William j. Kole, Author at Valley News

Metal detectorist Denise Schoener, of Hanson, Mass., searches for historic coins and artifacts in a farm field in Little Compton, R.I., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. One coin at a time, the ground is yielding new evidence that in the late 1600s, Henry Every, one of the world's most ruthless pirates, wandered the American colonies with impunity. Schoener found a 17th century silver coin with Arabic inscriptions in 2019 in a field in Little Compton. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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Uncovered silver reveals murderous 1600s pirate hid out in New England

by William j. Kole Associated PressDecember 8, 2022

WARWICK, R.I. — One tarnished silver coin at a time, the ground is yielding new evidence that in the late 1600s, one of the world’s most ruthless pirates wandered the American colonies with impunity.Newly surfaced documents also strengthen the case…

Metal detectorist Jim Bailey scans dirt for Colonial-era artifacts in a field, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Warwick, R.I. Bailey, who holds a degree in anthropology from the University of Rhode Island, found a 17th-century Arabian silver coin in 2014 at a farm, in Middletown, R.I., that he contends was plundered in 1695 by English pirate Henry Every from Muslim pilgrims sailing home to India after a pilgrimage to Mecca. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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Ancient coins found in New England may solve mystery of murderous 1600s pirate

by William j. Kole Associated PressApril 1, 2021

FILE - In this June 27, 2014, file photo, plates of fried calamari are served at the town dock in Narragansett, R.I., after Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed legislation to give the squid dish official status as Rhode Island's state appetizer. During the August 2020 televised virtual Democratic National Convention's roll call voting, the state's Democratic Party chair Joseph McNamara stood on a beach with a restaurateur holding a heaping plate of the squid and proclaimed Rhode Island the "calamari comeback state." (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott, File)

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We couldn’t make them up: New England’s weird stories of 2020

by William j. Kole Associated PressDecember 24, 2020

This July 2020 photo released by RR Auction shows a lock of hair from former President Abraham Lincoln, to be auctioned Sept. 12, 2020, by the Boston-based auction firm. The lock of hair was removed during Lincoln's postmortem examination in April 1865 after he was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington. (Nikki Brickett/RR Auction via AP)

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New Hampshire lock of Lincoln’s hair and bloodied telegram up for auction i

by William j. Kole Associated PressAugust 28, 2020

In this Sept. 20, 2016, photo, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, right, granddaughter of Ethel Kennedy and her late husband Robert F. Kennedy, holds a relative's baby before a ceremony for naming the Robert Kennedy Navy Ship at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, in Boston. Saoirse Kennedy Hill died Thursday, Aug. 1, 2019, at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. She was 22. At left is U.S. Rep Joseph Kennedy III, D-Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

RFK’s granddaughter dies; police awaiting toxicology reports

by William j. Kole Associated PressAugust 2, 2019

Volunteers dig and screen soil at the first historical excavation in Boston's Chinatown, Monday, July 8, 2019. The dig is expected to turn up artifacts that will shed new light on immigrants not only from China but also Syria, Ireland and England who sought a new life in Boston from 1840 to 1980. Work is ongoing at a vacant lot near the ornate gate to the colorful neighborhood, and it's expected to continue until early autumn. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Archaeologists begin excavations of Chinatown

by William j. Kole Associated PressJuly 8, 2019

In this May 5, 2019 photo, the Handel & Haydn Society performs its rendition of Mozart's "Masonic Funeral" at Symphony Hall in Boston. When they finished the piece, a youngster in the audience blurted out loudly: "WOW!" The organization has mounted a search for the kid it's calling the "Wow Child" — not to reprimand, but to offer a chance to meet the conductor. (Chris Petre-Baumer/Handel & Haydn Society via AP)

Vocal child ‘wows’ classical audience

by William j. Kole Associated PressMay 8, 2019

Workers at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts rally outside in New England Patriots garb on Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 in Boston. The museum and Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Museum are trading a little trash talk ahead of the Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Rams. (AP Photo/Bill Kole)

Boston, Los Angeles art museums drawn into Super Bowl rivalry

by William j. Kole Associated PressFebruary 1, 2019

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2018 file photo, a car rolls past a wooden sculpture of a middle finger on Ted Pelkey's front lawn in Westford, Vt. Pelkey, who is in an ongoing dispute with the town over plans to move his truck repair and recycling business to his property, paid to have the sculpture created to send a message to the town. The dispute ranked among New England's odd stories in 2018. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File)

New England’s Oddest Stories of 2018

by William j. Kole Associated PressDecember 29, 2018

In this Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018, photo, visitors to Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum village where visitors can get a glimpse into the world of the 1627 Pilgrim village, walk among buildings, in Plymouth, Mass. Plymouth, where the Pilgrims came ashore in 1620, is gearing up for a 400th birthday, and everyone's invited, especially the native people whose ancestors wound up losing their land and their lives. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

400 Years Later, Natives Who Helped Pilgrims Gain a Voice

by William j. Kole Associated PressNovember 22, 2018