In early summer Captain Fraser offered fresh lilac and lupin bouquets to Fredericton’s young ladies, dockside. He felt this added a touch of scented romance which differentiated him from his competitors. It gave him time to personally greet each young lady as she embarked his steamboat for a day trip up river. With a quick glance at an unguarded ankle he’d offer up the flowers and solicit a kiss on the cheek. Of the fairer sex Fraser observed – “The Fredericton lass is always a pretty and plump mix, between five foot four and five foot six.” As such, these were his more polite offerings. Fraser, under the pen name “Stanislas Brewer” was also the author of two dirty limerick anthologies which shocked polite society. His nautical rhymes often divulged gossip and fragments of local political intrigue. One especially dark limerick was said to tell the story of Marie Anne Hayes a prostitute from St. Mary’s Ferry (called “Devon” by locals after the birth of the 9th duke of Devonshire 1868) who performed unusual favours for local politicians in the rented hull of local steamboats. She coincidentally “worked” the same run as Fraser himself who most often ferried from Fredericton to Woodstock. Though, Fraser was also known to have smuggled everything from alcohol to milk goats and smoked eel so, the smell alone must have greatly benefitted her during his fresh flower months. Hayes had a brother in-law named Bill Stockton Sewell who was a local union leader. He used Hayes in various extortion and blackmail schemes to gain favour in the logging industry. In 1880 he was doused in kerosene and set on fire during a “back alley” confrontation off George street yet did not survive his injury. He’s buried only a few steps away from the spot where he expired.
There was a night flower from Devon
Stanislas Brewer a.k.a Captain Fraser, 1884 – Nantucket Press, Mass.
She’d drop anchor from Nevers to Grafton
On silk vests she shat while wearing their hat
When she sank they set fire to Stockton
