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The "pride of Owego" and his ill-fated romances.

"Susquehanna Scandal"
by R.W. White

on WSKG Radio's OFF THE PAGE
L I V E  Tues., Nov. 28 at 1pm
(Repeating at 7pm)

          Owego lies along the Susquehanna River about midway between Binghamton and Elmira and has long been a crossroads of history, from its days as a trading post and a haven for slaves escaping via the Underground Railroad, to the present when Lockheed Martin is building helicopters there for the President of the United States. It is a community of beautiful old homes and charming boutiques. It's still possible to feel the spirit and substance of an earlier day at the Tioga County seat, and to become acquainted with the departed at the Evergreen Cemetery on a steep hillside above the river. There is a monument at that cemetery in remembrance of a 21 year-old Mohawk woman named Sa-Sa-Na Loft who died in a train disaster in 1852.
          The fate of the "Indian maiden" and other events and personalities in this Southern Tier town were the inspiration and the impetus for R. W. White's historical romance, "Susquehanna Scandal". A Canadian Mohawk woman - fictionalized as Sa-ku-ma Gage - arrives Owego with her brother and younger sister on a fund-raising tour for their tribe, singing at Christian churches. She meets the county judge Thomas Averill Carter, a youthful bachelor who is smitten by her beauty.
          The character of Judge Carter is based on the figure of Charles Pumpelly Avery (1817-1872), a jurist and author who was responsible for the interment of Sa-Sa-Na in Owego (his personal relationship with her is not known).
          Thomas's infatuation with Sakuma nearly displaces his ardor for Nettie, a law school classmate and now "the only female law clerk west of the Hudson River." Nettie had not completed her law school studies and encountered a bias against women as well as a stigma in having a child out of wedlock. She reluctantly accepted a position at Thomas's small Owego law firm. He suspects (correctly, as it turns out) that he is the child's father.
          Caught in an "eternal triangle" between two lovers, daring to cross racial lines in his infatuation with Sakuma, undermining his professional obligations by his affair with Nettie, the man who was once called "the pride of Owego" is destined for decline. After Sakuma's death and the wilting of his relationship with Nettie, Thomas accepts an appointment as counsel in a land-treaty case involving the Chippewa tribe in Flint, Michigan. This turn of the plot is accurate in terms of history; in "Susquehanna Scandal" it amounts to Thomas's exile from Owego.
         R.W. White is a retired Presbyterian minister who lived in England for many years, where he served as pastor of the United Reform Church. He and his wife have lived in Owego for the past four years. With a work of local fiction now completed, he is preparing a non-fiction history as well as working on a spy novel. Bob White joins WSKG's Bill Jaker on OFF THE PAGE to discuss Owego history and "Susquehanna Scandal" fiction. To join in the conversation call during the 1:00 PM live broadcast to 888/359-9754 or post a question or comment to WSKG.Radio@Gmail.com.

Childbirth is never easy, and often the joy of a new arrival is accompanied by the pain of post-partum depression. Adrienne Martini of Oneonta experienced a debilitating downturn and hospitalization in a psychiatric facility after the birth of her daughter. She tells about her experience powerfully and yet with moments of humor in her new book "Hillbilly Gothic: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood". Ms. Martini joins Bill Jaker on OFF THE PAGE on Tuesday, December 12th at 1 & 7pm on WSKG Radio.

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