The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-05-13

oiS ou tuc Iope, Dut there were no oxen.
There are many citizens left who witnessed
the scene. When the steeple fell my interest
centered in the vane to ascertain if the tradi-
tional bullet hole was there, said to have been
made by John H, Hall, boat builder, with
his breech-loading rifle, of which he was the
first inventor, and for which he received a
patent and sold it to the United States gov
ernment for whom he superintended their
manufacture at Harper's Ferry for twenty
years. The bullet hole was easily found, and
before the vane was placed on the new spire a
patch of copper was put over the place, which
can now be seen with glass.
The old meeting house stood with its broad
side 10 street the steeple was at the south west
end. The moving of the house was sideways, OF
directly back on to the school house lot. The
building was first raised by wooden "bed
screws"-the iron jack-screws had not then
come into use Timber ways and rolls, were
then placed under the cross stills. The force APP
piled was large tackles, worked by men with
capstans, but not until the bed screws were ap-
piled to the front sill, would the venerable
structure bulge an inch.
The contractor was Charles Frost senior, of
who owned the necessary apparatus to do the
moving. The frame of the old house was COM
posed of very large hard wood timber
'When that house arose;
For its crOss-beams square,
Oak and walnut fell,
Little worse for year,
There ware on both sides large braces, fifteen
or twenty feet long. framed into each post, just
above the gallery, the other end reaching far
out and secured to the cross beams. The ceiling
was fiat and plain. Mr. Frost was deceived in
the immense weight of the building, which re-
quired more time and force to remove it, than
he expected. He was man of great energy,
and like Othello, he was sometimes crude of
speech" which the following authentic anec-
dote will show.
DR.. Nichols, the minister, inspected the work
every day, and from the slow progress made,
he became anxious about his Sunday service,
which it was intended to hold in the old house
on its new site. He said "Mr. Frost, can't you
increase your force, 10 as to get the house into
place by Saturday night?" The contractor
was doing all in his power, and became FESTIVE
under what he took as an implIed;reproof, and
replied, ''Sr you must be aware that the Cos
tor we will do our d--dest." In the manner
described, the moving was finally accom-
plished There was no "long line of oxen" and
no door in the back side of the building for
James Gowen of Westbrook" to have stood
in to give orders, if he and the oxen had been
there. But he had been dead three years-he
was my grandfather and write from my own
knowledge. DR.. Hills informant had evidently
got the moving of the meeting house in 1926,
mixed with the hauling of the old courthouse
in 1916, The latter moving was affected by
long lines Of oxen, and James Gowen presided,
as described in the Press of the 22d of January
last.
AS to the drive to Boston with a splendid
span of colts, it may be correct; Mr.. Gowen had
such team, and from his weight they were
convenient. Their performance on the road to
town still fingers pleasantly in my boyish
recollections Mr.. Gowen did represent
his town of Falmouth two years, WEST
brook had not then been set off, and ''driving
to Boston" was then common. My father
drove to the General Court at Boston in 1915,
in chaise with his trunk strapped to the axle,
but he drove only one horse. As Windham
Woo OhehoACu W Shiy ouC representative, VI
course it was considered a one horse town,
while Falmouth was entitled to two represen-
tatves, which may account for the 'span."
Mr.. Gowen attended the Quaker meeting, and
favored their style of dress, and manner of
speech, but was not member of their society.
An anecdote to supply the place of the one cor
rected, will illustrate Mr.. Governs principles
and standing with the Quakers--it was current
in the neighbOring towns sixty years ago. The
The other member from Falmouth was Heze.
kiah Winslow of Poplar Ridge, who ''afte- the
strctest sect of their religion he lived o" Quak-
er. While the two friends were seeing Boston,
they stepped into mock auction. Fom their
green appearance they were at once spotted for
victims by the auctioneer. Some tempting ar
tIcle was offered as bait, and Winslow bid for
it of course it was struck off to him, but while
he was getting out his money, worthless imi-
tation was substituted for that sold, which
trick was detected by Mr. Gowen. who in
formed his friend of the fraud. Mr.. Winslow
refused to take the article, when the auctioneer
ordered the door closed, to intimidate the two
countrymen, and threatened them with vo-
lence. After moments thought, Mr., Gowen
began to loosen his overcoat and said quietly to
Mr.. Winslow, ''Hezekiab, thee keep thy coat
buttoned, and hold mine Thee is a member
of the meeting, but am not so much of a
Quaker as to prevent me from seeing fair play,
even in Boston, The swindling auctioneer
found that he was mistaken in his men and or
dered the door opened.
The vain exhibition of his colts in front of
the Boston State HOuse-his surprise and
modification" I may be compelled to admit;
but the statement that my ancestor walked off
with the sold Jerusalem" in tow of a team of
oxen "hitched to the sills," is too Incredible to
be considered by any one who recollects that
venerable edifice. deny it in toto. WIG.
WINDHAM, April 18th.
MARINE NOTES.-THE fishing steamer Bessie
Snow arrived in the harbor yesterday with the
schooner Mary A. Rice, which collided with
the brig Anna D. Torrey, in tow. Tbs steamer
fOund the sehnoner ha ndonad forty mi lac