History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

ANNALS OF LYNN 1
874. 6l
pletely wrecked. All on board perished. The fatal place was
near where the Tedesco was wrecked, in 1857, and also the Fred
Bliss, in 1870. There were five persons on board the Robert
Raikes. The captain's name was John Ellis, and his brother
William was also on board. And it was a rather remarkable
coincidence that another brother, attached to another vessel, was
lost during the same storm. Capt. Ellis's body was not recovered
till Nov. 30.
A prize fight was interrupted by the police at the Half-way
House, on the Turnpike, on the morning of Dec. 31. The principals
were from Providence, R. I., and Boston, and most of the
company were from those places. The principals and several
others were made prisoners. The fight was going on in an
apartment of the house, and it was with great skill and caution
that the officers eluded the sentinels and made the captures.
Three masted coasting schooners, which for some years had
occasionally appeared in our harbor, began now to be quite common,
that style of vessel proving to be much more readily and
economically worked than the square rigged of equal tonnage.
During the year, 515.952 mail letters and 39.162 drop letters
were delivered in the city by post-office carriers.
Birch Pond was formed this year, for the purpose of securing
an additional supply of water, by building a dam across Birch
Brook valley, on the east of Walnut street, near the Saugus line.
The pond was made to cover about sixty-seven acres.
18 74.
On the morning of January 10 a fire commenced in the stable
of the Glenmere line of stages, on Chatham street, and consumed
the building, several tons of hay, and other property. The most
serious matter, however, was the death of ten horses. The whole
value of the property lost was $2,500.
George W. Keene died suddenly in the St. Nicholas Hotel,
New York, Jan 27, aged 58. He was a native of Leicester, in
Worcester county, but from his early youth, with the exception
of one or two brief intervals, was a resident of Lynn ; and his
sudden death created more than ordinary sensation, for he was
widely known as an active business man as well as for his genial
manners and benevolent disposition. He belonged to a Quaker
family, his mother being the accredited preacher spoken of under
date 1867; but he early adopted the Unitarian faith and held
fast to it to the end of his life. He was a member of the Masonic
and Odd Fellow fraternities and attained to high ranks in the
lodges ; had a cultivated mind and took considerable interest in
literary and educational affairs ; was thoughtful, and in his meditations
and reasonings did not always pursue the beaten track.