The Cecil Whig., 1877-12-01
For The Cecil Wing.
Historical Researches that Quilp Made
as Bohemian.
CHAPTER Nj.


THE LABADIsTs.
This man Moll referred to, in the last
chapter, was Dutchman and chief Judge
of the court at New Castle. He was in
business in Bristol, in England, at one
time, but failed and migrated 10 Virginia,
and traded there and in Maryland for
time. La Grange was probably a French
man. He lived in New York at one time,
/ aud the two Labadists appear to have had
letters of introduction to him. bankers,
/ in his journal, speaks Of him as q great fop,
and, when he first met him, had a very
mean opinion of him. He was in the habit
of trading to New Castle, and professed
! to be a convert to the Labadie religion.
Bayard is said to have been a halter, and
probably was the most, if not the only, sin
cere and honest man amongst the original
grantees of the " Labadie Tract
| These three men, who no doubt were
| friends and associates of Ephriam Her
man, who seems to have been a man of
no very superior mental ability. appear to
have let themselves be used as willing tools
! in the hands of these Labadists to aid them
| in the consummation of the conspiracy, of
which the weak minded Ephraim was cog
infant. No doubt they expected to reap
much benefit from the establishment of the
Labadie community SO near them, which
was probably the reason why they pro-
fessed to believe in the new religion, for
Z a., i. Il. q.
/ pany received the deed from Augustine
| Herman, Moll and La Grange conveyed
their interest to Slnyter and bankers, who
appear to have been at that time, and for
some time afterwards, the leading spirits
in the community.
| Bayard retained his interest in the land
till 1858, when he probably became dis
gusted with the doings of the Labadsts and
quit the community. Both he and Ephram
! Herman were, at one time, very strong in
the Labadie faith. They both deserted
their wives in order to follow the teach
| ngs of these strange fanatics, who enter
tanned strange views in regard to marriage,
of which we will speak more hereafter. The
misguided and undutful Ephraim is said to
have repented of his folly and returned to
his wife, but in less than two years was
taken sick, became crazy, and died, full
! filling, 10y his untimely end the maledic-
tion of his father, who, as it was said, pro-
nounced the curse upon him that he might
not live two years after uniting himself
with the sect.
! The community was composed of a few
emigrants from the community at Vie
vert and few persons from New York,
| together with few more converts and pro-
bationers from the vicinity of the commun
ity in Maryland
Sluyter sent to Frieslaud for his wife,
who came over and was installed as kind
of abbess or mother, superior over the
female part of the establishment. In 1893
Sluyter became the head of the community
bankers, then in Holland, having, in that
year, conveyed his interest in the land to
| him. Sluyter and his wife seem to have
been rigid disciplinarians as well as mer-
cenary and graspng people. They had
!
! the cultivation of tobacco, notwithstanding
| bankers spoke so contemptuously about it
in his journal few years before. Slavery
was against the doctrines of the Labadists
but Sluyter found it profitable, and proba
| bly, there was 10 one who had the courage
to report his practices to his superiors at
| Wiewert.
The community on the Manor was under
the surveillance of the mother church at
| Wiewert, and before person could become
full member of the former community
their case had to be referred to the mother
church.
! Sluyter acted his part so well that he was
requested to go to Wiewert in order that
he might take an important place made
vacant by the death of an eminent brother
| but he preferred to remain on the Manor
and traffic in slaves and tobacco, and lord
it over the poor dupes he had under his
| control. This suited him better than a
! subordinate position at Wiewert, for he
was man better fitted to rule than to be
under the control of others.
| a few years after ne became proprietor
of the Labadie tract, he sold the upper
most of the four necks to John Moll, Jr.,
! who was no doubt son of John Mol who
| had helped him and bankers in their eff
| forts to obtain the land from Augustine
! Herman. The conduct of these men i'll
! this transaction about this land looks bad,
! after the lapse of nearly two hundred years.
and indicates that if they were not posi-
| lively dishonest, that they were very far
! from being good Christians. The consid
Grafton IN the deed from Sluyter to Moll is
! c112 los. sterling money of old England
| The great probability is that he got the
! land for nothing, and that it was the price
of the duplcty of his father, the elder
Moll. If the Dutch judges and officials at
New Castle, few years before, were no
better than Moll it is no wonder that the
Swedes and Fins about New Castle were
driven to take refuge in the wilderness in
Maryland; indeed the wonder is that any
of the inhabitants remained under the con-
troll of the Dutch, and that their province
along the Delaware was not depopulated.
Two accounts of the Labadie community
upon the Manor have come down to mod
ern times. Samuel Bowans, a Quaker
preacher, who visited them in 1902, thus
describes their curious ways; "After we