The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1869-06-11
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ASTOUNDING yILLAINY.

A Michigan Fruit Orchard Destroyed
Nifht--$1, 500 Reward Oneredfor
the biscovery of the PerpetratqrH
Our excellent and valuable adjacenteom-
munity In the fruit. regions Of st. Joseph
has been thrown into state oflexcitenent
by an act of astounding villainy, perpetrat-
ed few nights SINCE, which for: boldness
and breadth of the. nefarious designs, and
what must have been ths laboric6ks indusSry
OF It's consummation, deserves to stand at
the head of its department of the criminal
list. In single night, 1900 fruit trees OF
all varieties, many of them in high bearing
-ee.s1ition, -and-aIl- choicest-stock-
were girdled by some internal agency, for
whose throa.s the Spanish garotte would
be+eo mild d ghHe. Our fellow-citizen,
Martin G cen, Esq, an enterprising con-
tractor on the canal aud harbor-M work Is
among those Of Chicago risidenfs Who
early saw the nshle prom g of st. Joseph
region for fruit cuhufe. = Ftr some Years,
with the most liberal and generous skill, he
has been beautifying and creating an
orchard paradise at Benton Harbor, adi
| joining St JqSefhs and hts extensive
grounds had resched the condition Of be-
ing full of trees of the choicest DIES sriptlon
of peaches, plums, apricots, cherries,
PIT It IS estipstsa thafJ the value of his
premises could not have been less thar
$4,000. In q single night this promise
| has been blasted, and ON the morning
following it was discovered by aetua
! count, 800. of his choicest irees had beer
hacked and girdled--this statement being
at once indicative of the extent of the no
bic orchard and the bulk Of the enormous
knavery that sought this method OF re-
veHge. Evidently DO one singly could have
| done the work, for it was thoroughly done
the bark of the tree, after having" beer
carefully cut, was hacked and drawn back
with the evident determination that the
malice should not. fail in its object. 55E
While the local authorities and citizens
at once entered upon measures 30 offer re
wards for the arrest of the Williams, Great
ling fund Of 81, 500 for that purpose,
force of the most experienced orchardists
with their assistants, went into sanitary
commission effort to succor and save as tal
as could be- Some of the trees, it was seer
Instantly, were, beyond help, but an inyes
tigation was made and measures taken *
rescue, if possible, from one thousand t.
twelve hundred Of the trees by processes
which at this season of the brisk flow o
sap, needed to be speedy to be effectual
The whole regi6n was laid under eontribu
ton for rags migrating wax. g
The grafting-waX was heated III large ket
ties; women and children stripped and dip
ped the rags, the tree-surgeons tenderl..
closed the gaps IN the ragged and tori
bark, and closed the orifiees closely witt
bandages, after painting the whole liberall.
with the hot wax to exclude the air ant
protect the repairs that IN ust be left to ma
ture, whether on the trunks Of trees or the
limbs fmen. I 1t viii be among the most
interesting and important of all the prob
lens of fruit culture ever reached, the" se4a
ton of this matter of Martin. Green's raw
aged orchards, and fruit cnlturists in al
sections of the country await with eager
ness the result Of the field hospital opera
tons among these Benton Harbor victims
of one of the most remarkable and afro.
| cious outrages it has ever been our provinc'
to record. The value of the trees thu
visited could not be estimated at less thai
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