Newspaper accounts provide the curious story of Gideon Manchester’s life. “Gid,” as he was known, was the tender for the drawbridge for the Stone Bridge which united Tiverton and Portsmouth.

“Mysterious Affair”. Rutland County Herald, August 1,1844

“A man named Gideon Manchester, belonging to Tiverton, was committed to the jail, in this town, last week under very suspicious circumstances. It appears this man about eighteen months since married a young widow with two children, that after living with her two months he had taken her to her mother’s house where he left her under the plea that he was unable to support her, some time in the month of August last, and directed her to come through the woods and meet him early the next morning at a certain place in the road, where he promised to meet her with a horse and wagon and take her to New Bedford.”

She accordingly left her home for that purpose, and since no trace of her can be discovedred. Manchester the same day arrived in New Bedford without any baggage and shipped immediately for a voyage to sea. Previous to his sailing he presented to a female relative an old fashioned gold ring,which has been identified as having been worn by his wife at the time of her leaving home. “

Manchester returned from sea and was charged and had a trail, but nothing came of it. Many years later another newspaper account raises new questions about Manchester.

“Buried in the Sands” – the mysterious case of the coffin Dug up on Shore near Island Park.

Newspaper accounts in March of 1902 tell of a skeleton found in a pine box below the tidal waters of Island Park. The box was dug out by two boys laying a fishing net in an area where the currents had changed. The box was handmade as were the nails that held it together. Inside the box was the skeleton of a woman who had been in the water for many years. Speculation arose that it was the remains of Mrs. Manchester who had disappeared 50 years before. At the time of her disappearance, her husband, Gideon Manchester, claimed his wife had go out to meet him in New Bedford and gone missing. All that was found was her shoes and stockings that were found in a local swamp. Her rings were in the possession of a young girl who claimed a man had given them to her. The keeper of the toll gate at Stone Bridge testified that at midnight of the day Mrs. Manchester had gone missing, a “lone man with a big and mysterious box crossed the bridge in the direction of Island Park.”

Fall River Daily Herald – March 28, 1902.

Manchester’s obituary in the Fall River Herald (May 22, 1906). presents another side of Gideon Manchester. Gideon had been in charge of the bridge for twenty-five years. The author of the article noted that during Gideon’s tenure, the bridge had undergone transformations. One bridge was replaced by a more modern bridge put down by the railway company. It was suppose to run by electricity, but Manchester was still needed. At some stage the bridge was so damaged by weather than yet another version of the bridge was required.

Manchester had remarried and at the time of his death (in 1906 at age 90+) resided with daughter Hattie in his Portsmouth home. He had a son as well – Otis. Other articles at the time talk about his saving a woman from committing suicede and jumping into the river to rescue swimmers. The newspaper accounts call him a “notable character” and he was that.