May 27, 1692: In accordance with an order signed by newly arrived Sir William Phips (1651-1695), a native of Nequosset (now Woolwich), a court convenes at Salem, Massachusetts, to deal with the cases of more than 125 people who have been arrested on charges of witchcraft and are being held in prison in Salem and Boston.

By the time Phips returns in September from a trip to Pemaquid, where he is overseeing the construction of Fort William Henry, 20 people have been executed and more people have been arrested. His own wife, having secured the temporary release of a witchcraft suspect, also has been accused.

Phips exonerates by proclamation eight defendants who have been convicted, the pro-execution chief justice storms out of the court in protest and Phips replaces him with a less volatile judge. The discredited witch trials soon end, but their notoriety maintains an unyielding grip on Americans’ imagination to this day.

Phips, who grew up in Maine as one of 22 children, was a shepherd and a shipwright. After moving to Boston, he made three trips to the Caribbean and made a significant recovery of sunken Spanish treasure, for which he was knighted. He also led a failed 1690 expedition to attack Quebec.

In Massachusetts, he sometimes becomes physically violent when confronting rival authorities. England’s Privy Council eventually summons him to London to account for himself. He dies there of fever.

May 27, 1880: Waldo County native Alden Blethen (1845-1915), humiliated after backing the losing side in the controversy surrounding the botched gubernatorial election of 1879, pulls up stakes and leaves Maine. He eventually arrives in Minneapolis, where he buys the Tribune newspaper, a venture that ends in bankruptcy.

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In 1896, he moves to Seattle and buys the Seattle Times, a venture that ultimately proves successful. In 1998, his descendants, still in control of that newspaper, buy the Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel, re-establishing the family’s link to Maine. The family sells the Maine papers in 2009.

Joseph Owen is an author, retired newspaper editor and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. Owen’s book, “This Day in Maine,” can be ordered at islandportpress.com. He can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.

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Joseph Owen is an author, retired newspaper editor and board member of the Kennebec Historical Society. Owen’s book, “This Day in Maine,” can be ordered at islandportpress.com.  Joe can be contacted at: jowen@mainetoday.com.


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