Litchfield enquirer., 1877-12-06
The Cloak of Piety.

No moral phenomenon is quite so hateful as that of the protesting Christian gone totally wicked, yet continuing, mechanically as it
 were, to covef bis moral nakedness with the rags of his old piety. Hypocrisy sometimes
 reaches the point where it ceases to be hypoc- riay. It no longer lies knowingly, but culmi- mates in 9 sort of moral deadness-the product
 of lifetime of piopG profession and impious
 practice--when the power to distinguish good
 from evil is at last utterly gone. No more hor- rible example of this total moral depravity ins side shell of religion, has ever come under our notice than that of Deacon Ezra P, Smith,
 of Vergennes, Vt., now under indictment for poisoning his wife.
 Deacon Smith is a native of town adioin-
 ing Vergennes, of very respectable family,
 owner of valuable farm, partner in we'll
 known stove and tinware firm. ,.and proprietor
 of neat place in that city. He has family
 of grown up children, is in comfortable pecun-
 iary circumstances. and has always maintain
 ed an excellent reputation. h January last
 he made the acquaintance of a Mrs Champlin, bright young woman of 31, with husband and several children, but sort of Green Mountain Delilah who had already been con- cerned in a scandal with North Adams law yer Her fascination of the deacon began at
 church sociable, where she played kissing
 games with him after the manner of many pi- ous people who consider dancing sin. His
 deinoralization seems to have been rapid and complete; for, in August last, the guilty pair
 murdered the deacons wife by poison Not only is the evidence of this crime very strong against both, but MT. Smiths subsequent at-
 tempts to bribethe Professor who analysed the
 stomach of his deceased wife, to report that he could discover no trace of poison, appears in letters he was incautious enough to write and entrust to 2 detective who pretended to become
 his accompliee. To this man, Deacon Smith
 confessed the criminality which preceded and l followed the murder, and through him the prosecuting officers have obtained several of the letters that passed between him and Mrs.
 Champlin. From one of the letters written by this hardened wretch to his paramour, we make
 the following extract, inserting in it's proper
 place the scripture quotation referred to:
 l Remember that we read in the Good Book that he will not leave nor forsake them that | put their trust in him.. have faith to believe
 that there is an ever-willing Hand in this mat ter and it will all come out right. But the road looks dark, very, and the future dark. can not explain my feelings any better than to ask l yoa to turn to the Book of Ruth the 1st chap ] ter and the l6-lE verses. T'tAnd Ruth said 1 Entreat me not to leave th6s or to return from l following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, will lodge;
 thy people shallsbe my people, and thy God my 1 God where thou diest will die, and there will be buried the Lord do so to me, and more also, if a1ght but death part me and thee."l This will always be my sentiments, 90 dearest, don't despair.
 It is difficult to conceive of the moral condi- ton thst could bring man to wrest one of the
 noblest and most heantiful passages in script ure to such an abominabie puFposel It was not hypocrisy; for the woman to whom 1t was addressed was his accomplice in the most atro-
 cious crimes. The simple truth is that the man
 has talked the ladguage of the bible till he can use no other. Such ideas as he has-bad as