Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-06-13

blown actually through the sides of houses In
one place, forty rods should Judge, from the
spot where the explosion took place, hole was
blown through the front of frame house, large
enough for man to enter Upon the side walk,
in front of shop Of old iron, lay in disorder,
some thirty or forty rusty bomb shells, about
eight inches in diameter 1t was said by the
crowd that man had one of these between his
knees, endeavoring to loosen the charge with
stick, when it exploded, producing this scene of
destruction and carnage. The body of this man!
was torn to pieces, and scattered in fragments
through the streets. Observing a crowd gather
ed around an object in the street at a little dis
lance, approached it, and saw, apparently, al
large piece of butchers meat, which boy was
pushing about with his foot On examining it,
it proved to be the lower portion Of a mans leg,
with the crushed bones, and mangled flesh
The other leg said by-stander, twas blown O.
yer into Hudson Street A crowd was collected
round window still gazing at some object. 1t
ed, and blackened having been torn from the
body, and thrown with violence against the brick
wall The mangled trunk Of the unfortunate
man, headless and limbless, had been carried
into the house, and the shrieks of his wife were
heard over the bloody remains. Upon an iron
window frame lay the torn and bloody body of
another man. A fragment of the she'll had torn
away one half of his head. He was dead. His
blood and brains were dripping down upon the
pavement, and day laborer had thumb and fin
ger upon his eyes, to close them forever. Two
young men who happened to be passing by in
the middle of the street, were literally blown up
into the air, and fell with broken and mangled
limbs upon the pavement. They both died, l
believe, the next day In the street lay horse
dead and it was singular that he also had the
whole of the back of his head torn off by frag-
ment of the she'll A beautiful wagon to which
he was attached was also demolished, the spokes
of the wheels broken, and the vehicle almost
torn to pieces.
Such was the devastation produced by the ex-
plosion of one single shell. And yet this shell
did but perform its function. 1t was for thi.
very purpose-to destroy property and life. Il
was made to be thrown into the crowded street;
of city, there to explode, and blow up houses
and tear limb from limb. This was the function
of the instrument And this is war. To throw
such missiles as these into the crowded streets o
city, is the business of war. As looked upor
this scene, and witnessed its carnage and woe
and reflected that it was the work of one single
shell, and then reflected upon the CONSERVATION
and horror which must be produced by raining
down shower of these shells upon city, crush
ing their way through the roofs of the houses
exploding in the chambers of the dying, or il
parlors where mothers, and daughters, and nfan
children are gathered in terror, never did 81
= deeply feel before the horrors,-the unmitiga
ted niquity of war; never before did | so deepl,
feel that it was the duty Of every one who ha
a voice to speak, or a pen with which to write
to devote all his influence to promote the alb
clifton Of this 6end-like work.
When Napoleon, with his blood-stained army
arrived before the walls of Vienna, he planted
his batteries, and in less than ten hours threy
three thousand of those horrd projectiles int
the CITY, Three hundred of these bomb shell
exploded every hour, five every minute, in tn
: streets and dwellings of the crowded metropolis
i Who can immagine the terrors Of that dreadful
night when, amid the thunders of artillery, tn
cry and the uproar of contending armies, an
conAagratons breaking out on every side, thes
= terrible shells, like fiery meteors with portentou
glare, were sreaking the air, and descendln
II like hail stones upon the doomed city Crasl
ing through the roofs of the dwellings, they e,
ploded at the ire-side, in the very cradle of til
II infant, blowing their mangled limbs, with frag
ments of their demolished homes far and wild
into the air. In this way Napoleon conquere
Vienna. In this way England conquered Car
ton. And in this demoniac work thousands
our countrymen are ready to engage for the az
Il QUESTION of Texas and Oregon. The Who'll
e city of New York was thrown into excitement b
the tale of the explosion of this one shell, an
there is scarcely a newspaper in the land whic
X did not record the dreadful story And yet it
the business of war to cast those shells by thor
sands among the men and boys who crowd tn
ships Of the navy and the merchant fleet, an
= among the aged men, the mothers, the maiden
and the children who throng tie dwellings an
: the payements of the city. 0 merciful God say
the nations from the horrors ofwar
e May, 1916