The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-31
been waiting to testify and knew row

|
been waiting to testify and knew row
who was meant
In former times the rude independ-
ence OF the Marblehead people, some
| times took the form of treating with
lnclVilfty the stranger who came to
the town, particularly if he had any
fashionable popularity of attire that
suggested to the popular mind that he
was putting on airs. He's "A stranger.
Rock i'm round the tor11er, was the cry
of the boys when an Unfamiliar visit
| or appeared in the street, and they were
not slow in putting their words into
effect. From the time of the Revolu-
| tionary war up to the civil war. the
| hatred of the British. or 'redcoats. was
a sentiment firmly implanted in the
| youthful mind in Marblehead. Some
| years before the civil war stranger
| appeared on the street Of the town
wearing a red camlet cloak. which was
a fashionable garment at the time, and
| at sight of 1t the boys set up the cry:
! He's a redcoat Squale i'm up.
| Rock i'm round the corner. .'e'
| AS the stones and other missiles pc
| gan to fly about him the stranger, re-
alizing the cause turned his coat in
side out. so that only the blue lining
| appeared But at that the boys shout
| ed. 'Turncoat, turncoat.' and pelted him
the harder
| There has ever been an intense pa
| triotism among the Marblehead fisher
| men. VINO have fought sturdily under
| the American flag in every war where
| its honor was at stake. 1t was the
| Marblehead men in the Continental
| army who rowed Washington and his
| forces through the floating ice of the
| Delaware to victory at Princeton, and
their townsmen - a later generation
| manned the guns Or American warships
and sailed in privateers against the
| British enemy in the war of 1872. Not
less the Marblehead men distinguished
themselves by sea and land in the war
of the rebellion. In the beautiful libra
ry building presented to the town by
one OF its citizens are mementos OF
the three wars, and against its walls
hangs the great original painting from
which the popular picture, 'The Spirit
of 76' was taken, the youngest figure
in the group being the portrait it
is told. of the son of the donor.
In his rambles the visitor may go
by boat across the water reach to the
antique fort on the promontory beyond:
or, guided by some old resident, visit
the site of the cottage long gone, where
a century and a half ago Agnes Sur
riage was born and grew to the beauty
or her young Womanho0d-Agn Sur
riage, the heroine of romance, who,
without the name of wife, followed her
titled lover, the kings commissioner,
across seas. They We're in Lisbon
when the great earthquake destroyed
that city, and there Agnes SURFACE
rescued her lover from death in the
| ruins in which he was overwhelmed.
Touched by her devotion, he married
her. and the romance which began for
the young tavern maid in the New
England fishing town saw it's later days
in England with the title for her of
my lady.
But the most widely known, and.
unless some of the great disasters to
the fishing fleets be excepted, the sad
dest story of Marblehead, is the mob
bling of the skipper of a fishing schoon-
err, Floyd Ireson, for his alleged refusal
to go to the aid of another craft in dis
tress. He was tarred and feathered
and drawn through the town in a boat
placed on wheels, not by the women,
as Whittier has told. but by the men
and boys of Marblehead When at last
| he was let go he said TO his tormentors:
b" Gentlemen, I thank you for my
ride. but you will live to regret it.
Floyd Ireson lived for many years
afterWard a marked man, Stunned and
eXecrated by his neighbors, gaining his
living by fishing from his boat. Justice
at last was rendered to his memory
through the confession of members of
he had commanded. Captain Ireson.
they said, had wished to go to the aid
of the vessel in distress, but was pre-
vented by his crew, who We're fearful
of their lives in the storm and the safe
ty of the fare of fish on board, in which
they were sharers. They refused to obey
his orders to put the schooner about,
and the sinking vessel was left to It's
fate. Afraid of the consequences of
hph9
| made known, the men concocted the
story which they told on their arrival
in Marblehead, laying the blame on
Captain lreson, and the vengeance CT
the community was vented on an inno-
cent man.
Thus the good name of the much
wronged Skipper Ireson was reinstated
| among the Marblehead people, after the
calumny had travelled far and wide,
and they since have resented any irlpu-
tation against it. This feeling was il
lustrated some years ago, when very
distinguished woman, eminent for her
philosophy and for her advocacy of
woman suffrage and other schemes to
enlarge the sphere of her race, came to
the town to attend a women's conVen-
ton, at which she was to deliver the
leading speech. Unfortunately, her
knowledge of the Skipper Ireson event
was based entirely on the story in
Whittier's rhyme, and, in making some
informal remarks before the convention
during the morning session she spoke
approvingly of the part the Marblehead
women We're alleged to have taken in
| this affair. Instantly the convention
| was in an uproar with half the women
| on their feet at once. and in the storm
| of protest and denial that they raised
| the speaker could not proceed. Her ad-
| dress. which had been announced for