Cape Cod History

1963: Woods Hole marine biologist acquitted of murdering wife. 1991: 69-year-old woman faces eviction from artist's colony.

1963: WHOI scientist found not guilty at moment of Kennedy's assassination

Sutcliffe,on right seen holding a hat, is shown after his acquittal with his attorney John Murphy, at center, and a WHOI colleague, Dr. Edward Baylor,

On this day in 1963, a Superior Court jury in Brockton acquitted Dr. William H. Sutcliffe Jr., 40, a West Falmouth marine biologist who worked in Woods Hole, of murdering his 34-year-old wife Luise with a wood alcohol-poisoned cocktail in October 1962. The trial had been moved off-Cape due to extensive media coverage.

After a week-long trial, jurors began their deliberations in the early afternoon of Nov. 22 and returned to the courtroom shortly after 6 p.m. to render a verdict. Before they could, Judge Frank W. Tomasello had an announcement.

Judge announces JFK's death

"I would like to take a moment here to say that a tragic incident has taken place in the history of our nation," Tomasello said, according to a Nov. 23, 1963 story in the Brockton Enterprise. "We have lost our beloved president, John F. Kennedy," who was assassinated four hours earlier in Dallas as jurors began their deliberations.

The jurors gasped in disbelief and Judge Tomasello asked all to stand for a moment of silence. Then the court clerk asked the jury foreman for the verdict. "We find the defendant not guilty," the foreman said.

Prosecuting the case was District Attorney Edmund Dinis, who contended that Sutcliffe killed his wife after learning she had an affair with his best friend, John H. Ryther, who worked with Dr. Sutcliffe at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (six years later, Dinis prosecuted Senator Edward Kennedy after a fatal accident on Chappaquiddick killed a passenger in Kennedy's car, Mary Jo Kopechne).

Sutcliffe, seen holding a hat in the photo at right, is shown after his acquittal with his attorney John Murphy, at center, and a WHOI colleague, Dr. Edward Baylor, at right. Sutcliffe is said to have left Cape Cod in 1964 and moved to New York.  (photo credit, The Brockton Enterprise)

A 69-year-old woman faces eviction from artist's colony
Was retreat for writers like E. E. Cummings, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer and Eugene O'Neill

One of the nation's longest-running lawsuits wasis resolved on Friday, November 22, 1991, when a 69-year-old woman faces eviction from a two-room cottage that was once part of a writers' colony on Cape Cod.

One of the artist shack in the Provincetown dunes circa 1960Nestled behind sea grass on the dunes along the Atlantic in Provincetown, the cottage is one of 17 primitive shanties that were once retreats for writers like E. E. Cummings, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer and Eugene O'Neill. But in 1967, the National Park Service claimed the cottages as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Sixteen owners signed agreements with the Park Service that allowed them to remain in their cottages for 25 years. But the 17th refused and sued in Federal court instead.

She inherited property & lawsuit

Grace E. Bessay, a retired bookkeeper who inherited both the eight-acre property and the lawsuit from a friend 11 years ago, will have to leave Friday. Last week Judge William G. Young of United States District Court ordered Ms. Bessay to remove all of her belongings from the cottage by Friday, postponing a Tuesday eviction that had been set earlier and allowing additional time for negotiations on a cash settlement offered by the United States Attorney's office here.

The judge also ordered Ms. Bessay to appear in court on Dec. 3 to determine "just compensation" for her property if a settlement has not been reached.  Ms. Bessay's lawyer, Nancy Kaplan, refused to disclose the amount the Government has offered for the land, but said, "It's peanuts."

Gwen Tyre, the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to the case, also declined to discuss the details of the proposed settlement.

Ms. Bessay, whose permanent home is in Cambridge, has refused to sign the agreement without a guarantee that she will not be threatened with eviction in the future. "I'm looking for security so they can't come and throw me out," she said.

The 24-year-old case challenges the National Park Service's right to take over ownership of the cottage, within the boundaries of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Court Ruled Against Woman

Ms. Bessay contends that the law that created the Cape Cod National Seashore prohibited the Park Service from taking all "improved property" within the 43,000-acre preserve. The Park Service argues that Ms. Bessay's cottage did not meet that definition because it did not have amenities like electricity or indoor plumbing.

A Federal District Court here ruled in the Park Service's favor in 1988, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 1990. After nearly a year of negotiations, the United States Attorney's office gave her an ultimatum: accept the settlement or vacate the premises.

"The obligations were to pay Ms. Bessay just compensation for her property, and nothing more," said Frank Libby, an Assistant United States Attorney who handled the case for two and a half years. "We understand that her interest is in staying on, and we had hoped in principle to find a happy middle ground."

The cottage sits behind a locked gate and can be reached only on foot or with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. "I'm a very private person," Ms. Bessay said. "Out on the dunes, it's peaceful and quiet. That's what I love about it."