The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-12-01
THE LAST OF THE LOT.

ing OF Dec 9th.
THE LAST OF THE LOT.
The Leader of the Mob That Burned the
Charleston College Dead.
A dispatch of the 18th ult., announced
the death at Pittsfeld, N. H., of John r.
Buzzell, who led the mob that burned
the Ursuline convent at Charleston,
Mass, on the night Of Aug. IL, 1884.
All the actors in that demoniac scene
have now passed away from earth. Some
of them, it is known, came to tragic
deaths, and one or more to long,
dragged out story of tragic suffering for
which there was no balm in Gilead. One
OF the chief actors cut his thro st shot
time after, and one-the least guilty, be-
cause much the youngest OF ali, a mere
boy in years, and almost a girl in appear
ance-saw his mother die of a broken
heart because of that night, and himself
lived his lifetime with the stigma upon
him of dsmnation-although es-
capped by pardon-to state prison for life.
Whatever of retribution followed the
thieves and burners into their private
lives mere mockery of justice was ad~
ministered upon them. OF the seven or
eight tried by law, men positively known
to have fired the convent, and seen by
hundreds making off with convent prop
erty, not one save the boy was brought
to punishment. It was thought that the
jury refused to find the first batch of
ringleaders guilty of the crime Of arson
because of the severity of its penalty.
Hence the persecution for the next batch
changed the charge to one Of breaking
and entering with felonious intent;" but
even so, every one Of the VIZ tches was
acquitted, is the astonishment Of every
honest American who watched the pro-
gcess of the trialswith Intelligent interest
''Down with the convents!" was too much
the spirit of the bigoted and ignorant
populace of that time, of which populace
the Jury were representative men; go 8
crime which has sent many a man to
lifelong imprisonment or the gallows
was ia this instance declared 1t to have
been committed at all, because COM
mitted against hated 'sect."
It Is sorrowful to realjze that this con
vent riot, unlike the negro riots of 1863.
Was not the work of iliiterate and brutal
aliens, but the native born Americans,
sons by long descent of New England,
and heir love Of law and order. Buzzell,
the ring leader, was a New Hampshire
man. He it vas who, a day or two be
fore the riot, brutaly beat the Irish gar
dener of the convent for having ordered
woman off the convent
grounds. In the evidence 1t was told
that Bazzell in thrashing the Irishman
said, This is the way we do things in
this country evidently thinking this
country belonged to his lawless kind,
and not to the iaw-abiding Irishman's.
This remark of Buzzell's brought down
the house when repeated in court. The
feeling of the whole vulgar populace
was against the convent. Ignoraat men
and women believed all the cock and
bull stories then current OF babies skulls
found on the premises, of refractory nuns
in dungeons, and Of the
Influences brought to bear
on Protestant pupils. That ignorant and
bigoted populace was morally and spirit
ually incompetent to believe that hui
man beings exist who can live pure lives
with every opportunity for impurity, and
that community OF unmarried women
could be subject to an unmarried Bishop
without making that relation an i'm
proper one. Hence it was nothing more
or less than the evil imaginations OF
Americans that put that blot of crime
and sacrilege upon New England's es-
cutcheon. We can only be comforted in
this matter by knowledge that while the
rabble and file of Charleston itself looked
upon the crime without adherence il
not with actual satisfaction, when even
the Se1ectmen wicked at the shame, the
indignation Of the whole country was
reused by it and the intelligent and edu-
Gated classes everywhere expressed their
wrath at the deed. The spirit Of the
wronged community itself is proved in
the facts that the Bishops sermon the
following Sunday was from the text
Father forgive them; they know not
what they do, !" and that 9 petition for the
pardon Of young Marcy, the boy con
demned to prison for life, was headed By
the Lady Superior ct the convent and
|signed 81 every one Of the Sisters. u u