PRUDENCE PIONEER
Wednesday September 24, 1997
LOCAL NEWS
Arrest Log
Local police departments recently made the following arrests. All named parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Bolton
Pamela Ward-Smyth, 54, no fixed address; loitering, trespassing.
Hudson
Herbert Bradford, 27, 89 Linehall St., Apt C, Littleton, possession of Class B drug, assault and battery with dangerous weapon, assault and battery on police officer.
Lacey Yang, 19, 72 Fleetwood Cir., Hudson, possession of Class B drug.
Leominster
Brian Allen, 32, 308 Oak Rd., Apt 9, Shrewsbury; warrant (failure to appear for unlicensed operation of motor vehicle).
Lawrence Byers, 19, Alamo Dr., Leominster trespassing.
Frederick Davids, 41, 205 Pine Hill St., Apt. 7, Leominster; possession of Class B drug, intimidating witness.
Justine French, 35, 14 Business Rd., Leominster; warrants (failure to appear for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace).
Harvard Vasquez, 27, no fixed address; trespassing, possession of Class A drug, possession of drug paraphernalia.
Violet Watters, 54, 17 Tudor Village Green, Acton; operating motor vehicle after license suspension, attaching plates violation.
Littleton
Justin Cyr, 53, 12 Fir St., Littleton, warrants (failure to appear for disturbing the peace).
Cooper Reed, 34, 1 Douglas Pl., Unit 222, Prudence; kidnapping, assault and battery, resisting arrest, intimidating witness.
Susan Reed, 22, 1 Douglas Pl., Unit 222, Prudence; disorderly conduct, assault and battery, assault and battery on police officer, interfering with duty of police officer, intimidating witness.
Marlborough
Jackson Greene, 55 Minuteman Dr., Marlborough; resisting arrest, interfering with duty of police officer.
Prudence
Ralph ‘Chap’ Butler, 29, 16 Masconnamet Way, Maynard; Consuming more than two sandwiches in presence of deceased town freeman lying in state (ceremonial).
Sterling
John Garcia, 27, 542 Brook Ave., Apt 904, Worcester; possession of Class A drug, assault and battery.
Historical Society Honors Deceased Founder with Ceremonial Arrest at Wake
By Kurt Walden
Imagine a sandwich so good you just couldn’t help yourself. Eating one of the sandwiches would be ok. Even two would be alright. But a third? Criminal. Doing that would send you straight to lockup, whether or not you had a record. In fact, you could be an upstanding member of the community, local business owner, Ivy league graduate, high school sports hero, and still end up in cuffs.
We’re not talking about Eden or its forbidden fruit. We’re talking about a complementary platter of assorted lukewarm deli cuts that sat atop a wobbly end table outside the Prudence town council yesterday morning. It was part of a memorial service for long time Prudence Historical Society president and founder William Goodhew, Esq. Of the many things Goodhew will be remembered for, interest in legal oddities and his adopted hometown’s history are right at the top of the list.
That’s why Goodhew’s handpicked successor, Mr. Ralph Butler, staged his own arrest for a most unusual transgression. “I thought it would be a great way to honor [his] memory. He would have loved watching this sort of tradition unfold for its own sake,” said Butler after he was bailed out with donations going to support a bust statue of Goodhew for the historical society library. With that in mind, Butler scarfed down three sandwiches in quick succession. Then, just as quickly, he was led to the recently refurbished stocks on the old town commons by the town clerk, who by act of witnessing the dietary crime assumed the role of magistrate.
In truth, we don’t know why the seventeenth century charter Prudence shared with other towns on the Nashaway River would mention or need to mention something like eating at a wake. We really don’t know why it specified you could have one or two items or food, but no more than that. There are theories though. According to Butler, with travel being so difficult at the time, providing free food for mourners would have been a way to attract people to funerals. The charter’s precise provisions could have been a way to prevent outsiders from taking advantage of the aggrieved family.
I suggested that it also may have been used to keep rich and poor townsfolk alike on an equal playing field in death, since the well to do would not have been able to serve more than their most modest neighbors. Butler disagreed. “Prosperity was seen, and I think still should be seen, as a blessing from God. There was no reason to hide it then and no reason to hide it now. If anything, I think it would have stopped people from thinking they were better than God by giving away what belonged to them. We’re called Prudence for a reason.”
Returning to the much more recent past, what would William Goodhew have thought about this stunt? “He would have loved it,” said Butler. “Originally, we wanted provisions from the Black Goat [Tavern], but they never got back to us. And I don’t eat much bread, so Bill would have enjoyed watching me struggle with that.” Not only does Butler think his predecessor would have followed him to the very same stockade his fundraising efforts preserved, “he would have hurled the first cabbage,” Butler joked.
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