Maine ax murder histories

Maine's own prolific writer of historical accounts of mysteries, Emeric Spooner, has just made an appearance in the Lewiston Sun Journal. In the article, he talks about his latest book, Return to Smuttynose Island, and Other Maine Axe Murders.

Unfortunately, the article went to press with some inaccuracies. Spooner pointed out that in fact the Hallowell axe murders of the Purington family cost the lives of Mrs. Purington and 7 of her 8 children, not 6 as reported in the story. (NOTE: We have previously reported on this event. If you are interested in learning about these historic Maine murders, please click here to read more.)

In addition, the article mentions that Spooner put "six months of research" into the book, when in fact the research spanned at least two years, involving the equivalent of six months of full-time labor.

Read on!

Weird, Wicked Weird: Murders most foul
By Lindsay Tice , Staff Writer
Saturday, June 6, 2009 05:00 am

They're grisly murders, chilling in their details and gruesome for the weapon of choice: an ax.

And not the rarity in Maine you might think.

"It was unbelievable how many," said Emeric Spooner, a Bucksport librarian and amateur investigator with a penchant for historical crimes. "They didn't even bother solving them. They just, like, found a guy dead in the barn, his head split open, and that was it. Mostly around Augusta and Gardiner and that area. All in the 1800s."

There were hundreds, by Spooner's count.

"I guess because axes were handy, and they didn't want to waste a bullet, they just started swinging," he said. "It was shocking. It was everywhere."

Spooner began looking into Maine's 19th-century ax murders last year, when he finished investigating the 1898 unsolved murder of 52-year-old Bucksport divorcée Sarah Ware. He wrote about Ware's murder on his Web site, Maine Supernatural, and in a self-published book, "In Search of Sarah Ware."

Soon after finishing with Ware's murder - he came to believe a local businessman who had been acquitted of the crime was involved - Spooner began looking into other centuries-old unsolved crimes. He began with the 1806 ax murders of a Hallowell mother and six of her children by her husband, James Purington.

Spooner had stumbled upon the crime while he was researching Ware. He spent a month researching, digging through old newspaper articles and a coroner's inquest. He turned up some intriguing details - two murder weapons, a bloody handprint over the fireplace, a 17-year-old son who was slightly injured but not killed - but those details weren't enough to fill the new book he'd been envisioning.

So Spooner began looking at other Maine ax murders. Eventually, Purington and two others would be featured in Spooner's book.

On a cold winter night in 1873, on tiny Smuttynose Island on the Maine-New Hampshire border, two sisters were murdered by someone wielding an ax. A third sister barely escaped, fleeing into the nearby woods until help arrived. The motive: robbery.
[...]
Later in 1873, another Maine man, John Gordon, was accused of murdering his brother, his brother's wife and their infant daughter with an ax while they slept in their Thorndike home. He was also accused of taking an ax to his brother's young son, who survived, and attempting to burn down the house to cover his crime. The motive: inheritance of the family farm and retaliation for a series of disparaging letters that his brother's wife sent to his fiancée.
[...]
Although the three gruesome ax murders happened 67 years apart, one thing tied them all together: questions about the killer's identity.

Was the 17-year-old survivor of the 1806 Hallowell murders involved in the attacks on his family? Was it the third Smuttynose Island sister - and not Wagner - who wielded the ax that winter night in 1873? Did someone other than Gordon kill the young family while they slept in Thorndike?
[...]
But he also believes that it's possible the Hallowell father wasn't the only one attacking his family in 1806. Two weapons, an ax and a straight razor, were used that night, Spooner said. To him, that points to two killers.

And the 17-year-old who survived had only minor injuries.

"There are questions," Spooner said. "If I was there, I would have brought them up."

He brings them up now. Then lets readers decide.

Spooner's self-published book, "A Return to Smuttynose Island and Other Maine Axe Murders," is being sold on Amazon.com. He dedicates the book to the 13 victims and their families.

Done with the ax-murder research, Spooner, 39, considered looking into New England strangulation cases. It's an urge he's fighting.

"I don't want to be known as the murder guy," he said.

On the other hand, some cases are too fascinating to walk away from.

"I'm still compiling everything I can," he said.

Read the full article here: [Source]

Copies of the book can be purchased through Amazon.com. You can peruse the Maine Supernatural website, with additional material related to the book, at http://home.myfairpoint.net/espooner.

Below you will find one of the accompanying videos, with interview footage, and more!

Purrinton Massacre Update

In the May-June 2006 issue of the Kennebec Current, a newsletter put out by the Kennebec Historical Society, a new finding in the case of the infamous ax murders of the Purrinton Massacre (see original posting here) has been reported:
Gravesite of Purrin(g)ton Family Found
On July 9, 1806, Betsey Purrinton and six of her eight children were brutally slain by Capt. James Purrinton, Betsey’s husband and the children’s father. A son, James, escaped with minor injuries. One of the daughters survived for several weeks after the horrific incident, but eventually succumbed to her injuries.

The murders occurred at the family’s farmstead on Old Belgrade Road, not far from the home of Martha Ballard, who chronicled them and their aftermath in her now-famous diary. The funeral at the South Parish Meeting House on Market Square drew a large crowd. Mrs. Purrinton and her children were buried in the northeast corner of what was then the Burnt Hill Cemetery, now a part of Mount Vernon Cemetery. Capt. Purrinton was buried in the highway at the corner of Winthrop and High streets.

When Charles E. Nash wrote his history of Augusta a century later, he stated that the family’s gravesite location had been lost from the community’s memory. Several weeks ago, however, it was rediscovered. Lee Cranmer, an archaeologist with the Maine Historic Preservation Commisson, and a Augusta city crew under the auspices of the Augusta Historic Preservation Commisson, searched Mount Vernon Cemetery for the gravesite and they found it.

The Augusta Heritage Coalition, whose members include Old Fort Western Museum, the Augusta Historic Preservation Commisson, and the Kennebec Historical Society, intends to mark the gravesite and will invite the community to a memorial event to be held sometime in July. Interestingly, the surname Purrin(g)ton is spelled with and without a “g,” sometimes even within the same reference source.

Purington Massacre -- Hallowell

Well, good news from the Hallowell inquiry. I had a response from an anonymous poster which put me on the trail of a mind-boggling event from Augusta & Hallowell's history. I'm not sure if it's the same massacre related to the green glow phenomenon I'm trying to find out about, but either way it is a serious piece of Maine history.

Thank you, Anonymous, for the tip. It is extremely helpful to have names and dates to work with. I did turn up some more information about the Purington (or Purrinton) Murders, including an image of a handbill about a graphic booklet printed after the murders.
The info comes from Martha Ballard's diary (as in "The Midwife's Tale" mentioned by Anonymous).

Above is a small version of the handbill or flyleaf. The fullsize original can be found by clicking on the "handbill" link above. Please note the graphic at the bottom of the image of the coffin with axe and razor. Stark and stunning.

In addition, I found a site mentioning that during its investigations around Augusta, focusing on AMHI, the North East Paranormal Society spoke with an Augusta historian and saw the ax which was allegedly used for the murders. To quote: "Upon entering her office she also stunned us with a piece of Purington history, the axe which had been found around 1988 by a man who was eager to try out his new metal detector. The axe was unveiled nearly two feet under the roadway where Captain Purington is believed to be buried, after having it checked out it does appear to be an axe dating back to the late 1700's and early 1800's."

According to Martha Ballard's accounts, Purington was buried with his murder weapons (a foundation for a ghost story if there ever was one!).

I'm going to see if I can find a copy of the account of the murder as seen above. Stay tuned!

--Michelle