The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-24 00:00:00

SINGULAR FANATICISM.

[Frain the Salem ( Maesachusetts ) Gazette.]

LYNN,DEC. 10.—The public have already heard
much of the conduct of a few persons who were a year
or two ago disowned by the Quaker Society, and
prosecuted and punished for molesting-that Society.
Some of those persons and their adherents have
occasionally continued those disturbances. On
the day of the late public thanksgiving, a young
woman of this town, who had been disowned by
that society to which she had from her youth
belonged, attended the Quaker meeting in
Salem, and attempted to:preach in such a man-
ner that she was removed from the meeting
as a disturber. On the following Sabbath
she attended the Quaker meeting at Lynn,
when there was a funeral, and the corpse car-
ried into the meetinghouse; she came in late, in
white apparel, on a cold day, and made her way
into the Minister's gallery, pushing aside the
person that attempted to stop her : after sitting
a short time, she rose and spoke nearly thus:—
" Behold the -Lamb of God"—a pause—" Be-
hold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world—behold the bride, the Lamb's wife
—it is not because I prefer these high benches
that you see me here, but my God bath sent me
here to bear my testimony against the idolatrous
worship that has of latter time been paid to these
high benches." She called the attention of the
people to her dress (which was gay and airy) and
said it covered a pure spirit and clean heart. She
was requested to sit clown,end paused; during the
pause, a regular female minister of the society,
who sat so as not to see her or know of her continuing
standing, rose and began to preach : the young
woman interrupted her by crying out, " Who art
thou that darkenest counsel with words without
knowledge, thou hypocrite ; how long will it be
before this veil will be rent ?" She was then
moved from the meeting, crying out" Hypocrites,"
&c. She refused to make any use of her limbs
to walk, and when out, would not stand or sit,
but laid prostrate on the step of the meeting-
house ; and when meeting was over, it was neces-
sary to remove her to make room for the people
to pass out ; some, who took sides with her, and
had gathered round, were also removed, to give
opportunity to take the corpse to the grave.—
She continued to lay as if helpless near the door,
half an hour after the meeting was over : she was
then taken in her passive state and carried by
iinbaendd,
i
helpless,
l h
two persons in a chaise to the house of a fellow-
deciple, where
she remained,
lying speechlessstate
te same
as
waspretended,
dress she had worn at meeting, and
so continued from that day (23d of November)
to the 30th November : she spoke to no one and
answered no one by words, but would reply to
auestions by writing her answers on a slate :
some of her answers are preserved : when asked
whether,
H
ov she would take food, she wrote,
,
can I want any- thing, that am feed-
ieg on angels I6nd ?" She wrote to one of
How
her neighbours, that " her speech was taken
away by wicked men, and would be heard no
more, until it was heard in Heaven, praising
God." alt has not been intimated that she was
hardly used by those who removed herd her
friends acknowledge she was removed as easily
as possible ; the
wicked men" she complains
erbeeraplorseenewbliinoar,efused to allow her to con-
" she sho-'unldurdinige
pro-
phesied that
down of -another sun," and her adherents pro-
fesses con-
tinue Saturday,
befor
e b siregoinge
fessed to put implicit faith in the awful predic-
tion, which spread like wild-fire through the
town. On the morning of her " dying day" she
sent a solemn message in writing to an acquaint-
ance, that, in " a few hours and this hand, which
now pens this, will be cold in death, but the
spirit which dictated it crowned with eternal life."
The rumour that she was to die on that day had
spread through the town, and excited a great but
and genera! attention. She rose that morning,
washed, and attired herself in what she termed
her grave 'clothes, which had been previously
prepared for her, and wrote that 44 she should
die by the going down of the sun," and request.,
ed after her Lath she should he lain out on a
sofa, and be buried in a tomb, after being kept
a number of days, so that all who wished might
he admitted to see her. The whole town seemed
to be in a commotion that day : the house was
thronged by hundreds and hundreds of specta-
tors, who rushed from all parts to see the Won-
derful women ; chaises and foot passengers, some
from a considerable distance, were going to and
fro as at a training: all desired to be in at her last
moments. Within a short time of the awful pe-
riod she had set for her flight from this world,
she wrote, " you now behold the exit of one
whose life has Leen devoted to the -good of souls,
breathing this exhortation, Glory to God in the
highest, peace on earth, and good will to men!"
Near that time she spoke, and audibly said, " My
work is finished, and there is a crown laid up for
me which I am going, to inherit :" and told her
friends " not to mourn.for her early exit, for her
body was to returnto dust, and her soul to him
who gave it." Her friends were overwhelmed
with tears and grief by this last solemn parting
scene. She then threw herself back, and ap-
peared to gasp, as if dyieg, and remained in the
same death-like posture, with closed eyesatill
the night of Monday, when the corpse took a
little wine, and soon after spoke—since which she
has disappeared. Some say she went out of the
top of the chimney.

An inquest was held yesterday evening, be-
fore Mr. HIGGS, Deputy Coroner for Westmin..
ster, at the St. James Infirmary, Poland-street,
Oxford-street, on the body of Mr. John Dutton
Howell, aged thirty-eight, who died suddenly.
Verdict—" Died by the visitation of God."—
Twenty-five pounds were offered by a sur-
geon to have the body handed over to him for
dissection. It was effeminate in its appearance,
the bones were remarkably small, and, to the
eye of a common spectator, nothing extraordinary
appeared ; yet, so laluable did it appear to the
surgeon, that the above enormous price was im-
mediately offered for it. We, know not whether
tl►ose who have a claim to the body will consent.