton meat merchant, died in Milton, October 10, 1938. Her aunt, Martha A. “Mattie” Horne, died at Plummer’s Ridge in Milton October 22, 1938. Maude supplied the personal information for all their death records.
Miss Horne moved from her rented place on Silver Street to her late Uncle Charles’ house on the Farmington Road (now Elm Street). She was said to have felt uneasy there, which she attributed to living alone for the first time in her life.
The Murderer
John Henry “Henry” Howland was born in Stoneham, MA, April 23, 1913, son of Norman and Anna Rose (Burbine) Howland. (He sometimes used the alias John Norman Howland).
His criminal record commenced when he was about thirteen years of age. Police arrested him in Charleston, WV, on suspicion of burglary, June 26, 1927. He posted a $1,000 bond and was released pending trial. A jury convicted him of an auto theft in Monroe, WA, May 16, 1929, for which he received a three-to-five-year sentence.
John H. Howland, an inmate, aged twenty years (b. MA), was imprisoned in the WA State Reformatory in Park Place, Snohomish, WA, at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. Prison authorities assigned him to the building labor detail there; he was said also to have been married when he was sixteen years of age, which they took to be circa 1925-26. (In point of fact, he would have been only about sixteen years of age as of this census enumeration, and not the twenty years that he claimed).
A Bexar County, TX, jury convicted him of an auto theft in Austin, TX, January 26, 1931, for which he received a five-year sentence.
John Howland of Middletown, OH, pled guilty to stealing an automobile from Middletown auto dealer R. Shetter, July 10, 1935, and he received an indeterminate (one-to-twenty years) sentence in September 1935 (Journal News (Hamilton, OH), September 13, 1935). He received a parole from the Ohio State Farm on August 1, 1938, just six months before he murdered Miss Horne.
Several accounts describe Howland as an ex-Navy man, sailor or “gob.” One imagines his service, if any there actually was, to have been brief. He did have a tattoo of a girl’s head and the legend “San Juan,” which might suggest time spent in Puerto Rico. Of course, there are San Juans in Mexico too, and he had spent “time” in neighboring Texas. Howland claimed to have been in the Navy just before getting hired at the Salem Shoe company in Milton, whereas he had actually been just before a prisoner at the Ohio State Farm.
John H. Howland came to Milton due to the presence here of his mother, Mrs. Anna R. “Rose” ((Burbine) Howland) Abrams. She was employed in nursing Maude F. Horne’s uncle, Charles A. Horne, during his final illness. (Her sister and her sister’s family lived also in town).
Howland was in town for less than six months. He took initially a job at the Salem Shoe company factory, and resided with his mother in the ailing Horne’s Farmington Road (now Elm Street) house. Uncle Charles died in Milton, October 10, 1938.
At some point, Howland’s mother left for Reading, MA. Howland remained behind in Milton. He was working in Hervey C. Tanner’s Milton barber shop at the time of the murder.
Maude F. Horne accused him of having stolen $100 worth of household items from her late uncle’s house after his death.
The Cousin
Aida Elizabeth Butler was born in Milton, February 3, 1924, daughter of Edward T. and Margaret J. (Burbine) Butler. Her mother and Howland’s mother were sisters, which made her a first cousin to Howland.
Edward T. Butler, a leather-board mill engineer, aged forty years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Margaret J. [(Burbine)] Butler, aged thirty-four years (b. MA), and his children, Charles E. Butler, aged fifteen years (b. MA), Benjamin F. Butler, aged thirteen years (b. MA), Margaret E. Butler, aged twelve years (b. NH), John P. Butler, aged eleven years (b. NH), Walter F. Butler, aged nine years (b. NH), Patrick Butler, aged seven years (b. NH), Aida E. Butler, aged six years (b. NH), Thomas U. Butler, aged three years (b. NH), Grace A. Butler, aged one year (b. NH), and George F. Butler, aged three months (b. NH). Edward T. Butler owned their house on North Main Street, which was valued at $1,000. They had a radio set. Fred Chamberlain, a State Road commissioner, aged seventy years (b. NH), was their neighbor.
Aida E. Butler was a student at Nute High School at the time of the murder. Police did not consider her to be an active participant, although she was present at the scene and fled with the murderer on his cross-country getaway. Police arrested her with him on a sort of “holding” charge of flight to avoid testifying. She was slated to be a witness against him, but was never called, as he pled guilty at his trial.
Hunt Young Barber, Girl In Brutal Horne Murder. N.H. Warrant Charges John N. Howland With Slaying Spinster – Seen in House. Special Dispatch to the Globe. MILTON, N.H., Feb. 5. – A warrant charging John N. Howland, 25-year-old barber, with the murder of Miss Maude F. Horne, 61, was issued tonight by Sheriff Clyde R. Cotton. Police throughout New Hampshire and other New England states were immediately asked to aid in the search for the youth, who disappeared from his home here late Friday night. In the same interstate teletype broadcast, state officials asked that a 15-year-old girl who disappeared from her home here at the same time be taken into custody for questioning. Both Howland and the high school girl were placed in Miss Horne’s home here early Friday evening by a neighbor. State Police said that they believe that the girl was a witness to the murder. Three men’s handkerchiefs, used as a gag to shut off the cries of the elderly spinster-victim, were being held by Sheriff Cotton as one of the most Important bits of evidence in the case. The handkerchiefs, Cotton said, bear the initial “H.” Additional evidence was found, the sheriff reported, that the slayer washed his hands and possibly the murder weapon in the kitchen sink in the murdered woman’s home. Bits of human hair found in the sink will be examined tomorrow to determine if it is that of Miss Horne. The murder warrant was issued by Cotton soon after he received the report on an autopsy performed by Dr. Ralph Miller, state pathologist, of Hanover, and Dr. Forest L. Keay, medical referee of Stafford County, stating that Miss Horne “died an agonizing death.” Atty. Gen. Thomas P. Cheney stated that Drs. Miller and Keay said “without qualification” that Miss Horne died in the room where the body was found, from a combination of fractures of the skull and suffocation.
Neighbor’s Tale. “Three handkerchiefs were packed in her mouth,” the doctors’ report read, “displacing her tongue to the extent that it entirely cut off all supply of air. The victim bled profusely. Either the head injuries or suffocation might have caused death.” Sought with Howland is a high school girl who was last reported seen Friday night with the murder suspect in Miss Horne’s home. Earlier on the same night she had told her mother that she was going to a basket-ball game at Somersworth, but nobody has been found who saw her at the game. Mrs. Charlotte Garyait, a neighbor of the murder victim, told state officers today that she visited Miss Horne on Friday night, arriving at the Horne residence at 7:15 and leaving at 7:45. At 7:30, she said, Howland and the 15-year-old girl arrived to visit with Miss Horne. They were still there when she left, Mrs. Garyait said.
Arthur P. Garyait, a fibreboard mill moulder, aged thirty-six years (b. ME), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Charlotte E. [(Wiggin)] Garyait, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), and his children, Richard Garyait, aged ten years (b. NH), and Barbara Garyait, aged seven years (b. NH). Arthur P. Garyait owned their house on the Farmington Road (now Elm Street), which was valued at $700.
Familiar With House. Police said that Howland, a former sailor, was thoroughly familiar with the house in which the murder occurred. Last Fall when his mother, Mrs. Rose Abrams, now of Reading, Mass., was nursing Charles A. Horne, an uncle of Miss Horne, he stayed at the house nights to assist her. Miss Horne, a resident of this town all her life, went to live in the murder house only last October after the death of her uncle. It was believed that she inherited a sizable fortune at that time. Investigators also learned today from neighbors of the murdered spinster that for two weeks before her sudden death she lived in fear for her life. On several occasions she told friends that she feared to go to bed at night, and had slept in an armchair on the first floor of the small house. She was never alone before, she said, and she couldn’t get used to it. The missing Howland had told townspeople for a week before his disappearance that he was planning to go South. Three or four days before the murder he told the postmaster that he wished his mail held for him because he would be out of town for several weeks. Howland is described in the teletype messages sent out by the New Hampshire State Police as being six feet tall and weighing 190 pounds. He is fond of music, the message stated, and plays several musical instruments. A girl’s head is tattooed on his upper right arm and shoulder over a date and the words, “San Juan.” The 15-year-old girl, believed to be with the youth, is described as being five feet, two inches tall and weighing 118 pounds. When last seen she was wearing a brown ski suit, plaid jacket and brown overshoes. She wore no hat.
Put Suitcase in Auto. After leaving the Navy, Howland worked for a time at the Salem Shoe factory here and most recently as a barber. Fellow employees at the factory knew him little, declare that he seemed to prefer the company of women to that of men. Hervey Tanner, owner of the barber shop in which the youth worked most recently said today that Howland a few days ago offered to sell him a “Tommy-gun” for $40. Tanner was unable to tell officials whether Howland had any ammunition for the machine gun. Miss Evelyn Paey, 27, was minding Tanner’s children on Friday night, she told police when she looked out the window of the Tanner home and saw Howland packing a suitcase into the rear of an automobile. She was unable to describe the auto, which police believe may have been that of Miss Horne which has not been seen since the time of the murder. The murder weapon has not been found. Because of the type of wounds on the victim’s head, police think that the weapon may have been a heavy flashlight. The death of Miss Horne was the fourth in her family within a period of 10 months. Her father. John, died last April, and her uncle, Charles, and aunt, Mattie Horne, died last October (Boston Globe, February 6, 1939).
One wonders if Howland had ever actually had a Thompson submachine gun (“Tommy gun”) or whether that was just some sort of scam. (His $40 asking price would have the current value of about $732). Howland was a felon many times over. An actual submachine gun would have been illegal to possess under the National Firearms Act of 1934. So, it would have been impossible for him to have acquired one, right?
George W. Paey, foreman of a shoe shop finishing room, aged sixty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Josie M. [(Downs)] Paey, aged sixty-two years (b. NH), his sister-in-law, Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, a widow [of Fred S. Downs], aged sixty-nine years (b. NH), and his daughter, Evelyn Paey, a private home houseworker, aged thirty years (b. NH). George W. Paey owned their house on Silver Street, which was valued at $800.
Miss Paey lived on Silver Street, but she saw Howland putting his suitcase in Miss Horne’s car from a window at Hervey C. Tanner’s house on Mill street. One might infer that Howland lived also on Mill street.
Hervey C. Tanner, a barber shop barber, aged thirty-five years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Yvonne E. [(Lessard)] Tanner, a shoe shop stitcher, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH), and his children, Hervey C. Tanner, Jr., aged four years (b. NH), and Patrick Tanner, aged two years (b. NH). Hervey C. Tanner owned their house in the “Milton Community” (Mill street) which was valued at $1,500.
Arrest Asked of Howland in N.H. Murder. ROCHESTER. N. H., Feb. 8 – Maj. Ralph W. Caswell, deputy superintendent of the New Hampshire State Police, today sent to large cities throughout the country circulars asking for the arrest of John Henry Howland on a warrant charging murder. Howland, police say, is on parole from the Ohio State Prison. He is wanted, says the circular, for the murder last Friday of Miss Maude Horne, 61, of Milton, N.H. Howland has been sought for four days, ever since Miss Horne’s battered body was discovered. Also missing is Aida Butler, 15-year-old cousin of Howland, who is believed to have gone with him. The circular says that Howland, who is 25 years old, has a record at “Charleston, W. Va.; Monroe, Wash.; Austin, Tex.; Texas State Penitentiary, and was paroled Aug. 1, 1938, from London, O., state farm.” In Ohio, Howland was serving a one to twenty-year sentence for larceny. Investigators hoped today that need of money would send Howland to acquaintances, many of whom are known (Boston Globe, February 8, 1939).
BLOODY PRINT SPURS SEARCH FOR HOWLAND. Special Dispatch to the Globe MILTON, N.H., Feb. 7. The imprint of a bloody hand on a door jamb in the little white house where elderly Miss Maude Horne was slain last Friday night definitely connects John Henry Howland, missing prison parolee and amateur song writer, with the crime, state officers said tonight. Since Saturday morning, state fingerprint expert Ivan Hayes has been working in the murder-house. The gruesome mark on the doorway leading from the living room to the kitchen and prints of a couple of fingers found on a water dipper are the best of those which he believes are connected with the crime. Classifications of Howland’s finger prints arrived here today from the Ohio State Prison where the suspect was imprisoned a couple of years ago on an automobile theft charge. Other prints are expected within the next day from Washington.
Nation-Wide Hunt On. After County Solicitor John F. Beamis and state and local police officials had an opportunity to check the prints received from Ohio with photographs of those found in the Horne home, the technical classification of the wanted man’s finger prints were sent to every state in the country. Deputy Supt. of State Police Maj. Ralph W. Caswell announced the finding of the prints on the door jamb and their importance in the search for Howland. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Howland’s home here today and seized several of his personal articles, including a bundle of letters. Maj. Caswell denied tonight rumors that any of the bundle of letters taken by police from the Howland home contained “love-letters” from admirers of the missing man.
Sought by Police: Aida Butler, 15
Believe Girl Innocent. There is a feeling here that Howland, who so far as anybody knows had little or no money last weekend, may seek out some one of his old friends for assistance. Authorities said today that although they believe that Howland’s cousin, 15-year-old Aida Butler, was present at the. time of the murder, evidence points to the fact that she took no active part in the crime and may have been forced to accompany Howland when he quit town. The girl’s mother, Mrs. Edward Butler, sister of Mrs. Rose Howland Abrams, Howland’s mother, has repeatedly said that she was sure that Aida did not leave town of her own volition. Mrs. Butler pointed out that when her daughter left home Friday night, ostensibly to go to a basket-ball game with Howland, she wore no hat and only everyday sports clothes.
Services for Victim. Funeral services were held this afternoon in a heavy snowstorm for Miss Horne at the Edgerly Funeral Home. Only a few relatives and friends were present. Rev. Leland Maxfield of the Baptist Church officiated. After the services, the body was removed to the Rochester Cemetery. Awaited by police is the complete report of Dr. Ralph Miller, state pathologist, who performed an autopsy last Saturday and has since had the vital organs of the murdered woman and also bits of hair found in the sink of the Horne home in his laboratory at Hanover. The hair, police said, was apparently washed off the murder weapon in the kitchen sink by the murderer before he quit the house. There is a chance, the authorities declare, that there may be further proof of the identity of the murderer in the pathologist’s final report.
Leland Maxfield, a minister, aged thirty years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Elizabeth [(Bronson)] Maxfield, aged twenty-seven years (b. NY), and his boarders, Mary E. Willard, aged twenty-nine years (b. MA), and Mary E. Sherborne, aged twenty-three years (b. ME). Leland Maxfield rented their house on Church Street, for $10 per month.
Slaying Motive Advanced. The theory that Miss Horne’s death may have been connected in some way with a series of petty thefts from the home of her late uncle, Charles Horne, who died last October, was put forward tonight by one of the state officers investigating the crime. Rumors have been circulating in this tiny town since the murder that it was because the elderly woman learned of the thefts which totaled less than $100 and threatened to expose the thief, that she was slain. When Miss Horne inherited the property of her uncle, she also inherited an inventory of all the physical goods in the estate. It was after checking the furnishings in her uncle’s house against this list, that she allegedly confronted the thief with her evidence (Boston Globe, February 8, 1939).
Five-State Hunt for Howland in N.H. Murder. MILTON, N.H., Feb. 9 – Police authorities in five states were co-operating today with county investigators in their search for John Henry Howland, chief suspect in the slaying last Friday of Miss Maude Horne, and for his 15-year-old cousin and supposed companion, Aida Butler. Acting on reports that the wanted couple were seen last Sunday afternoon in Ossipee, 36 miles from here, New Hampshire State Police this morning resumed their search of all empty camps and buildings in Ossipee seeking to uncover some clew as to their whereabouts. Meanwhile Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York authorities were endeavoring to check the report of a Boston bus driver that a man and woman resembling Howland and his young cousin had boarded a New York-bound bus with another, couple in Providence last Sunday night and left at Southport, Conn., when their money ran out.
Bus driver Edward S. White’s information was inaccurate. Howland and Butler never boarded his bus, nor were they accompanied by another couple. They had Miss Horne’s automobile.
Driver Roxbury Man. The driver, Edward S. White, 30, of Roxbury, who supplied the information last night at Boston Police Headquarters, said the two couples left the bus Monday morning at 4:10 and asked him how far it was to New York. White was uncertain about the identification of Howland and said he was “positive” in his identification of the Butler girl’s picture. Although sought for questioning by investigators here, the girl, who disappeared Friday night after leaving her home to attend a basket-ball game, is believed by authorities to be innocent of all connection with the murder. White told Boston police that one of the two men wore a navy uniform and the other, dressed in civilian clothes, carried a Gladstone bag. The other girl was tall, dark and about 27 years old, the driver said. His attention was attracted to the couples at the Providence terminal, White stated, when he was told by the ticket agent that when the men purchased tickets they asked him how far the four could travel for $2.50 each. The agent told them that Southport, Conn., was the limit for that sum and the men bought tickets to that point (Boston Globe, February 9, 1939).
SLAYER OF MILTON WOMAN STILL AT LARGE. Near a week has elapsed since the body of Miss Maude Horne, a well-known Milton woman and murder victim, was found in her home on the Farmington road early last Saturday evening. John H. Howland and a 15 years old girl, a cousin of the accused, are at large and the objects of a countrywide search, as Howland is suspected of the slaying of Miss Horne. The story of this brutal assault and the death of Miss Horne, has featured [in] daily newspapers since the finding of the body. Town, state, county and Federal officers have been working on the case. Every effort is being made to trace them together, separately, or in connection with a black 1935 Plymouth coach, the property of the murdered woman, which bore registration plates N.H. 51839, and in which it is alleged Howland and his companion made their getaway. The identification of the missing pair sought in connection with the death of Miss Horne, has definitively established Howland as an ex-Navy man and he has a long criminal record from which finger prints have been compared with those found at the scene of the crime. His companion is a high school girl, known to everybody in her home town and never before has been charged with reprehensible conduct. Miss Horne was a native and lifelong resident of Milton and one of its most esteemed women. She was 61 years old, the daughter of the late John and Olive (Corson) Horne. She was a member of one of the first classes to graduate from Nute high school in her native town, and subsequently for several years was a successful school teacher. She had never married and had always lived a quiet, yet influential, life through her affiliations with church, fraternal and young people’s work. Among the surviving relatives is a cousin, Herbert F. Horne of Farmington. Funeral services were held in Rochester on Tuesday afternoon (Farmington News, February 10, 1939).
Herbert Horne, a retired salesman, aged sixty-four years (b. NH), headed a Farmington, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. HIs household included his wife, Maude D. [(Barker)] Horne, a houseworker, aged sixty-three years, and [her] sister, Ethel Barker, a houseworker, aged sixty-two years (b. NH). Herbert Horne owned their house on Lone Star Avenue, which was valued at $4,700.
Man Wanted For Murder Slips Through Officers Of McAllen. McALLEN – John Howland, alias John Allen King, was fingerprinted by the McAllen police department night of February 17 when he asked for a place to sleep, chief of police Noah Cannon said Saturday. Cannon said Howland, wanted in New Hampshire on a charge of murder and theft of a car, approached on a Main street corner bout 7:30 p.m. February 17, and explained that he had come down to McAllen from San Antonio looking for a job. The man, six feet tall and brown-headed, told Cannon he expected to get a job with a neon sign company the next day. Howland said he wanted a place for he and his “wife” to sleep. The woman with him was not questioned by local police, but Chief Cannon said he assumed she was the Aida Butler, 15, mentioned in the dispatch from New Hampshire. Cannon sent the man to the Salvation Army, where Howland was told they could provide a place for the woman but not for him. The woman said she disliked to be away from her companion, but finally decided to sleep at a place provided by the charity organization, and Howland went to the jail to sleep. The night was cold and misty. The man was fingerprinted as a routine matter by Henry Mallau, the city’s fingerprint expert. The next day, Howland went to the sign company, asked about the job, and when told the man in charge was out, he left and he and his woman companion left town, Chief Cannon said. Howland’s prints were sent to the Texas department of public safety at Austin and the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Washington, D.C. The police chief received a telegram from Joe S. Fletcher, chief of the bureau of identification and records at Austin on February 20, notifying Cannon that’ Howland was wanted in New Hampshire for murder. By that time, Cannon said the McAllen department did not know of the man’s whereabouts. Cannon said the man did not act suspicious, apparently was seeking the job in good faith, and there was no reason to hold him for further investigation. An agent from the federal bureau of investigation was in McAllen Friday seeking information on Howland, Cannon said. The G-men entered the case apparently through the Mann act which prevents a man from taking a girl across a state line, and from the act which prohibits transportation of a stolen automobile across a state line. Records sent McAllen police department by the Texas department of public safety show that Howland was arrested June 26, 1937 at Charleston, W. Va., on suspicion of burglary and entering. He made a $1.000 bond, but disposition of the case was not noted. May 16, 1929, he was arrested at Monroe, Wash., charged with taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s knowledge and sentenced to from three to five years. He turned up at Austin, Texas, January 26, 1931, arrested by state police on a charge of a car theft. He was sentenced to five years from Bexar County on the charge. On July 10, 1935, Howland again was in trouble with the law. He was arrested at Middletown, Ohio, on a charge of auto theft in Columbus, Ohio, and sentenced to from one to 20 years. He was paroled August 1, 1938. On February 10. 1939. the Concord, N.H., police department sought him for the murder of a Mrs. [Miss] Horne, 62. The last notation on the record is: “February 17, 1939. McAllen police department, fingerprinted, investigation” (Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX), February 26, 1939).
HOWLAND AND GIRL ARRIVE HERE TODAY. John Henry Howland, 25-year-old writer of love songs, will arrive in Boston this afternoon, nearing the end of a 2200-mile cross-country trip to face trial for the murder of Miss Maude Horne, elderly Milton, N.H., spinster. With Howland on the night of the murder was his cousin, Aida Elizabeth Butler, 15, who left the little New Hampshire mill town with him on his flight. Taken into custody with him, she will be returned on the same train from Corpus Christi, under police guard. Sometime late this afternoon Howland and his cousin will be taken across the city from the South to the North Station and start on the last leg of their return trip to Dover, N.H. (Boston Globe, March 29, 1939).
Indictments formerly employed a legal boilerplate phrase: “not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil and his own wicked heart …” Was Howland insane or wicked when he bludgeoned and suffocated Miss Horne?
HOWLAND TO HAVE MIND EXAMINATION. Pleads Innocent to N.H. Murder; Goes to Hospital. CONCORD, N.H., March 31. (AP). John Henry Howland, 25-year-old ex-sailor who pleaded innocent yesterday to two indictments charging him with the murder of Miss Maude Horne, 61, Milton, N.H., spinster, entered the state hospital today for mental observation. Former County Solicitor Thomas H. McGreal, appointed by Superior Court Judge A.J. Connor as counsel for the accused man, said he would ask that Howland be kept at the hospital for a month. Mental examination is required in capital cases in New Hampshire. Staring at the floor and speaking in a barely audible voice, Howland entered pleas of innocence to both indictments in Dover yesterday. One charge said that Miss Horne died of strangulation Feb. 3, the other said a blow on the head was the cause. The whereabouts of Miss Aida Butler, his 15-year-old cousin, remained undisclosed. The girl, arrested with Howland in Corpus Christi, Tex., after a nation-wide search, will be the “principal witness” against the former sailor, Prosecutor John Beamis said. Attorney General Thomas Cheney told the court Howland had “talked freely about most phases of the case and readily admitted that he had killed Maude Horne” (Brattleboro Reformer, March 31, 1939).
Thomas McGreal, a private practicing attorney, aged forty-three years (b. NH), headed a Somersworth, NH, household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Annie McGreal, aged forty-one years (b. MA). He rented their house at 29 Linden Street, for $20 per month. (He died in Boston, MA, November 4, 1940, of post-operative complications).
HOWLAND GOES TO PRISON FOR LIFE. Changes Plea to Guilty to Murder of N.H. Woman. DOVER, N.H., May 1. (AP). John Henry Howland, 25-year-old self-styled jack of all trades, pleaded guilty in Strafford county court today to the blackjack slaying of Miss Maude Horne, 61, at Milton Feb. 3 and was sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge A.J. Conner. The trial lasted only 12 minutes (Brattleboro Reformer, May 1, 1939).
John Howland, an inmate, aged twenty-seven years (b. MA), resided in the NH State Prison in Concord, NH, at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census.
His name became a synonym for “signature,” although perhaps less so in recent years. But you may have been prompted at some time or another to put your “John Hancock” upon some document.
Mrs. Anna Shaw sought a woman to work in her Milton Hotel. She advertised her hotel, which was situated on Route 16, between at least the years 1942-45.
Eliot 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 – 3; Nute 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0
B.U. Co-Ed Colonel Candidates. Phyllis Iovine, Milton, N.H., at left, and Georgianna Harris, Carlisle, Penn., are leading candidates for coed colonel at the annual Boston University Military Ball, Friday night, in the main ballroom of the Hotel Statler. The affair is sponsored by the university chapter of Scabbard and Blade (Boston Globe, December 14, 1939).
Hunt Young Barber, Girl In Brutal Horne Murder. N.H. Warrant Charges John N. Howland With Slaying Spinster – Seen in House. Special Dispatch to the Globe. MILTON, N.H., Feb. 5. – A warrant charging John N. Howland, 25-year-old barber, with the murder of Miss Maude F. Horne, 61, was issued tonight by Sheriff Clyde R. Cotton. Police throughout New Hampshire and other New England states were immediately asked to aid in the search for the youth, who disappeared from his home here late Friday night. In the same interstate teletype broadcast, state officials asked that a 15-year-old girl who disappeared from her home here at the same time be taken into custody for questioning. Both Howland and the high school girl were placed in Miss Horne’s home here early Friday evening by a neighbor. State Police said that they believe that the girl was a witness to the murder. Three men’s handkerchiefs, used as a gag to shut off the cries of the elderly spinster-victim, were being held by Sheriff Cotton as one of the most Important bits of evidence in the case. The handkerchiefs, Cotton said, bear the initial “H.” Additional evidence was found, the sheriff reported, that the slayer washed his hands and possibly the murder weapon in the kitchen sink in the murdered woman’s home. Bits of human hair found in the sink will be examined tomorrow to determine if it is that of Miss Horne. The murder warrant was issued by Cotton soon after he received the report on an autopsy performed by Dr. Ralph Miller, state pathologist, of Hanover, and Dr. Forest L. Keay, medical referee of Stafford County, stating that Miss Horne “died an agonizing death.” Atty. Gen. Thomas P. Cheney stated that Drs. Miller and Keay said “without qualification” that Miss Horne died in the room where the body was found, from a combination of fractures of the skull and suffocation. 
SLAYER OF MILTON WOMAN STILL AT LARGE. Near a week has elapsed since the body of Miss Maude Horne, a well-known Milton woman and murder victim, was found in her home on the Farmington road early last Saturday evening. John H. Howland and a 15 years old girl, a cousin of the accused, are at large and the objects of a countrywide search, as Howland is suspected of the slaying of Miss Horne. The story of this brutal assault and the death of Miss Horne, has featured [in] daily newspapers since the finding of the body. Town, state, county and Federal officers have been working on the case. Every effort is being made to trace them together, separately, or in connection with a black 1935 Plymouth coach, the property of the murdered woman, which bore registration plates N.H. 51839, and in which it is alleged Howland and his companion made their getaway. The identification of the missing pair sought in connection with the death of Miss Horne, has definitively established Howland as an ex-Navy man and he has a long criminal record from which finger prints have been compared with those found at the scene of the crime. His companion is a high school girl, known to everybody in her home town and never before has been charged with reprehensible conduct. Miss Horne was a native and lifelong resident of Milton and one of its most esteemed women. She was 61 years old, the daughter of the late John and Olive (Corson) Horne. She was a member of one of the first classes to graduate from 
HOWLAND AND GIRL ARRIVE HERE TODAY. John Henry Howland, 25-year-old writer of love songs, will arrive in Boston this afternoon, nearing the end of a 2200-mile cross-country trip to face trial for the murder of Miss Maude Horne, elderly Milton, N.H., spinster. With Howland on the night of the murder was his cousin, Aida Elizabeth Butler, 15, who left the little New Hampshire mill town with him on his flight. Taken into custody with him, she will be returned on the same train from Corpus Christi, under police guard. Sometime late this afternoon Howland and his cousin will be taken across the city from the South to the North Station and start on the last leg of their return trip to Dover, N.H. (Boston Globe, March 29, 1939).
Milton Observer 