On September 18, 1892, long after Dogtown had ceased to exist as a community, James Merry died in Dogtown. He had a 3-year-old bull that he had previously successfully wrestled to the ground on a few occasions. He decided to try it again. This time the bull was having no part of it. The first marker shows where James Merry was first attacked by his bull. The second marker, a short distance away heading toward Dogtown Road, is where James Merry died of his injuries.
E.J. Lefavour
Good Morning Gloucester 
The James Merry incident is a subject of Charles Olson’s epic poem, “Maximus, From Dogtown -1”
http://myweb.northshore.edu/users/ccarlsen/poetry/gloucester/olson_maximus_from_dogtown.htm
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Thanks Marty. I knew it was a subject of Olson’s poem, but hadn’t read it. Nice addition.
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“…Dogtown Meadow…”?? It was pretty deep woods last weekend. Hard to conjure the fields of Mr. Merry’s last unfortunate attempt. I would love to see images of Dogtown as it was.
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As I recall, there is a pretty open area just across the path from the site of EJ’s shots.
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James Merry was a fisher man back in days of yore
But he left the blue in ninety-two for the trade of matador
So he got a bull and he raised it up full
And he learned the corrida lore
Then he died like a toad on the Dogtown Road
Bleeding from a stomach gore
by Shep Abbott
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Judy, I wonder if Fred Bodin has any old Dogtown photos in his huge vintage photo collection. If you come up to go to his opening on the 3rd, you should ask him.
Shep, not Olson, but pretty clever.
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There are tons of good stories out there about this incident including werewolves really did the deed. The best one I have found since they also looked it up in GDT is linked here. The bull was in Patrick Nugent’s pasture when James went up on a Sunday morning to meet his maker.
http://www.perfectstorm.org/beam_reach2.cfm
I Pat the sign to Rockport as I drive on Nugent stretch and now I never forget. Or do I see Pat the pig at the pig farm? (This is where I repost Steven Wright’s quote about having a photographic memory. Most of the time I forget to load film.)
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nb: GDT= GLoucester Daily Times, Monday, September 19, 1892. (Front Page, above the fold! Blood on the Rocks.)
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amazing story, what a doe doe…but now he is famous!!!!
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And I misread the story and did not realize that it might have been a relative of yours that owned the field. It was Patrick Nugent who owned the bull while Curtis owned the pasture.
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Thanks Paul, that was a great addition. I love the personal interviews with the family’s of the involved and the GDT coverage of it. I also really like the werewolf version, although if there was blood on the bull’s horns, he probably was the culprit, although I suppose he could have gored the werewolf as well.
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121 years ago tomorrow, September 18, 1892, is the anniversary of the death of James Merry. Gored by Patrick Nugent’s bull in the Curtis owned pasture in Dogtown. The link I posted is no more. I think he lived on Cleveland Street.
So if you feel the presence of a ghost while tossing one back at Stone’s Pub tonight it may be James.
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