In December 1887 the current Postmaster Dr. Samuel Greene retired but agreed to stay on a few months during the transition as the new Postmaster (also a medical doctor) Dr. Charles A. Morse took possession of the Post Office, for what would be a ten-year stint. In 1893 he was re-appointed Postmaster of Newmarket under Grover Cleveland’s second administration.
Unlike some past Postmasters, while they all had postal assistants, Dr. Morse did much of the work himself. He proved to be undoubtedly the town’s most colorful postmaster.
(photo: In 1894 the Post Office at the corner of Main and Chapel Streets was in the bottom right of this building. It remained a Post Office for 20 years under three postmasters: Dr. Greene, Dr. Morse, and William Small. The building had been purchased and renovated by Doctor Greene during his time as postmaster. Originally the site was the orchard attached to the grounds of Arthur Branscomb’s home. To make way for the new Methodist Church in 1870, Susan Creighton bought the house and demolished it. She also removed part of the orchard to create a new millinery store with upstairs apartments. Dr. Greene later purchased and renovated this building in 1883 . He removed the millinery business, expanded the space for a Post Office, and added medical rooms in the back where he would see his patients. The Post Office sat adjacent to the old Methodist Church later turned Star Theater until 1966 when it too was demolished to make way for the new Federal Post Office which we have today.)
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Attempted Burglary April 7, 1894
[The following narrative is taken from several sources: Newmarket Advertiser articles April 1894; the coroner’s report; and the NH State Report- Homicides of Adults in New Hampshire, 1891-1900 Rockingham County files.]
On Saturday evening April 7th, April 1894 about 11 o’clock Dr. Charles Morse, postmaster, left the town hall with his wife and daughter after attending a performance of “A Social Session” and went across the street to the post office and took a satchel containing stamps and $400 back to his home on Prescott Street.
Shortly after arriving home, his wife called his attention to a noise outdoors and under one of the windows. The Doctor looked out, and discovered a man (short, thick set about 170 pounds dressed in dark clothing,) trying to break into the house. There is a basement under the kitchen, so to get into the house through a window, the intruder had climbed up the waterspout from the basement window and one foot slipped, making the noise which got his wife’s attention.
Upon being discovered, the man dropped to the ground and tried to hide around the corner of the building. The doctor called to him and asked what he wanted, whereupon he started to run. The doctor started in pursuit in his stocking feet and minus his coat, vest and hat. As he passed Officer Clarence Dame’s house, he yelled to him for help and kept on running after the would-be burglar, who ran up Exeter Street, with the doctor in close pursuit.
The burglar fled toward the block known as “the old rope walk”, ran up some stairs and leaped from the landing over a wire fence into a garden when he stumbled over a grape-vine-trellis. Doctor Morse caught up with him. A hand-to-hand combat took place, the doctor loudly calling for help. As Mr. Morse is of slight stature and weighing only about 130 pounds, while his antagonist was of heavy build and weighing 170 to 180, the Doctor struggled as best he could. The Burglar slashed Dr, Morse’s face in two places with a jackknife.
After wounding Mr. Morse and chewing his little finger, which the doctor accidently got in the assailant’s mouth when he tried to choke him. “The Doctor was otherwise used up, and finally pleaded for mercy, promising to quit the chase.” The Burglar ran off and the Doctor ran off after him soon followed by Officer Clarence Dame. Officer Dame, on first hearing Dr. Morse’s cries for help, had dressed and went to Dr. Morse’s house and left his revolver with Mrs. Morse in case the intruder returned, and started after the fleeing burglar. The doctor’s cries for help had alarmed several citizens, who hastened to the scene only to find the man had escaped and fled down Exeter Street and out into the woods down the New Road.
The fire alarm was sounded, and a hundred more citizens were soon scouring the roads and woods for the man or men. The Sheriff was telegraphed for, and a description of Dr. Morse’s assailant sent to neighboring towns and cities. During the search A.H. Place discovered the body of a man lying face down in the middle of the road, and upon investigation the man proved to be Mr. Dame; although unconscious he was still alive. He was taken into Mr. Place’s residence, where Doctor Morse attended to him; however, Officer Dame soon died. At first it was thought he had been “sand-bagged” by an accomplice of the escaped villain, and the report was given out that Dame had been murdered.
At Alva C. Place’s home, Doctor Greene appeared and with Doctor Morse completely examined the body of Mr. Dame, and finding no foul play, gave it their opinion that he had died from heart failure, caused by over-exertion and excitement. He had not been well for some time, and the exertion proved too much for him. And, like a lot of townspeople whose names were published in the paper three months earlier in January of 1894, Officer Dame’s family suffered from a severe bout of “the Grippe” which was particularly virulent and took several weeks to recover.
The newspaper reported that a great many folks still held to the belief that he was killed, although there was no evidence of it and the Officer’s prior poor health argued against it.
Clarence Dame was almost 32 years of age and was survived by a wife and two children. He was engaged in the harness business on Main Street and was universally respected. He had been on the police force in town for several years and had previously shown much courage and strength before his health failed.
Coroner Mellows empaneled a jury consisting of Joseph Pinkham, Charles V. Doe and Woodbridge W. Durrell. The testimony did not bring anything new to light regarding the cause of Mr. Dame’s death. As his relatives did not want an autopsy held, and the authorities not thinking it necessary, the jury brought in a verdict that the deceased came to his death from heart failure.
Dr. Morse recognized his assailant as a Frenchman who had been seen on the streets here for about two weeks, and who was in the post office and bought a stamp the night just before the office was closed. Selectman Griffin recognized the burglar’s knife as one he sold to a Frenchman a week ago, who was in company of another man. The description of the secondary man was given out and he was arrested early Sunday morning on the 8th at Newmarket Junction, but denied all knowledge and was eventually released.
It is assumed the suspect probably knew that the postmaster carried his stamps and money home with him at night and was evidently looking in the window to see where he kept it, when discovered by the doctor. “Several suspects have been arrested, but proved they were not concerned in the affair. …”
No arrestee was ever brought to trial, and this Keystone Cops episode eventually faded from town annals.
In December 1897 under a new Republican administration, William H. Small was newly appointed as town postmaster. Both Miss Alma J. Morse (Dr. Morse’s sister and efficient assistant), and Miss Mary H. Dame (no relation to the late Officer Clarence Dame) who had clerked under Dr. Samuel Greene) were kept as assistants in the office.
In 1901, Doctor Morse accepted the position of Assistant Surgeon General on the staff of General C.B. Hoyt of Portsmouth, commander of the U. R.K.P. of New Hampshire, a position which dealt with insurance issues concerning the Knight of Pythias. His expertise was sought again in 1913 when the Doctor was appointed to the Rockingham County Pension Examing Board.
The robber-chasing Dr. Charles A. Morse returned to the Post Office, reappointed under a new Democratic President. But that wasn’t all: New Hampshire’s Democratic Governor also appointed him as the Newmarket Police Court Judge.
The Manchester NH Mirror published the following article describing Dr. Morse with a bewildering array of allusions to armor, steam, horses, royalty, and Paul Revere:
“Doc” is one of the symbols of Democracy in New Hampshire. He is not large in stature or robust in health, but he has the toughest hide and the strongest armor plate of any Democrat in the state. He always has steam up and blows off the safety valve. His Democratic enthusiasm runs at normal rate of 1,000 pounds to the square inch, and under the least bit of pressure and excitement it is an easy thing to run it up to 10,000 pounds, hence the necessity for the tough hide and the impregnable and non-explosive armor plate.
He is not only the warhorse of the Democracy, but he is the whole stable. When in the days of Bryan there was nothing left of the party but sad recollections, he and “Tom” Madigan stood firm and true and nursed it back to life. Since it came back Morse has been mentioned for every office from the supreme court bench to ambassador to England, and if he had been treated right, he deserved them all. His ride to fame and public office makes that of Paul Revere seem as tame and monotonous as that of driving a grocery team.
But Morse has landed…he is now postmaster of the beautiful and classic town of Newmarket. “Doc” had hoped to lick the hand of royalty in some foreign berth, but it turned out that he will simply have to perform this operation on the postage stamps in his home bailiwick. It is not what “Doc” wanted, or what he deserved, but the $1,500 salary is some balm to his injured feelings. Now Governor Samuel Delay, not to be outdone by Senator Hollis, has come along and heaped additional honors and jobs on the “King of Newmarket”. He has named him judge of the police court. It is now Judge Morse, and he proposes to have the office carry eight or ten times as much dignity as it does salary.
“Doc” is now state representative, justice of the peace, postmaster, judge of the police court, physician, legal adviser, all around good sport and genial fellow, and the one great attraction of Newmarket. In Democratic adversity and Republican prosperity, he has kept his town safely in the ranks of his party, and when there were prospects that the place might be wiped off the map he has come to the front and saved it.
We are glad that “Doc” has landed. Tickled that he has two jobs. Even those are not enough…”
Dr. Morse served as Postmaster throughout WW I, keeping the Post Office open Christmas Day in the afternoons from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. which was much appreciated by the townspeople. He was again reappointed via NH Senator Hollis and confirmed by the US Senate in 1918. Although he was past the age for active military service, he joined the volunteer Army Medical Corps, and was placed on the waiting list, upon recommendation of Dr. Samuel J. Mixter of Boston. He never served on active military duty. However, as the Spanish Flu pandemic swept through, he was certainly needed here in town. And there were other challenges too:
August 15,1918: The Lee Hill Post Office was closed by order of the First Assistant US Postmaster General of the US; and Postmaster Morse received instruction to take an account of all stamps and stamped paper in the office and forward his report to the Central Accounting Postmaster at Rochester, NH.
1919: During Postmaster Small’s administration in 1903 , needing more space, Small leased part of the Caswell building and moved the Post Office to here. However in early 1919, Doctor Caswell had sold the Post Office building to Primo Vendasi. When Doctor Morse could not negogiate a renewal price with Vendasi who jumped the new lease price to a figure that was not certainly attainable for the Federal Budget. Doctor Morse had to quickly find a new location in the downtown area and he eventually
moved to a building adjacent to the new brick Bank. Vendasi, then rather quickly resold the building to the Bouras family.
In September 1919: Doctor Morse detailed this dilemma, as well as some financial challenges of running the Post Office on a limited budget when he attended the Postmaster Salary Congressional Hearings in Boston.
Here is part of the transcript from the hearing:
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Early Life
Charles Alfred Morse was born 8 Sep 1857, in Salisbury, NH. The son of cabinet maker Charles G. and Lucy Jane (Calif) Morse. At age 12 he was working in his father’s shop coutside Concord, NH. He grew up with two sisters: Lucy A (1863-1876) who died at age 13 of “phythisis” a kidney disease, and Alma Jane (1859- 1943); his two borthers Alfred and Joseph died young. Alma graduated from Penacook Academy and became a school teacher. In 1880 the family resided in Concord, Alma was teaching and Charles A. was attending college.
Charles learned his social activism from his father who served as a selectman, was on the school board and was a justice of the peace in Salisbury, NH. where he was an active member of the Odd Fellows and later the Grange. His father worked for 31 years for the H.H. Amsden Manufacturing Company in Penacook, NH. After Charles set up his medical practice in Newmarket, his parents moved to Packers Falls Road just over the line in Durham leasing the old Hayes farm in 1890, and became involved in farming. Five years later they bought the property. Upon hearing that Charles and Lucy were to become permanent residents, about sixty neighbors and friends celebrated with a Homecoming party. His father later built the first house on what was called “Morse Hill”.
Charles received his education in the public schools of Concord and at Penacook Normal Academy. Not content to be a cabinet maker, at age 21 in 1878 he turned to medicine. He studied with Dr. E.E. Graves of Boscawen, with whom he read for three years, and in 1879 he entered Dartmouth College, and with the Class of 1882 graduated from its medical department with the degree of M.D.
He arrived in Newmarket fresh out of college and set up his office above Morgan’s barbershop in 1882. He remained active in the American Medical Society, the Rockingham Country District Medical Society, the New Hamposhire State Medical Society and was a member of the board of examiners of the Medical Department of Dartmouth College for four years, andf on November 23, 1897, delivered the address to the medical graduating class of the college.
His sister Alma remained a teacher until he was appointed Postmaster, then he hired her as an assistant Postmistress, a position she held both full and part-time for various postmasters over the years . Alma was an active member and officer of the DAR and gave several lectures and readings concerning historic interest in the area. She remained living with her parents in the the house they built on Packers Falls Rd until a year and half before her death. She was afflicted with senile psycohosis and was admitted to the NH State Hospital in Concord where she died at age 83 in 1943. She is buried on the hospital grounds.
Politically, Doctor Morse, like his father was a Jacksonian Democrat. During his time here in Newmarket to say he was politically active is an understatement. He served on the town school committee, becoming the superintendant of schools; he was appointed judge of the police court; voted as a member of the house of Representatives 1891-92, and of the NH State Senate in 1899-1900; was twice a a candidate to Governor’s Council in the first district; and a candidate for Congress in 1906. He was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen in 1906, and Moderator of Town meetings. He was Preesident of of the Rockingham County Democratic Club; member of the Democratic State committee; and was one of a committee of five to meet Hon. William Jennings Bryan and Governor Folk, of Missouri, at the Hotel Gotham in NYC.
In civic organizations he had been active in the Pioneer Lodge, No.1, Knights of Pythias, of Newmarket, of which he is a past chancellor, and the grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias of New Hampshire, of which he was also a past chancellor. He was the Pythias assist surgeon general with the rank of colonel. He was a past grand master of the Swampscott Lodge, No. 8, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Newmarket. He was a member of the Amoskeag Veterans of Manchester, and the University Club of Concord, and for ten years he was captain of the Newmarket fire department.
He was a sports enthusiast supporting a variety of local teams. He was a very-much sought after toast master with an abilty to deliver addresses that were timely, astute and humorous. And, also like his father, he was a member of the Calvanist Baptist Church, and a genous contributor to its aide.
First Marriage
The Doctor’s first marriage was to Annie E. Sanders of Epsom in September 1883. Annie was the daughter of William A. and Sarah (French) Sanders, of Newmarket [hence the motivation to set up his practice in town]. Annie E. died of tuberculosis two years after their marriage at age 26, leaving Charles a widower with a little one-year-old daughter, Annie L. Morse.
Second Marriage
After his wife’s death, Doctor Morse remarried in October 1887. He was 30, and his bride was 19-year-old Gertrude M. Davis of Durham. They were living on Prescott Street with 10-year-old Annie during the April 1894 chase, when Police Officer Dame thrust a revolver into Gertrude’s hands before taking off in response to her husband’s cries for help—in a fruitless pursuit of a fleeing felon.
Gertrude and Charles had two daughters of their own:
Dorothea (1896-1994), born in Newmarket, was a graduating member of the Robinson Fermale Seminary in Exeterelater lived in Worcester, graduating from the former Commerce high School there. Dorothea worked for seven years at Norton Co. as a controller. She married John H. Donovan, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Like her father, Dorethea was very involved in civic and religious organizations. Her list of memberships must have kept her very busy: St. Mary’s Church in Shrewsbury; Newman Catholic Women’s Club; Immaculate Conception Church and its Rosary Society; the Francis Gardens Association; the Marlboro Senior Citizens; the Durham (N.H.) Historical Society; and honorary member of the Marlboro Hospital Auxiliary. And at one time she was president of the Ladies Auxiliary of Division 21, Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Alice (1898-1959) was married twice. Her first husband was Ralph Truell, with whom she had a son, Ralph Truell, Jr. That marriage ended in divorce; she later married George W. Kimball, with whom she had five children: Ralph W., Jessica T., Raymond H., Ruth A., and Charlotte.
First Divorce
It couldn’t have been easy for Gertrude, the mother of three, with a husband who was rarely home because of a demanding medical practice, town offices and state duties, not to mention his driving political ambitions. She divorced him in June 1910 for ”Conduct Injurious to Health”. The 1920 Census shows her living in Worcester, MA with her daughters and her grandson Ralph Truell, Jr. Her daughter Dorothea was the only one employed at the time.
Third Marriage
After the divorce, Dr. Morse married yet again in January 1912 to Fanny C. Grant, (1865-1935). This was the third marriage for both. Fanny hailed from West Virginia and in her twenties had been married previously to two fellow West Virginians. It is unclear how she and Charles Morse met.
Third time lucky? Not so much. During her marriage to Dr. Morse, Fanny would return home to Parkersburg, WV for lengthy visits, sometimes taking his daughters with her.
Annie L. Morse graduated from Newmarket Hisgh School and from the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, NH and became a nurse employed at that Hospital. She was about 24 years old when she married Ernest Randall in 1908. They settled in Newmarket, and between 1910 and 1923, Annie had six children—only three of whom survived to adulthood. Ernest worked at a variety of jobs, including mill work at NMCo. and he assisted his father-in-law at the Post Office.
Then then there was the Great War and the Pandemic of 1818, topped off in 1919 by the eviction of the Post Office from the Vendasi building —followed by his two-day testimony at the Postmaster Salary Congressional Hearings for two days in September.
Several weeks after the hearings, Annie and Ernest Randall’s two young daughters Julia (age 5) and Thelma (10 months) were both stricken with measles. Despite Dr. Morse’s best efforts, his granddaughters died within days of each other (Thelma on Nov 3rd and Julia on Nov 5th.). They were buried together in a private service from their grandmother’s home on Packers Falls Road. Doctor Morse signed their death certificates as attending physician.
Disappearance & Second Divorce
Reflecting the words in the Manchester NH Mirror article, perhaps the steam was up and it finally blew off the safety valve. On February 16, 1920, Doctor Charles A. Morse left town, as he had told his son-in-law Ernest Randall, for a few days rest and a change. Not hearing from him for several days, Mr. Randall contacted Mrs. Morse who was down in West Virginia visiting with family. She said that Charles had been there, but had left for New Hampshire on Thursday, February 19. Since then—not a trace. No one heard from him. Post Office auditors went over the books in his absence, and all was well accounted for — so no foul play there. Mr. Randall was appointed as temporary Postmaster during his father-in-law’s absence.
Dr. Morse’s wife Fanny returned from West Virginia to an empty house and no indication where he had been. She applied for an uncontested divorce on grounds of “Conduct Injurious to Health.” It was granted by the end of October 1920. In December she sold the family Ford Sedan, one horse (safe for ladies), all the household furniture and piano—and she headed south for good. Dr. Morse was never found to be served the court notices.
The only time his name appeared in print again was a year later in a legal notice issued by the Rockingham Superior Court by his son-in-law Ernest Randall to attach the doctor’s property for monies due him; it was noted in the court filing that Dr. Morse was no longer in the state.
By 1930, Annie and her husband and children had moved into the Packers Falls home of her wid0wed grandmother Lucy Morse and Aunt Alma. That same year, their son 14-year-old son George drowned in the Piscassic River by the pumping station. Sometime during the 1940s, the entire family headed west—first to Nevada and then to California. Annie died in 1963, at age 80. Her husband Ernest survived her, living to the age of 95. Both are buried in Rialto, CA, their three children Charles, Evelyn and Virginia survived them.
Thirty years passed, and it wasn’t until the Doctor’s obituary notice was printed in 1951 did anyone other than his daughter Annie and her husband Ernest know the full story. It seems that years later Dr. Morse joined in that family’s westward migration.
“Word has been received of the death of Dr. Charles A. Morse in Los Angeles, California on Dec 18. Dr. Morse practiced medicine in Newmarket for about 40 years before he retired to California to live with his daughter. He is survived by three daughters: Mrs. Anne Randall of Los Angeles, Mrs. Alice Kimball and Mrs. Dorothy Donovan; 10 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter. He held a position in the post office for many years.”
One brief, sad, perfuntuary paragraph for the life of a man who spent himself both physically and mentally in service of his adopted town.