The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-10-31
For the Palladium
Are these Things SOP

Msssas. EoIToRs:-In your last paper 80 +,
i give that which purports to; be . statemea
made by Charles F. Coffin. at the Christian
Convention held It Indianapolis on the 18th
insk, which places the moral aspect Of our CITY
50 much lower in the scale than It should occu
py, with its numerous churches and excellent
schools. and Inhabited as it is BY 50 large num-
| Der of psofessing Christians Of every denomina-
| tion. and particularly by SO large number Of
members Of the Society of Friends, that it is
well calculated to cause the blush of shame to
mantle the checks Of every citizen, male and
female, be they religionists or moralists, and
induce them to make the inquiryat the head of
this article: "A,e these things sop Are there
only SEQ families cut Of 1000 in Richmond.
who have any church connection? Are there
265 families out of the whole number. who are
without Bible? Are there only 5000 out Of
Is 600 inhabitants, who attend church? Who
is that seventy y ears old Canadian woman, the
wretehed keeper Of q, den of infamy. that he
says Vas converted? Who is that woman, (the
companion Of > Methodist class-leader, and .
drunkard, who wss seen on the streets of Rich
mond, drunk. and whose son is now in the Pen
itentiary, and who are all now "happly convert
red ?" { have, Msssfs. Editors, been . citizen
here for nearly forty years, and during all that
time have never felt that Richmond was SO
thoroughly degraded and Sodomized as Charles
Cofin's statement would lead a stranger to sup
pose, by his rotation of those damaging stats
tics as indicative Of society within our corporate
limits think the correspondent of the Gin
cinBati Gazette, from whence you say the ex.
tract you published was taken, must have mis-
understood or misrepresented Charles Collins
remarks; for surely he would not volunteer to
bring The place of his birth. where so many and
unselfsh deeds of benifcence and true Christian
charity have been wrought by him, into such
disrepute! will not credit it, and hope he
will correct what believe to be a msapprehen-
sion of his languages distortion of the facts
said to have been uttered by him on the occa-
sion alluded to.
From the best information can CLEAN, and
it has been from those who have been convers-
ant with the operations of the Bible Society in
this city-(and that Society has been actively
engaged in distributing Bibles to all who are
unable to purchaseo-th is not even thirty
families in our city, that can be said to be des-
titute of copy of the Bible, either that Of the
Protestant or Catholic translations. also am
convinced that Charles Cofins estimate Of the
number attending some one OF the meetings Of
the various congregations and religious sects, is
far below the proper estimate. Our population,
with those Of The suburbs counted in, will not
number over liz, Ooor and out of that number.
-
less, Of attending church services. feel,
Messrs. Editors, that the reputation of our city
has been wantonly stabbed in its religion and
morals, by the statements you have published,
as emanating from soscreditable source as that
of my friend Coffin, aud pen this communica-
ton in the hope that he will make the proper
amends TRrKxp OF RICHMOND.
10th mo- 26th, 1867.