Monday, July 17, 2017

MOTORCYCLIST DIES FOLLOWING CRASH ON CADILLAC MOUNTAIN SUMMIT ROAD - ACADIA, 2016

 Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Sept. 2016

A motorcyclist was killed after crashing his bike on the Cadillac Mountain Summit road in Acadia National Park.   The young man was a student at the University of Maine and from the country of Saudi Arabia.  The crash occurred on Sunday afternoon.  Park spokesman John Kelly said the accident took place at about 4;30 in the afternoon.  Witnesses who were interviewed said the driver was operating at a high rate of speed and passing cars in a dangerous manner.  Kelly reported that the operator of the motorcycle apparently lost control of his bike on a curve and crashed.
The victim was later identified as Abdulrahman M. Alamer, age 21, who later died at Mount Desert Island Hospital as a result of his injuries.


DEATHS IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - CADILLAC MOUNTAIN SUMMIT ROAD - ACADIA

He had been riding down the Cadillac Summit Road on a red Ducati motorcycle and passing cars when he skidded off of the Summit Road and striking an embankment.  Rangers were said to have arrived on scene about five minutes after the crash and found the victim still alive.  The victim was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

MARK SIMON OF GLEN RIDGE NEW JERSEY ATTEMPTS TO GET A PERFECT PHOTO - FALLS TO HIS DEATH NEAR SAND BEACH - ACADIA, 2016

  Deaths In Acadia National park;

Posted June 7, 2016

Man falls 40 feet to his death at Acadia National Park
It appears a  68-year-old summer resident of Southwest Harbor was apparently trying to take a perfect photograph of the sunset when the man fell..
Park officials are investigating how and why a 68-year-old man fell to his death in Acadia National Park on Monday, the National Park Service said Tuesday.  The accident occurred in an area where others have lost their lives in the past. 
Mark Simon of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, fell from a bluff between Sand Beach and Thunder Hole. Simon was a summer resident of Southwest Harbor, a town located on the quiet side of the island.
He and his wife had stopped on the Park Loop Road so he could photograph the sunset from an area off the Ocean Path. Simon’s wife waited for him in the car, but became concerned after the sun had set, and waved down a passing park ranger.
Rangers located Simon’s backpack, and then saw his body at the bottom of a 40-foot drop. He was lying motionless at the water’s edge.

Because of the steep terrain, park rangers could not reach him, and the U.S. Coast Guard was called to assist in recovering Simon’s body, which was only reached once the rising tide carried it into the water.
While the fall appears accidental, the National Park Service said it would continue to investigate the circumstances Tuesday.

NATHAN SAVAGE DIES AFTER SWIMMING IN ECHO LAKE IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - 2016

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Published July 3, 2016

Despite their best efforts to resuscitate him, a man who was from the city of South Portland Maine died Saturday afternoon following a swim in Echo Lake in Acadia National Park, according to a Park Spokesman.  He had been at the lake with his wife and children.
Nathan Savage, age 39, had been swimming in an area of the lake known as Ikes Point and had just finished a swim across the lake when he collapsed where he had been setting on a rock at around 3 pm.  It was reported that Savage's wife began CPR while another park visitor used a phone to call for help.  Shortly afterwards Park Rangers and local police officers arrived at the scene and alternated CPR until an ambulance arrived at the scene, but by then Savage had died.
Park spokesman John Kelly said Mr Savage was taken to the state medical examiners office where an autopsy would be done.
While deaths in Acadia National Park do happen,this was the first death related to swimming in the park that I have heard of.   That said, there are a number of deaths in Acadia that have occurred over the  years related to drownings.

LOCAL MAN CHRISTIAN LINWOOD EMIGH DOYLE DIES AFTER FALL FROM DUCK BROOK BRIDGE IN ACADIA - 2014

Deaths In Acadia National park;

posted June 5, 2015


BAR HARBOR – Christian Linwood Emigh-Doyle, 23, died May 25, 2014. He was born April 6, 1991 in Boston, MA, the son of Kenneth Edison Doyle and Christie Ellen Emigh, MD.
As a child, he attended the Acadia Friends Meeting in Northeast Harbor, until age 14 when he moved to Newtown, PA to attend The George School. During high school, Christian attended The George School, a Friends school in Newtown, Pennsylvania for 2 1/2 years. Then, he completed high school at the Mt. Desert High School in Bar Harbor, Nov. 22, 2011 by obtaining a GED. During childhood, he enjoyed many summers at the Friends Camp in China, Maine and Camp Beech Cliff, Mt. Desert. In the outdoors, he appreciated rock climbing, ice climbing, skate boarding, slack lining, and bicycling. He studied the cello under Arkady Levitan. He also enjoyed reading and video car racing games.
Bridge over Duck brook, Acadia National Park

Christian is survived by his parents and two sisters: Hannah Leigh Emigh-Doyle and Sarah Dierdre Emigh-Doyle, all of Bar Harbor. The family would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Bangor, Holden, Hampden, Brewer, Ellsworth, and Bar Harbor Police Departments, Acadia Search and Rescue Team, the Acadia National Park Ranger, Bill Weidner, and to Police Officers Tim Bland and Tom Tardiff for their loving care and support.
While deaths in Acadia National Park do happen, this is an unusual case because no clear answer as to how the young man fell from Duck Brook  Bridge along the Paradise Hill Road has ever been determined.  
A visitation will occur from 2-8 p.m. Saturday, June 7, 2014 and from 6-8 p.m. Monday, June 30, 2014. A memorial service under the care of the Acadia Friends Meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, 2014. All services will be held at the Neighborhood House in Northeast Harbor, and all are welcome to attend. The family suggests memorials to the Acadia Friends Meeting, PO Box 21, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609 or the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 rather than flowers. Arrangements in care of Jordan-Fernald, 1139 Main St., Mt. Desert. Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com

LOCAL MAN JOHN BAER FOUND DEAD ALONG SCHOONER HEAD TRAIL IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - 2012

 Deaths In acadia National Park;

posted June 7, 2012

BAR HARBOR, Maine — Acadia National Park officials are investigating the death of a local elderly man who was found lying in a marshy area along a trail in the park on Wednesday afternoon. Rangers said the death is not suspicious.
John Baer, 85, of Bar Harbor was walking his dog on the park trail that runs along Schooner Head Road sometime around 3 p.m. when his wife became concerned because he had not returned.
At around 4 p.m., 911 dispatchers received a call from joggers who had discovered Baer lying face-down near a bridge that goes over a brook outlet and marsh, said Richard Rechholtz, Acadia’s supervisory park ranger. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
“We believe he fell somehow,” said Rechholtz, who added that the dog was still in the area when Baer was discovered. “There is no suspicion of foul play.”
Acadia officials are investigating the death because the incident happened on park land.
Baer’s body was being taken on Thursday to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta for examination.
 posted June 7, 2012

MAN COMMITS SUICIDE ATOP CADILLAC MOUNTAIN - 2012

 Deaths In Acadia National Park;

posted July 8, 2012

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — A 38-year-old Connecticut man killed himself early Sunday morning in the parking lot at the summit of Cadillac Mountain, park officials said Sunday night.
Supervisory Park Ranger Richard Rechholtz said the man committed suicide in his car by carbon monoxide poisoning. The victim was discovered around sunrise by other tourists.
The man was traveling alone and his family had been notified of his death, Rechholtz said.
“National parks can attract people who want to commit suicide because they are beautiful places,” Rechholtz said. “We have our share at Acadia, and it’s always very unfortunate.

COLLEGE STUDENT SHIRLEY LADD DIES FOLLOWING A FALL FROM PRECIPICE - ACADIA - 2012

 Deaths In Acadia National Park;

posted July 29, 2012

Three dozen rescue workers and the crew of a Lifeflight helicopter that was forced to land on a mountain ledge spent more than five hours Saturday trying to save the life of a University of Maine student.
Despite their heroic efforts, 22-year-old Shirley Ladd of Barnstead, N.H., died from injuries she sustained after falling on a trail on Champlain Mountain in Acadia National Park.
Rescuers use climbing equipment to haul an injured hiker 250 feet up Champlain Mountain in Acadia National Park on Saturday. Shirley Ladd, a student at UMaine, later died of her injuries. She was remembered for her outgoing personality. Photos courtesy National Park Service
A helicopter from LifeFlight of Maine landed on a sloped, open ledge on Champlain Mountain in Acadia National Park in order to evacuate an injured hiker Saturday. Photo by Jon Tierney
Personnel from the National Park Service, Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue, LifeFlight Of Maine and Acadia Mountain Guides assist in rescuing and giving medical care to Shirley Ladd, who was critically injured Saturday while hiking in Acadia National Park. Photo by B. Watson/Courtesy of Jon Tierney

Ropes are visible as rescuers attend Shirley Ladd, a New Hampshire woman who fell 60 feet while hiking a difficult trail in Acadia National Park on Saturday.
University officials identified Ladd on Sunday as a senior at the university’s Orono campus where she was majoring in psychology. She was minoring in business administration. Ladd was most recently employed as a student building manager at the university’s New Balance Student Recreation Center.
“Our thoughts are with her family, friends and the many people on campus who knew and loved her, and whose lives she touched,” said Robert Dana, UMaine’s vice president for student affairs and dean of students, in a statement released Sunday to the university community. “As one of our student managers at the Fitness Center, she was well known for her outgoing personality and customer service. She was always ready with a smile. Shirley was a strong leader among her peers. She will be missed by so many in our community.”
A close friend said Ladd had travelled to Bar Harbor last weekend to visit her boyfriend, a recent university graduate.

Her boyfriend was at work when she decided to go hiking with another friend on the Precipice Trail, which leads to the summit of Champlain Mountain.
“Shirley was one of the most caring people I have ever met. And she was so much fun. She made work enjoyable,” said her friend, Kaci Stormann, who worked with Ladd at the New Balance Student Recreation Center.
Those familiar with the hiking trails at Acadia say the Precipice Trail is the most challenging trail in the park because hikers must hang onto steel ladder rungs in some parts of the trail.
Advertisement “If you took away the rungs, it’s what I would call a fourth class climb or a technical climb (for experienced rock climbers),” said Jon Tierney, who owns Acadia Mountain Guides in Bar Harbor.


Murray alerted the park service that Ladd had sustained severe injuries, which triggered a massive rescue effort.
Rechholtz said Ladd had just finished climbing a laddered section of the Precipice Trail and was preparing to ascend another section of ladder rungs when she fell from a rock shelf onto the trail below.
Advertisement She landed near another hiker, almost hitting the hiker, Rechholtz said.
Multiple agencies responded including all of Acadia’s on- and off-duty park rangers, members of the Bar Harbor Fire Department, Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue, a crew of medics from Lifeflight of Maine, and the privately owned Acadia Mountain Guides.
“It was one huge effort. The park rangers could not have done this by ourselves,” Rechholtz said.
The rescuers faced a number of physical obstacles.

The Precipice Trail, which is typically closed to protect peregrine falcon nesting sites, is extremely steep. It opened this summer for the first time in several years after the falcon nesting effort failed.
Champlain Mountain itself is just over 1,000 feet. Ladd had completed about three quarters of the trail when she fell, which forced rescue workers to do a lot of climbing before they could reach her.
Though the skies were clear and sunny, the humidity on Saturday was oppressive, rescue workers said.
“One of the biggest decisions we had to make was whether to move her up the mountain or go down,” Tierney said. “Going up is more difficult (more strenuous) but you are going away from harm’s way.”



The Precipice - Deaths In Acadia National Park

WAVES FROM HURRICANE BILL CLAIM LIFE OF 7 YEAR OLD GIRL BY THUNDER HOLE - ACADIA 2009

 Deaths In Acadia National Park;

posted Aug. 24, 2009

Clio Dahyun Axilrod and her parents had joined the thousands of visitors on Sunday enthralled by the spectacular waves fueled by Hurricane Bill that were breaking off the Atlantic Coast of Acadia National Park in Maine.
But as one series of waves crashed off the rocky cliffs about 350 feet south of the popular Thunder Hole, , the family, from New York City, recognized the danger, turned around and headed up a diagonal path toward the roadway.
They were about 40 feet from the main road, Ocean Drive witnesses told a park ranger, when a 20-foot-high swell exploded into the air, sweeping Clio, 7, her father, Peter J. Axilrod, 55, and five other people out to sea. Clio’s mother, Sandra M. Kuhach, 51, was knocked to the ground and seriously injured.
Officials said on Monday that 13 people were hit by the giant wave and admitted to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, Me.

Officials said on Monday that 13 people were hit by the giant wave and admitted to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, Me.
Four of those who were dragged into the ocean were able to make it out of the 55-degree water on their own, said a Coast Guard spokesman, Chief Petty Officer Christopher Wheeler.
About an hour after the wave carried Mr. Axilrod into the ocean, he was rescued by the Coast Guard in a 47-foot lifeboat.
A 12-year-old girl, Simone Pelletier of Belfast, Me., was also brought to safety by the Coast Guard and taken to Mount Desert Island Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
But it took rescuers more than three hours to locate Clio, who was found unresponsive about a half-mile from shore. She died from drowning, the Maine Marine Patrol said Monday.
Her parents remained hospitalized at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, a patrol spokesman said in a news release. The family lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, opposite Gracie Mansion.
 Neighbors on Monday described Clio as an energetic child who liked to swim with her friends in the rooftop pool of the 20-story building where the family lived.

FAITH M. WISE FALLS IN OCEAN AT SCHOODIC POINT DROWNS - ACADIA, 2007

 Deaths In acadia National Park;

June 2, 2007

BOSTON – The Coast Guard and National Park Service Rangers attempted to rescue a person in the water on the ocean side of Acadia National Park, Maine around 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Coast Guard Station Southwest Harbor received a cell phone call about 2:27 p.m. from a person reporting a female had fallen into the water in a rocky area of Schoodic Point.
The U.S. National Park Service rangers responded on-shore. The crew of a 41-foot utility boat from Coast Guard Station Southwest Harbor arrived on-scene about 2:45 p.m. The 56-year old female was recovered by the crew of the utility boat and commenced CPR around 2:50 p.m.
Faith M. Wise, a native of Trufant, Mich., was transferred to EMS at Winter Harbor around 3:15 p.m. and was later pronounced dead.
The cause of the accident is under investigation by the U.S. National Park Service.

STEPHEN KENNEDY DIES AFTER RIDING BIKE INTO CLOSED GATE ON PARK LOOP ROAD - ACADIA, 2004

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Stephen Kennedy - MAN DIES AFTER RIDING BIKE INTO CLOSED GATE
Acadia National Park - published April 5, 2004
A man from Washington State died saturday afternoon in acadia National Park after riding his bicycle into a closed gate on the Park Loop road, according to park officials.
Stephen Kennedy, 63, of Washouga Wash., died after his bicycle collided with a closed barrier gate near the intersection of Otter Cliffs Road, park officials indicated Sunday in a press release.  The Barrier gate is kept closed in the winter to block vehicular traffic from using that portion of the Park Loop road between Otter Cliffs and Seal Harbor.
Kennedy was riding with his son, andrew when the accident occurred at 3;45 p.m., the statement indicated.  Kennedy was taken by ambulance to Mount desert Hospital in Bar Harbor, where he died later Saturday evening.

JOANNE DEMARTINI DIES AFTER FALL FROM CLIFF BY SAND BEACH - ACADIA, 2004

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Joanne Demartini -
Acadia National Park - 2004
A Mount desert woman has become the parks third fatality this year after she fell on Saturday off rocks near Sand Beach, park officials said Sunday.
The body of Joanne Demartini, 50, was spotted around 2;30pm Saturday at the bottom of a 45 foot drop near the shore path that follows the Park Loop Road, Ranger Neal Labris said Sunday.  A passer by who spotted her body and park personal unsuccessfully tried to revive Demartini before whe was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
Labis said an autopey determined the womans cause of death likely will be performed this week at the state Medical Examiners Office in Augusta..
Park Officials believe Demartini was walking by herself along the shore when she fell, the ranger said.
"Nobody saw her fall," he said, "We're not sure if she slipped and fell or got dizzy."
Foul play is not suspected in Demartini's death, according to Labris.  The woman, who has relatives in New York  state and in California, is believed to have moved recently by herself to Mount Desert Island, he said.
Labris said there are short paths that lead from the maintained path along the road to viewing points at the top of the steep rocky shore. Park officials believe Demartini fell around 2 p.m., not long before another park visitor took the same side path and saw her body near the high-tide mark.
“Somebody walked out on a trail and saw her at the bottom of the rocks,” the ranger said.
Labris said that because park officials have not determined why Demartini fell, the fatality has not highlighted any specific safety concerns about using the park. He said park visitors, as a general practice, always should be careful when they are near cliffs or steep grades.
“There are areas like this throughout the park,” he said.

BODY OF BENJAMIN A. ELLIS FOUND ON GREAT HILL - ACADIA, 2004

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

March 8, 2004

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - The body of an Ohio man was found Sunday morning off Route 233 after he apparently had told a friend he intended to commit suicide, according to a park ranger.
Benjamin A. Ellis, 21, of Granville, Ohio, died from what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Ranger Dustin Warner said Sunday afternoon.
"We found the body on top of Great Hill at 10 a.m.," Warner said.
Park officials were still working Sunday afternoon to remove Ellis' body from the top of the hill, which is just north of Route 233 and to the west of the Park Loop Road, the ranger said.
Ellis' car was spotted Friday parked at the gated Park Loop Road entrance on Route 233, but park officials did not realize anything was amiss until the next day, when a ranger noted the vehicle was still in the same spot.

ROCK CLIMBER EMIL LIN DROWNS AFTER ATTEMPTING TO RETRIEVE A SHOE BY OTTER CLIFFS - ACADIA, 2004

 Deaths In Acadia National Park;

2004

A rock climber from the Bangor area, Emil Lin,  is missing and feared dead Sunday after retrieving a climbing shoe from the ocean off Otter Cliffs and then being washed by a wave into the pounding surf, park officials said.
A search for the missing climber was called off Sunday evening after the sun went down. It was expected to resume this morning, Acadia National Park Ranger Neal Labrie said Sunday.
The identities of the missing climber and his climbing partner, who also is from the Bangor area, are being withheld pending the results of the search and notification of their relatives, Labrie said. The second climber was unharmed during the incident.
Both men are in their 20s, according to the ranger. One is a student at the University of Maine in Orono, and the other attends Northeastern University in Boston, he said.
“They were just trying out new climbing gear,” Labrie said.
According to Ranger Richard Rechholtz, the two were rock climbing at Otter Cliffs around 1:30 p.m. Sunday when one of them unclipped himself from a climbing rope and, from the bottom of the cliff, jumped into the frigid ocean water to retrieve a climbing shoe.

“He swam out, retrieved his shoe and came back to shore,” Rechholtz said. “He made it back to an outcropping below Otter Cliffs. A wave came and washed him back in, and he disappeared under the water.”
After officials were notified of the incident, park staff started a search for the missing climber.
Three Coast Guard vessels, personnel with the Bar Harbor harbor master’s office and two sightseeing boats motored back and forth offshore looking for signs of the man. A jet and a helicopter, both sent by the Coast Guard, participated in the search


Thunder Hole - Deaths In Acadia National Park

DENNIS R. LARSON PUSHES WIFE TO HER DEATH AT OTTER CLIFF - ACADIA, 1987

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

1987-

HELENA, Mont. — The man now serving time for pushing his wife off an 80-foot cliff in Acadia National Park in 1987 has confessed to killing his first wife in 1975 in Montana, according to court documents released this week in Montana.
Dennis R. Larson, 50, admitted to a Montana state investigator on Sept. 14 that he pushed his wife, Leslee R. Larson, into a stream near Wolf Creek on June 19, 1975, and watched her float away in the deep, fast spring runoff. No trace of her body has ever been found. Larson was charged last week.
In 1975, Larson told investigators that his first wife had fallen into the creek and that he had jumped into the fast-moving water in a futile attempt to rescue her. However, the first law officer at the scene reported that Larson was dry and did not appear to have jumped into the stream, the court document said.

Seven years later, after authorities finally ruled his wife dead, Larson collected on a $20,000 life insurance policy.
Larson is serving a 50-year sentence for murder in the Oct. 11, 1987, death of his third wife, Kathy Frost Larson. That case revealed a whirlwind romance, a marriage-and-murder-for-profit scheme, which also involved an insurance policy and a taped confession from Larson that contradicted his earlier statements about Frost’s death. Suspicions about the Great Falls native also prompted Bangor police to blow up packages belonging to Larson, which they suspected might have contained explosives.

According to reports of Larson’s 1989 trial, after his second wife divorced him in May 1987, Larson made what prosecutors described as a temporary trip to Maine with the intention of finding a way to win back his ex-wife. Prosecutors said that he placed personal ads in two Maine newspapers in hopes of finding a new wife.
Kathy Frost, then 25, was one of three women to respond to the ads, and the couple married in September 1987, just seven weeks after their first meeting. The day after they married, Larson took out a life insurance policy on himself and added an accidental death rider for his wife providing double the $200,000 face value of the policy.
DEATHS IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - OTTER CLIFFS

Frost’s family and friends had described her as “an extremely desperate, lonely individual who was unable to get a man.” According to testimony during Larson’s trial, Frost had told friends that even though she didn’t love him, she would marry Larson, hoping to learn to love him.
After the marriage, Frost appeared unhappy to friends and complained about her new husband. She told her family that she had made a mistake and would get out of her marriage by telling Larson what she wanted to do during the weekend of Oct. 10 — the weekend that Larson had asked her to go to Bar Harbor. She also told family that she did not want to go to Bar Harbor. Testimony indicated that although she did not enjoy hiking or swimming, and had a strong fear of heights, she agreed to the trip to please her husband.

The couple went to Acadia National Park at dusk on Oct. 11. Larson initially told investigators that they had gone to the sheer vertical drop at Otter Cliffs to look for otters in the water below. He said they had taken different paths and, while they were separated, he heard his wife scream. When he got to the edge of the precipice, he said he saw his wife lying on the rocks, 81 feet below.
As the investigation into Frost’s death continued, Larson made plans to return to Montana. On Nov. 4, he boarded an airplane at Bangor International Airport, but had left several packages on the floor of the BIA terminal.
Maine State Police officers, investigating Frost’s death, notified Bangor police officers that the packages might contain explosives. The investigators had searched Larson’s apartment in Millinocket the day before and had discovered 6½  sticks of dynamite in the garage there.
A demolition team moved the packages out of the airport and exploded them, but found only tools and clothing.

It was while Larson was in Montana that State Police Detective Jeffrey Harmon traveled there to question him about Frost’s death. During a six-hour interview, Larson admitted that he had pushed his wife off the cliff in retaliation after she shoved him and said she was leaving him.
“I pushed her too hard, I guess,” he told Harmon.
The Montana affidavit containing Larson’s confession was ordered released on Tuesday by Justice of the Peace Wally Jewell after three news organizations challenged an earlier order to keep it secret. That order was issued by an acting justice of the peace at the request of Lewis and Clark County Attorney Mike McGrath on the day the murder charged against Larson was filed.
McGrath had argued that disclosing the contents of the document could jeopardize Larson’s right to a fair trial. In his ruling, Jewel said that the request to keep the document secret had to be balanced with the constitutional right to know, which, he said, was not done in this case.

The document does not explain why a state investigator was sent to Maine to question Larson.
Because of the similarity in the deaths of the two women, Montana authorities had reopened the investigation of the death of Leslee R. Larson, in the late 1980s. The state Justice Department got involved in the case in 1998 at the urging of Leslee Larson’s family and the sheriff’s offices in Cascade and Judith Basin counties. Both agencies had been involved in searching for the woman’s body and in the initial investigation.
McGrath has said he will ask that Larson be extradited from Maine to face the murder charge against him, and Public Defender Randi Hood said she believes that process has begun.
The state of Maine has not received a formal request to send Larson to Montana, according to Bob Way, a spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s office.
Hood said she is hoping to discuss the case with Larson soon, and has not yet decided whether to waive extradition.



UPDATE




A Maine State Prison inmate, charged in Montana with the death of one of his wives, committed suicide by jumping from a third-floor window at the maximum-security prison, officials said last week.

Dennis Larson, 50, was in a work room where inmates make crafts when he put duct tape over his mouth, climbed on a bench and jumped out the window on December 31, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Larson's body hit a wall and tumbled into a courtyard, where he was pronounced dead. A suicide note was found in his cell, McCausland said.

Maine State Prison Warden Jeff Merrill told the Helena (Mont.) Independent Record that Larson's personal writings indicated he was concerned about being extradited to Montana.

Few other details were released about any witnesses to the incident or the sequence of events leading up to Larson's leap from the window.

Larson was serving a 50-year sentence in Maine for murdering his third wife by pushing her off a cliff. Three months ago, he was charged with killing his first wife by pushing her into a Montana creek in 1975.

Officials in Montana had hoped to extradite Larson so he could stand trial for murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison.

Larson, who was from Great Falls, Mont., had claimed his wife fell into Prickley Pear Creek, which was swollen with spring runoff, and that her body was carried off in the swift current on June 10, 1975. Her body was never recovered.

In 1982, authorities finally ruled Leslee Reynolds Larson dead, and her husband collected $20,000 from a life insurance policy.

Five years later, on Oct. 11, 1987, Larson was accused of pushing his third wife, Kathy Frost Larson, off an 80-foot cliff in Acadia National Park.

Larson initially claimed she fell while walking along the cliffs, but he later changed his story and said she died while the couple was fighting. He told Maine State Police that his wife shoved him first and that she tumbled off the cliff when he shoved her back.

Larson and Frost had met weeks earlier when she responded to a personal ad. They were married three weeks later, and Larson immediately took out a $400,000 insurance policy on his bride.

A friend who testified against Larson at his 1989 trial recounted a hunting trip 10 years earlier during which Larson said he would like to get married, arrange an apparently accidental death and collect the insurance.

The similarity between the two cases prompted Montana authorities to reopen their investigation of Leslee Larson's disappearance


ROBERT & MARGARET CROTEA POSE FOR PHOTO AT SCHOODIC POINT SWEPT TO SEA - ACADIA, 1999

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

1999

 Robert Croteau, age 51, and his wife Margaret, age 63, had been standing on rocks along the waters edge at Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park when a large wave swept them into the sea.  A friend was preparing to take a photo of the couple when the large wave swept them away.

Ocean Waves - Acadia National Park

MICHAEL DOMINO FALLS TO HIS DEATH ON PRECIPICE TRAIL - ACADIA, 1997

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

1997 -
The body of a 37 year  old Old Town man was located Monday afternoon in Acadia National Park.
Michael Domino, who had moved with his wife and 6 year old daughter from the Boca Raton, Fla. area last Oct., apparently fell Sunday afternoon while hiking near the East Face Trail on one of the most treacherous mountains in the park.  Icy paths now cover many of the rock faces and trails in Acadia National Park.
According to park spokeswoman Wanda Mozan, a helicopter with infrared sensors from the 112th Army National Guard flew over Champlain and other nearby mountains during the night, hoping to detect Domino's location.
Very early Monday morning the helicopter returned, along with a plane from the Maine Warden Service.  The search by air and land continued throughout the morning.  The body was found at about 12;30 PM.  Park Officials and volunteer's brought Domino's body down from the mountain side on a stretcher.
PRECIPICE TRAIL - CHAMPLAIN MOUNTAIN - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

SNOWMOBILER SHON LEWIS DIES AFTER CRASH AT HULL'S COVE VISITORS CENTER PARKING LOT - ACADIA, 1997

 Deaths In Acadia National Park;

1997

In the winter of 1997 Shon Lewis and some friends traveled to Acadia National Park to do some snowmobiling.  By all accounts the evening could not of gone any better.  That would all change two hours later when they returned to the parking lot of the Acadia National Park Visitor's Center in Hull's cove.
The group of snowmobilers took a rest while Shon decided to take a final run around the parking lot.  That would end up being a fatal decision because at some point he lost control of his snowmobile and was killed.  His machine left the parking lot, traveled down an embankment and into a cluster of tree's.  He went head first into the tree's and died almost instantly.
Speed, loss of control and weather conditions at the time were to blame for the fatal accident.

SEAN KELLEY DIES FROM FALL ALONG CLIFF NEAR BLACKWOODS CAMPGROUND - ACADIA, 1993

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

17 YEAR OLD TEEN DIES AFTER FALLS FROM CLIFF
Acadia National Park - Aug. 1993
A 17 year old visitor from Richmound Va. lost his life after he fell from a cliff at Acadia National Park.
On Saturday afternoon Sean Kelley had been walking with a friend along the shore on a path near Blackwoods Campground, when he lost his footing on some gravel and fell 30 feet.  He was unconscious when he was taken to the hospital and died later that evening at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.


DEATHS IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - CLIFFS ALONG PARK LOOP ROAD

COLLEGE STUDENT DOUGLAS ROSE DROWNS AT ANEMONE CAVE - ACADIA, 1993

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

DOUGLAS ROSE - Acadia National Park

During a briefing at ranger headquarters at Acadia National Park on Wednesday, Chief Ranger Norman Dodge described what led to one of the most dramatic recovery efforts he had seen at the park during his 18 years of employment.

Dodge said that Rose, with fellow climber Paul Ryan, 20, an employee at Cadillac Mountain Sports in Bar Harbor, were at Great Head to challenge one of the most difficult rock-climbing areas at the park.

Wednesday was a difficult day for Rose’s friends and classmates at College of the Atlantic, whose faces reflected the horror they felt while they stood quietly in the back of the room listening to Dodge recount the tragic events that led to Rose’s death. Rose was a junior at COA.
Rose’s parents, Clayton and Sue Rose of Manchester, Conn., were notified of their son’s death and they arrived in Bar Harbor at 4 a.m. Wednesday, when they were sequestered in a motel.

Although Rose’s parents were contacted in Connecticut, school officials said their records showed Rose’s home address as Wilbraham, Mass.

The climbers walked about a half-hour Tuesday, across rocky terrain, to get to the climbing area, then lowered themselves on two ropes to the floor of the cliff after securing their equipment, Dodge said. At low tide, they made their way across boulders and into the sea cave, where they attached their equipment to the top of the cave and were able to walk across the ceiling.
Dodge said the two men were experienced climbers, but that they encountered problems when the high tide interfered with their climb out of the sea cave. He said that in order to leave the cave, the men had to make a “Tarzan-type swing” out of its mouth to reach the vertical ropes.

“The wind and wave action, the weather and the tide seemed to come faster than they had seen it here before. The waves were coming directly into the cave, so the climbing window was shortened,” he said.

Dodge said the men realized the urgency, and left their climbing gear behind.
Ryan was the first to make the climb back. “He (Ryan) went well into the ocean before he reached the vertical (line). The surf was high, and it was difficult, but he said that he cooled himself mentally and just climbed up like he ordinarily would,” Dodge said.

Once he was about halfway up the face of the cliff, Ryan looked back to his companion and offered words of encouragement.

“He (Rose) fixed his equipment on the rope, swung out to the vertical and went well into the water, where there was serious wave action and surf. … Although he was putting out a lot of effort and trying to climb, because of fatigue or maybe hypothermia — because they had been out in the cold all day and they were wet — he was unable to ascend the rope,” Dodge said.
After about 45 minutes of trying to help his friend, Ryan attached Rose’s rope to the cliff and made his way in the dark to the Bar Harbor Police Station.

“He arrived at the Bar Harbor Police Station around quarter-past eight last night, and this incident happened around 5 p.m., so a long time had passed,” Dodge said.

Rescuers and a 40-foot U.S. Coast Guard boat rushed to the scene.
“So last night, in the blackest of downpours and with the wind howling like a hurricane … a member of Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue was able to climb down the rope to a point where he could see into the cave. He could see that Rose was tethered on a rope and pretty much free-floating in the surf and face down,” Dodge said. “He made a determination he was dead.”

Rescue efforts were halted until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

“This time a ranger climbed down and was able to pendulum-swing into the cave. He got within 15 or 20 feet of the body when the surf really picked up. He was completely submerged two or three times and we had to pull him up,” Dodge said.
The rescuers returned to the site at 1 p.m. They climbed down to an area that was accessible by foot. A ranger then crept across the face of the rocks, and attached the safety ropes that other rescuers would use to cross the bottom of the sharp cliff and recover the body.

Dodge said the ropes the men had climbed down on Tuesday had been severed by pounding wave action during the night.

As the surf continued to sweep the rocks, onlookers sitting on the side of the cliff watched the recovery efforts. At 2:30 p.m. a climber had secured the ropes and made the lateral climb back. Other climbers, using the strength in their arms and legs, and at times suspended in midair with their backs to the sea, then moved carefully across the outcropping. It took them about 10 minutes to reach Rose’s body.
The body was placed in an evacuation bag containing flotation jackets, a line was tied to it, and the line was thrown to the Bar Harbor harbor master’s boat and the crew recovered the body. The recovery was completed by 3:30 p.m. Rose’s body was taken to a funeral home in Bar Harbor.

COA student Josh Jamieson, who said he had once roomed with Rose, described Rose as a very likable person.

“He was a nice guy, an outdoorsman. He enjoyed his outdoor activities and did them well. He was generally a well-rounded guy, and he had a lot of friends,” he said.


Anemone Cave - Acadia National Park

PRIEST FALLS TO HIS DEATH FROM CLIFF ON MANSELL MOUNTAIN IN ACADIA - 1989

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

1989

Bartholomew Keohane - In 1989 on an Early  Tuesday morning searchers found the body of a 50 year old man who apparently had fallen 40 feet to his death in Acadia National Parl.  Bartholomew Keohane was a Priest from Springfield Gardens, NY, and was found on the side of Mansell Mountain, in a steep area between two trails.  It was believed that a passing storm may of caused him to seek a shorter route down the Mountain side.  Authorities say that Keohane died of multiple injuries.

AIR FORCE PILOT ROBERT MCGAUNN KILLED IN PLANE CRASH IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - 1970

Deaths In Acadia National park;

June 30, 1970 - Acadia National Park;
Robert McGaunn - AIR FORCE PILOT DIES AFTER CRASHING PLANE INTO SIDE OF CEDAR SWAMP MOUNTAIN
Acadia National Park - June 1970
Air Force Captain Robert McGaunn refueled his plane at Boston's Logan International Airport, before continuing on with his flight.  While flying through bad weather and heading for Newfoundland, his plane suddenly disappeared without a trace.  A search was conducted for the missing plane but nothing was found.
Three months later a pilot from nearby Trenton Airport flying over Cedar swamp Mountain spotted the wreckage of the plane and reported it in.  The body of the pilot was removed, but the wreckage of the plane was left on the side of the mountain not far from the summit.
The pilot died strapped into his seat and the seat still rests not far from the mountain top.

KARL ANDREW JACOBSON - ACADIA NATIONAL PARK RANGER, KILLED BY POACHER - 1938

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Nov. 13, 1938


Park Ranger   Karl Andrew Jacobson, who is buried in Eagle Lake, Minnesota, was shot and killed by a poacher on November 13, 1938 while on boundary patrol in Acadia NP. The elderly poacher, who pled guilty and served one day in prison, mistook Jacobson, who was accompanied by his wife while on patrol, for a deer.

Ranger Jacobson’s name was added to the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in 1989 through the efforts of the NPS chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. He is also listed on the state of Maine Law Enforcement Memorial.

Ranger Jacobson, who was survived by his wife of six months, is buried in the Eagle Lake Cemetery (Block 61, Section 4, at the north end of the cemetery) just east of Mankato, Minnesota.

From all accounts Ranger Jacobson was well liked and respected, and an active member of the Bar Harbor community. His untimely death was a loss not only to Acadia NP and the NPS community, but to his friends and family in Bar Harbor and Eagle Lake.

Ranger Jacobson’s name was added to the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in 1989 through the efforts of the NPS chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. He is also listed on the state of Maine Law Enforcement Memorial.


Ranger Jacobson, who was survived by his wife of six months, is buried in the Eagle Lake Cemetery (Block 61, Section 4, at the north end of the cemetery) just east of Mankato, Minnesota.


Acadia National Park
November 17, 1938
Bar Harbor Times

PARK RANGER JACOBSON DIED LAST SUNDAY

Karl Jacobson Accidentally Shot At Schoodic Last Friday

Fatally wounded while on patrol duty at Schoodic Friday, Ranger Karl A. Jacobson of Acadia National Park died at the local hospital Sunday morning.  Mr. Jacobson was accidentally shot by George Dyer of Bunker's Harbor, who mistook him for a deer.  Mrs. Jacobson, who was with her husband at the time of the accident, drove their car to the Radio Station for assistance, and Ranger Jacobson was brought to the Mount Desert Island Hospital for surgical treatment and transfusions.
Mr. Jacobson was 22 years of age.  His home was in Eagle Lake, Minnesota and had two years work at the University of Maine.  Previous to his coming here, he did work for the state in the biological survey in Calais.  Ranger Jacobson has been on duty here as permanent Ranger since last May.
Ranger Jacobson is survived by his wife to whom he was married here  in June and by his parents.  Prayers were said by the Rev. J. Homer Neison on Monday, after which Mrs. Jacobson left for Minnesota, where funeral services will be held.  she was accompanied on the journey by chief Clerk Carl G. Nowack of Acadia Park.
Zeal in his work, interest in Scouting activities and a fine personality combined to make Ranger Jacobson popular in all town circles.  The sympathy of the community is extended to his family;  a host of friends are grieving by his death.




Acadia National Park
October 5, 1939

CHANGE SENTENCE GOULDSBORO MAN HELD FOR KILLING

George Dyer of Gouldsboro, convicted of the slaying of Karl Jacobson, Acadia National Park Ranger, and sentenced to eight months in jail at the June term of the U.S. District Court this year, had his sentence revoked in Bangor on Monday by Judge John A. Peters, and was ordered to serve one day, age and poor health of the respondent being given as the reason for the judicial leniency.

Jacobson was shot and fatally wounded by Dyer while he was hunting in Acadia National Park region in the vicinity of Winter Harbor last November 11.  Dyer was arrested and faced charges of having hunted in an unlawful manner, without due caution and circumspection, and having killed a human being.  He pleaded guilty when arraigned.

JIMMY ELKHORN DROWNS AT WITCH HOLE POND - ACADIA, JULY 1896

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Sept. 10, 1929
Dennis Doonan, a dynamite man for the Mccabe Company, was fatally injured on the project on 10 Sept. 1929.  Doonan had been anxious to complete the drilling and blasting on a ledge face near the lower end of the road, and asked two employees to work overtime on the drilling.  As one of the men, Jean Lipscomb, was drilling a hole, the drill steel snapped off.  When he removed it from the hole, he found it very hot and showed it to Doonan.  Although he had had thirty years experience in blasting work, Doonan disregarded the overheated steel and proceeded to load the hole.  He placed two sticks of dynamite in the hole and .  Nothing happened, but when he added a third stick with an electric blasting cap, the charge exploded, injuring Doonan so badly that he died in the hospital the following morning.  The tragedy, did not, however, seriously delay the project.


12 YEAR OLD LUCREATIA K. DOUGLAS DIES FROM FALLING OFF CLIFF ON PRECIPICE - ACADIA, 1853

Deaths In Acadia National Park;

Back in 1853 there was no Acadia National Park here, and the town of Bar Harbor back than was called Eden.  But even back than locals made their way to the precipice on the side of Champlain Mountain, and made their way up to a popular spot on the side of the Precipice known as The Great Cave.  The cave was a popular picnic site.  In those days Champlain Mountain was named Newport Mountain.
Now if you have read about this tragic accident on here in the past, you will now find new information which I recently came upon from a man who is recalling the tragic accident 5o years later.  For the first time missing gaps have now been filled in on this story.
The date was Aug. 3, 1853  and wild blueberries were ripe for the picking.  The men and boys that day took off to do some fishing, and the women and girls decided to hike over in the direction of Newport (now named Champlain) Mountain to do some blueberry picking.  Two of the young girls in the group that day were Lucreatia K. Douglas, who was just shy of being 12 years old,  and Almira Conners, who were neighbors with Conners living  in the Zack Bijar Higgins house at Cromwell Harbor, not far from where the George B. Dorr estate was, and Miss Douglass living in the old house which was on the spot in which Gardiner Sherman first built his house.  Once up the side of Newport Mountain, the group had a picnic and than continued to look for blueberries.  The main group than started back down the mountain side, but the two girls remained behind, saying they wanted to continue to look for more blueberries.  At some point the two girls made their way close to the edge of a cliff, one account says  Lucreatia stepped upon a large boulder to see if she could see a relatives farmhouse below on Schooner Head Road, when  12 year old Almira Conners  climbed up on the boulder as well, and the huge boulder suddenly gave way.


The other account is that both girls spotted a patch of blueberries and raced toward them, not realizing just how close to the edge of the cliff they were, and both girls fell over the cliff.  It was a tragic accident regardless of which version took place, but I believe the first version might be correct, because a huge boulder was found on top of  Lucreatia K. Douglas body and had to be removed in order to get her body down off the mountain.
When I first  read of this accident it stated the other girl had been thrown off to the side with minor injures, but in this man's memory, he writes that while   Lucreatia had been crushed by a large boulder at the bottom of the cliff, a large tree spared the life of   Almira Conners , its branches catching her.  She did end up with a broken arm and a number of cuts and bruises and lay caught up in the tree top all that evening and night.
The following day, a farmer was out preparing to mow hay when he heard far off cries and went to investigate.  He was shocked when he arrived at the location and saw the figure of a young girl caught high up in the trees branches and went for help.
For many years as I found out more and more about this accident on Newport Mountain, I had always thought the accident took place at the Great Cave or very close to it.  And books and articles talk about only one spot on the side of Newport Mountain where people went to for picnics, and that is the Great Cave.  And on an old map I came across once there was an X marked just above the Great Cave and stated, "Where the young girl fell to her death'"
The man recounts how the women returned back to compass Harbor, believing the two girls would soon show up.  As evening came on, than darkness, a search party was rounded up and headed out toward the area of the great Cave, but using touches, they were not able to find the girls.  They returned home and were about to go out the following morning when word reached them of the tragedy.                                           
The family of Lucreatia was poor and could not afford to purchase a headstone for their daughter, who lay in an unmarked grave for years between two churches along mount Desert Street in Bar Harbor Maine.  It was said that the family did go up near the spot where their daughter had died and placed a small wooden cross at the location.
In all the deaths in Acadia National Park that have taken place on the Precipice, this one is perhaps the safest for me, simply because the victim was only 12 years old, which also makes her the youngest person to have fallen to their death off the Precipice.
Lucreatia's brother did return back to town some years later and purchased a headstone for his sister, and the headstone tells part of the story of his sister's death.  That headstone is located between two churches in a tiny graveyard almost across the street from the Jesup Library on Mount Desert Street.




The following poem was written by the father of the dead girl, shortly after her tragic death;




BAR HARBOR TIMES

May 27, 1887




(from the Eastern Freeman, 1853)

Lines on the fall of Lucretia K. Julia Douglass, aged eleven years, four months, and Elmira F. Conners, aged ten years, from one of the heights of Newport Mountain, on the island of Mount Desert, August 3, 1853, which resulted in the death of the former. The latter was rescued by her grandfather Lynam and others.




Historic Muse whose ponderous book

contains the facts of ages past,

thy office is with watchful eye,

to mark their current to the last.




How vast the sphere on thy command,

what themes within thy knowledge fall!

Or joy, or grief, or gain or loss,

thy faithful pen records them all.




Accept the tribute which we bring,

nor let out tears unbeeded flow,

those guardians of our children's weal,

partake of a parent's woe.




Yon mountain rising in the east,

has oft embraced the morning ray,

but never in his long, long reign,

behold the close of such a day.




The sun had turned her western way,

and left the shadows on the vale,

and all was lovely till the scene

was changed by sorrow's fearful wail.




Grandfather's name with piteous cries,

rolled sad along the craggy steep,

Grandfather ran and rescued her,

while one remained in her last sleep.




Night came - dark night, and all was well,

save when the breezes made their moan,

or when the neighbors footsteps broke

the silence reigning through the gloom.




They said she mat be yet alive,

we'll go with lights and bring her home,

but she was laid in death asleep

where man nor beast had ever come.




The fishermen of Frenchman's Bay,

beheld the fires, but did not know

their friends were seeking for the lost

amid the rain on Newport's brow.




Well might the heavens weep that night

sweet innocence lay in her flood,

but unrelenting, ragged rocks,

were only footsteps to her God.




The morning came Lucretia's fate

was still in deep, dark mystery bound.

Elmira Conners said she lay

above the place where she was found.




The neighbors stood with awful gaze,

and looked upon the fearful cleft

than at the peril of their lives,

they found the trust with angels left.




With mournful pleasure we have left

her dust with Him who that will save,

and ask of death where is thy sting?

And where's thy victory, boasting grave?




And when some cloud o'erspreads the sky,

and throws its darkness all around,

you leave the vendure green behind

so may this providence be found.




Infinite goodness cannot err,

infinite wisdom does no wrong,

good when he gives, good when he takes,

His rule deserves our constant song.




submissive is a Father's hand,

this lesson well becomes our heart,

through life's brief day O, may we seek,

and find by grace the better part.




The young lady who was killed by the fall was a sister of Mr. John H. Douglass of Bar Harbor, the one who was rescued afterwards became Mrs. Charles Higgins and the leader of the rescuing party was the father of Mr. John Lynam, of Lynam's Hotel. The verses were written by Mr. Douglass, father of the unfortunate young lady.

The sketch of the old Lynam Farm at Schooner Head was made by William van Dresser, the widely known portrat artist who was living in the house that season of 1931. The Lynam farm house was built in 1833.
For more on the Lynam Homestead see link below;

OLD LYNAM HOMESTEAD HOUSED MANY FAMOUS ARTISTS



UPDATE;

As I was going through old newspapers I came upon a story that was stitched together with actual facts of the day.  Half way through the story the account of two young girls falling off of Newport mountain is given, here is what was said of that tragic accident.

Bar Harbor Record
December 19, 1894

Some years ago two girls were scrambling along the edge looking for berries, I believe, when one fell over, dragging her comrade after her.  The first crashed straight down upon the rocks two hundred feet below and never stirred again.  The other fell upon her and escaped with broken limbs and terrible bruises.  Her sheiks were heard at this house, and some men went immediately to the rescue, but such was the difficulty, at first of reaching, and afterwards of removing her, that it was eight hours before she was raised to the edge of the cliff.

That is all the story had to say relating to this tragic accident and over the years I have found four slightly different accounts of this tragedy, two accounts had the accident taking place by a spot known as the Great Cave, in or around that area, two other accounts place the young girls by the summit of the mountain, wandering too close to the edge and falling off the cliff.  The two stories that contained the most amount of details has the accident taking place near the Great Cave and that account, in my opinion, makes the most sense, since it states the girl who lived landed in a tree top.  It even names the person who found her, which the other accounts don't list anyone who was involved, not even the names of the two girls.  I am continuing to research this story and will update as more becomes available.



BAR HARBOR TIMES
March 26, 1924
The Tragedy Of Newport Mountain

To the Editor of the Bar Harbor Times;
I was very much interested in the article and the poem in a recent issue of the Times from Mrs. Smith,   Miss Jennie Lynam, and it brought to my mind the tragedy of Newport Mountain of long ago, almost forgotten now but which at that time was an awful thing to happen in that quiet little fishing village. For a long time as a boy I remembered the date, as the story told to me by my father left a very strong impression on my mind, but the years have gone by and I have forgotten but it must have been just previous to the civil war.
One beautiful morning in blueberry time, the men and boys were about all away fishing; some of the women and girls made up a party to go to Newport after blueberries; a good early start was made. Among those who made up the party were two beautiful young girls about fourteen years of age, almira Conners and Leucretia Douglas, near neighbors at Cromwells Harbor, Miss Conners living in the so-called Zack Bijar Higgins house that stood on the spot on the Dorr estate, where was built the house that Charles Southard lived in while caretaker for the Dorrs. Miss Douglas lived in an old house that stood on the spot on which Gardiner Sherman built first.


The Precipice - Acadia National Park



The happy little party had a nice time and after they had all partaken of a late lunch it was decided to start for home. The two girls mentioned had chatted and talked so much that their pails were not as full as the others, so they decided that they would stay a while longer and fill their pails. The older ones demurred at this. Finally it was decided that the two come to the path and pick along the side of that, and the others went home. They picked along under near the edge of a steep bluff they both espied a beautiful bunch growing near the edge and both made a run for the spot. As they reached it an awful roar greeted their ears, and they both went off into space. Miss Conners was lucky enough to catch a limb in her fall and escaped with a broken arm and some scars which she carried to the grave with her, but fate had ideereed otherwise for Leucretia. She went to the bottom of the cliff, and her life was crushed out by a large piece of falling rock. When the girls did not return a searching party was made up and everyone who was able to go searched all night, with what few lanterns they could procure, and built fires but without success.
Mr, Lynam, father of Miss Jernie, Charles and John, wenching his way very early that morning to the upper meadow at Schooner Head to mow while the dew was on. As he neared the place where his days work was to commence, he heard faint cries, curious as to what it might be, that sturdy old pioneer lay down his scythe and started to investigate. As he drew nearer the cries became fainter and fainter and finally ceased altogether, but he had become convinced that it was a person in distress and soon he saw an object like a body hanging in the tree. Not being able to reach it alone he went back to the house. By that time some of the people had come to his house and told of the two missing girls. They immediately gathered ropes and ladders and went up the side of the mountain, by no means a safe thing to do. Miss Conners was rescued in an unconscious state, and taken to her home where she soon recovered. They than went to get the other girl and had to pry the rock off her body. It was afterwards said that she did not die until nearly morning. Mrs. Higgins, who was the other girl, told that she heard Leucretia until sometime near morning when she herself became unconscious. Miss Leucretia Douglas was my father's youngest sister and Miss Conners became the wife of Charles Higgins and the mother of Dr. Herbert Higgins. Everyone that I ever heard tell the story always spoke of the splendid grit and courage of this Mr. Lynam had. It who as I remember must of been quite an old man at the time.
J. Sherman Douglas