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The Murder of Mattie Hackett
On Thursday evening, August 17, 1905, the idyllic New England town of Readfield, Maine was shaken by the murder of seventeen year-old Mattie Hackett.
Seventeen and a half year-old Mattie was the third child of Levi and Edith Hackett. A beloved student of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary & Female College at Kents Hill she was considered a hard worker, affable, learned, and pleasant. On that fated night she was strangled to death only three hundred feet from the barn where her father and a visiting stranger were tending livestock.
Over the next four months the investigators struggle to conclude whether the murder was committed by tramps passing through the town, a jealous woman, or some other unknown character, and by April the following year the county attorney is unable to secure an indictment.
Six years after the murder, an ambitious county attorney candidate promises if elected he will bring the perpetrator of the murder to justice. Elected to office the case is re-opened, re-investigated, subsequently resulting in the indictment and trial of Elsie Raymond.
In this nominally fictionalized tale, the author brings us through the fated evening, the ensuing, days, weeks, months, and years through the trial of Elsie Raymond. Using in depth research, the author uses the actual facts and characters to take the reader to 1905 – 1912 Kennebec County, Maine to witness the events and experience the personal moments of those involved.
The murder of Mattie Hackett came to the attention of the author while researching his first book concerning the December, 1905 murder of David Varney in Porter, Maine. The story of Mattie Hackett remains high on the list of Maine’s unsolved murder mysteries. While many essays, news and magazine articles, and even a song!, have been published, The Murder of Mattie Hackett by Peter M. Pettingill is the first full length narrative of the tale.
Seventeen and a half year-old Mattie was the third child of Levi and Edith Hackett. A beloved student of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary & Female College at Kents Hill she was considered a hard worker, affable, learned, and pleasant. On that fated night she was strangled to death only three hundred feet from the barn where her father and a visiting stranger were tending livestock.
Over the next four months the investigators struggle to conclude whether the murder was committed by tramps passing through the town, a jealous woman, or some other unknown character, and by April the following year the county attorney is unable to secure an indictment.
Six years after the murder, an ambitious county attorney candidate promises if elected he will bring the perpetrator of the murder to justice. Elected to office the case is re-opened, re-investigated, subsequently resulting in the indictment and trial of Elsie Raymond.
In this nominally fictionalized tale, the author brings us through the fated evening, the ensuing, days, weeks, months, and years through the trial of Elsie Raymond. Using in depth research, the author uses the actual facts and characters to take the reader to 1905 – 1912 Kennebec County, Maine to witness the events and experience the personal moments of those involved.
The murder of Mattie Hackett came to the attention of the author while researching his first book concerning the December, 1905 murder of David Varney in Porter, Maine. The story of Mattie Hackett remains high on the list of Maine’s unsolved murder mysteries. While many essays, news and magazine articles, and even a song!, have been published, The Murder of Mattie Hackett by Peter M. Pettingill is the first full length narrative of the tale.
334 pages, Paperback
Published May 26, 2024
About the author
Peter M. Pettingill
5 books1 followerPete was born in Queens, NY, and grew up on Long Island the eldest of five children. He graduated high school in 1976 and enlisted in the US Army Military Police Corps. He worked white hat duty in Fort Jackson, SC, and nuclear surety in Giessen, Germany. He then attended Nassau Community College and SUNY Stony Brook on the GI Bill and graduated in 1984 with a BA English.
In 1985 Pete commenced working for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in various commercial claims positions and retired in 2018. After three years of part-time claim consulting work, Pete retired from the industry to write full-time.
Pete's keen interest in history and genealogy led him to write his first book, "Porter: The Murder of David Varney" which came to his attention while researching his maternal grandmother's cousin. The research on that book brought the Hackett and Northey stories to his attention and he decided to write those.
Living in New Hampshire since 1989, Pete often paraphrases Henry Thoreau saying he went to the woods to live deliberately and he does. He hikes, cycles and canoes. He is active in his community.
Pete has been married to Sylvia since 1996 and they live in the woods.
In 1985 Pete commenced working for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in various commercial claims positions and retired in 2018. After three years of part-time claim consulting work, Pete retired from the industry to write full-time.
Pete's keen interest in history and genealogy led him to write his first book, "Porter: The Murder of David Varney" which came to his attention while researching his maternal grandmother's cousin. The research on that book brought the Hackett and Northey stories to his attention and he decided to write those.
Living in New Hampshire since 1989, Pete often paraphrases Henry Thoreau saying he went to the woods to live deliberately and he does. He hikes, cycles and canoes. He is active in his community.
Pete has been married to Sylvia since 1996 and they live in the woods.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 12, 2024
The "Murder of Mattie Hackett” took place in Readfield, Maine where I am historian, family researcher and author of historical non-fiction, so I expected to find myself a critic rather than a fan. To the contrary, I was drawn in from page one and impressed with the author’s accurate character development (I recognized all the Readfield names), and the extent of research through court records, news articles, census and other genealogical records. Then, to weave the vast myriad of details into an easy to follow storyline was impressive to say the least. Even though I knew the outcome of the book before I started to read it, I still experienced a mounting element of intrigue as I approached the ending. An unexpected bonus was to find some of my own kin within its pages - my great-grandmother, Isabel who was working the town of Readfield switchboard the night of the murder and her father, John Davis who served on the grand jury. The final section of the book includes short biographies of every major character in the book, which also required a tremendous amount of digging and organization.
I very much enjoyed reading "The Murder of Mattie Hackett” and recommend it to anyone who enjoys true crime mysteries, local history or has family roots in Maine as no doubt you will find someone in this book who falls within your realm of 6 degrees of separation (or less).
I very much enjoyed reading "The Murder of Mattie Hackett” and recommend it to anyone who enjoys true crime mysteries, local history or has family roots in Maine as no doubt you will find someone in this book who falls within your realm of 6 degrees of separation (or less).
July 1, 2024
More like a report than a book
The story has merit but the author uses too many words in describing things in detail that aren’t necessary. It was long to read. The author should keep writing and working on it. Tell the story less like a report.
The story has merit but the author uses too many words in describing things in detail that aren’t necessary. It was long to read. The author should keep writing and working on it. Tell the story less like a report.
April 19, 2025
I live a stones throw from where the murder occurred so I enjoyed learning about the murder and it's investigation. Straight forward writing.
December 30, 2024
A very interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews