By AMANDA DUMOND
Democrat Staff Writer
adumond@fosters.com

BARRINGTON — The Daniel Cater Cemetery sits only a few feet from busy Route 202, virtually unnoticed by

 motorists speeding by on their way to Rochester or Concord.

The private gravesite sits on the edge of Jon Brown's property, whose land is deeded around the cemetery that is surrounded by a simple but rusted wrought iron fence and venerable old trees.

A simple marble gravestone with the initials C.E.S. rests in the far right-hand corner, while in the center of the cemetery there sits a tall white marble monument for more prominent family members. On one side of the monument, it reads "Charles E. Smith, died May 23, 1891." American flags are placed near his name.

Most people today do not recognize the name or the man behind the name, yet Smith holds the distinction of being the first New Hampshire law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty.

Even Barrington officials were unaware he was buried along Route 202, though they did know he was a prominent citizen in his day because of records at the Historical Society and elsewhere.

Besides serving six years as a Strafford County deputy sheriff, he also was a Civil War veteran — having served at the end of the war and on guard duty during the trial of Abraham Lincoln's assassins — town clerk, a representative with the New Hampshire legislature, a selectman, a tax collector for three years, a member of the order of the Odd Fellows and the Ivanhoe Castle, Knights of the Golden Eagle and worked in the lumber and grocery business with William Waterhouse.

Brown, 40, said he tried to get the town to help contribute to the maintenance of the cemetery, but no one seemed interested or got back to him after he wrote several letters in 2004. He recently at his own expense cut two trees that were hanging perilously over the marble monument.

"There's no way that could ever be replaced," he said.

He and Marion Marcotte, 93, who Brown cares for, have been maintaining the graveyard for 15 years collectively.

Brown bought the 1850 home, known as the John Dill place, from Marcotte three years ago with the condition she could continue to live there. They are not related.

Neither of them are related to the Caters or their extended family either, but Brown has become fascinated with Smith's story.

On May 6, 1891, the bay horses belonging to a Kendall's Spavin Cure salesmen — worth $1,200 — were stolen from Calef's tavern at the Barrington Depot. Also stolen was Josiah R. Calef's buggy.

After residents saw a man who called himself Julius H. McArthur, a man of about 35 who had been rooming at Calef's, with the horses and buggy in nearby Strafford, Deputy Sheriff Charles E. Smith and about a dozen men pursued him to the Sloper Woods in Strafford, tracking a peculiar shoe of one of the horses stolen. He was surrounded by the posse there.

"Mr. Smith, who possessed the courage of a lion, sprang upon him, just in time to receive a shot from revolver," an account from the Manchester Union reads. "Not withstanding his wound he bore the thief to the ground, and then fell over exhausted."

While the posse wanted to hang McArthur immediately, Smith stopped the men from killing him and ordered them to take him to the Dover jail and place him in the human squirrel cage, a revolving cellblock of iron and steel.

"The fellow would have stood a slim chance of leaving the woods if Mr. Smith had not interceded for him," the Rochester Courier wrote.

Smith, however, was in much worse condition after the bullet from McArthur's Bulldog revolver lodged near his right hip after passing through his left hip and bowels. He suffered for 17 days before dying from gangrene at age 47.

About 300 people are said to have attended his funeral including his wife Ellen, many relatives and a "large circle of friends" who sincerely mourned his death, the Rochester Courier said.

McArthur — after having tried to commit suicide and leaving Smith a note saying he was sorry for shooting him — pretended to be deathly ill with consumption. He was moved out of the squirrel cage and placed in the women's quarters in the jail, where on July 17, 1891 newspapers report he escaped out of a second-story window and ran away in his stocking feet.

A manhunt ensued, with law enforcement and citizens tracking him around southeast New Hampshire and Massachusetts, but McArthur was never apprehended. There was speculation that he may he died in a swamp. News on McArthur stopped entirely after Sept. 9, 1891, and the community appeared to have moved on to the next sordid crime involving the murder of a woman in Hanover.

Today, Brown, who works for the Portsmouth Water Department, has had an ongoing battle to keep the weeds and moss from crumbling the stone slabs in the gravesite and the poison ivy from taking over the Smith's gravesite all together.

"I just want to make sure he's (Smith) not forgotten," Brown said, "and make sure (his gravesite) is properly well-maintained."

He said he can't possibly replace the deteriorating fence on property that does not belong to him, let along create a historic marker for the roadway to alert motorists of the graveyard, but help of a different kind has arrived.

Enter James Rowe Sr. with the Strafford County Sheriff's Department who is also an expert who specializes in state law enforcement history. He has compiled the majority of information on Smith and the case of horse thief McArthur, having published three articles in the New Hampshire Police Association's publication "Knight Stick."

He is on a mission to find a photograph of Smith as well as to bring him the recognition he deserves. He has approached several groups to try and help preserve that legacy. A ceremony with the governor and the N.H. Police Association's Law Enforcement Memorial may be held in the future honoring Smith as well, Rowe said.

"We were hoping to come up with a picture of Deputy Smith but I've had no luck," he said. "I've been to the historical societies, and tramped through many cemeteries."

He added that because of the poor booking procedures of the 1890s, there is no known photo of McArthur either.

He is most intrigued by Smith's valor and professionalism despite Smith having had little formal training as a deputy sheriff.

"It's intriguing the way he conducted himself," Rowe said. "It was textbook stuff for today on how to protect (a suspect) and go through the courts."

Rowe is looking for any living relatives of Smith or anyone who may have more information about him. To add to Smith's story or contribute to the upkeep of the cemetery, contact Rowe at the Sheriff's Department at 742-4960.

Reprinted courtesy of Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H.
© 2006 Geo. J. Foster Company

Monday, May 29, 2006
Barrington resident trying to preserve gravesite of slain policeman