National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-07-14

In tho county Of Lawrence, two and q
half miles North of tho little town VI
Orleans, Orange county, Ind, and acai
the dividing line between the two
counties, lived four brothers, all OF them
single men, and we'll advanced in years.
With them lived their widowed sister,
Mrs. Tolliver, and q FARMLAND named
Lee. Throughout the two counties the
family was well known ~ one
OF Industrious iarmers-the men
rather positive In character aud probably
, little bitter in their animosities. They
/ however lived in peace with their neigh
bois, and were well respected. Some
have thought there existed in that neigh
borhood q vendetta spirit, for there
have been hangings and much violence
not many miles away. But however
we'll or ill.founded this supposition may
be. il is certain that the Moody brothers
had enemies who had determined upon
their destruction ut one fell swoop, and
in n manner No barbarous and utterly
cruel as TO make the blood run cold even
in its recital.
Near two o'clock one Sunday morning
the Moody residence was invaded by
several Disguised men, the doors and
windows beng forced open, and into the
rooms of the house several ealthen jugs,
filed with with petroleum, were thrown,
while several bottles of the same or an
equally iuilammable material, and seven
on eight torpedoes loaded with lead,
scraps Of old iron, nails, and other mis-
siles, were also forcibly pitched. The
torpedoes exploded with crash as soon as
they touched the floor, setting the house
on fire. The Moody brothers, their
sister, and the hired man, Lee, We're
awakened by the noise of the exploding
torpedocs and the smell OF fire, and III
their bewilderment made a rush for the
doors. The murderous wretches who
were thirsting for their blood had pre-
pared themselves for such an emergency,
however, and as the men struggled for
the front doors OF the house, the wretches
commenced a deliberate fire upon them
from revolvers. Twenty or more shots
were fired but Thomas Moody, one OF
the brothers. and the hired man, Lee,
pressed resolutely toward the door where
the .issassins were stationed, while the
two other brothers rushed TO another
upOif w tHt ithi vi WV hbuff's dlN
thoroughly alarmed and discounted the
villains and firing another volley at the
two approaching men, they turned and
fled at the top of theft speed.
Their last vollev wounded Thomas
Moody fatally, bali striking him ON
the upper part of the hip, passing into
and through the stomach, and out at the
lower point of the breast-bone. He
made his dying declaration in rel ton to
the attack upon his home. and those he
thought he recognized as his assailants.
Lee, the hired man, received ball III
his thigh, causing o severe wound, and
will prove fatal. Mrs. Tolliver, the
sister, was terribly burned by the fire in
the house, ignited by the bursting torpe-
does and the inhammable material with .
which the floors and furniture were satu. /
rated, and her injuries may prove fatal.
One OF the brothers rescued her, or she
would have persisted before the fire in
The house was eXtinguished. Another
brother escaped, unobserved, ard fled
rom house TO house in the neighbor-
iood, alarming the people.
The savage villains who perpetrated
his crime succeeded in getting away
before the arrival at the scene of the in
uriated people. The excitement among
he citizens in consequence of this terri
be crime is intense beyond description,
nd ii the assassins are arrested, there is
10 doubt that the State of Indiana will
ave another chapter If mob inlamy
dded to her criminal history.