LOVES BOMBER STORY
Dear Mr. Altschiller, Potsmouth Herald: I read with great interest the terrific article by J. Denise Robinson on the FB 111 Fighter Bomber, stationed at Pease, that crashed in 1981. The story took me back. I was a member of the Pease Fire Department at the time and also, a volunteer firefighter for the City of Portsmouth. The day the plane crashed I was off duty at home, about a quarter of a mile from the crash site. I heard the plane fly over. When I heard the engines quit. I knew the crash was imminent. I was the first firefighter on scene. A day I will never forget. Mr. Robinson captured the moment brilliantly. I am anxiously awaiting part two of his story next week. I can see now that with contributor's like Mr. Robinson, the Portsmouth Herald will continue to be the outstanding newspaper that it is for a long, long time. Kindest regards,
Bob Hersey, Portsmouth, NH

MOE BOMBER CRASH MEMORIES
This is another interesting historic and very local article. My wife and I lived at 93 Rockhill Ave. at the time of the plane crash. Our court was on the other side (northerly?) of the woods from the crash scene on Circuit Road..

My wfe was getting ready to go into her second shift work at the Pease hospital at the time of the crash. The building shook and the windows bulged in and out for an overall terrifying experience. Wentworth School was still on Granite Street and the "miracle" of no casualties was the kids were only minutes from getting out of school.

Another surveyor and I were working off Ocean Rd. surveying for a condo project which was very close to the southerly runway approach/glide path. I thought it interesting that we were so close to the flight operations at work and it was my apartment, and wife, that were closest to the real danger a couple of hundred feet from the crashed bomber. Usually the planes made an intial flyover approach, circled over the Great Bay and then landed on the second pass.

The story we heard shortly after the accident was an engine let go on the first pass and the pilots aborted a second go around, made an right turn instead of a left, and were flying downriver in an attempt to make the ocean before ditching. As it turned out they didn't make it all the way and the crew showed tremendous courage to stay with the plane, which flies like, well, a plane without a nose, and ejected quite low.

That was one scary day when we got back to our office on Bridge St. and other workers asked if I had heard about the plane crash in Mariner's Village. Too bad Joe Sawtelle is gone, as I'm sure he would have something to add to this as our landlord with his office right across Circuit Road from the crash. Speaking of those gone away. Gene Almendinger just died. Gene and Joe were seminal forces getting the submarine Albacore elevated to its current perch.
Jack Kareckas

HONORING JOE SAWTELLE
Sirs, I very much enjoyed your article concerning Joe Sawtelle. This surname seems to belong to some great men in our American history. The census records show that in 1850 there were only 118 persons with this surname. By 1920 that count reached 776. By 1930 the number of persons with the surname of SAWTELLE had declined to 712.I wonder if your Joe Sawtelle was related to Brig. General Charles G. Sawtelle? In F. C. & L.
Don Wilt, Commander
Graves Registration Officer
General George Wright, Camp 22
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
Sacramento/Elk Grove, CA
Adj/2nd Lt. Co. B, 8th Reg. CA Inf. SVR

SAW FB-111A FALL
Dennis, read your piece about the F-111A. I remember that incident as I was the manager of the Portsmouth Commercial Fish Pier and was sitting at my desk and was talking on the telephone. I remember looking out the window which was facing north, and seeing the plane moving very slowly. Then suddenly the cockpit cover blew off and a second later the pilot ejected and the plane just dropped.
Geno J. Marconi

SEEKING A SCOTTISH PRISONER
This group of people were captured by Cornwall and sent to the colonies 1650 after the Battle of Dunbar. This group landed in Boston 1650 and worked as indentured slaves first at Saugus Iron Works then sent to the Great Mill Works in So. Berwick. This mill was run by 25 Scottish prisoners and is very close to Eliot, Maine. We are looking possibly for a Daniel Elliot who could have been one of the prisoners.
Linda Elliott

PRESIDENT POLK BRICK 1847
I am a native of Portsmouth now residing in Rye. I read with interest "July 4 Mischief in Market Square" in yesterday's Portsmouth Herald. I was especially interested in the visit of President James K. Polk to Portsmouth in 1847. I have in my possession a red brick which my mother found many years ago in the shed at her home in New Castle. It is inscribed (before the brick was fired) and reads - "James K. Polk visited in Concord - July 1, 1847. Is this merely an oddity or are there other similar pieces around?
CC in Rye

THE EDITOR RESPONDS: Now we know that there is no topic too obscure that it might not bring a response from readers. This one certainly proves my point. Who would have through a Polk brick from 1847? Why a brick became a souvenir I do not know, but you have the date and place correct. Polk was in Concord, NH on July 1 two days before arriving in Portsmouth in 1847. More on President Polk

HALE’S SALT CO 
I am trying to find some information about J. P. Hale during his ownership of the Snow Hill Salt Company. I seen your website which mentions on display family items. On display is there any references to Snow Hill or civil war merchant tokens which bear the name Snow Hill? Any information on this phase of his life would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Susan Fischer

EDITOR’S REPLYL We suggest contacting the Woodman Institute in Dover, NH since they own and operate the Hale House that is JP's former home.

STAYING AT STAR ISLAND
How do I make arrangements for an overnight stay on the Isle of shoals?
George Predaris

EDITOR’S REPLY: The only way I know is to contact StarIsland.org and ask for a "retreat". If all the conference rooms are not booked, they sometimes take on outisde visitors. Remember, it is not a five star hotel. No hot running water in your room. Often no showers. Group dining cafeteria style. No pool. It is a Victorian hotel surviving much as it was in the 19th century. The only access on a daily basis is via the Uncle Oscar out of Rye, unless you have your own boat. Click here for the latest info.

INFO ON WHALEBACK
I would like to know exactly how far off shore the Whaleback lighthouse is from Fort Foster. Is it only accesible by boat, and are visitors allowed in or around the lighthouse?
Wendy

JEREMY D’ENTREMONT REPLIES: Whaleback Lighthouse is approximately 2500 feet offshore from Fort Foster. It is accessible only by boat, and there are no landing facilities of any kind. It's possible to jump from a small boat onto the rocks at low tide, but it's not easy. At high tide, the ledges are pretty much submerged and it's impossible to land. The tower is not accessible to the public. The interior is in poor condition. Our group, Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, has applied for ownership along with our parent organization, the American Lighthouse Foundation. If we are granted ownership of the lighthouse, we plan to install a small seasonal floating dock. We plan to have the lighthouse restored and eventually opened for small tours. My guess is that it will take at least 3 or 4 years for us to get to that point.

BEWITCHED ANCESTORS
I don't celebrate Hallowe'en any more since a few years ago I discovered the brother of a direct ancestor, Samuel Wardwell of Andover, was hung as a witch at Salem. And his wife also accused of being a witch and put in jail. Seven -- SEVEN -- years later she was declared not a witch and let out -- but not until the town, in its wisdom decreed that the prisoner should pay for her up keep, and after killing her husband it confiscated her house, her animals, her crops, her property and released her penniless. So much for our courts, our judges and our magistrates -- let alone neighbors. Can YOU imagine seven years alone in a colonial jail, each day 24 hours of wondering when they would haul you out to a hanging?????
Margaret Fish

EDITOR’S REPLY: Sounds like the story of poor Goody Cole of Hampton. The only worse thing we can imagine is 8 years of under GW Bush.

I have a question about an author referenced in the article, Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (what GREAT name for a 19th-century author!). Robinson quotes Shillaber's introduction to "an Ike Partington novel," and I wondered if the author could provide me with the citation for that reference.

Shillaber's equation of boys with caterpillars would be useful in helping me explain how ideas about raising boys changed at the turn of the century (by 1910 or so, few of the people calling themselves "experts" and writing about boys would trust nature to direct a boy's maturation--he needed parents, teachers, doctors, coaches, and scout leaders for that. Thanks in advance for the help.
RK. Anderson

EDITOR’S REPLY: We believe our local boy BP Shillaber created the "bad boy" format that Aldrich and Twain used so well. Shillaber was a less dynamic writer and his Ike Partington was never fleshed out like Tom Bailey or Tom Sawyer. Shillaber was a writer from another era, but he clearly, to our mind, paved the way by setting out the principles for "The Human Boy". We’ll dig around for that quote.