Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-08-28
\ DlAROLlCAL AND UNHEARD OF
OUTRAGE.

Inc Yuhaniem when mas been rampant
5br several months in our village and town
eliminated on Saturday night in the perpe'
trAtion Of one Of the most inhuman, diab oil.
cal and 6endish outrages that ever occurred
IN any civilized community. Not content
with lying in wait for murderous attacks
upon peaeeable citizens in the BY places and
snder the cover of darkness, these despera-
does-for they are undoubtedly the same
gang,-entered the quiet enclosure conse-
Grated long since to the sleeping dead, in the
west part of this village, and, ghoul like,
attacked the peaceful resting places Of the
departed. No less than hirts-t,eo of the
best and most costly grave stones and mon
umepts, were overturned, many Of them
broken, and all more or less mutilated and
damaged. Shafts of marble weighing from
one to two thousand pounds were thrown
from their pedestals little head stones mark
ing the sweet spot where repose the infant
idol of the family flock, were broken or torn
from their sockets, and hurled upon the moss
and shrubbery which loving hands of aAec-
tionate parents had planted upon the little
mounds of earth which cover cherished re-
mains,-in short mutilation, wreck and ruin
stared on every hand upon the visitor to
that sacred enclosure on Sunday morning.
seeming as If imps from hell,-spirits of the
damned,-had held high carnival there
during the darkness of the preceding night,
ifperchance they might purturb the spirits
of the good departed, by outraging their af
fectionate remembrance by relatives and
friends still on earth. 1t would be impo,s-
sible to describe the deep indignation mani
tested by our citizens yesterday as the out
rage became known. Hundreds visited the
cemetery and were appalled, and shocked by
tbs scene of the last nights hellish work.
Had the perpetrators been known and with
in reach of the excited throng, We have but
very little question that they would have
been lynched upon the nearest tree, in spite
of remonstrance, if any there were who
would feel like demonstrating.
The damage done pecunisrly, though the
last thing to be considered or thought of in
connection with this more than heathenish
act, is nevertheless very considerable. Mon
uments costing from ons to four hundred
dollars, are so mutilated as 10 be compare
t,yelv worthless. One beautiful marble slab,
exquisitely designed and executed, not long
ago erected by poor widow out OF the hard
earned plttance acquired by the use OF her
needle, to the memory of her deceased hus-
band, at the cost Of twenty dollars, was torn
up and broken into three pieces, the foot
prints of the ruthless and inhuman monsters
being deeply impressed into the soil which
still lays lightly upon the breast OF the
sleeper. We hope our citizens will contrib
ute to this poor widow the means to replace
the stone.
Had one risen from the dead and IN
formed us that any being on earth, In human
form, could even conceive the idea of per pc
trating so cruel, so remorseless, so tendish,
and 80 damnable an act, we could not have
believed it. And yet it has been done, here
in our midst, and in pleasant and prosper
ous and enlightened New England village !
There is no savage in the forest, no heather
IN the darkest corner of the earth, no canni-
bal on the islands of the Pacific, who would
not be shocked at the idea of profaning the
resting places of the dead. What then, can
we think of the monsters who, in christian
community, will deliberately execute deed
so horrible that it would shock the blunt
sensiblities of the most benighted pagan?
We beg people abroad to understand that
the general character of our village and town
in point of honest industry, thrift, intelli,
gence, moral and christian culture, is fully
on par with other localities of the size in
the New England States. We are in gen.
eral law-abiding, church going community.
Yet it cannot be denied that these outrages
of the few reckless and lawless ones in our
midst are the legitimate fruit, in part at
least, of our remissness. There are many
sinks of iniquity in our village, from which
the streams of lawessness and outrage are
constantly flowing. Rot-gut vendors are
blvouacked upon us in shanties, and on the
more busy street corners, and deal out the
deadly poison with shameless Indifference to
the public peace, and individual suffering.
Liquor dealing is bad enough VIXEN placed
under the restraints which the garb of re-
spectability throws around it, but when in to-
tally irresponsible hands,-when the totally
depraved deal it out Unfortunately and
- L. L. r