Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1863-08-28
The Sacked House.

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On the Sunday following the great riots
in New York, Rev. o. B. rockingham
preached a sermon, in which be made the
following reference to the sacking of the
home of James S. Gibbons, Esq: -
"The dwelling was one, the like of which
is rare in any ciiy-a dwelling of happiness
and peace-a home of the tenderest domes-
tic affections-a house of large friendliness
and hospitality--a refuge and abiding place
for the unfortunate and the outcast. There
was no display of wealth there-ihere was
no wealth to display; yet the house was
full of things which no wealth could buy.
1t was crowded with mementoes. The |
pieces of furniture in the rooms had family
histories connected with them chairs and
tables were precious from associations with
noble and rare people who had gone. Pic
lures on the walls, busts in the parlors, en-
cravings, photographs, books, spoke of the
gratitude or love of some dear giver. One
room was sacred 10 the memory of noble
boy, an only son, who died some years ago.
There was his bust in marble, there were
his books. there were the prints he liked,
the little bits of art he was fond of, and all
the dear things that seemed TO bring him
back. The whole house was a shrine and
sanctuary.
"And who were the inmates? The mas
ter, man whose sympathies were always
and completely with the working people,
man of steady and boundless humanity
The mistress, woman whose name is ia
miliar to all doers of good deeds in the city
of New York, and dear to hundreds of OBJ
jects of good deeds. To the orphan and
friendless and poor, mother; to the unfor-
tunate, sister; to the wretched, the de-
PRAYED, the sinful, more than a friend. In
the city prison, her presence was the pres
ence of an angel Of plying love; at Black
wells Island, she was welcome as spirit
OF peace and hope. The boys at RandalPs
Island looked into her face as the face of a
mother. Again and again had she rescued
from the life of sha1le the country woman,
and possibly the kindred of the very peo-
pie who plundered her home. For the bet
tor part of a year and more she has been
in camp, and city hospitals, nursing their
brothers and sons, performing every menial
office. At this moment she is at Point
Lookout, doing that work, amid d'scomtorts
and discouragements that would daunt a
less resolute humanity than hers, giving all
: she has and is to the people, TO the wound
ed, crippled, bleeding and broken people
giving it for the sake of the pecple-giving
il that the people may be raised to higher
social level! And she, for sooth, must be
selected TO have her house pllaged! She
must be stabbed to her heart of hearts, stab
bed through and through in every one oi
her affections, by these people for whom
her life had been perpetual process OF dy.
ing Why, if they had known this that
have been telling you, or but tenth ART
of it, those men would have defended with
their bodies every thread of the carpets she
, trod on. But so it is and SO it must be !
Only the best names are ever taken in var
on human lips, and they are SO taken be
cause they are the best; and best is wors
to those who cannot understand it."
Mr.. Gibbons himself gives the following
I account of the ruin the mob left behint
"No person was in the house at the time
Of the assault Seeing 10 appearance o.
' the mob in the immediate vicinity, | hac
J, walked over to Broadway to get an evening
!. paper. On my return homeward, in abou
: forty minutes, found that the house baC
/ been broken open, and fired in several plac
es, and was already half sacked. 1t was il
q the hands of a thousand thieves. passed
in. and up stairs, to see whether anything
/. could be done to clear them out, but founC
!. IL impossible, and retired. The lower door
q and windows were all broken in, and all th'
interior rooms and closet doors, with two o
o three exceptions. efaI
e @Every thing portable was carried Off