Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-09-16

Nchr uy, VI Vho o"hho W .uo "s''e
stream that runs through the village is q
sawmill. The wheel pit beneath is full
Of dead bodies floating in the water.
The banks of this stream were at one
time literally covered with corpses OF
men and women, young girls and child
rem, that lay there fostering in the sun.
and eaten by the dogs. We entered the
churchyard, but the odor here became
80 bad that it was almost impossible to
proceed. We take handful of tobacco
and hold IL to our noses while we con
tinue our Investigations.
The church was not large one, and
it was surrounded by low stone wall.
The place is heaped up with stones and
rubbish to the height OF five or siz
feet above the level Of the street, and
upon inspection We discover that what
bish is in reality an immense heap oi
human bodies covered over with thin
layer of stones. The whole of the lit.
tie churchyard is heaped up with them
to the depth of three or four feet, and il
is from here that the fearful odor comes.
The dogs had been at work, and now
could be seen projecting from this mon
ster grave heads, arms, legs, feet and
hands in horrid confusion. We were
told there were three thousand people
lying here in this little churchyard
alone, and we could we'll believe it. It
was fearful sight-a sight to haunt
one through life. There were little
curly heads there in that fostering mass.
crushed down by heavy stones; little
feet not as long as your finger on which
the flesh was dried hard by the ardent
heat before it had time to decompose;
little baby hands stretched out as ii for
help; babes that had died wondering at
the bright gleam of sabers and the red
hands of the fierce eyed men who
welded them; children who had died
with fright and terror; young
girls who had died weeping and sobbing
and begging for mercy; mothers who
died trying to shield their little ones
with their own weak bodies all lying
there together, fostering in one horrid
mass.
We talked to many people. "How
many were in your family9" we would
ask. "Ten," the answer would be,
perhaps: " How many remain 2"
!" Two" "How many in yours 2"
I" Eight" "How many remain 2"
'' Three" How many in yours 2"
'' Fifteen" "How many remain 2"
'' Five" And SO on in families num-
oering from five to twenty, in which
only remained from one to five persons.
One old woman said she had three sons,
Ill married. They had between them
;welve children, so that the family
all told, nineteen persons. OF
III there remained only this poor old
There was an old man
Who told us of his uncle, Blagoi Chris
ostoff, venerable patriarch of the grand
I'D type. He had five sons married,
Who had among them twenty-seven
children, thus making family that with
he wives counted up sum total of
hirty-nine persons living under the
anne roof. OF this enormous family
here are only eight left.
We asked about the skulls and bones
ve had seen up on the hill upon our |
irst arriving in the village, where the
logs had barked at us. These, we were
old, were the bones Of about two hun
red young girls, who had first been
aptured ana paftlclllarly reserved 1Or
7orse fate than death. They had been
ept till the last; they had been in the
ands of their captors for several days
Or the burning and the pillaging had
ct all been accomplished in a single
ay-and during this time they had
Uttered all it was possible that poor,
'eak, trembling girls could suffer at the
ands of brutal savages. Then, when
he town had been pillaged and burnt,
hen all their friends had been slaugh-
cred, these poor young things, whose
cry wrongs should have insured them
afety, whose very outrages should have
lsured them protection, were taken in
le broad light Of day, beneath the
Milling canopy of heaven, coolly be-
eaded, then thrown in heap there,
nd left to rot.