Seacoast History Blog #111
March 30, 2011  

The original report in the New York Times was later changed from “suicide” to an “accidental drowning”. But what really happened to the famous Boston-based artist William Morris Hunt? Below is the early report from the newspaper as it appeared in September 9, 1878, just five years after the Smuttynose Murders on an island nearby at the Isles of Shoals. We’re digging into this story for a future feature, but here’s how it looks so far. Based on a telegram from Appledore Island, the NYT initially announced that 55-year old William M. Hunt had drowned himself in a tank near the Appledore Hotel. Other reports describe the site as a “pond” on the island.   (Continued below)  

Here is a portion of the initial press report that leans heavily toward suicide: 

“There will be a thrill of surprise and regret, not unmixed with horror, in the world of art and literature when it is learned that William M. Hunt, the well-known American artist, has taken his own life. This tragical  event has just occurred at Appledore Island, one of the Isles of Shoals,' off the coast of New-Hampshire.  The telegram which furnishes the scanty details of the death of Mr. Hunt says that he was in his usual health and spirits when last seen, and that he committed suicide by drowning himself in a tank on the island. No clue Is given to the cause which led to the suicide, He had been busy about  his usual work up to the day of his death.”  

It continues: 

“To those' who know the excitable temperament and finely-strung organization of the lamented artist
it will at once be suggested that be must have taken his own lire while laboring under a fit of temporary insanity. He was an arduous worker and an intense thinker, and its 'likely that his mind may have given away under studies and labors too great to be borne.”  

Island poet and hostess Celia Thaxter apparently discovered the body of her close friend the artist who had been recuperating as a guest in her own cottage. Hunt had been a longtime companion of Celia’s husband Levi Thaxter. In fact, the two men look so much alike with their sad aged faces, bald heads, and large bushy beards, that a popular volume on the life of Celia Thaxter inaccurately labels W.M. Hunt as Levi. According to Celia’s own account, they dragged Hunt to the porch of the hotel and attempted to revive him, but he was already dead.  

Born in Brattleboro , VT in 1824, Hunt studied art at Harvard and in Europe and was initially a sculptor. He painted lifelike portraits and eventually switched to a focus on landscapes. He was also a popular art teacher and well known for allowing women into his classes, much against tradition.  

Despite the New York Times report, it remains unclear whether Hunt killed himself as is most often recited today. He was exhausted from work on a mural in the New York State Capitol at Albany. He had earlier lost all his work in a fire in Boston, and had been separated from his wife. Hunt was frail at the time of his death, overworked and exhausted. But both his father and a brother had committed suicide. There were also local rumors of a lost love. 

We’ve got this one on the research burner and welcome any input from readers. Did the famous artist kill himself or fall into a pond and drown? Inquiring minds want to know.

© 2011 by J. Dennis Robinson/ SeacoastNH.com. Passes quoted © New York Times.