Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-05-30

! For Sunday Reading. !
+ All Sorts Of Opinions. !.
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SALEM AND THE QUAkERs.
Statue Offered to the Town Recalling
Prosecutions

Statue Offered to the Town Recallin!
Prosecutions.
| The good people of Salem, Mass, de
scendants of the most puritanical Pur
fronted with a problem. A wealth,
itans of early Colonial days, are con
New Yorker of Quaker descent, desire!
| to erect a monument in the Salem
common in memory of two of his an.
| cestors who We're, after frightful perSe-
| cution, driven into exile and death by
the Puritans.
1t is proposed to show in marble OF
bronze fierce tiger in deadly struggle
with a man and woman. The tiger is
to typify the ferocity of unbridled sup
erstition, and the religious intolerance
, of the early days. The human figures
stand for Lawrence and Cassandra
Southwick, whose fate in 1860 is his
toric. That the fight went against them
is indicated by the tigers claws buried
in the woman'S back.
In Salem there are two factions. The
members of one say that such a mon
| ument would be a reflection on the city
and that they should commemorate
what we are proud of in the past not
what we are ashamed Of Our mon
uments should be raised to noble deeds
not to ignoble errors"
The other party, and among its MEM
bers are some of Puritan descent, say
that there could not be a better sub
ject for statue than the heroiSm OF
the Quakers in the hour of persecu-
ton. 1t would remind them, they say
that their fathers were mistaken, but
honest men, who did what they did I'M
der the firm conviction that they We're
serving God. They also point out that
the persecution of the Friends was not
confined to Salem alone, but that Bos-
ton was almost as bad and even New
York, contributed her share to the
troubles of the devoted religionists.
The story of Lawrence and Cassan-
dra Southwick is a pathetic one. They
were among the first to become Quakers
in this country, and almost the first to
suffer martyrdom. Lawrence was a
glassmaker, and settled with his fam
lily in Salem about 1880. The town gave
him land on which to locate a glass
factory, and for time he was pros
porous and respected citizen. When he
adopted the new religion troubles be-
gan for him and his wife.
Their absence from the First Church
of Salem, the regular independent
church was noticed, and they were ar
rested. Not only the husband and wife,
but their children were
whipped, imprisoned, starved, and al
most despoiled Of property. Two of
their children were ordered by the town
authorities to be sold into slavery.
~, Ga, No oh fy,
ca plain could be found whose heart
was hard enough to take them away.
Finally, as a last punishment, and af-
ter many warnings. Lawrence and Cas-
sandra were banished.
The fed in midwinter to Shelter Is
land They found a friend there in Ma
thaniel Sylvester, who protected them
It was not long, however that he could
minister to them. Exposure in frightful
weather and their previous punish
ments. together with advancing age.
brought on the end, and they met the
death they had fled to escape in 1860.
The Southwicks were not the only
ones to suffer. A year after their trou-
BILE began, two Friends attempted to
speak in church, after the regular
minister had finished his address. They
were arrested and sent to Boston, where
trial resulted in sentence of t1osging
and imprisonment. The laws against
the Ouakers in Salem were made more
rigid, and another devoted pair, Daniel
and Provided Southwick. were arrested
and ordered into slavery. Others were
banished on pain of death if they re-
manned longer.
A year after the death of Lawrence
and Cassandra Southwick on Shelter
Island, Josiah Soutnwicl, returned to
Salem without permission. He was
seized. stripped to the waist, tied to the
rear of cart. and whipped thru the
streets of Salem az the surrounding
villages. He stood E ordeal ana re-
turned to Salem, wh,l he was permit
ted to live.
After time the prosecutions be-
came so severe that the news of them
reached the mother country, ana the
crown authorities called halt. An Or
der was sent to the colony that all per-
sons arrested for being Quakers should
be sent home for trial. The persecu-
lions did not finally cease until 1928.
Cough, in his History of the Quak-
ers." says:
II know Of no instance Of more per-
severing malice and cruelty than that
they prosecuted the afore-
said Lawrence and Cassandra South
wick and their family. Despoiled of
their property, deprived of thier liberty.
driven into Punishment and jeopardy of
their lives. for no other crime than
apart and dissenting from the
worship. the sufferings OF
this inoffensive aged couple ended only
with their lives"
Frederick F. Aver, of New York, is
the man who proposed to give the stat
ue. Models have been prepared by j.
Rhind, of New York. and pho
tographs sent to the Salem authorities.
The group is to be from twelve to
fifteen feet high. The Salem city coun-
I'll has referred the proposition to a
special committee whose report, is
likely to be favorable, despite the OBJ
iect;ons raised. If Salem refuses the
statue it is said that it will be set up
else.
~