After ransacking the house and finding only $15 he departed, leaving Anethe’s body on the floor beside a clock that had been knocked off the mantel in the struggle and stopped at seven minutes past one. Motive; Karin finds Marin sharing the bed with Anethe, Karin accuses Marin of being more depraved & tells Anethe about Ivan & Marin as children and the relationship. When the tender landed the men were told of “some trouble on Smuttynose.” They rushed to the Ingerbredsen house where they found Maren in a deplorable state. 246 pp. A single murder theory does not exist, but is clear that anyone in pursuit of the truth should examine the activity of Marin Hontvet on that tragic night, Maren was a neighbor of Celia Laighton Thaxter. In May 1871 Maren’s happiness swelled with the arrival of her sister, Karen Christensen, from Norway. When Ivan & Anethe arrive, Marin is unpleasantly surprised by the marriage as she still has deep feelings for her brother. They’d be home later that evening. After selling the fish he would buy bait, then sail for home in late afternoon. “John scared me!” Karen replied, still half asleep. The circumstances of Karen’s arrival were somewhat grievous – she had lost a lover in Norway for whom she continually pined — but Maren was certain she could help her sister overcome her melancholy and build a new life. She rushed to the bed where Karen was kneeling with her head on the mattress and tried to revive the dazed woman. When the party landed on the small island they discovered Wagner’s deed horribly documented. About 10 P.M. the three women in the Hontvet house decided not to wait up any longer. Wagner was a dark, muscular 28-year-old Prussian with a thick accent. At dawn each day John would navigate his schooner, the Clara Bella, to the fishing grounds and draw his trawl lines, then sail to market in nearby Portsmouth, New Hampshire. At sea they met a neighbor and asked him to stop at Smuttynose and tell the women the winds had changed in favor of sailing directly to the mainland, so they wouldn’t be stopping to leave one of the men on the island, as was their custom. Ivan and Matthew went to work for John and Anethe helped Maren keep house. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. On June 25, 1875, 27 months after the crime, Wagner was led into the yard of the state prison in Thomaston, Maine, and hanged. He never spoke unless spoken to, and never lifted his eyes from his work when speaking. Word of the calamity spread fast. The quarter moon shed little light on this, the first calm night of the new year. With that Wagner reached for a chair and struck a crippling blow out of the darkness. Was Maren the granddaughter of Celia Thaxter. It was very relaxing driving down Route 1A. He returned her to the care of his wife then gathered men with guns to search Smuttynose. I did not subscribe to this magazine in 1980, so I didn’t read this murder article. January 23, 1997. Although quite content with their new lives, the Hontvets missed their families in Norway. With Matthew was Maren’s brother, Ivan Christensen, and his wife Anethe. They had been married since Christmas. Perhaps John did the murders and Maren covered for him. They married & moved to Smuttynose. “Anethe! Smuttynose was in the jurisdiction of the state of Maine and Wagner would have to be tried there. He broke out of jail within a week, but was recaptured in New Hampshire. After nine days of testimony and 55 minutes of deliberation, he was found guilty as charged. When the trawl lines were in they planned to sell the catch in Portsmouth and buy bait arriving on the early train from Boston. Long story short, 2 yrs after Wagner is convicted & 3 weeks prior to his hanging, she goes to the prosecutor & makes a formal confession to killing her sister & sister in law & further, asks Gods forgiveness for letting an innocent man die. They were also all excellent cooks and where ever you were at lunch time is where you ate lunch! Her lifeless body shuddered violently and slumped as Wagner continued striking her, all in full view of Maren who stood so close on the other side of the window she “could have reached out and touched his arm.”. He came off as a ‘masher’ and/or womanizer. No authoritative anthology of New England crime would fail to include the truly ghastly murders on Smuttynose Island (part of the Isles of Shoals) on the morning of March 6, 1873. He worked as a carpenter on Appledore for the rest of the summer of 1873, never out of sight of the cottage where he was robbed of his happiness. So, is any of the movie version true ? I also loved looking at Wentworth by the Sea, which was closed for the winter in those days. The Smuttynose Island murders, trial, jailbreak, and execution are featured in the book Return to Smuttynose Island by Emeric Spooner (ISBN 978-1441485878). He claims he was on a boat baiting trolls until late at night. The police escort drew their revolvers and a company of bayonet-wielding Marines were called from the Navy base, but the mob was not easily subdued. Instead she ran along the shore to the far side of the island. Her sister saw this, told their father who then arranged a marriage between Marin & John. The movie ” The Weight of Water” is made after the book By Katherine Bigelow. This had a distinct set of circumstances. Everything seems to agree that the entire set of events hinged on whether or not the Hontvet men could get bait that night in Portsmouth. READ THIS FIRST: Smuttynose 101: A Quick Murder Study Start your research here with our unique cram course on the story behind "The Weight of Water" NEW: Legends of Samuel Haley The "King" of Smuttynose Island NEW: Spring Cleaning On-Island (Photos) “Weight of Water” the Movie I’m also aware there were very nice Victorian hotels there. After a long, severe winter, spring was finally in the air and the sun rose steadily in the clear sky as John, Matthew, and Ivan set sail on the morning of March 5, 1873. Winner will be selected at random on 12/01/2020. Louis!” Anethe shrieked. The attached forensic paper investigates the famous Smuttynose double axe murders and whether Louis Wagner was rightly hanged for the crime. The graves of Karen and Anethe are located side by side in South Cemetery in Portsmouth, NH. As a UNH graduate I receive their magazine and there was a really interesting article several years ago about Isle of Shoals, where they have an “experimental garden”, etc. The stolen dory was also found in Newcastle near a place called “Devil’s Den.” The new thole pins were worn almost a quarter of an inch. Go from season to season in New England with this delightful wall calendar. Louis Wagner stayed on with the Hontvets for five weeks after Matthew, Ivan, and Anethe arrived, then booked passage as a hand on another fishing schooner, the Addison Gilbert, and left Smuttynose in November. Portsmouth The 1873 Isles of Shoals murders (also known as the Smuttynose murders) remain one of New England’s most grisly and mysterious murder mysteries. The story of the 1873 Smuttynose Island ax murders, once again, is being made into a movie. When the Clara Bella docked in Portsmouth early that evening Louis Wagner was present to help tie the vessel to the wharf. He swung the axe wildly at the feeble figure, first on the mark, then missing, splitting the sill, and breaking the handle. After 1 semester I transferred to UNH (instate) and because I was “very responsible” my parents rented an apartment for me and gave me a car to use for shopping and entertainment. At the end of the summer he returned alone to Norway and was never heard of again. This small museum is an eccentric shrine to boyhood in the 1960s. Exhausted, he then brewed a pot of tea, leaving blood stains on the handle, and ate some food he had brought with him using a plate, knife, and fork from the Hontvets’ kitchen. The movie represented that it was in fact Marin, not Wagner. The story of the 1873 Smuttynose Island ax murders, once again, is being made into a … Isles of Shoals Murders | Horror on Smuttynose Island. The Hontvets’ trust in and kindness toward Wagner proved to be a mistake. He watched the lone cottage for several hours after the light coming through the windows disappeared. Seeing the dark figure silhouetted against a window she asked, “John? The next day Wagner was transferred from jail to the Boston depot for the trip to Portsmouth, followed by a jeering crowd of 500. I have read everything I can for the last decade on the murders at Smuttynose. I have no doubt in my mind it was louis Wagner! Atlas Obscura and our trusted partners use technology such as cookies on our website to personalise ads, support social media features, and analyse our traffic. Maren could have heard him coming, taken off and Louis saw his chance to rob them. Copies are at the Portsmouth Public Library and the Antheneum Research Library. Book by J. Dennis Robinson, an in depth investigation into the available records of the Smutty Nose Murders and a comprehensive history of Portsmouth, The Shoals and the surrounding area.
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