Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-09-18

The little town of Belvidere, Lamoill
county, was the scene, last Saturday night
of melee which almost arose to the dignit
of n riot. and which formed a striking con
trast to the usual quiet and order OF GU
rural communities 1t seems that abou
eighteen months since, q lodge OF Goo'
Templars was organized in Belvidcre. ant
the Christian church was rented for thei
meetings. A few OF the pewholders of tn
church, who, we are informed, had been en-
gagged in the liquor traffic to a greater OIL
or less extent, aad who were opposed to thu
principles of the order. assisted by some o
their friends, undertook the job OF breaking
up the lodge, and devoted themselves to the
work with good deal of ill-expended
energy. The leaders in the movement were
| Thomas Potter, his sons, Merritt and Madi
so n, and his brother, Oliver. At first they
sought to accomplish their object by dis
coursing martial strains of music from a
drum and fife in front of the church, from
the arganization of the meeting to the hour
of journment but this method proving
Intellectual, moro summary measures were
determined upon.
On Saturday night last, the lodge being
in session, a person who had been expelled
from the order for i'll conduct, gave the
Potter party the secret knock, and by this
means they obtained admission to the
church. The Good Templars, however,
promptly arose as one man and elected the
lntruders and then, in the street, in front
of the church, began battle worthy to be
ferior to any fought on the plains
of Troy. The chief weapons employed,
besides these given by Nature. were stones
and bricks, which were propelled with ire
mendous yigor and unerring aim. Thus the
battle ragged, At length the darkness
thiekenod as the carnage grew, until friend
and foe were alike indistinguishablc, and
Templar warred against Templar. Then
was witnessed an instance OF woman's cour-
age and devotion unrivallod in these latter
days. Seeing the peril of her friends, a
young lady rushed from the church bearing
lighted lamp in each hand, and remained
on the field of battle, undaunted, until the
close of the engagement, lighting the lem
plars on to victory. With this advantage
the latter attacked their opponents with re-
newed Vi gor and with such success that the
Potters soon ingloriously fled and left them
undisputcd masters of the situation.
Then the casualties were footed up, and
il was found that fifteen or twenty were
wounded, some Of them very severely-most
OF the wounds being due TO sudden and
violent contact of heads and brickbats Joel
H1dLkins. Willard Dean, julius and AmaSa
lleminway and Edmund Brown did most o:
the fighting on the Icmplar side, and all
are severely injured, the face of the gentle
man first mentioned, especially, being ter
rblyl manged. One of the POtters is said
/ t. be so badly wounded internally that he
| cannot recover. The doors of the church
were torn down, stove upset, blinds aud
windows shattered, and the space in front
Of the church strewn with bricks, rock.
| and other missiles lnnumerahle.
Instead Of lnJuring the lodge the affair
will strengthen it, for already fifteen OF
/ twenty person, have signifed their lnten-
/ ton OF joining II, and Will be initiated at
/ the next meeting, Saturday night. la the
/ future, the Templars will meet armed with
/ guns and reyolyers, and announce their IN
/ rention OF using them, if necessary. On the
/ other hand, the Potters openly declare that
a- long a. they live the lodge shall not hoiC
a meeting, and they 20 about breathing
/ vengeance. 80 it is not impossible that lli,
may yet be sacrificed By the lawle,s cour-,
of these ruihans
Il may be added that TIE young lady men
toned above. who really did very coura
geous act, Is a Mis- Thomas, daughter o.
of one OF the most ostimablc citizens of Bel
vidcrc