Fish By Letter

[Heike Fallago]

I have written much about Maine over the years. Much of it dark, and much of it about friends, neighbors, lovers, captains, deer, trucks, and, of course, the ocean. About the never-ending cold in March and April and May. But also about the first warm morning before the westerlies pick up in April, working on traps between the two piles on the wharf and wearing a cutoff T-shirt for the first time since October. About the salt coating our faces at the end of a day fishing offshore or about the dirt stuck in the creases of our fingers after planting Matinicus dahlias each spring, or about swollen, numb hands after a day of hauling hooks in May. About tireless heartbreak, about deer in the road, deer in the woods watching me from nearby blowdowns, watching from the edge of the woods while I practice with my bow. Thwack! Drawing them in like shadows. About big diesels flying around island roads or dry wind in springtime sweeping across a field or snow in May woods and a thin layer of ice over mudflats. Much of what I have written is in small notes in my journal or in letters or in poems. Writing cannot escape that wherein it takes place. We cannot write without writing of Maine.

I am not sure exactly what I love most about you, so let me count the ways. Your face has more personality packed into a small space than any other fish I know. You can go from wry to goofy with just a slight twist of your shapely head. Then there is your color, which varies like the choices of comfy L.L.Bean chamois shirts: bluish gray, yellow green, chocolate, kelp brown, or slate blue. And then there are your cleverly modified fins that act like a suction cup, holding you tight against cruel waves and currents. Every summer, I search for you hanging on to sugar kelp growing under the dock. Once the cruel snow and ice of winter leave, we can find each other once again on sunny days on the Damariscotta River.

We share stories about the people of Maine who are using their creativity and ingenuity to propel the state forward. In our 48 Hours features and other travel stories, we highlight places that make Maine so unique, and our coverage of the incredible restaurants here will make you want to explore even more. All of this is accented by beautiful photography that gives you a true sense of place.

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If a restaurant serves raw or undercooked (less than 145F) fish, the restaurant operator must provide proof that the fish has been frozen for parasite destruction according to the Fairfax County Food Code Section 3-402.11. Some species of fish carry parasites which may be harmful to humans if eaten. Freezing is a method of killing the parasites before serving the fish to the consumer. Fairfax County Health Department will review the records of parasite destruction during the restaurant inspection process.

If the restaurant purchases its fish from a supplier, a letter must be provided which states that the fish provided by the supplier is frozen for parasite destruction according to the Food Code requirements above. Below is the information that must be provided in the parasite destruction letter from the supplier:

There are some species of fish which are exempted from the parasite destruction requirement. Contact your local Health Department representative for more details. If you have any questions, you may contact the Food Safety Program of the Health Department at 703-246-2444.

Fish once boasted that he "had children in every state",[2] and at one time stated his number of victims was about 100. However, it is not known whether he was referring to rapes or cannibalization, nor is it known if the statement was truthful.[3] Fish was apprehended on December 13, 1934, and put on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Grace Budd. He was convicted and executed by electric chair on January 16, 1936, at the age of 65.[4][5][6]

Fish's family had a history of mental illness. His uncle had mania, one of his brothers was confined in a state mental hospital, a paternal half-brother suffered from schizophrenia and his sister Annie was diagnosed with a "mental affliction". Three other relatives were diagnosed with mental illnesses, and his mother had "aural and/or visual hallucinations".[9][10]

On October 16, 1875, Fish's father, a fertilizer manufacturer and former river boat captain, suffered a fatal heart attack at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station. His mother then put her son into Saint John's Orphanage in Washington, where he was frequently physically abused. However, Fish began to enjoy the physical pain brought by the beatings.[11] By 1880, Fish's mother secured a government job and was able to remove him from the orphanage.

In 1882, at age 12, Fish began a relationship with a telegraph boy. The youth introduced Fish to such practices as drinking urine and eating feces. Fish began visiting public baths where he could watch other boys undress, spending a great portion of his weekends on these visits.[11] Throughout his life, he would write obscene letters to women whose names he acquired from classified advertising and matrimonial agencies.[9]

By 1890, at age 20, Fish moved to New York City. There he engaged in male prostitution and began molesting and raping boys, mostly less than six years old. In 1898, Fish's mother arranged a marriage for him with Anna Mary Hoffman, who was nine years his junior.[10][12][13][14] They had six children: Albert, Anna, Gertrude, Eugene, John and Henry Fish.[10] In 1903, Fish was arrested for grand larceny, convicted and incarcerated in Sing Sing Prison.

Fish later recounted an incident in which a male lover took him to a wax museum, where he was fascinated by a bisection of a human penis and subsequently became obsessed with sexual mutilation.[12][15] Several years later, around 1910, Fish was working in Wilmington, Delaware, when he met a 19-year-old man named Thomas Bedden. He took Bedden to where he was staying and the two began a sadomasochistic relationship; it is unclear whether or not the sadomasochism was consensual on Bedden's part, but his confession implied that Bedden was intellectually disabled. After ten days, Fish took Bedden to "an old farm house", where he tortured him over a period of two weeks. Fish eventually tied Bedden up and cut off half of his penis. "I shall never forget his scream, or the look he gave me", Fish later recalled. He originally intended to kill Bedden, cut up his body and take it home, but he feared the hot weather would draw attention; instead, Fish poured peroxide over the wound, wrapped it in a Vaseline-covered handkerchief, left a $10 bill, kissed Bedden goodbye and left. "Took first train I could get back home. Never heard what become of him, or tried to find out," Fish recalled.[16]

In January 1917, Fish's wife left him for John Straube, a handyman who boarded with the Fish family. Fish was subsequently forced to raise his children as a single parent. After his arrest, Fish told a newspaper that when his wife left him, she took nearly every possession the family owned.[17] Fish began to have auditory hallucinations; he once wrapped himself in a carpet, saying that he was following the instructions of John the Apostle.[11] It was about this time that Fish began to indulge in self-harm by embedding needles into his groin and abdomen.[10] After his arrest, X-rays revealed that Fish had at least twenty-nine needles lodged in his pelvic region.[10] He also hit himself repeatedly with a nail-studded paddle, and inserted wool doused with lighter fluid into his anus and set it alight.[17] While Fish was never thought to have physically attacked or abused his children, he did encourage them and their friends to paddle his buttocks with the same nail-studded paddle he used to abuse himself.

Around 1919, Fish stabbed an intellectually disabled boy in Georgetown.[18] He chose people who were either mentally disabled or African-American as his victims, later explaining that he assumed these people would not be missed when killed.[19] Fish would later claim to have occasionally paid boys to procure other children for him.[20] Fish tortured, mutilated, and murdered young children with his "implements of Hell": a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and a small handsaw.[21] On July 11, 1924, Fish found 8-year-old Beatrice Kiel playing alone on her parents' farm on Staten Island, New York. He offered her money to come and help him look for rhubarb. She was about to leave the farm when her mother chased Fish away. Fish left but returned later to the Kiels' barn, where he tried to sleep but was discovered by Beatrice's father and forced to leave. During 1924, the 54-year-old Fish, suffering from psychosis, felt that God was commanding him to torture and sexually mutilate children.[10]

Shortly before his abduction of Grace Budd, Fish attempted to test his "implements of Hell" on a 10-year-old child he had been molesting named Cyril Quinn. Quinn and his friend were playing box ball on a sidewalk when Fish asked them if they had eaten lunch. When they said that they had not, he invited them into his apartment for sandwiches. While the two boys were wrestling on Fish's bed, they dislodged his mattress; underneath was a knife, a small handsaw, and a meat cleaver. They became frightened and ran out of the apartment.[22] Despite already being married, Fish married Estella Wilcox on February 6, 1930, in Waterloo, New York; they divorced after only one week.[23] Fish was arrested in May 1930 for "sending an obscene letter to a woman who answered an advertisement for a maid."[24] Following that arrest and another in 1931, he was sent to the Bellevue Hospital for observation.[25]

On May 25, 1928, Fish saw a classified advertisement in the Sunday edition of the New York World that read, "Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406 West 15th Street." On May 28, Fish, then 58 years old, visited the Budd family in Manhattan under the pretence of hiring Edward; he later confessed that he planned to tie Edward up, mutilate him, and leave him to bleed to death. Fish introduced himself as "Frank Howard", a farmer from Farmingdale, New York. He promised to hire Budd and his friend, and said he would send for them in a few days. Fish failed to show up, but he sent a telegram to the Budd family apologizing and set a later date. When Fish returned, he met Edward's younger sister, 10-year-old Grace "Gracie" Budd. He apparently shifted his intentions toward Grace and quickly made up a story about having to attend his niece's birthday party.

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