St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-04-26
Romish Cruelty.
BY EUGENE LAWRENCE.

found i'll most ROmlSh countries has lc-
ceived IL new eNemplitication III prom
ably fatal assault upon tcachcr III
PENNSYLVANIA. Nothing 50 tllSh'I"l III
relirious history has recently occurred.
In italy and even Spain the hand OF the
Romish assassin has been stayed: 1t Il
left for America to offer the worst cX-
ompIes of papal cruelty and intolerance.
and TO witness patiently outragcs that
in Rome or Vienna would meet with m
slant and terrible rctrihution. In the
town of Centralia. Pennsylvania, L. {.
Greene. Il teacher generally esteemed.
and of superior ability, is ut the head of
one of the public schools. He happen
ed. i'll private conversation. t" reply
vigorously to Il RomiSh acquaintance
who argued against Professionalism. and
had treated it with little respect. The
conversation was reported to the priest:
the next sunday the Romi>h children
were forbidden to attend the school
AN effort was soon after made to remove
Greene from his position : when the
School Board refused To consent. the
Roman Catholics formed Il plot To muir
der him. Since the death OF Jean Cal
as. at Toulouse, indeed, no act of relig-
IONS violence HIS SUI l''lN''' III ''i''" ~
dictivc malice this dreadful scene en-
acted in a small town of Pennsylvania.
under the protection of American law.
One morning the teacher and II was
but Il few days ago entered his school.
He found sitting there three men whom
he did not know, and one pupil, ii Miss
Strauscr. The strangers had inquired
for Mr.. Greene of the young girl, and
were waiting for him. She saw them
enter into conversation with HIM. but
as he bent down over the stove to open
the door one of the men struck him Il
severe blow with IL slung->hot. She
now strove to escape, but IL rutfian SeIZ-
ed her and threatened to shoot her if
she dared to give the alarm. With
what terror and confusion we may we'll
imagine, Miss StrauSer was forced to
look on while the aSSaSSlnS beat the
teacher until they thought him dead.
and then eat OB one Of has edrs. They
made their escape, and although sever
al persons have been arrested and taken
before Miss Strauser, she has not been
able to identify any one of them. 1t l.
possible that horror and alarm may
have confused her SENSES. Meantime
Mr.. Greene lies Ill IL dying condition.
After his terrible wounds he contrived
to get up, walk out of the school-houSr,
and was found lying upon the earth
bleeding and inSenSiblc. His head is
severely cut, his skull fractured in two
places, one ear entirely gone, and his
mind has not sufficiently returned to
enable him to relate the particulars OF
the assault. or describe the persons who
attacked him.
That IL citizen holding one of the
most respectable and useful stations in
the community. the head of a public
school, should he set upon by aSsaSsin>
because he spoke openly in defense of
his religion, is il circumstance III itself
sufficiently shocking. No ones life or
person, it seems. is any longer safe who
ventures to doubt the divinity of Mary
or the supreme prerogatives ofthe pope.
He is liable to have his skull fractured.
his ears cut off, to he exposed without
protection to the utmost malice of that
large criminal population that seems t"
grow up naturally under the shelter of
the Romish Church. Statistics show
that more than three -tourths of our
criminals and pauperS are Roman Cath
olics. In the city of Rome. under the
papal rule. the number of murders and
transformations i'll proportion to its pop
ulation was infinitely greater than in
any other city. But the circumstances
attending the assault upon Mr.. Greene
serve to render it singularly alarming.
For some time before it occurred the
town of Centralia had been filled by the
RomiSh priests and their adherentS with
pamphlets denounciug the public
schools. The Romi>h population had
been excited to intense fanaticiSm. The
priest aided i'll encouraging the danger
GUS spirit of the people, and the itS>;!S-
sins seem to have been urged on tu
their dreadful deed 10y the open conn
tenancc of the Romi>h Church non
have priests or people rcpcnted oftheil
crime even IN the presence of their dy-
ing victim. 1t is stated that many Ro-
man Catholics cXult over his fate. and
declare that he shall never he allowed
to leave the town alive. Several Prot
eStants who expressed their sympathy
for the teacher have been threatened
with violence. and are now rcmnN ing
from Ccntrala with their families, lest
they. too. may he assaulted. MANNED OF
murdered.
W i'll Ii'illlolb -tllltl''lI tdill IltdI
without shame and Indignation this last
outrage of the RomiSh population l.
freedom of speech no longer to he
known among us Is the press To he
Silenccd by the worst elements of Socie-
tye Shall Il foreign sect he permitted
to encourage in our midst murdcrerS
and aSSa>>ins \ feeble effort has been
made i'll il Roman Catholic periodical to
remove from its people the odium of Il
long series of acts of violence fatal to
the peace of the community hV assert
ing that other SeCtS are equally guilty
with its own. But this assertion is
plainly untrue. No other religious sect
assaults teachers is ut Hunters Point.
or leaves them bleeding and diving as
in the school house at Ccntralia. \ Ro-
mish mob struck down with fearful
wounds an ardent preacher ut OgdenS-
burg and an other at Scranton Three
times have the streets of New York been
filled with bloodshed and terror by the
religious higotrv of its Romi>h popula-
ton. The Romish press. on several oc-
casions before the fall of the pricstlv
rule Ill our city. >trovc to excite its PEG
pie to assault publishers and authors
who ventured to dcnounce the fatal
spread of Romish influence, the corrup-
ton and degradation of the RomiSh otii-
Gals; nor Is there any part nt the colln-
try that does not abound in constant
proofs of the malice and the cruelty that
prevail unrestrained amidst the ignor-
ant members of that sect which alone
opposes the education of the people. 1t
Is the blgotry of ignorance and of sell
fish isolation that has made our Romish
population the source of political tu-
multS, of private aSSassinatons. of I'M
bounded pauperism and crime. 1t is at
the direct command of an Italian priest
that they are tanGht To hate the tnnrh