The Washington herald., 1911-02-26
STORIES OF FAMOUS POEMS
SKIPPER RESON'S RIDE" "
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

fragment of rhyme which heard from
one of my early schoolmates, a native Of
Marblehead. 1 suppose the story TO
| which i refer dated back at least a CEN
| tury. know nothing of the participa-
| tors and the narrative of the ballad was
| pure fancy. l am glad, for the sake OF
truth and justice, that the real facts are
| given in the book. 1 certainly would
not knowingly do injustice to any one.
I dead or living. l am truly thy friend
| JOHN q. WHITTIER
LAS the Floyd Ireson seems to be
/ upon u.s. remarks the Boston Transcript,
it may be as well to remark that at the
| time OF his memorable experience of tar
| and feathers Floyd was not an old man:
| that he survived his treatment many
years and died within the memory Of
people now living in MarbIehead who
would object to being called aged They
recollect him as meek little man with
soft blue eyes, who lived by himself and
was so moved by kindness that he cried.
lonely. heartbrOken, aged man, he
| went to his grave as to a shelter from Il
I world that had cruelty ill-treated him "
A lady of Marblehead. Mass. thus de-
mOlishes the Floyd Ireson tradition. She
says that her mother knew Floyd and
| from him had the truth. There had been
storm and Floyd had had trouble with
some drunken sailors. and they. hasten
/ ing into the town full of revenge, heard
! of the wreck of The rival fishing boat,
and seeing their opportunity, immedi-
ately spread the report of Iresons seeing.
scofing at and leaving the sinking wreck.
| The bad tale spread rapidly and the
sweethearts and wives Of the drowned
| sailors were ready for Ireson when he
came into town, and, mad with grief.
they tarred and feathered and rode him
in a cart. He could never clear his name
of the i'll and never looked a man in the
face again until his death. which soon
! followed, for the innocent man could not
bear the scorn of his townpeople. That
takes the romance from the fine poem,
but there really seems a finer pathos in
the truth, doesn't there?
The story of the laundering Of the
schooner. upon which is based the Incl
dent that gave inspiration for the writ
ing of the poem to Whittier, is as fol-
lows:
On Sunday, the thirtfeth of October,
the schooner Betty, commanded by Skip
per Benjamin IresOn. arrived from the
Grand Banks. Shortly after their arrival.
the crew reported that at midnight on the
previous Friday, when of Cape Cod
lighthouse. they passed the schooner
Active, of Portland. which was in a sink
ing condition. and that the skipper had
refused to render any assistance to the
unfortunate men on board the wreck.
The excitement and Indignation of the
people upon the reception Of the news
can be better imagined than described.
Two vessels, manned by willing volun-
teers, were Immediately dispatched to the
scene of disaster. with the hope of their
arrival in time to save the Shipwrecked
sailors. But their mission was a failure.
and they returned with no tidings of the
wreck. The resentment of the people
was still further provoked when, on the
following day, the sJoop Swallow arrived,
ha,t- s11-I ont 10 ma
ter of the Inflated schooner. He corro-
borated the story told by the crew of the
Betty. and stated that the Active sprung
a leak about IL o'clock on Friday night.
An hour later the Betty was spoken,
but. contrary to the principles of hu-
manity." she sailed away without giving
any assistance. On Saturday Capt Glib
bons and three of the passengers were
taken off the wreck by Mr.. Hardy, of
Truro, in a whaIeboat. -Four other per-
sons were heft on the wreck, but the
storm increased so rapidly that it was
found impossible to return to their res
cue. Capt. Gibbons was placed on board
the revenue cutter Good Intent, and
afterward went on board the sloOp Swal-
law. in which he came to Marblehead.
This statement by one who had so mar
rowly escaped a watery grave made a
deep impression upon the fishermen. and
they determined to demonstrate their dis
a signal act of vengeance. Accordingly,
on a bright moonlight night, the unfortu-
nate skipper was suddenly seized by sew
eraI powerful men and securely bound
He was then placed in a dOry, and. be-
smeared from head to feet with tar and
feathers. was dragged through the town,
escorted by a multitude of men and boys
When opposite the locality now known
as workhouse Rocks. the bottom of the
dory came out and the prisoner finished
the remainder of his ride to Salem in
a cart. The authorities of that city for
bade the entrance of the strange process
sion. and the crowd returned to Marble
head.
Throughout the entire proceeding MT.
Ireson maintained a dignified silence, and
when, arriving at his home, he was re-
leased from custody, his only remark
was: II thank you for your ride, GENTLE
men. but YOU will live to regret 1t.
His words were prophetic When too
late to make reparation for. the wrong
they had committed. the impulsive hsh-
ermen realized that they had perpeuated
an act of the greatest injustice on an
innocent man.