Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-09-10

LIE hELSEf MfSFEhf.-bast Iall one
Charles G. Kelsey of Huntington, Long
Island, was charged with annoying several
young ladies of that place with vulgar and
anonymous letters. On the night of the 4th
| of November Kelsey was tarred and feather
ed by some of the residents of the village.
He was not seen after this outrage upon him
On Friday, Aug. Goth, portion of a human
body was found floating in Oyster Bay, and
1T is supposed they are Kelsey's remains.
Only the lower part of the body and the legs
were discovered, but the watch-chain fas-
tened on the pantaloons is Enthusiastically the
one worn by Kelsey on the night of his
disappearance, and the thick coating of tar
| covering the remains also helps TO fix their
identity. In addition to other indignities,
he body was mutiated in a nameless man
ner, proving to what horrible and humanity
lengths his tormentors carried their re-
vengeful and violent acts. Medical testimony
shows In a manner amounting to actual
proof that this mutilation was done before
his death. The condition of the bloody
shirt found upon the beach the morning af-
ter his disappearance, corroborates the other
| testimony GU this point. The theory of the
- tar party as they are known in
huntington, the scene of the outrage, is that
this is merely trick OF the friends of
Kelsey. They assert that the latter is still
alive and has been frequently seen, and that
mutilated body was planted in Oyster
bay to secure the conviction and punishment
OF his supposed assalin ts for his personal
salts faction and revenge. The facts, how
ever, are too indisputable to suffer much
depreciation from such improbable asser-
tons. kelseys family accept the remains as
bus. The bay is being dragged for the other
halt of the body. 1t is not strange that the
men suspected in this outrage shout ridi-
Guile the discovery. for it is almost their
death-kneli. They are prominent citizens
and church members /; one OF them is dea
con, another doctor, and all are called
respectable. Their acts were supposed to be
in gallant defense of Miss Smith from Kel
sey prosecutions, but it is by no means
certain that Kelsey was guilty of the al
legged improprleties. He was a poor, weak,
infatuated fellow, but was harmless, never
theless, and those who knew him best deem
him incapable of sending the indecent letters
and pictures which Mrs Smith received.
They were not in his handwriting, and, as
they continued to come for several DAYS after
his death, there is good reason to suspect
| that they were the work of an impostor. 1t
was not very noble, certainly, for "respecta-
BILE church members - to take the law into
their own hands against such man, and
the horrible atrocity of their proceedings
stamps them as incarnate fends. Several of
| them admitted at the examination, last fall
that they saw Kelsey alter he had been tar
red and feathered, but no one has yet con-
essed to participation. Royal Samms, who
married Miss Smith shortly after Kelsey s
disappearance, is a clerk in New York, and
appears to share the opinion of his accom-
plices in the outrage that it is put up
job" Proofs sufficient to convict these men
may be hard to obtain, but only their
blindest partisans will deny that, if they
&C ually participated in or encouraged the
devilish work, they should suffer as severe
penalty as the laws provide.