THE 
 
 CHARLESTOW CONVENT; 
 
 ITS DESTRUCTION BY A MOB, 
 
 ON Tin: NIGHT OP AUGUST LI, 
 
 \\ 1 1 ii 
 
 A HT8T0RI ■'!' Tin: BXCITEHSN1 BEFORE TilK I;! JSSJSB, AM> T: 
 AM» EXAGGERATED REPORTS RELATING THERETO; THK 1. 
 
 BEGBEI AND INDIGNATION AFTERWARDS; THE PROCEED- 
 Q7QS OJ Mil CI»08, AND EXPR] i 
 TUT CONTEMPORART PR] - 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 THE TRIALS OF THE RIOTERS, 
 
 THE TESTIMONY, AND THE SPEECHES OP COUNSEL 
 
 WITH 
 
 A REVIEW OF THE LNCIDENT8, AND SKETCHES AND 
 RECORD OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS; 
 
 And a Contemporary Appendix. 
 
 COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED I'.V PATRICE DONAHOE. 
 
 1870. 
 
, •eeordl&g to Art of Coa^m*, la the jtmr INTO, by 
 lATkl A 11 <»E, 
 
 la tf» CWk't OA» of ihc Dtrtrtrt Govt of the 1 nutM of M umfcnUk 
 
 [NTEODUCTION. 
 
 Thk nbetai f the sul phlet 
 
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 it. — in i the 
 
 that tiin tluir 
 
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 ! up 'ii i the iri:il>, 
 
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 with ftddil 
 
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 .ii publi 
 
Til E 
 
 BURNING OF THE DESULINE I ONV1 M 
 
 C CHARLESTOWN. 
 
 CHAPTEB l. 
 
 ASSUMED CATTSBS OF THB OUTBREAK. — BUMOBS AND 
 PBEJUDICE8. 
 
 The burning of the Ursuline Convent and School, anon 
 Mount Benedict, in that part of Charlestown which is now 
 Somerville, on the night of August 11, l>.'il, has recently 
 dluded t<» in a public political meeting, ai d discussion 
 has been created in relation to circumstances connected with 
 that unfortunate and disgraceful event, and to some of the 
 persons who were supposed to have been associated with this 
 dire transaction. As the revival of the subject has produced 
 some discussion, and the whole facts relating to this by-gone 
 affair are entirely unknown to a large portion of our people of 
 the present day, a brief story of the Btirring events of the 
 time, gathered principally from the publications then drawn 
 forth, will not be unacceptable. There were, as those know 
 wlio then lived among u>, many concomitant circumstances 
 which fed the fire of prejudice, and assisted the lack of knowl- 
 whicb finally led to the catastrophe; and there were also 
 
 hundreds of excitable and ridiculous ru rs, calculated to stir 
 
 up the passions of the mob, which, ignorantly, maliciously, or 
 pirit of reckless and unthinking boisterousuess or -port, 
 joined in the exciting proceedings of thai memorable night. 
 
 The Orsuline Convent was situated on Mount Benedict, 
 
 about three mile.- from Boston, and it.-s ruin- are (o I 
 
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 nod v. 
 
 the burning, bad jhl w ich 
 
 - 
 
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 talk, 
 
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 • I month 
 
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All these reports, rumors, and transactions, w< 
 only preliminaries, <>r auxiliaries, to the catastrophe and con- 
 flagration. A rumor bad been put in circulation, and, of 
 
 . obtained full credence among the enemi< 
 vent, that a nun had been made way witli in some mysterious 
 manner, or was held in imprisonment in the "Convent dun- 
 geon;" ami the excitement which followed these reportf 
 
 ->•. ami exceedingly magnified by circulation. At any 
 rate the reports were noticed in many "t - the Boston papers, 
 ami were brought to the attention <>f tin- Charlestown author- 
 ities. On the Friday preceding the Monday night of the 
 conflagration, it was Btated in one paper that great excitement 
 prevailed at Charlestown in consequence of the mysterious dis- 
 appearance of a young lady at the Convent, and the following 
 was given as an accurate account <>f the circumstances, as far 
 BS the editor could ascertain them : — 
 
 "The young lady had been sent to the Nunnery to complete 
 her education, and became so pleased with the place and its 
 inmates as to he induced to take the Mack veil." Then it was 
 added, "that she subsequently became dissatisfied, and made 
 her escape from the institution ; hut was afterwards ; 
 to return, being told that if she would continue but three 
 weeks longer she would he honorabh discharged." Further, 
 it was stated "that, at the expiration of this renewed period, 
 her friends called for her, hut she was not to he found." 
 
 It may naturally he supposed that such a Mat. men! would 
 create a sensation, and it certainly had that effect : and, like 
 everything of the kind, had its own g 1 share of I" ili 
 
 and disbelievers. The statement was made in the Mercan- 
 tile Journal of the afternoon of August 8, and copied into the 
 Morning Post the next day. 
 
 Thin report was also copied into the Boston Commercial 
 Gazette, of August '.', accompanied by a declaration, given 
 
 on the authority of Rev. Mr. Fenwick, then UMiop of the 
 
 1 tiocese, that it was unfounded. It was added, that the Bishop 
 would probably lay before the public the mots of the case <>n 
 
 .Monday, the 11th; in the mean time the editor Btated, that 
 
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 This note, it will l>c perceived, was not written in :i 
 eloquent or perspicuous, bat it conveyed information to the 
 community, which should have been s 1. and 
 
 set forth before. 
 
 The other statement, which appeared in the Moid 
 
 that which was referred to by Bishop Fenwick a- being 
 about to he made by an impartial Protestant gentleman. It 
 was furnished by Mr. Edward Cutter, a large brick manufac- 
 turer, and a man < ► f " much respectability, whose residence 
 not tar from the Convent, and was in these terms : — 
 
 • i: ■ .i i in. M.i- 1 ..s IfoBirara Post; Some < 
 baring been created in this vicinity, by misrepresentations thai 
 
 the public, in relation to the disappearance of > young lady from the 
 Nunnery in this place, I deem it proper for me to itate o rtain dv •- thai are 
 in my possession respecting the affair. 
 
 Un the afternoon of Monday, the 88th ult., the lady in <pi*st: 
 my house, appeared to be considerably agitato d, and expressi 'l her i 
 oveyed to the residence of an acquaintance In west Cambrid 
 lent her my assistance; and on the Bucceeding day ! called with I 
 
 if inquiring for the causes which induced her to leare the Institution. 
 I was informed that she had returned to the Nunnery in company with the 
 ! ■. « it!i a promise that sin- should be permitted to leave in two "r three 
 
 • her wish. Since that time rarious rumors hare '■ 
 circulation calculated to excite the public mind, and to inch i 
 
 induced me to attempt to ascertain their foundation; a< rdingly, on 
 
 e 9th inst., 1 called at the Nunnery, and requested of the Su 
 an interview with the lady r ferred to. I obtained it; and was infon 
 
 her that she was at liberty to leave the institution at any tine 
 
 ! ■ : 1 1 . ■ statement » ide by tie. Superior, who t'urther remarked 
 
 that, in the • • tate of public feeling, Bhe « ould prefer I 
 
 • has been currently reported that the lady was not to he found, to 
 
 allay the excitement in consequence of it, I have thought tie 
 
 due to the public. BdWABS Cl iiik. 
 
 ( ii .via i.miuvn, August 11, 18S4. 
 
 The Mob and Co* flagbatton. 
 AYe have given above a notice of the principal moving 
 causes which led to the destruction of the Convent. The 
 rumors relating to them had increased, like the rolling snow- 
 ball, until the day of the catastrophe. At that time it was 
 observed that .-<>me of the reports of coercion and of violent 
 management in the affairs <»t' the institution had created among 
 the people of the vicinity much irritation and excitement ; but 
 it was not believed that mob violence would be resorted to. 
 
 They had increased, from day to day, however, until they 
 
 tin rati in. 1 to burel forth in acts of outrage. It was under- 
 
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 in th< I of the N 
 
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 ; uiiiltituil. . ! 
 
 burn- 
 ueembling, amoi 
 
 r >vlio 
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 ■ make t 1m ir i 
 
 I he I 
 by tin -«• ilir< . look the cl 
 
 their ch I with t! in the rau of the 
 
 in- of the 
 
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 ili.it it i* t>;iu\ tl. 
 n the L n In r mm 
 
 wa of 
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11 
 
 the yard, and there destroyed it. As they applied the torch, 
 the fragments, as the flames spread through the building, were 
 again thrown <m to feed the fire. At about half past twelve 
 o'clock they set fire to the building in the second story, and in 
 a slmrt time it was entirely destroyed. 
 
 A great number of persons were assembled al the spot, and 
 
 were witi, : and it was impossible to 
 
 tell then, as it is now, why no measures were taken t" repress 
 them. It could nut he learned that any magistrate or police 
 officer came upon the ground. Several fire companies from 
 ■i. Charlestown, and Cambridge repaired to the 
 
 the first alarm, and, when they ascertained the cause "t' it, a 
 
 part of them returned home. A number <'f the tire compa- 
 nies, however, were present during the conflagration; and the 
 effectual measures which wen- taken to suppress it appear t<> 
 have been overcome by the great number of persons assem- 
 bled, many of them evidently from a distance, for the apparent 
 purpose of encouraging and aiding in the work of destruction. 
 
 Besides the Nunnery, several other buildings belongii 
 the establishment were also burned. The fire was deliberately 
 communicated to the chapel, to the bishop's lodge, the stables, 
 and the old nunnery — a large wooden building situated at ■ 
 short distance from the others. The work of destruction was 
 continued until daylight, when the mob dispersed. The pecu- 
 niary value "f the property destroyed was not estimated at the 
 
 time. It was from fifty to a hundred thousand dollars, and 
 was insured, on building and furniture, for about Bixteen thou- 
 sand do!! 
 
 The accounts further stated that the firemen of Charlestown 
 looked on in silence, without attempting to extinguish the flames, 
 and the Boston department were compelled by violence to ab- 
 stain from all efforts to put out the tire or save the property. 
 Everything was burned with the utmost deliberation, and with- 
 out the slightest sentiment in opposition to tin- insanity <>f the 
 mob. To crown the proceedings with an appropriate conclu- 
 sion, the tomb at the foot of t!"' gardens was entered, the 
 
 coffins robbed of the plates hearing the names of die p 
 
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 Mt. 
 
 and 
 
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 i with I !' the 
 
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 ihold 
 
 of the place wna 
 
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 ( tlio 
 outbuilding* ; ami 
 
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 I • le took up i 
 
 . itli all ' 
 
 •nl totted tl \ 
 
 rn till , 
 
 ut tho 
 
18 
 
 occurrence in their neighboring town ; but tl 
 
 mniscient band of reporter! in existence which i 
 to the daily journals of the present day. Ti more 
 
 morning papers in Boston then than there are now, but not 
 one of the conductors appears to have known of th< 
 
 The Daily Advertiser had a postscript of ii\«' lines, in a 
 portion of its edition of the next day, merely stating that the 
 Charlestown Convent was burned the night before by a mob; 
 ami this casual and brief notice was all that the public gained 
 the ensuing morning from the newspapers. It « 
 days of "newspaper enterprise." At the - me time there have 
 been very few events in our city and neighborhood which have 
 had Buch immediate and lasting effects. 
 
 commotion among the Roman Catholics was imm< 
 Proclamations were issued by the Governor of Massachusetts 
 and the Mayor of Boston in regard to keeping the peace; the 
 Charlestown Selectmen offered a large reward for the appre- 
 >n of the leaders of the riot, and the military was kept 
 in arms in Boston, for Borne time, through fear of an outbreak. 
 
 This was more than thirty-five years ago; and nothing similar 
 
 to this Bensation, either in character or dimensions, has since 
 
 occurred among us. 
 
 following account of the events is from The Jesuit, the 
 
 ■ 
 
 in of the Catholics of Boston at that time: — 
 
 Destbuctiok <>r iin: Chablbstowh Cowvwrr. 
 
 • >ur painful duty to record one of the most atrocious and 
 violence ever perpetrated in any clime or civilized country. \W 
 allude to the destruction, by a lawless and fanatical mob, on last Monday 
 t' the magnificent Conn i I - Bince in < 
 
 top Fenwick of this city. This Bplcndid institution had for Its 
 
 n of young ladies in all the branches of polite learning, and at 
 
 r in question, had actually under the government 
 
 of tho Orsuline Ladiei between fifty and sixty young ladies, chi< By of the 
 
 :>ort had been Industriously circulat i previous, 
 
 that a young lady was detained in this Convent againsl her will; I 
 
 imured in a dungeon, and there cruelly treated. However absurd 
 the report, the fanatical preachers in Boston and the adjacent towns 
 glad of so favorable an opportunity to ex< it' the public, and manii 
 
 ion to take all the advantage of it they could to itholic 
 
 i i. and decry it> institutions. Inflammatory ht n- 
 
 [hboiing town-, and in one or two churel. Q, particu D 
 
 ptist Church in Hanovi r Btn i ;, u «< have b • a given to u ' 
 
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 guitars, gold watches, silver I Ith all tin ir clothing 
 
 an- among the losses which they hare experii a had 
 
 been I I years, and during this time had Is 
 
 Tision >>t' painting, of i 
 
 mens of th< ir industry, with which they had hop< 
 : tin ir be] n tin ir return h 
 
 these also have been all deal oyed, to the exceedingly 
 little ones, and to tin- no small disappoint!) 
 
 Too much praise cannot I I upon the • 
 
 ami upon tin' city authorities generally . for their prompt, m i 
 arrangements in pi 
 
 ii.- infernal mob of incarn :i a- tin y i" gan t" m 
 
 a disposition to renew in Boston th< i h they had ] 
 
 Charlestown. For, while they were su 
 town who assuredly should hare lost no time in pr 
 
 remained of the prop rty of the unfortunate Com itinue, during the 
 
 entire of the following day and night their depredation 
 fruit r </en upon the dead in the tomb, an I 
 
 once Bplendid building, without having taken 
 stationed a single municipal officer to interrupt bu< h * ruction, the 
 
 m agist r it< - of Boston, to their honor be it Bpoken, w< re const intly upon the 
 alert; and by the wise, prudent, and judicious i I once 
 
 adopted and vigorously acted upon, i lidonce 
 
 of all their fellow-men, and elicited the loud approbat 
 virtuous citizen. 
 
 We arc happy to have it in our power to state, in conclusion, that I 
 hut one opinion pervading the community at large in relation I 
 cious, diabolical deed, and in hurling upon it the detestation it d 
 
 The Boston Evening Transcript, conducted by the late Lynde 
 M. Walter, Esq., expressed the sentiments of the Prol 
 Church upon the outrage in the following terms : — 
 
 The genera] excitement, i I lings of night I 
 
 hut at Charlestown, and which . for the honor of the citj 
 
 said, raged among »< with an cane - iponding to the ati 
 
 character of that affair, ha inbBided. To the 
 
 active i xertions of the mayor, and other municipal authorities, the spirit and 
 unanimity with which i l bj tl e whole community, and 
 
 Uy the great meeting called at Paneuil Hall, and finally, to t 
 commendable course pursued, as will be -ecu, I >p Fenwick, 
 
 must it ho attributed, that alter bo stonnj a day, the night passed offwith- 
 
 iturbaace in any direction. At Charlestown, also, the pn 
 the public meeting undoubtedly had a similar efl 
 
 Among all the comment excited by this unprt 
 
 ich more justly describes the natun in that 
 
 of the Atlas, a portion of which i< copied herewith. 
 
 •• What a mi tic must this midnight conflagration have exhibited — lighting 
 up the inflamed countenance-, of an infuriated mob of demons, lttai kimq 
 
 EHT Ol WOMEK, A 6EMINABT FOR TH1 W8TRUCTI0N OF TOOTTO FBI 
 and turning them out of their beds, half nil.' 1 in the hurry id" th. ir flight, 
 and half (had with confusion and terror. And this drama, to,,, t,, 
 
 act, d i,n the very soil that afforded one of the earliest ] fuge to 
 
 the Puritan fathers of Nev, England, themselves flying from reli 
 
 CUtion in tic- < )1 I We Id. that tie : r d "'1 mighty, 
 
 and in their turn be guilty of the same persecution in the New I 
 
 •■ \\'e remember no parallel to tin- outrage in the * hole coin-. 
 Turn to the bloodiest Incidents of the French Revolution, r,,n up t 
 tain that hangs before its moat sanguinarj utuatoiti mual 
 

 
 •>iw i", 1 b ■ <v !• i. 
 
 
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 1 I II. 11 
 
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 known in 
 
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 irai but • multitude 
 
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17 
 
 and in behalf of the people, to offer the I . which will l>. 
 
 . and which, after ion men! and pertinent remarks from the 
 
 mover, and after having undergone one or two amendment* (rota other 
 quarters, were unanimously adopted. Pr • >us to this, however, the n a. 
 H. <;. I the meeting, amidst the most deaii oil 
 
 irhich was more than once repeated, in tin- course of his motl animal 
 eloquent remarks. It was pleasant, once again, to meet this spl< ndi i 
 on the theatre of his youthful glorj ; and totally unprepared ■!- be m 
 
 .\ , ire have seldom, if ever, beard him to greater adi 
 wa.- the same music in his voice, the same elegance in his gestui 
 beauty and felicity of expression, for which in- has so 1 ju-tly 
 
 been conspicuous. The frost of age was on hi.- brow, but ii" glow of youth- 
 ful ardor was still predominant at his heart) and the thunders of ap] 
 
 which made Old Fatieuil ring again, were Sufficient evidence that he still 
 
 occupies the same high place in the affection of his fellow-citizens. I 
 indeed, a cheering sight to sec with what alacrity the people of all ag 
 descriptions came forth In the support of law and order, and for the suppres- 
 sion of a lawless and unprincipled nioli ; and we can have no douhi that the 
 praiseworthy exertions oi our excellent Mayor in this emergency will be met 
 
 with a corresponding feeling on the part of his fellow-citiz 
 
 '■•!(/, That in the opinion of the citizens of Boston, the late attack on 
 
 the Orsuline Convent in Charlestown, occupied only by defenceless females, 
 was ;i base and cowardly act. tor which the perpetrators deserve tin- contempt 
 and detestation of the community. 
 
 That the destruction of property, ami danger of life i 
 thereby, call loudly on all good citizens to express, individually and collec- 
 tively, the abhorrence they feel of this high-handed violation of the laws. 
 Resolved, That we, the Protestant citizens of Boston, do pledge our- 
 
 Belves, collectively and individually, to unite with our Catholic brethren in 
 protecting their persons, their property, and their civil and religious I 
 
 That the Mayor and Aldermen he requested to take all mea 
 
 consistent with law, to carry the foregoing resolutions into effect, and as 
 citizens, we tender our personal service;, to support the laws under the direc- 
 tion of the city author. 
 
 Ived, Thai the Mayor he requested to nominate a committee of twenty- 
 eight from the citizens at large, to investigate the p - id' the last 
 iiid to adopt every suitahle mode of bringing the authors and abettors 
 of this out: :ice. 
 
 The following resolution was offered, on motion of John C. Park, 1 
 
 That the Mayor he authorized and requesl 1 to offer a v. ry 
 liberal reward to any individual, who, in case of further excesses, will arrest 
 and bring to punishment a leader in such outrages. 
 
 On motion of Mr. I I md, the commitn f twenty-eight 
 
 : -d to consider the expediency of providing funds to repair the damage 
 
 done to tin- Convent, and the property of its inmates. 
 
 The following persons compose the Committee proposed in the above 
 resolution : — 
 
 H. G. Otis, John I). Williams, .lames T. Austin, Henry I Clark, 
 
 Cyrus Alger, John Henshaw, Francis .1. Oliver, Mark Mealy, Ch. i' 
 Loring, C. G. < Harris, Thomas II. I hn Rayner, Hen- 
 
 Daniel i>. Brodhead, Noah Brooks. II. 1'. Baa :;, dr., 
 
 G Darracott, Samuel Hubbard, Henry Farnum, Benj. f. Ha I . 
 
 pson, John Cotton, Benj. Rich, William BtUTgis, C. V. I 'urtis. 
 
 Charlestown and CAMBRiDaB. 
 In Charlestown, also, the town authorities promptly i 
 
 a notification for a meeting in the Town Hall, at throe o'clock, 
 
18 
 
 "f opini 
 
 Dg the ■ 
 in ■ the 
 
 « ilin-e 
 
 r. \i . . 
 
 \ 
 
 Bon. ' Whipple, John 
 
 1 William Austin, iru i| >lu- 
 
 ■ 
 
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 •inn of tl 
 I . the Comii 
 
 \ with unaiiiii, 
 
 upon pi 
 
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 which must have preceded tin- execution 
 Rev. Mr. 
 
 ii:it In' had u 
 
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19 
 
 or without their will. The Irish Catholic population 
 ril.lv excited and enraged ; they form oups in 
 
 n- of the city, and \ 
 of the question, tV.ua the disturbed and an h 
 
 wer< ntly elicited. 
 
 Mi if the Cati - Address bi Bi hop 
 
 l'l.NU [( 
 
 The editor of the Gazette, in remarks following the i 
 the public proceedi I the excil 
 
 and gave a .-ketch of the remarks of Bishop Fenwick to his 
 people. 
 
 • rtained yesterday that there would Ik 1 fresh disturl 
 ming. It was r. port 1 that the [rish 
 ell, and Providence railroa I 
 lor tii.- purp il; their I r »- 1» brethren in avenging the ini 
 
 : to them by th< 
 It is true, we believe, that mdred oi these labor - in tlio 
 
 city last evening; but we have heard of no acts ofvii I 
 from any other quarter. The ovenin f quietly, 
 
 mcerned, although t hour. 
 
 We hive rat iple abroad as there w 
 
 i credit is due to Bishop Penwick for th< 
 suade the Catholics from all acts of retaliatory violence. 11 l 
 
 five or gix priests in dirt, rent directions, during the afternoon, I 
 the laborers, who were known to be on their way to B 
 them not to raise a finger in d I what they consider t ; i 
 
 rights. This was a judicious movem I state 
 
 tement into which our citizenc iddenly thrown by the 
 
 ; portion of the people of < 'arnbridge ami < 
 understand that all the Independent Light Infantry Com] 
 un.l. r arm- last night, prepared with hall eartri<h' 
 which i uire their services. K 
 
 also "on hand " to aid the civil an. I military authoritii 
 we hop • may he t 
 
 ,.• excitement among the < 
 Fenwick deemed it necessary to <• ;ii tbem together, in the 
 Church in Franklin St I. 
 
 when the Bishop came in ami add 'it thirty n i 
 
 loquent and judicious manner. He < (warmest 
 
 tion from hi- Protestant fellow-citizens for the admirable ■ 
 i Previoi 
 
 fifth chapter of Matthew, containing the fo 
 
 i have heard that it hath 
 for a tooth. But you, not to resist evil: butifoni 
 
 urn to him also the other : 
 I if a man will contend v> i 1 1 1 thee in jud 
 thy cloak also unto him. And \v I. 
 mil.-, go with him other two. 
 
 '•You havi hi ard that it hath 
 ami hate thy enemy. But 1 ■' 
 
 that 1. r them tha, and calum 
 
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 11 Franklin 
 
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21 
 
 their station to go to the protection of the Convent. Th 
 
 reported to have made a demonstration on the Charh i 
 
 Catholic Church, but Ending it defended by the '■ 
 lunx, they retreated without committing any actual \ 
 
 The alarm increased in Boston, and the mil 1 
 
 out at night to protect the city, A popular alarm aro i 
 Wednesday evening, which caus i a tod 'Lai of excitement, 
 occasioned by a report that the ( latholic Bishop had coram 
 ted to Bome gentlemen who waited upon him. In- , 
 
 that the Catholic population could not be restrained from 
 art- of violence in retaliation for the outrages which had been 
 committed upon the property of their church. It was a] 
 ported that Catholics were arming, under the plea that they ap- 
 prehended a further attack, and that an attempt wa- t,, be made 
 to destroy their chapel in Charles town. It was difficult I 
 certain what foundation there was tor these rumors, but they 
 diil much mischief. The people were told, through the i 
 that the civil authorities were taking all possible and suitable 
 measures for preserving the public peace, and for acting, it' o 
 .-are. i n defence of it with promptness ami \i 
 
 S me irritation also arose between Boston and Charlestown. 
 On the 13th a handbill was issued in the latter locality, calling 
 upon all good citizens to meet at Town Hall in the evening, 
 which was signed "David Dodge, Town Clerk." The placard 
 contained the assertion that "great and serious outrages had 
 been committed there by mobs from the city of l'< ■■ ■ <. and 
 other place- in the vicinity." The statement was much resented 
 by Bostonians, a- the citizens knew very little of tin' troubles 
 which had been going on for some time between the Charles- 
 tqwn people and government and the Convent authorities and 
 servants. This attempt to lix the imputation of having fur- 
 nished the mobs, by which the shameful outrages in ( 'harle'town 
 were committed) upon the city of Boston, and to screen the town 
 of Charlestown from all shame in the matter, was not at all rel- 
 ished by the Boston people. The handbill stated that the mob 
 was formed in Boston, — which was contrary to the known * 
 of the case. The charge w a- consider) d to be false and unncigh- 
 
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occurred bo at with law, with justice, with hai 
 
 religion. 
 
 In behalf of the committee, I have the honor I 
 Sir. your moil obedient servant, 
 
 Biobt i;i \ l.ia m. BuHor Fnwii k, i>. i ». 
 
 To i lit ki \ . Bishop Pi ten i< k. 
 
 1 »i uc Sn: .- Although I have not thj 
 
 with you, 1 cannot, as a citizen of tin^ c munity, refrain I 
 
 to \.>u the deep mortifl 11 1 at tlic outrage i om milled on i 
 
 Convent, — anout led in the h crime. 
 
 I take tin- Libert] >>i enclosin . 
 respectfully ask you i" appropriate al your 
 may have been subjected to inconvenience, or tufiei 
 proceeding. 1 remain, 
 
 Willi Mil 
 
 Your inu-t obedient servant, 
 
 B. 1- l'l' KM VN 
 
 No. a I'i.a. i . 
 
 The other letters printed were from David Lee <'lii!d, I 
 and from Dr. Henry l'>. ('. Greene, a highly respected cil 
 and a member of the Catholic church, who was absentat - 
 Me., at the time of the outrage. 
 
 On the Wednesday alter the conflagration, Henr 
 of Newburyport, a man about thirty-five years of mmit- 
 
 ted suicide :it the Bite Tavern by cutting his throat. Many ru- 
 mors were circulated about the d< I, — that he had the com- 
 munion chalice of the Convent in his ] butitwaa 
 only discovered that he had Btated,jusl before he killed himself, 
 that he had some of the sacramental wafer in his possession ; 
 and afterwards two pieces of the com I bread, which came 
 from the chalice, were found in his pocket. This circumsi 
 was the occasion "1" various publications in the journals of the 
 day, and the statements respecting Creasy were the Bubj< 
 much dispute and recrimination by the editors. 
 
 On the L5th of August, < rovernorJohn Davis issued a Procla- 
 mation, reciting the outrage, and calling upon all good citizens 
 to aid in healing the wpund which the laws had received, by the 
 open contempt of their authority,, and the wanton disregard of 
 prival In the name of the Commonwealth he offered 
 
 ard of five hundred dollars for the detection and punish- 
 ment of any person connected with the burning. 
 
 In the mean time, the city was in a state of constant m 
 
■ 
 
 V . 
 
 I 
 : 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 E 
 
 le up 
 ,;li railil 
 
 : 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 • 
 i 
 i 
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 At i lime the in. :. 
 
 I 1<I l»e 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 : 
 i 
 
 : , : 
 
 in .1 .mi 
 I 
 
Charlestbwn, as reported by the Boston pa] 
 
 ingly meagre and disconnected. Those who resided in B 
 
 at that time, and remember the circumstances, understand that 
 
 the utmost into - taken in all these movem ! that 
 
 there \\> re bo many present at .-ill legaJ ( saminationa tl 
 
 thing was immediately spread among those concerned 
 
 as information "t' it transpired, though very little got into the 
 
 newspapers. The Vigilance Committees had Bel the example 
 
 and enforced the necessity ol in conducting the busi 
 
 and while the community knew about all that wm i, the 
 
 newspapers apparently knew next to nothing. 
 
 The excitement among our people at the time reat, 
 
 that among the cautionary m one from th<- 
 
 Maxtor, requesting parents, masters, and guardians, during the 
 then state of public f eling, to require all children and minors 
 to remain at home after dark. 
 
 Captain Howard, of the revenue cutter Hamilton, stati 
 in B »8ton Harbor, brought his men ashore every night, during 
 the first week of the excitement, and quartered them with the 
 military at Faneuil Hall. They were well armed uitli cut- 
 lasses, blunderbuss Ti.<' citizens formed clubs in the 
 different city wards, and were out on patrol every night. 
 
 ( )n the Sunday after the riot, r number of clergymen <>f 
 i and < lharlestown preached from texts appropriate to the 
 the week. That of Bishop Fen wick, at the Church 
 of the Holy Cross, was, w Father, forgive them; for the) know- 
 not what they do." Dr. Lyman Beecher preached a discourse 
 on the subject from Rev. Mr. Blagden's pulpit :it the North 
 End. 
 
 The testimony, as published from the examining board at 
 Charlestown, was not very luminous. The principal 3 
 evidence was Henry Buck, who belonged in Claremont, N . II. ; 
 had worked for Mr. Charles Adam . inner, for a month 
 
 and :i half, and was present .-it the burning of the Convent on 
 the night of the 11th. He was induced to attend, b 
 Mr. Adams state, on his return from Boston, that the Nunnery 
 was to be attacked. He implicated Mr. Kelley a 
 
j 
 
 confessed lii* 
 n in all i 
 ■ 
 fenco. in the 
 
 if tin- 
 I 
 
 : 
 - 
 
 tentlj 
 tp the 
 
 t 
 i 
 
 ■ 
 d thai it \\i.;il<l nut be [tiilili^lied till ; 
 
 I ' | ' 
 I 
 : I i 
 
 N 
 
 l 
 
 . 
 
 v. 
 
 ! \ • 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
87 
 
 pride in the journals, that no member of the Boston fii 
 partment, and but one resident of the city, had been held 
 xamination. 
 
 rhe excitement was continued Borne ten days or more, and 
 the events were the most exciting which have been felt in 
 
 i for half a century. Protestant gentlemen, 
 daughters at the Convent school, were drawn into the contro- 
 versy, ami expressed themselves through the n< • 
 The institution was temporarily removed to Etoxbury, after 
 the breaking up at Mount Benedict. 
 
 Of Miss Elizabeth Harrison, otherwise "Sister Mary John t M 
 the unconscious cause of all this loss, trouble, Behsation, and 
 but little was known afterwards. Thomas Harri- 
 son, her brother, and Godfrey de Gilse, Bigning himself her 
 "brother-in-law, and not a Catholic," made a public statement 
 through the Transcript, about a week afterwards, in tin- form 
 ut' a Kttcr to the Superior of the Convent in relation to her. 
 ! substance was, that in an interview with them tin- day 
 
 before, she Btated that her health had been much impaired by 
 
 the many and useless calls I her at the Sisters' Institu- 
 
 tion. They were satisfied that she was perfectly conl 
 
 and would prefer death to leaving the community. 
 
 Tin: Excitement. — Tin: Vigilance Commoti 
 
 tng rather brief summary of events, which were 
 
 in the minds of a large majority of tin- people of Boston and 
 
 mity at tin- time, occupies the Bpace of' a week or more 
 
 after the Convent was destroyed. Nevertheless, though the 
 military companies were no longer on guard, and the volunteer 
 and ward patrols were dismissed from Bervice at eight, the 
 excitement could m.t be .-aid to have entirely subsided for a 
 
 Ion- time niter tin' occurrences which have been detailed. In- 
 . we may say thai the dregs of the excitement of 1-.'. 1 
 
 still exist, and are liable to be .-tilled up at any lime. 'I here 
 
 a variety of sentiment in the community with 
 the proceedings, and the cause of them; some ignoran 
 much prejudi 
 
28 
 
 \ 
 
 j I le t!i< ir 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 ■ 
 
 in the 
 
 « 
 
 . — 
 " It • 
 
 «' 
 
 Convent 
 
 r 
 
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 I 
 
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 1 
 
 I 
 
 beth Harrison, I 
 
 j 
 
 I 
 
 : 
 
 : •: 
 
 I 
 
 I ' ' 
 
 I 
 
 who 
 
 d 
 
 ■ 
 

 flight, and n torn, were all detailed, and she was fully examined 
 l>y the committee. She w itive of Philadelphia, and 
 
 red u{»>n her novitiate twelve years before, in I s - 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE TRIAL OF JOHM K. BUZZELL. 
 
 The Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth met at 
 East Cambridge, on the lmh of October, the day on w hi.-h 
 l>y arrangement of counsel, the Convent-burning prisoner! 
 were to be arraigned. John li. Buzzell, Prescott 1*. Pond, 
 William Mason, Marvin Marcy (aged seventeen), Sai 
 BlaisdeU, Isaac Parker, ami Aivah Kelley appeared, and 
 pleaded nut guilty. Five others, who hail been indicted, hud 
 not been arrested. Their names were Nathaniel Budd, Jr., 
 Benjamin Wilbur, Aaron Hadley, Ephraim (J. Holwell, and 
 
 Thomas Dillon. 
 
 The court named the 1st of December for the time of trial; 
 lmt Attorney General Austin asked lor a continuance until the 
 April term, unless a special commission should be grants 1 for 
 rlier trial, lie spoke at length in defence of hi- motion, 
 and mentioned tin- abc a material witness as a i a 
 
 lor (1 lay. <i. 1". Farley, of Groton, counsel tor Bu 
 referred to the hardship of keeping m< □ in prison six months 
 without trial, ami the other counsel tor tin- defence spoke upon 
 tin- same side. Mr. Austin alluded to the spirit which was 
 1 upon the subject. Many who were not bold enough to 
 say the Convent ought to have been burned, were of opinion 
 that a good thing had been done. They thought the p 
 had done evil that good might come. With this feeling, 
 added to the right of the prisoners to object to twenty out of 
 thirty-two of the jury, he asked it' it was possible that 
 trial could be procured. Great difficulty had been I 
 
30 
 
 <sm, uid the 1-iw was 
 
 ■ ■t - tin- pablic 
 
 I ... 
 
 ! uj> ; 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ; i i.t' M 
 
 wlii<-!i 
 I 
 
 it. 
 nlly the I » 
 
 him the 
 I l 
 d< 
 
 
 the 2d of ] Motions to admit 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
3] 
 
 their absence, bul - i their non-a] 
 
 oasioned, in Bome degree, by a printed notification, which vraa 
 
 rively circulated, threatening with n :il I w h< > 
 
 should appear in court as witnesses against the per - who 
 
 destroyed the Convent, " according to the oath thai bound the 
 
 parties together." Mr. Farlej replied that the nol quite 
 
 as likely to be issued by persona hostile to the pi as l>v 
 
 their friends. Mr. Austin withdrew his objection! and John It. 
 
 sell was placed on trial. 
 
 i had previously been called, but many were chal- 
 
 In addition t.) the usual inten 
 
 jurors had conscientious Bcruples, had made 
 
 up their mind Mr. Austin wished to ask them it' they 
 
 under a prejudice that the testimony of a Catholic wi 
 
 not to have the same weight as the testimony of a w 
 
 of any other ; >n? Mr. Farley objected. Mr. Austin 
 
 said it would he perfect mockery to present the case, which must 
 
 .1 mainly on Catholic testimony, toa juror who had a bias 
 and a prejudice against Catholics. The court decided thai 
 a prejudice would not destroy the eompetency of a juror, and 
 the question was ruled out. Another question was, whether a 
 juror had said that he was glad the Convent was burne I down, 
 hut was Borrv it was done by a mob. The court decidi 
 the relevancy of this question. The jury was empann 
 without further interruption, thus: William I foreman; 
 
 Abner Albee, Nathan Brool 
 
 John Cutting, Perry Daniells, Osg 1 Dana, Thos. J. Elliott, 
 
 Reuben Hayden, John Jones, William Rice. The indictment 
 was read to the prisoners, and declared that they did, on the 
 of the 11th of August, burglariously and feloniously, 
 enter, &c., the dwelling house <<l' Mary Ann Ursula Moffatt, 
 otherwise failed .Mary Edward d certain 
 
 sum- of money, and hum the building there i 
 
 The Lady Superior, .Madame St. < W\tf 
 
 overnment. In explanation of her double j 
 Bhe stated that when nuns assumed the veil, they als< I 
 
 s name different from thai which they bore in the world. 
 
itil it 
 >-.-;irv in 
 
 She 
 lady" 
 
 D 
 
 : 
 
 of til 
 
 i : 'I lie 
 
 ■ • P. M. i 
 
 th the 
 Convent ! D ' i 
 
 ! ! ii. but round 1' in the 
 
 2 lit. 
 
 parley the m« •!« w 
 turn the < I 
 
 !l the 
 
 other I »1«1 her that he did not tl 
 
 : I 
 
 and ' I''' 
 
 1 
 
 ■ 
 
33 
 
 iven of the destruction of the establishm at. She re- 
 I to her loss of money; Bhe had one thousand dollars 
 locked in her desk, which was lost ; and the whole loa 
 mated at fifty thousand dollars of property in the institution. 
 Some Spanish pupils lost considerable property in harps, 
 dry. &c. Tin' Superior was on the Btand until the adjournment 
 nt" the court. term w Mysterious Lady, "was first j 
 
 in a newspaper article in relation t.> .Ml— Elarrison, and she 
 was often alluded to in that manm 
 
 In her cross-examination, on the second day, the Superior 
 stated that the nuns never called her " Divine Mother;" never 
 confessed to her, but c to tli<' Bishop. Miss Reed en- 
 
 1 as a jm; ive instructions, so as to be able t.i earn 
 
 her living: she was taken in <>ut of charity. She was not :ul- 
 
 mitted to the school-room, a< Bhe was much older than the schol- 
 
 She desired to be taken into the community ; end ho 
 
 promised thai if she possessed sufficient strength of mind, cour- 
 
 rod constancy, we might take her. She eloped about four 
 months after she entered, because Bhe was not allowed to 
 the u hite veil. She was not taken in as a candidate for the white 
 
 veil. Candidates take the white veil in three nths, and the 
 
 black veil in two years and three months. Of Miss Harrison, 
 the Superior Btated, respecting her elopement from the Convent, 
 that Bhe ha<l the brain fever — was out of her mind. She left 
 the ( lonvent July 28th, and before then she suffered much from 
 the odor of the paint; was strange au,d extravagant in her 
 manners, and said she was afraid she should lose her - 
 
 She went t<» .Mr. ('utter'.- house, and Stopped there an hour, 
 
 when Mr. Runey took her to Mr. Cotting's, at West Caml 
 The Superior admitted that in her conversation w ith Mr. < lutter, 
 on the Saturday before the riot, when he -aid lie was afraid the 
 n ioli would hum down the Convent, she replied, that if thej did, 
 "the Right Reverend Bishop's influence over ten thousand brave 
 Irishmen might lead to the destruction of his i Mr. ('.'- i prop- 
 erty, and that of others also." She considered that Mr. < \itter 
 and Mr. Runey had acted unfriendly toward- her in hui: 
 
 themselves so much in the affair of Miss Elarrison. 
 
■ 
 
 : when she I y covered ha 
 
 ■ 
 
 i 
 ■ 
 I 
 
 I 
 .- 
 
 I I i 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
35 
 nesses, which seemed most likdy to conduce to the attainment 
 
 of truth. 
 
 The Bishop was then •mini, : i ! n 1 took the Stand. lie went 
 
 to Mr. Cotting's with Mi-- Harrison's brother, and found her 
 in a state of derangement. Hi- object was to I ike her to the 
 Convent, clothe her well, and send her to her friends. II<' 
 presumed Bhe left the Convent because Bhe was d 
 with her mode of treatment. Some days afterwards be pro- 
 posed to send her home, hut Bhe begged and entreated to be 
 
 allowed t'> remain. The property destroyed, exclusive "t" that 
 of the jmj>il>, he valued at from forty to fifty thousand dol- 
 lars. It was his own. His cross-examination was mostly 
 confined to religious matters. He said a bishop cannot he a 
 Jesuit, but a priest may. The Catholic religion ha- never 
 prohibited the use of the Bible, as a general rule. M< mben 
 
 of the Catholic faith may have Bibles if they choose to pur- 
 chase them ; but we discourage them from reading any hut our 
 own. We do not consider the Protestant version a correct one. 
 
 Warren Dupee, a Boston fireman, was at tin place on the 
 night of the burning; but the Boston men could not work 
 without the order of a Charlestown magistrate; ami he saw 
 no officer there, '' not so much as a tipstaff.* 1 
 
 Air. Hooper, one of the Selectmen of Charlestown, testified 
 to the good condition of the Convent. 
 
 Judge Fay, of Cambridge, and Levi Thaxter, of \\ 
 town, both of whom had daughters in the institution, -poke 
 highly of the manner in which it was conducted. They had 
 both heard of the excitement, ami drove out to the Convent on 
 the night of the riot. They heard some conversation with in- 
 dividual- who occupied the gateway of the Convent, and the 
 judge identified one of them as Buzzell. He was in his shirt 
 sleeves, and was bespattered with clay, like a brick-maker. 
 He was paying that he had "beat one Irishman, and was able 
 to beat as many im-iv as they could bring, three at a time." 
 lie used language which it was QOt proper to repeat in the 
 court-room, a- ladies were present ; and the word- were writ- 
 ten down and handed to the court. 
 
36 
 
 ■ 
 wu beuti d in, 
 A DtUB 
 
 ■ 
 1 1 
 
 iti il ' in 
 
 I 
 
 I ' 
 
 ■ 
 
 | 
 II 
 
a witness t ! 
 jury.] He added, w I misunderstood th man. 1 wish 
 
 the jury * i I 
 
 amined there. 1 "Did 
 
 sell? 1 he wan't in th 
 
 shan't the Attorney 
 
 ination; and B. F. Hallett, who reported the trial 
 paper, the Advocate, observed of him, "The cool irapu ] 
 this witness ded anything tand." 
 
 It was afterwards attempted to impeach his characfc 
 
 Peter R i servant at the Convent, had been 1" 
 
 by Buzzell previous to the riot, but he did not know the n 
 for it. On cross-examination,'! thai the evening ' 
 
 his punishment two or three I ' nvent 
 
 grounds, to get <»n the turnpike road. told him 
 
 to turn them back, to go out the wa. me in, and he 
 
 di«l bo. Two got over th< fence: one was not bo spry, and 
 
 ok her by the arm to talk to her. He did □ t Bel th 
 upon her, as had been mentioned. He 'lid not remember her 
 calling for help. 
 
 On the third day of the trial. Fitch Cutter, of Charlestown, 
 who lived near the <'"ii\nii ( stated thai he ! the 
 
 ell among the rioters. He corroborated the 
 dence of Judge Fay. 
 
 Walter Balfour described what he saw of the - f the 
 
 night. He lived in Charlestown, and his rather was a minister 
 of the gospel, though not settled. He went in to Bee if he 
 could do any good. Went into the building with the mobj 
 and, after they were in, their intention appeared to l„- ■ 
 if any persons were in the house, bo that they might I 
 out. They examined the dormitories, rifled the drawers, and 
 broke the furniture. When the tire was first set, he thought 
 there were about a hundred and fifty individuals in the h 
 He thought that the whole of them — engine-men and all - 
 were there for a fad purp 
 
 Dr. Thompson, of Charlestown, the attending phj 
 
8 
 
 lly to tlio riot att. 
 injury by bV 
 
 | • . ! I. . Dan 
 
 . ami he lia.l no 
 
 riot. \\ i her 
 
 - in ber ueual health : 1 
 ■<>i think ihe irould • r< 
 -v r ur mot I iperior. 
 
 ■ t I [< nr\ Huck, 
 
 it who fa 1 in- 
 
 II admr 
 
 -iirt. 1 I 
 
 Winter Hill, and knew that the d< d of tli< ( 
 
 won in oontemplal e time ; 
 
 - IkhI tw <i in- 'hool-hou 
 
 tl ulniinati'-ii. At their 
 
 ::<lili^ 
 
 ,rn the building thai night. I 
 i 
 
 I tin-in from it, I 
 
 in\ iteriouj 1 mlj " might I"- I Bo 
 
 !l. 1 ! -:o\ tl.' 
 
 r of the a tin- night of the lltli, vrbo told 
 
 .ml born tli. I in break 
 
 i .1 throw "nt furnitm I d the 
 
 ehapel. 1 L in m< n such ralual 
 
 put in their po Bu toll interfered with ei n who 
 
 i out- 
 build 
 
 -. 
 •i not much 
 • 1 ol tl"' 
 wort!. 
 
 1 I 111!* 
 
 age nt in 
 
 I I 
 
39 
 
 Colonel Elbridge Gerry, of Stoneham, who 
 during the greater part of the proceedingi on the night of the 
 11th of August, described them a little more methodically than 
 most of the witnesses who were called to the stand were able 
 to do. When he first reached the Convent, there were about 
 sixty persons there. They had tried t<> lift the door from its 
 hinges, but not Bucceeding, broke it to pieces. They had the 
 usually adopted rules of organized associations; railed "u> 
 order," and formed themselves into "a ring," that they might 
 make arrangements for attacking the building. Some proposed 
 to discontinue the attempt that night, as they were not prop- 
 erly organized. They thought they had not help enough to do 
 the thing in a proper manner. Others swore that the institu- 
 tion should come down then, and proposed to make a bonfire 
 with tar barrels, which would produce an alarm of fire, and 
 bring a sufficient number of people together for them I 
 with it. A tall man, and three or four others, went off, and 
 returned soon afterwards with tar barrels, which th< 
 fire. Colonel ( rerry said that he never saw the " tall man " before 
 or since, until he saw him in this court-house at a preliminary 
 examination. A> far as he was capable of judging, the pris- 
 oner at the bar was the man. 
 
 Of the other w i: I camined, — and there were mat 
 
 them, — little can be said, except that their testimony was 
 confirmatory, or cumulative, as compared with the eviden 
 others. The case lor the government was in readiness to he- 
 closed on the 5th ; but in the absence of two witnesses, named 
 Freeman and Miller, for whose appearance capiases were 
 issued, the ground was surrendered to the defence. 
 
 Mr. Mann, of Lowell, a very eloquent advocate, opened the 
 case for Buzzell on the morning of the 6th, and spoke full lour 
 hours, lie was very impressive ; was quite severe upon the 
 prosecution and its witnesses; he evidently had the foil sym- 
 pathy of most of the large audi, nee, and he dissected the 
 evidence, and commented upon it, in I very effective manner. 
 He said that the Lady Superior was brought into court entirely 
 for effect, and he should be able to fully disprove her 
 
. 
 I 
 
 bat it' t 
 
 Hi 
 
 l 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 ! 
 
 \ 
 
11 
 
 wild and - attendant upon tl ill :ill the 
 
 thrilling and exciting eloquence, and the finest rhetoric of that 
 distinguished lawyer and brilliant orator. Mr. Mam 
 
 more popular in it- tone, bul 
 forcible, and was bold and 
 
 cations. The aud peared to be with him throughout, 
 
 and drank in hie words with an appr< 
 plainly marked the public sentimei 
 
 the people present at the time. Very I 'ting 
 
 bes have ever been made in a court-room, and the friends 
 of the prison heart, a« [lowed him admii 
 
 in bis confident assertions, and and aniui 
 
 delivery. 
 
 In the report of Mr. Minn'- speech, it i- Btated that he al- 
 luded to the nature of the institution which had been desti 
 and said, "He did not come into court to abuse it, or its 
 members; but the District Attorney having brought the char- 
 
 ishment into the n>i' ; having stated I 
 was instituted for charitable pu —for the benefit of the 
 
 sick, tlir poor, and the nerd.-, — it was important for the oppo- 
 site counsel to follow up the investigation, and that 
 were not the objects. He should adduce testimony in re- 
 gard to this point, and would now . her, if the 
 institution was such as it was said to be, i thousand or 
 twenty thousand citizens would have suffered a few individuals 
 to destroy it? Where was our boasted militia? Where the 
 Selectmen? They stand by with their arms folded, and 
 forty or fifty nun, engaged in the transaction, to proceed unmo- 
 lested. Must there not be some good cause for this supini 
 Mr. Mann besrjjed to be understood as oot sanctioning the 
 
 What he had said was merely for the pur| show- 
 
 ing that the Convent could oot have been of Buch praiseworthy 
 character as was described by the attorney for the pro 
 
 "Then with regard to the Lady Superior. Mr. .Mann could 
 not conceive why that lady had been brought into com 
 cept for the purpose of producing that effect which the testi- 
 mtiful, highly-educated, and accomplish 
 
! ' in the 
 
 case ; everything wbi< : . 
 
 I 'II Willi I 
 
 with iijit t" J j mpathy — he 
 
 would remark, thai all the female irimmnnt. from th< 
 
 the '1 unestics, a I w ith 
 
 . which they stated tl hi on th<- eight of the 11th 
 
 ■ 
 
 must till the jury that thi 
 I 
 than they would t<> that of the femal< I 
 who i •, ired "ii the Btaod. 1 
 
 ■ iM be held for mying 
 
 the oounael for the d U witneaeei to im- 
 
 I error." 
 
 mi the 6th, w it- 
 p/ho were 
 . t'.»r the purpose <>f imj 
 ing the « 1. 1 1 ick, the y ind ihe \ 
 
 pal wi /«ll, which wai prett; Jly done. 
 
 •i whom had known him 
 ired liini t>> be utterly unworthy 
 bad known him in New Hampshire 
 d v, . Mai ih, and i m of t!.< m mid thai " n<» 
 
 ! in anything that he said ; " 
 ..t' i loth d dollars from him, he 
 
 M 
 
 at tl. 
 
 Mr. 
 I I to the i insult, and tin . 
 
 dropped. 
 
 \t « itn< M ! . 
 
 'I 
 t! . md tic; 
 
 the white \< il, for w 
 
 un«l Ii nt on ti. 
 
43 
 
 She said she was an Episcopalian ; that she lived at the Ursuline 
 Convent six months; mu eighteen when she went tfa 
 choir Bister, or a " choir religieuse," snd was called Man \ 
 Theresa, which was 1 1 « • r own choice of name. Then 
 twelve recluse nuns there; the Superior was known by the 
 name of Manure, and it was the practice of the ntu 
 trate themselves before the Bishop. 
 
 This last style of evidence was objected t<> by the Attorney 
 Genera] and his colleague as irrelevant, and as having nothing 
 to do with the case ; and. at the suggestion of Judge Shaw, this 
 part tit' the case was deferred, to give the oourt time to con- 
 sider the admissibility of evidence upon the discipline of the 
 
 institution. 
 
 One of the most revolting charges against the riot 
 that of having shamefully desecrated the tomb in the grounds! 
 audits relics; and Abijah Munroe, <>nr of the Charlestown 
 
 Selectmen, testified that on their \ i.-it to the Convent the day 
 
 before its destruction, they were at mpanied by Miss Har- 
 rison, in examining the tomb. Its padlock wai so rusty that 
 the key would not turn in it ; he forced the lock, at the permis- 
 sion of" Miss Harrison; hut the hinges were in the same 
 and they removed the door altogether. The tomb could not 
 have been opened for a long time ; and he remarked to the lady, 
 in reference to the rumor that she had been secreted away, that 
 she had not been imprisoned in the tomb, at all events. They 
 replaced the door as well as they were able, hut "a man might 
 slue it round with a push of his foot." Another of the >■ 
 nun testified to the same effect. 
 The court then adjourned to Monday, when the Chief Justice 
 
 decided that neither party could go into the internal character 
 of the institution; neither could the prisoner's Counsel i 
 examine a witness upon a matter irrelevant to the case, ami 
 afterwards introduce a witness to contradict this irrelevant 
 
 matter thus drawn out. The judge went elaborately into the 
 matter, in quoting authorities, Ac., and his decision greatly 
 disappointed many present, who wished to have all the inside 
 
 arrangements of the Convent revealed to them. 
 
: decided 
 
 I 
 
 . I 
 
 . 
 
 i I 
 
 I 
 
 - 
 
 Ho 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 u 
 
 I 
 
 :. 
 
48 
 
 that night lared that he had deli 
 
 ment in the papers <>n purpose to have th I 
 the mob, and told him she wanted none of I 
 would n"t go into his bout 
 
 The counselffor the defence then brought in half a d 
 witnesses to impeach the character of James Logan, the I 
 man who saved the Bishop's vestments. Ii 
 he was unworthy of belief, and thai stolen property I 
 found in his possession. On Tuesday, Mr, Austin br< 
 some wit] i support Logan's character, among them 
 
 Rev. Mr. Byrne, and Doctors Randall and Thompson, of 
 Charlestown. Chi 'ainst him were explaii 
 
 Bishop Fenwick, and Daniel J. Coburn, who arrested 13 i 
 
 called upon sumo unimportant matters, when Mr. 1 
 i to the court that the evidence for the prisoner I 
 bcLii produced. There wa disapointment at the time, 
 
 among the spectators and the public, that the interna] an 
 ments of the Convent had not been more thoroughly ventilated. 
 At the same time, it was universally admitted that Pit»hop 
 wick had conducted himself with great dignity, and with all 
 proper courtesy, and most gentlemanly bearing through all the 
 proceedings in which he had part, whether they related to court, 
 jury, or counsel. The opinion was not bo favorable in n I 
 to the Lady Superior. There were a multitude of rumors con- 
 stantly in circulation in Boston during the trial ; and one morn- 
 ing it was currently, though incorrectly, reported throu 
 
 ty that Buzzell had committed suicide during the previous 
 night. 
 
 Mr. Farley made the defence for the prisoner. Ii 
 sound lawyer, and a gentleman who had considerable reputation 
 in New Hampshire, legal and political, but he was not much 
 known in Ma tts. It was said that he left his home 
 
 w Ipswich, in his own State, because hi 1 the 
 
 :' the Democratic party; while at the same time his first 
 great work in Massachus* I to defend one of the 
 
 Hampshire brickmakers, who, as politicians, were hi 
 
 pponents. 1 [e was a Bhrewd man, but « 
 
46 
 with extraordini H I by tallii 
 
 jury • > :ill the Ih/ht ID I with lie 
 
 their in;: 
 
 ther the human I 
 — gshou] : 
 
 from tlu- world, with all hi* imperfection ■ I'i. li 
 
 iiarj.ly t: 
 it the \ . 
 
 • 
 jury. 
 
 M : . I 
 
 upon tie 
 with r< t to the inmatee of the Convent. He shook to | 
 
 pottible, the testunonj F Buck and L 1 be 
 
 hel<l up the character ol /.her, 
 
 I " Mr. I 
 
 which I- .. . 1 had bi en indicti i. 1 1 .t hi* 
 
 ,ii, had to the riot act I- 
 
 Applicable than any <>ti. the l-urn- 
 
 ; but thai . :i the 
 
 to indict under d 
 (bran •■ A mob, however, ought to be dealt with on the 
 tiktia 'T :y would thuH 
 
 the indh idu . .it might i 
 
 UCtion. It' 1 1 1 ir* wmm nol d 
 but it, -.tl the I • it Wai ■ |.um-h alter the 
 
 bad I : that th< 
 
 -r with the guilt; 
 d would make none, a h kind 
 
 .. 
 
 an n ' « n with I 
 
 ! 
 
 : 
 I 
 
 I • but under tl I 
 
47 
 
 An innocent penoD migfal be arrested, end he cull n 
 
 his own Btorj ; he was only permitted to adduce such eyideoce 
 
 as by the rulea of law mu admissible. 
 
 "With reference to the rejection of Mi-* Reed's te dm 
 Mr. Parley remarked that the government witnesses had 
 Bed thai Miss Elarrison was insane, and yet it never turn 
 that the counsel for the defence was not to call win rebut 
 
 this testimony. Why the counsel for tin- defence had not ob- 
 I at the time to the testimony adduced by the government, 
 vras because they did not consider such testimony improper j 
 but should their omission in this particular prove detrimental 
 to the prisoner, it would be a matter that they would never 
 e to regret during the remainder of their lives. * * 
 
 "Mr. Farley then concluded, by alluding to the fad that 
 thi' prisoner had a wife ami children, and an aged father and 
 mother. The life of the most worthless member of the human 
 family, he said, was precious ; but the individual at tl 
 
 was a man of good character, and his lift was valuable to 
 others. If, however, the brother of the prisonei novi present, 
 
 was to take the news to that prisoner's family that hi- life would 
 bo taken, such must be the case ; the consequencefl of the ver- 
 dict of the jury the prisoner must Buffer; but hi' (.Mr. Parley) 
 entreated the jury not to come to such a verdict until 
 reasonable doubt had been removed from their minds, lie only 
 
 asked them to do their duty: to do to tin- prisoner 'even as 
 tiny would that men should hereafter do unto them.'" 
 
 Attorney General Austin followed in reply, and in revi< 
 the whole ease. He appeared to be personally, a- well as 
 professionally, interested in the case, inasmuch as the whole 
 of his judgment was against the rioters. Those who 
 have had opportunities to listen to In- brilliant ami causf 
 quence, to his energy and scope of declamation, to hi- fiery ap- 
 peals and his capacious argi snt, may well understand how he 
 
 acquitted himself in a case with which be had SO far identified 
 himself and his feelings, and in which, at the .-unc time. In' had 
 
 fears of failure. 11 is whole argument was full of for,.- and 
 
 eloquence. Jt was afterward- published in pamphlet form. 
 
48 
 
 : 
 
 | 
 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 ' ' i tlii* 
 ; 
 
 - 
 ! ami 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ; the last 
 
 I 
 
 ' i 
 
 (J 
 
 i 
 
49 
 
 up the infant generation. And such w 
 
 placed in tin 'in, that many of the children, of your most 
 
 fellow-citi 1 under their car 
 
 of these children were under this runt' ;tt the tim out- 
 
 With no debt unpaid, or duty un perform 
 
 • m of offence to any human being; unari 
 
 ! --. not apprised that they had anythin 
 
 rounded by a population of a hundred thousand citi 
 
 ting their attachment to peace, tranquillity, and the law, 
 those women retired, to rest. lenly they are awaken 
 
 yells, hideous as those which startled our when the 
 
 warwhoop of the Indian Bavage »on their midnight 
 
 slumbers. They start up, frightened and alarm terri- 
 
 fied little ones gathering under the wing of their scarcely 
 
 terrified instructor-. The bonfire, round wh 
 semi-savages are dancing, throws its horrid glare in the 
 
 ■ 
 
 rooms: stones, brickbats, and oth ilea fly about the 
 
 building; the windows and doora are driven in; lite - 
 
 unsafe, and the inmates have to i 
 
 "They all do escape — all leave the place hut one. 
 timid female only remains to face thia f mob; but the 
 
 woman's heart, under the influence of nature, gains more than 
 
 a lion's strength. Yes, gentlemen, the Mother, — noUby the 
 
 nsanguinity, — that old, infirm woman, whom 
 saw on the stand, she dire- to remain, lest any of her children, 
 
 any of ber I by religion ) should l I to the licen- 
 
 tiousness of these lawless ruffians. She trai lilding 
 
 from the basement to the cu] . and 
 
 runs from place to place, exclaiming in agony, like David of 
 old, 'My child! my child!' But all, happily, ar 
 
 r, and .-he goes back again to her own room, to - i\e the 
 little property of the institution. She finds it filled with 
 armed men J she turn- into the | re beholds an- 
 
 other hand. She then retreat- to the garden, where -he finds 
 
 cowering children driven like doves from their doi 
 All these leave tin' institution. Look at that sail pro,, 
 gentlemen, quitting the burial-place of their happiness. Mr. 
 
'ipy diil n<»t 
 •peak a word; that t ther 
 
 them inl '' would 
 
 •nations 
 
 drank d dM 
 
 •. the building rything — the 
 
 \\ of G 
 
 thai \\ h II"'' '" rtaim--", ami rdl- 
 
 :ii.- t.. tl -. till nought remain* but heaps of bli 
 
 i ■ tonal 
 
 I — all but 
 
 V, • - nuir.l.r Init th<> 
 
 the time : 1 1 1 ■ - 1 1 . * 1 by ProndV i 
 
 DtillliaiK'O -hall 1 
 
 -wn • • 1 1 1 c 1 ; h. gentlemen, if the crista attendant 
 
 :k of desti uction ended I I 
 
 I » lommonwealth — the 
 nati 
 
 • improvement, march of mind, 
 
 and I" coming ra 1 «•}' in<>r<- lib ral. \\ > | 
 
 in toleration in our statutes, and ai 
 than oui ben the) 
 
 • ilk of liberty, while • 
 ful ,,. \\ e punish opinions and pecul 
 
 '■'■ 
 upon ir omen and children, first inquiring whether th< 
 inn be premi I n in 
 
 which the ! ! up« 
 
 lool I, admonishes the people that li«- thinks i! 
 
 dot i and then, hat It-. 
 
 Where sre tl ihcr m 
 
 found. No 
 
 It will 
 lory, thai here, si least, ' thi '>iv- 
 
 " i 1 m riot their 
 
 ' '-. :,ill- 
 
51 
 
 top where, nut sixty yean since, was I, by the 
 
 blood in the country, an altar to liberty and the i man. 
 
 Beside the very monument created to commemorate the patri- 
 otism of our ancestors, the man at the bar, and ol . Iiibit- 
 ed the bai >f their descendants; yes, lefl a mournful 
 memento of the manner in which the freedom they had woo 
 had been erased by the race that followed them. The monu- 
 ment of Bunker Hill rises Blowly ; but the battlements are tin- 
 work of a Bingle night. Look to it, gentlemen, that it be not 
 BO with the State. 
 
 "Can any sympathy be fell for a man who makes war upon 
 women and children? Where will be the pride of your Amer- 
 ican feelings when you take the Btranger to Bunker's heights, 
 and Bhow him the slowly-rising monument, and your hearts 
 beat warmly, and vour bosoms expand at the recollection of 
 the achievements of your fathers, which it is designed to com- 
 raemorate ; yes, where will he the pride of your American 
 feelings when tha stranger points to the other monument of 
 ruins that towers so gloomily on the adjacent eminence? The 
 
 chills of fifty winter.- would not .-end Buch an ice-bolt tie | 
 
 your hearts. In Russia they enter baths heated to one hundred 
 degrees of the thermometer, and then instantly plunge into 
 the Neva; an American once tried this hath, and lost his life 
 by the experiment; and the Convent rioters have prepared at 
 Mount Benedict Buch a hath for American feeling. This 'Time 
 is deserving of the Beverest punishment ever inflicted on the 
 most flagitious offender; and to you, gentlemen, il is left to 
 decide whether the prisoner was one of the perpetrators ; and 
 
 it' you do < ie to a conclusion differing from mine. I must be 
 
 content. But, good nun and true, stand together, and h 
 to the evidence. 
 
 "People who never saw each other before, are brought into 
 this court to tell you that John BuzzelJ is one of the men. 
 
 The cloud of witnesses never knew that they would he b 
 
 together here; nothing brings them here but the fact that 
 they were at the scene. The trilling discrepancies of their 
 testimony are proofs of its validity. It is truly Laid down in 
 
.111- 
 .' In i 
 
 I 
 a* : 
 
 ; the 
 
 irho 
 
 ■ 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 ur>|>'< :t-:illt 1 M i 
 
 ,ilv 
 
 the rumor 
 
 ll> T tO 
 
 1 
 . I lp|H II. | 
 
 1 ' i, or do i 
 
 i. I !' r 
 I 
 heart? but uld 
 
 • 
 
 a. • • 
 
 i< ■ 
 
 .... 
 
proved ; and If the pr ajuilty at all, he u 
 
 whole crime. And I call upon you, gentlemen, to 
 compromise with your tatter. We i 
 
 'i positive witnesses, thai Bu; 
 him almost every moment of bis time, from twilight to the 
 next morning." 
 
 r analyzing and explaining the testimony, and vindicat- 
 ing the characters of the government witn< u imputa- 
 tions cast upon them by the counsel for the defence, and 
 complimenting very briefly Mr. Walter Balfour, being 
 the only true-hearted American that flex to the protection of 
 the Convent, Mr. Austin terminal 1 his argument by i 
 ating his assurance to the jury that the proceedings in the 
 court niu-t be revised by another authority before a Bingle hair 
 ot* BuzzelTs head should bi 1. He also took i a 
 to remark, that the counsel for the Commonwealth w 
 no obligations to the Selectmen of Charlestown tor anvthin? 
 connected with any part of this Or any other trial. 
 
 On the LOth and 11th, Chief Justice Shaw delivered the 
 charge to the jury, and he explained to them the conditi 
 Buzzell before them. His life was safe as regarded the charge 
 of arson, as it had not been proved that anv persoi 
 the buildings when they were set on fire. In to the 
 
 second fatal charge of burglary, the Judgi nsidered that 
 
 Buzzell vas differently circumstanced, as the law was thus: 
 ''It any person shall break Into a house with felonious intent, 
 armed with any dangerous weapon, <>r arming himself within, 
 or Bhall assault any person lawfully in the house, he shall suffer 
 death." 
 
 It was laid down by the court, that according to the statute 
 of L830, upon the crime of arson, if no person was lawfully 
 in the Convent when it was Bet on 6re, it did n- >t amount 
 capital offence, and was not punishable with death. 
 Attorney General, in i to that principle. 
 
 tention of the court to the fact that Mes jrs. Balfour an ! I 
 
 who were in the building when lire wafl applied, were lawfully 
 there] 15ut the court decided that they win; not there law- 
 
M 
 
 full 
 [ 
 
 ( Upon • was 
 
 * l.iu fully in i: . at, 
 and 
 
 lent to do the mischief, 1 
 
 •: , lli.it 
 
 vben l ilic 
 
 ; tin \ therefore fcU within lb 
 
 I principli 
 
 * b the A ral, that the nun 
 
 i immer-house, — a lie dwclli 
 
 kouae, - ti. m . in the d 
 
 i 
 
 The i'ir\ were ii t 
 
 t 
 
 on those « hi h i bi 'h a i 
 
 pui 
 
 i 
 oft nark thai the commission ofth 
 
 the w Ii . 
 
 qm upon tlii" i 
 
 * impartialityi 
 
 pnlouslj from ;i!l rci ilic 
 
 ■ tli tin- peculiar t he 
 
 jui , 
 
 . ■ 
 i itnst him bul 
 
 saw linn in 
 
 truth I 
 
 I I i I 
 I 
 arito 
 
55 
 
 dieted in one fact. A witness might In- incompetent from 
 infamy <>r interest ; but a Burmise by counsel against a witness 
 ought not to have any bearing on the minds of the fury. It 
 having been incidentally mentioned that stolen plant- . 
 found in Logan's possession, III— Honor charged tit*- jury, 
 out of justice to Logan, t i ird absolutely and entirely 
 
 the remark, if they heard it. as Logan was not allow. ,1 to 
 explain that circumstance, although he brought witnesses into 
 court, upon \.rv .-hort notice, to testify upon that point. The 
 rale of evidence that prevents him from introducing evid 
 upon any particular charge, is founded upon common-sense 
 principles. A witness ought to have notice, if any Buch • 
 is to be brought against him, that he may have opportunity to 
 bring testimony to rebut it, which would lead us into a host of 
 
 collateral trials, during the pendency of the main one, to the 
 
 entire obstruction of the regular course of juati 
 
 It had been contended that the evidence introduced to sup- 
 port Logan's character for truth against those witnesses whe 
 impeach it. was merely vegativi : but when witnesses, knowing 
 a party, swear that they know nothing against his character, 
 though that be negative in form, yet in point of fact, and 
 from the nature of the case, it becomes affirmativi testimony. 
 The imputation that he was an accomplice and a participator 
 in the plunder was also unsupported. He went to the Con- 
 vent with a good motive — to look after the safety of the 
 women and children; and he took | n of a number of 
 
 valuable articles, to rescue them from destruction. That this 
 was his design, was Bhown by the proof that he Bent a m< 
 to the priest, informing the latter that he had the property in 
 hi.- possession. His being a Catholic, and a regular member 
 of Mr. Byrne's congregation, precluded the presumption that 
 he was in the Convent for plunder; and if the jury be! I 
 him, in all the particulars of his testimony, and thought he 
 was not mistaken, then the defendant was guilty. 
 
 With respect to Buck, His Honor agreed with the Attorney 
 General, that the tendency of admitting the evidence of accom- 
 plices was beneficial to the community, by destroying thl 
 
I 
 
 ! in 
 
 I] 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 that t! 
 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 i 
 
 nth 
 
 ■ 
 bo told • 
 
 II 
 
 ; 
 
cert, or conspiracy ? and, Fourth: Whether the defendant wad 
 aiding and g in that crime?" In conclusi 
 
 ice said, — 
 
 "A- far as I know, the court have now discharged their duty ; 
 it remains for you to discharge yours. It is on< 
 nitude. The laws must be enfor ecurity ol 
 
 property must be preserved; but tlii- must be done by pun- 
 ishing the guilty, tmt the innocent. To insure this result, rou 
 should divest yourselves of every influence thai i to a 
 
 oe Bide or tin- other, n<>t founded on the la 
 evidei ting aside all prejudice, all partiality, all com 
 
 ationa of the public approbation or disapprobation. Let the 
 Bingle inquiry of your consciences be, [s tin- prisoner p 
 guilty? This is your duty; and having done it faithfully and 
 impartially, I am suit that whatever the consequences may 
 be, you can have no cause to regret them." 
 
 The jury returned precisely at twelve o'clock on the 11th. 
 Mr. Farley made a complaint to the court of the daily reports 
 of the testimony, with comments thereon, which had ap] I 
 
 in the papers, and moved an order t<> prohibit further pub- 
 lication until tlu' trials were closed, tie did not make this 
 motion at first, because he did not see the effect of such n ports 
 upon the cause. The court took time to consider the motion, 
 and <m the 12th refused to grant it. Cne Chief Justice said 
 it would always he proper for the pi inform to the rules 
 
 of the court relative to such publications; hut bo long BJ only 
 were given, the court nally had do power ovt r publishers 
 out of court. Judge Shaw suggested caution in conforming to 
 the facts, ami in avoiding comments of an injurious tendi 
 
 Tin: A< QUITTAL. — THREATS \M> DEMONSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Attorney General renewed his efforts to have the other 
 
 trial- continued to the next term. He spoke of the grt 
 
 citement created by publications in the newspapers by witn 
 editor-, Ac., alluding particularly to statements by M 
 Runey and Edward Cutter, which had appeared inth< ( 
 town Aurora; of threatening handbills, and th 
 
58 
 
 T i- « 1 - 1 1 1 j • thai mi-'! ' to the 
 
 . be would tlu-ir being admitti 
 
 i , ! • that it was a 
 j 
 
 ind tin • two tip at 
 
 : \ i - .1. M : that 
 
 the publi 
 
 I '' ' ' 
 
 •In- other caw I 
 
 I in the I 
 "LIBERT! OB PHI 
 
 th< lie Myrmidon," J I ■ 
 
 ■ " I' IP ' handbill concluded by 
 
 would take the law into th< h inda 
 
 if the I the 
 
 d ntempt and indiflci ei J I 
 
 idence in th< \ n into 
 
 the Mil'i 
 ■I the 1 2th, the jury came in w ith 
 [uittal ol I . having been out twenty-two h \ 
 
 loud clapping of h 
 follow 
 i when the 
 
 ! | 
 
 ! 
 
 (I i . ' . • . • '. •' ■ ■ 
 
 I I 
 
 t< 
 
 ( . 
 
 \ [uitted I \ 
 
The intelligence of the result mu I with tome 
 prise in the city, Bince the evidence, which wag published daily, 
 was considered to be Btrongly against the prisoner. I: was 
 explained afterwards, that upon the first balloting of tin- jury 
 they stood five for acquittal to seven for conviction. In the 
 morniog, before they left their room, they -t 1 ten for ac- 
 quittal and two for conviction : but oo the way from their room 
 to the court-house the two suddenly changed their minds, ami 
 I i" acquit the prisoner. The trial of Buzzell was con- 
 sidered a test case, for he had been Belected as a known and 
 prominent ringleader in the attack ami burning, and if the 
 crime could not be Legally brought borne to Rim, hi- less active 
 iates were not likely to he in danger. 
 
 CIIAH'Kli III. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE TRIAL8. — MA80N, MAK< Y. AND 
 BLAISDELL. 
 
 At the conclusion of the Buzzell trial, at'ter the excitement 
 hail been allayed, and order had been restored, Attorney I 
 end Au-tin again moved the court for a continuance of the 
 trial.-. The Btate of excitement existing in relation to them — 
 
 Cimen of which they had just witnessed — rend- : 
 
 impossible, he said, that the ends of justice could be at this 
 tini-' accomplished. The court, however, decided that they 
 saw no reason to alter the opinion they had prei iouslj expn 
 upon this point, and the proceedings went on. 
 
 The officers were directed to bring in William Mason, Mar- 
 vin Marey, Jr., and Sargeant Blaisdell, for whom M- 
 I' >ti and Derby wen- counsel. The counsel claimed that 
 the prisoners, though tried together, should each have the 
 usual privilege of challenging twenty jurors, which was as- 
 sented t-> by the court, though very few challenges were d 
 and the jury were impanelled, with John B. <i odwin, of 
 
60 
 
 1 Wil- 
 
 : 
 
 I ■ : 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 l.<- and 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 : tl..\\ ii. I I 
 
 hind, up 
 
 ; | 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 : 
 I 
 
Gl 
 
 Mr, Runey, of thi i th< m. The 
 
 mob increased, and called De Gilse and bis fri 
 nullifiers, and the latter returned home. 11 went Im i to ih<; 
 Convent about tv. I by Miss 11 
 
 Bon's own brother. When he first went off he umlei i 
 from tin- nidi) that nothing would be done till Thu 
 and so he made no efforts t«> protect the Convent. 
 n "ii fire when he arrived the second time, and all 
 He and Mr. Harrison went to Mr. Cutt 
 but were not allowed t" Bee the nuns. I mob had informed 
 i if Miss Harrison's Bafety. 
 
 Auryii L. Dennison, a fireman, who bad been referred to 
 by the last witness as having endeavored to prevent Maa m from 
 setting fire to the ice-house, was examined, but « 1 i • 1 nol iden- 
 tit'y the prisoner. Daniel J. Coburn, who arrested Mason, 
 testified to finding a piece of plate in his poe taken 
 
 from the Convent. Mason's mother had burned some pictures 
 which ho had brought home from the fire. Quite a Dumber 
 of witnesses were examined to prov< Marcy's conn* i 
 
 with the mob and burning. 
 
 Joseph L. Drew, who is well known as an ex-Alderman of 
 the city of Boston, and also for many years connected with the 
 school committee and assessors' department, was a member of 
 Engine Company No. 13, then located near the Old Jail in 
 '. Street. This was the Boston company aeare I to the 
 
 firej and its members were accused, not only of sympathizing 
 with the rioters, but of actually assisting in the destruction; 
 but nothing of the kind was proved at the trial. 
 
 Mr. Drew was called by the prosecution to describe the 
 proceedings, and to identity the prisoners. He went 
 with the engine, which was received with cheers by I 
 but it was common at this time to cheer the i engine 
 
 company which arrived first at an out-of-town fire. The mob 
 — brick-makers and others — at i ed the ropes, and 
 
 d the engine up to the front of the house. There was 
 then a bonfire outside, and Captain Quinn ordered his ui 
 take the engine hack to the Conveo - he was not desir- 
 
0U8 to be im; i.iir. T: 1 till 
 
 ding. Wilbur, 
 but li - :i rolunteer, who - - went 
 
 with • ' to t lie 
 
 1 
 
 I I Wilbur in t 
 
 of the ImiMii. 
 wind 
 .' i II.-. of the S 
 
 \-- : :. . G f tlie 
 
 :i :it the tin-. 1 I it of his tlOUSC in I 
 
 town at 1 from 
 
 tit with the information that " it wi 
 I thoul avail, to -t"j> tin- 1 1 i 
 
 from [ ay farther. As they panted him, 
 
 Qui) •!' witni 
 
 memben <>t' the 
 but their testimony v. roung 
 
 I :i Unitfc them that be knocked a 
 
 N auction," and threw it into tin- fire, Man} wii 
 that they saw 
 
 bllt v 
 
 • I the morning of the 1 5th, tin- ! i 
 
 upon il" tin; Im her di won) was only ■ 
 
 : . & laboring 
 
 jition, hi 1 low, and Mr. 
 
 Austin 
 
 to tli<- court. 1 1 
 circun I ' I I 
 
 •in the w indon . and h 
 I most induced th< 
 i tli«- l.i-lv their liich the 5i 
 
 od t • * 3 • 1 tl 
 : 
 
 ; 
 . 
 
She explained that the male servant* ate, drank. and .-l.pt at 
 the farm-house; that the lay Sisters were those who. havinff 
 taken the black veil, attended to the domestic as; the 
 
 funds of the institution were understood to be for purpoi 
 instruction, but they might be diverted from that o 
 she should die or varan- her office, another Superior would be 
 chosen by the Sisterhood, who must be confirmed by the 
 Bishop ; the finances of the institution were mostly exhausted 
 by the erection of the building at .Mount Benedict. Ber 
 worldly name was Grace O'Boyle; her religious one, ; 
 urd. 
 Miss Mary Ann Barber, whose religious name was Mary 
 Benedict Joseph, and Mary Rebecca Theresa I >• I >ther- 
 
 wise called Mary Clare, identified a piece i)t" silver plate, 
 to have been taken by Mason from the altar, with the pedestal 
 of a cross. Their testimony related principally to matters 
 which had been gone over before. Miss De i . who had 
 not been before the court previously, described the attack upon 
 the Convent, as she saw it. She Baw the rioters as they came 
 up to the institution, and went through the grounds and build- 
 ings. She went to the garden to join her friends and protec- 
 tors, but suddenly remarked that one of the //• //<//•' > had 
 fainted away, and returned to see if the latter u.i- safe. The 
 
 Superior was not at the Bummer-house when the witness 
 
 arrived there, and did not return for twenty minut 
 
 James Logan, who was a witness against Buzzell, identified 
 Mason and Maiw as being al the fire. Saw Mason assist in 
 
 bringing clothes and other articles, and throw them on B tire 
 
 in one of the room- ; and saw Marcy Bell the Bishop's I ks at 
 
 raoek auction. 
 
 A few unimportant witnesses were examined, ami the 
 
 eminent testimony was closed. 
 
 The Defev 
 
 On the 16th, Mr. E. Hersey Derby opened tin • the 
 
 defence, .-peaking four hour.-, alter which he introduced t' tirao- 
 ulpatory of Mason ; among his « itnesa - were four mem- 
 
■ 
 
 ! . m- 
 
 i at 
 
 ■ ' 
 
 J 
 
 in, and i 
 
 i . I 
 
 . 
 tlir 
 
 " Here's a 
 
 . i 
 I . 
 
 1 i 
 ' . pull <!"■ 
 
 I i I 
 
 under th< 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 i 
 
of his clients. He was followed by A Austin, in 
 
 what was Btated at the time to I"- one of the 
 cible, ami 1 1 » . • -- 1 impressive argument jury ; 
 
 delivered, too, with a qniet eloquence ami grace that rend 
 it more startling and remarkable. Be commented with 
 severity upon the conduct <>t' tin- gentlemen <»f the d< 
 appealing to tin- feelings of the jury as 
 quences that might result from their verdict to the friends and 
 relatives <>!' the prisoners ami to the prisoners themselv< i. It 
 the whole world depended upon their ** Yes " or n No," they 
 were still bound to decide from the facta of the case. He was 
 listened to with great attention in his general remarks, when 
 he proceeded to the consideration of the evidence against die 
 prisoners, and closed a little before four o'clock, 1*. M. 
 
 ( >:i the morning of the 20th, Judge Putnam delivered the 
 
 charge to the jury, which was an able and impartial one, and 
 
 they retired aboul eleven o'clock. They returned in the afternoon, 
 with a verdict of acquittal in the cases of Blaisdell and M 
 hut the foreman stated that they were unable to agree with 
 regard to Marcy. Instructions upon certain points of law were 
 given to them in relation to the case of Marcy byJudge Shaw . and 
 they again retired. At u little before seven they came in again, 
 stated they were still unable t • . ami wen linglj 
 
 discharged. Thus ended three if open trial-, in ad- 
 
 dition to the elaborate investigations of the grand jury, ami 
 overnmenl had accomplished nothing in the way of con- 
 viction. It was no wonder that th^ Attorney General was 
 chagrined ami discouraged at tin- great consumption "t labor 
 to no pun 
 
 Pond, Parker, Kelley, am. M utci . 
 
 ( >n the morning of the 21st the trial- recommenced, with 
 ■ it 1'. Pond, [saac Parker, Alvah Kelley, and Marvin 
 
 . dr.. the lasl being included to give him a new trial 
 before the next term of the COUrt. it was Btated at that time, 
 
 with regard to Pond, the brother-in-law of Mi-- R 
 
 Reed, that the grand jury, which met at Concord, and 
 
find :i l-ill im, which 
 
 i, that li' ! he wouhl 
 
 - 
 
 them, tod '"ill for the impanelling of ■ new jury if 
 
 it irnli«-r ,s, a bill ITM 
 
 two t<» be 
 
 ■ the institution and it • 
 1 .1. *rbo I 
 
 : the pri .:>«>n a 
 
 ■i :ill the counta 
 of the indictax t ho j . r- i 
 
 with the comn and thil one h<- pi 
 
 modify in mch a way thai it should nol tpital 
 
 I : 
 
 - lawfully in tli- I t at the 
 
 Thia motion \ l 
 
 lid have hnd I 
 
 power ■•' -h all are entitled 
 
 trader ■ capital ch :il-<» In I the 
 
 nment from the >unael for the 
 
 the latfc tnploy 
 
 • bey thought i 
 
 I liii-t Mr. Au-tiii"- motion to modify 
 
 • 
 
 I for the Jin from the testiraon 
 
 whether then 
 I • the time it • A jury mu impan- 
 
 elled, with J tan. 
 
 I nment, the Att->r: 
 
 jury thai the 
 Dot thai :it the time of tl 
 
 Convent there waa not, 
 by tli ng the present l 
 
 within tl, it buildin For , Mr, 
 
 ! 
 • 
 1 83 1 . The A 1 1 orney (i 
 
67 
 
 his admisson that the alleged offence came within tl 
 
 lone of the mitigating Btatute, paying thai I 
 
 be al le to prove thai eith r of the ;■■ tunllv np 
 
 the brand of fire to the ( Sonvent. H however, that 
 
 Kelley was present at the kindling of ! b >nfire, and 
 
 bis consent to halve it built up >n his I ind : that Pond 
 knew of the intention to attack the Convent, and became to 
 the scene, and did enough there to implicate him ; th t M 
 with the thoughtlessness of a boy, or the wickedness of a fiend, 
 was present in every part of the building; and when it n 
 warm for liiin to remain there any longer, that he went to the 
 Bishop's library, and assisted in the mock auction which pre- 
 ceded the destruction of the books. As t>> Parker, Mr. Austin 
 stated that he acini a still more inferior part, but sufficiently 
 important to bring lnm within the censure of the law. 
 The first government witness was David Buck, w h 
 mony only reached Alvah Kelley, the brick manufacturer for 
 whom Buzzell worked. He declared that Kelley was pi 
 at the second meeting held to discuss the subject of tearing 
 down the Convent; and he proposed to put off the 
 three weeks, to afford the directors of the Convent til 
 liberate the nun supposed to be held in durance within the in- 
 stitution against her will. He was to give notice it' anything 
 was to be done before the time. Also, Kelley 1 the 
 
 building of the bonfire on his own land on the night of the riot ; 
 he directed the rioters to procure fire from his own house, and 
 they forbore to use his fence for the bonfire because he had 
 given them leave to build it on his land. Buck Baid, " I 
 the lire brought from Kelley's house." He wa 
 cross-examined, and some of his statements caused amu 
 in the court-house as they were drawn from him by Mr. Farley. 
 When he was arrested, his employer, Captain Charles Ad. mis, 
 told him he wa- 1 a "gone" one — that i-, equal to :i <l tid one. 
 He Baid in return,"! can turn State'.- evidence, can't I " 
 Again: "When I was twelve years old the Selectm 
 Claremonl gave me to the Shaker- at Enfield, and th< ; 
 
 out a jrear, when my mother took me 
 
ilium 
 ] I 
 
 ... 
 
 the « i:: G 
 
 I . . 
 
 : 
 
 r. 
 
 i • ' i. 
 
 . \y nigh I 
 thai he i 
 :i — the lady thai 
 
 ! i . 
 
 I tainted I 
 
 ...ulil 
 
 
 
 I but I 
 
 :h it, :m<l there a ill be I 
 
 I . 
 the Liu- r v. 
 I I .t not 
 
 . ■ 
 
 I 
 
 the institution o 
 • 
 
 .. 'I to lii 
 to suppl) their ploci II 
 
 1 1, all . lie iiuiii. 1 tliif* 
 
 : I (Ik in. 
 
 I I, "If the 1 i'l\ thai i 
 
 I 
 
 hich id- • 1 1« r 
 
 : . • . I 
 
admitted that the Superior and himself ••■ 1 friends, and 
 
 he hi d always found her K, |],v and 
 
 zcll both said they would give fifty dollars to any man who 
 would pull the Convent down. Of this evidence, it ms 
 said, that Kelley was probably irritated when he used the lan- 
 guage attributed to him; but his opinions were the 
 those of many ignorant or prejudice 1 p< rsons :it that time. 
 
 William T. 11. Duncan, of Boston, who went over t.) the 
 Convent on the night of the fire, asked some engine-men whom 
 ho met what the matter was, and was told, "There is a fire at 
 invent; go ahead and pull it down." He had heard in 
 Boston, at six o'clock that evening, that the Convent was to 1"' 
 destroyed; and Borne of the men whom he saw at the work of 
 destruction were disguised. 
 
 The testimony of Captain James Quinn, of Boston Engine 
 Company No. 13, about which so much had been Baid, < 
 considerable interest, and. as it was said at the time, "he 
 it with great clearness, in a voice like a trumpet call.* 1 It 
 might also be said that some of his expressions iched 
 
 in "language not suited to cars polite," letting alone the dig- 
 nity of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Captain <Quinn 
 disclaimed all previous knowledg on the part of himself and 
 his company of any intention to fire or attack tie Convent. 
 His testimony in relation to the scenes upon the first arrival 
 of the engine at the Convent was corroborative of that of Mr. 
 J. I a. Drew; that the moli laid hold of the ropes of the engine, 
 
 and drew it up to the Convent front, when the < pany was 
 
 cheered. Stone- began to he thrown by the ni"l' in the shrub- 
 bery and the people who had thrown themselves upon the 
 engine ropes : anil Captain Quinn asked the multitude, " What 
 in does all this mean?'* A voice came from tie- -hruh- 
 
 bery, "This is the Nunnery." The witness replied, "The 
 devil it is I " He then gave the order to hi- company to man 
 
 the ropes, and take the engine down to the ro:id, which 
 
 obeyed. Then he told the mm that he would hold them 
 responsible for any outrage which they might commit on the 
 
 building or its furniture if they went up to the 
 
At • in 
 
 j 
 I I 
 
 the 24th, Mr. \ ratify 
 
 1 ml the liree of ti w ho 
 
 I : — 
 
 zifTair hat 
 
 r with ii, A third i- 
 
 4 
 followio I 
 
 1 '. I • : — 
 
 '. 
 
 It n 
 
 ■ ■ 
 . . in wl, • I 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 ' 
 
 1 I i 
 
71 
 
 great interest which he took in the affair, both before and dnr- 
 bg the destruction. Mr. David Kimball, who was then an 
 engineer of the Boston Fire Department, < 
 guises of the rioters, and the dresses which the mob assumed 
 after their work was over, when a large num I in 
 
 procession t«» march from the north end oi the buildin 
 of them were in grotesque female dress, wearin femi- 
 
 nine habiliments. 
 
 I he testimony against young Marcy was ren strong. It 
 w.i- proved that he was a leader in tin- mischief; that he had 
 conversed about hi- own doings therein, saying i" one man, 
 "We went from garret to cellar, to see thai no one was in the 
 building before we Bel it on (in- : " and that be attempted to ship 
 on board a whaler at New Bedford, under a disguised name. 
 Much of the evidence was merely recapitulatory of tint which 
 had been given before; and it was evident at this time that the 
 interest of tin' community in the trials began to aba 
 
 On the 26th the government closed it- evidence in 
 and Mr. Prescott opened in defence of the prisoners in a - i 
 of two hours; after which the testimony lor tin- . ; 
 explanatory, contradictory, and exculpatory — was ini 
 There was a Large amount of it, — good, bad, and imlifl 
 — but it was not of such a character a- to require rc| 
 The whole of Kelley's household, — mother, wife, 
 vants, and boarders, — as well as hie >rs, prosed a; 
 
 efficient alibi for him. Hi- family Bwore In- was in hid i 
 the bonfire was lighted; which was in direct contradicti 
 former ei idence b* fore the jury. 
 
 Mr. Farley commenced the closing argument lor the pi 
 ere about ten A. M. on the 27th, and it lasted till halt' pasl four 
 P. M., being pronounced at the time " perhapa the most ra 
 of-fact one ever addressed to a jury." lie deuied in I 
 the existence of any deep-laid conspiracy, or that t i . • I 
 would ever have f < en demolished if the Superior h el not impru- 
 dently denounced tin llection around it a- " vagabonds." He 
 
 was very severe upon Buck, the State's evidence, whom he 
 charged with direct perjury; his testimony W8S 1 1< ■ L t 
 
■ 
 
 !•! ih.it i. 
 
 Mr. 
 i I 
 
 ■ 
 
 mU- 
 
 ■ 
 
 .Ml 
 
 t lie 
 
 . ili.it lh 
 
 I . but be vrou] 
 
 1 oot 
 
 i th.it 
 
 r 
 
 1 then 
 
 buildin 
 
 K bum ■ 
 
 - 
 
 ! 
 
 lie i 
 
 i 
 ■ 
 
 I I 
 
 : ' P ; 
 
 I 
 :i with the bouj 
 
 I 
 
78 
 
 opon his shoulders," was ridiculed by Mr. Farley in the 
 amusing manner; and he kepi the court in ■ laughter 
 
 by hie illustrations of the absurdity of the i< I t".>r 
 
 aizing the accused. He was verj hard upon tl 
 ham Colonel, who had never explained how it \>a^ that lie 
 himself came to be at the rioting. The whole speech \\.. 
 mitted to be a masterpiece at the time of it- delivery. 
 
 On the 29th Mr. Austin made bis final argument against 
 the prisoners, occupying nearly all the day, II J •■ i 1 the 
 
 1 offence, ami the law outraged by it, the crime ; 
 one that ne man of reputation dared t>> palliate. He i 
 
 that a religion, which is that of more than half of Christendom, 
 and which was for more than thirteen hundred years 
 depository of Christianity, could nof be bo horrible as to justify 
 the burning of one of its institutions in the night. In proof of 
 existence of a conspiracy, which had been denied by the 
 prisoners 1 counsel, the Attorney General referred t<> the extent 
 to which the intended attack was known throughout B 
 and the neighboring towns, and he read tin- I 
 &c., which have been noticed, lie endeavored t" Bustain 
 Buck's character and testimony, ami was happy in alluding to 
 one witness against the latter, who called himself a merchant, 
 hut on cross-examination admitted that he was a pedler, and 
 .Mr. Austin Baid, "was just the man to make mountain 
 of molehills." lie commenced with the case "t' Kelley, and 
 was quite Bevere upon his " family witm ases." He pressed the 
 testimony of the government witnesses ; argued that K 
 whose house was nearest to the Bcene of disturbance, •• i 
 the conspiracy ; and those who were wicked enough t • form the 
 conspiracy against the Convent were wicked enough to enter 
 into a conspiracy to make evidence for their friends. 
 
 Mi-. Austin was quite briefi though decisive, in commenting 
 upon the testimony relating to Parkerand Marcy, and ex] i 
 
 hi- r. grel that the latter diil not (-cape on the whaling \ 
 during which he would have suffered all the penaltii -. 
 the disgrace, of a sentence t i the State Prison. 
 
 Having obtained a Bhort adjournment, Mr. Austin \ 
 
n 
 
 whom 1. 
 1 : I'V three 
 
 I A- 
 
 1 rencral Com- 
 
 1 
 or a i :i attempt 
 
 lothe 
 I Mil tO 
 
 t In- institution 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 itli tin- crowd, urging ti. 
 
 II 1 the 
 
 , to divest 
 
 a all <>u: 
 lusion of the At: I I. the 
 
 ] !.a<l DOtil 
 
 i what their counsel had 
 
 J 11' :illwl< -1 to 
 
 K h utility t-> th( I 
 
 the Convcnl 
 
 I tiiiioiiv him, which w;i> t'» I 
 
 : i I . . 
 
 • 
 
 i . and on I 
 
 : \\ nli a 
 jtiitul for V 
 
 i Murcv, who 
 
 • 
 
 . 
 : bich tin. I 
 
 la, 
 
 i the 
 • 1 dollai 
 S'athiinicl Budd, J 
 
was bailed in five thousand dollars. Of all thoi 1, no 
 
 one was in pri the boy Marcy; and of him Mr. Austin, 
 
 in bis chagrin at the failure of hU effort* .'.■■\ the princi- 
 
 pals or leaders, had express) d a wish, in the • irt, that be 
 
 had escaped, to Buffer the hardships and discomforts of a 
 ing \ . ..hen it \\;is apparent that he was I i ! 
 
 victim to the demands of justice. Marcy's counsel fo 
 hard in- a oew trial for him, on th I 
 
 visited a barbers ^h<n» where there was a paper containing tin: 
 trial, and had also been to the glass works, where they li i 
 
 to conversation on the trial. Inn the court refused the motion. 
 
 In reference to the falling oil' of the interest of the people in 
 the trial-, after Buzzell's case was disposed of, a B >s( »n daily 
 paper, which had discontinued its reports, -aid, — 
 
 "The Convent trials, which were the lir.-t new • 
 cannot now command attention for a paragraph often line-. '1. 
 the public, have settled the matter in their minds that tin- ; 
 bung, and the Convent riol and .-" thej further 
 
 information on the subject." 
 
 The w pirates" were Bernardo De Soto and -i\ : 
 who were tried in the U. S. Court at Boston, and convicted 
 of piracy, and sentenced to he banged, about the time of the 
 liuzzell trial. De Soto was pardoned by President Jaclu 
 
 CHAPTEB IV. 
 
 MARCY'S SENTENCE AND tTS REMITTAL. — THE I 
 '1 UK TRIALS.- REVIEW. 
 
 At the reassembling of the court, February 25, 1835, the 
 
 sentence of young Marcy was pr< unced, which was three 
 
 days solitary i finement in the Si Prison, and imprisonment 
 
 at bard labor for life. The court refused to admit David Buck, 
 the State's evidence, to bail, and remanded him to prison, until 
 the recurrence of the trials which were again postponed to the 
 
in <if the court, whi 
 ril. It i 
 
 ick led 
 
 . 
 . individual M 
 <-<ailtl well 
 
 . 
 
 il for ill' 
 
 ■ 
 
 ! 
 \ 11 the 
 
 .' 
 
 \ \\ 
 
 the wnn 
 
 ■ 
 i Mr. 1 
 
 I ' . John D 
 
 Governor £ 1 the 
 
 I .1 remit 
 
 - 
 1 
 
 : I incil. 
 
 ; 
 '■! 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ■ 
 
 I ! of ihe 
 
 ! 
 * 
 
 ■ 
 
77 
 
 the knowledge that the American 1 
 
 over the mine of the I frsuline < lonvenl al I . n ! " 
 
 Daring the court vacation, also, the public mind had ; 
 excited by the appearance of Miss Reed's I \ Monthi 
 
 in a Convent;" which wae said to have been prepai 
 vised by a committee, and which had a heavj 
 script of April In, .-ai-1. "The answer of the I. .. Supe- 
 rior to Mi— Reed will be published to-morrow. I 
 mittee of Publication ' will haw to go to work again. Miss 
 
 is knocked intojM.'" On the L5th it m 
 that the Superior's answer t«> .\i '- Imh.1v had i 
 
 rapid and extended sale, as the first edition of five thousand 
 copies was immediately sold, and a Becond edition of the same 
 number was nearly disposed of. 
 
 The court assembled at Concord in April, but civil i 
 only were tried. It adjourned, and met again May 19, but 
 the criminal trials were nut taken up until Tuesday, June 1, 
 with ( Ihief Justice Shaw an.) Judges Wilde and Putnam. . ; 
 Morton held a court at Nisi Prius. Prescotl P. Pond and 
 Aivah Kcllcy were arraigned, with Aaron ELadley, Jr., of 
 Charlestown, who had surrendered since the last trials, and 
 Nathaniel Budd, Jr., as the court decided to put them all on 
 trial at the same time. The court assigned Messrs. G 
 P. Farley, of Groton, and S. II. Mann, of Lowell, as counsel 
 
 for the defendants ; and in addition, MesSl . Bradford Sunnier 
 
 and Justin Field appeared a- counsel for Budd, and 1. G« 
 et for Pond and Kelley. It was stated in the reports 
 of the day of two of the prisoners, Budd and Hadley, that they 
 cot more than seventeen or eighteen years oi age, "and 
 would have been called the handsomest young gentlemi 
 the court-houe 
 
 \ i iy little difficulty was experienced in impanelling a jury, 
 after which the trial proceeded. The case was opened !•_• V- 
 torney General Austin, on the part of the government, ami ho 
 
 stated that all the cunts in the origiual indicium pi tho 
 
 the first, had been abandoned, ami that the not t" ho 
 
 regarded as a capital one. He did nut pi : tho 
 
78 
 
 for burning ■ dwell- 
 
 I 
 
 , Bishop • the* 
 
 Other 
 
 1 iinlry 
 
 : up. 
 
 ! I 
 Henry Buck, the 
 
 '. . . . 1 1 ... 
 ■ 
 I 
 
 II if the 
 
 < third 
 
 i plural," ami th burn 
 
 all the Catholic churches." M • thai 
 
 liu went i" tl 
 
 but did doI lay thai he had ■ hand in it. or that h 
 
 " I HI t 
 
 didn't bear him say h 
 
 that 
 
 l tiitu in tin. ' : ii a party 
 
 imp. Mr. I' mnd with them, and thought 
 
 a wheth ii tt in the 
 
 : ; I . 
 
 with • 1 [unt, II.:.:. 
 
 : I 
 
 I 
 
 U 
 
 w liich in the 
 
 r. m 
 
 1 bVidiiy, 
 
70 
 
 o'clock in tlio afternoon. In about three boon 
 turned a verdict of acquittal of all the defendant 
 
 Thus ended the famous Convent trials, which in their 
 mencement, and during the early - ter in- 
 
 terest than has been accorded to any judicial in. ds in 
 
 M - husetts for half a century at least. The interest in them, 
 however, faded out before they concluded, and but little note 
 was taken of the Concord trials except bj those immed 
 interested. The end was by no means that which 
 at the beginning. 
 
 < JoN< LU8ION. 
 
 About thirty-five years have passed away since the i 
 rence of the scenes and event- which have been chronii 
 these pages, and with them have passed also from !;•;■ the 
 greater portion of those who participated therein, d 
 indirectly. The judges who sat at the December trials, < 
 Justice Shaw and Judge Putnam, with Judge M irl in, who 
 was afterwards Governor of the State, all dii 
 and the same is to be recorded of the venerable Judge Wilde, 
 who sat at the closing trial. The counsel for the pria 
 Mr. Farley, the ahlc lawyer, Mr. Mann, the eloquent ad'. 
 
 Mr. Prescott, who afterwards took orders in the I 
 
 Church, and who was brother to Prescott, the historian, and 
 
 Mr. E. Hersey Derby, who may be remembered as the eft" 
 
 agent of the hanks in ferreting out counterfeiters, and who 
 
 died in his vocation, having caught a* malignant fever i:. 
 
 treal — all are gone. The Attorney General, Mr. Austin, still 
 
 survives, though he has long since retired from business, and 
 
 his able assistant, Mr. Huntington, yet wears the harm 
 
 his profession in >unty. The Convent Community, 
 
 which was temporarily removed to the <i neral 1' 
 
 in Roxbury, was removed to Quebec, and it may ben I 
 
 as a coincidence, that the ( lath die ( Ihurch has within 
 
 two purchased the Bame property, which is now u i 
 
 charitable asylum. The respected Bishop Penwick and the 
 
 Lady Superior are both deceased. Nothing appea to be 
 
80 
 
 in- 
 r which fol- 
 
 ■ I : d in the 
 
 but In- i 
 
 ■ 
 
 . I I it. 
 
 i i : it was 
 
 me that i 
 
 ith. 
 
 , ■ 
 
 AJ 
 
 bu L'nilt, though th it 
 • the jurj . the memben then 
 
 1 ' P. F ad, the brotber-in-!an 
 
 thfl ill :i ( m a 
 
 prim out 
 
 tin- work of deetraction, i 
 
 iker in 1 
 i t h i Boston D i ■ 
 
 : ! ' 
 
 Be I, 13 I'll, Thu int. Al 
 
 i- i ■ Mr. II 
 
 still of Charlesl 
 
 < • I inuunitv, h.r. 
 
 Ir. Fitch Cutl 
 
 Lady Superior, I 
 during the < t and difficult 
 
 and 
 
 • 
 
 nt. w ith n ill. 
 
 I 
 
 Grace 
 in. I; I ; but Mr. Fitrh ( 
 
81 
 
 business affairs by her, always n garded her as an A 
 woman. Notwithstanding all her faull was 
 
 : by those who acquainted with her, and 
 
 Alvah Kelley, \\h<> was among the mosl tfher 
 
 religion, and of the institution over which she presided, 
 knowledged that Bhewas a "good neighbor." It was currently 
 reported, and believed, that she was the daughter of Stephen 
 Burroughs, the once noted rogu . ibrated as a thief and 
 
 counterfeiter. Burroughs was the son of a New Hampshire 
 clergyman, was educated at Dartmouth College, and the hook 
 nt' his adventures, purporting to be written by himself) 
 very popular reading fifty years ago. In his older years he 
 
 1 his career of counterfeiting, in which hewasv< 
 entered the communion of the Catholic Church, and passed his 
 old age in receiving and educating, at hi- house in I hree Rivers, 
 Canada, the suns ut' wealthy gentlemen of the Province. He 
 died in January, 1840, in the seventy-sixth yarn} his 
 This may have been the foundation of the reports which made 
 him father to the Ursuline Convent Superior. A renerable 
 Sister of the Order, now living, has the inii.rc-.-ion thai her 
 name was Burrill ; that Bhe was born in Burlington, Vermont, 
 
 and died in Canada. The similarity of tin' nam O'Boyle 
 
 and Burrill may have been a reason for this confusion in i I 
 
 to her. She was thrown out of her vocation by the burning of 
 the Convent, and the Community have no after record in 
 regard to her. 
 
 .Mr. Walter Balfour, Jr., who was bo much commend.. 1 by 
 Mr. An.-tin for the spirit which he displayed on the exciting 
 occa.-don, is a citizen of Saratoga, X. "> • 
 
 It appeared to he evident to all who took an inter.-: in the 
 
 proceedings, that the Selectmen of Charlestown, at the time, 
 w.re Bingularly inefficient; and that, knowing the threat 
 warnings which had been thrown out, they should have pro- 
 vi.led some defence against the dangers which had been fore- 
 Bhadowed. There were two LigW Infantry Companies in the 
 town at the time. an. 1 one of them, the " Warren Phalanx," 
 had a very high military character. Bui the Selectmen wen 
 
 probably new to their duties. If memory h. t, ihey 
 
- 
 
 party 
 
 ■ 
 
 I . : 
 
 I' 
 
 < ! . , of V 
 
 1 
 
 it taking 
 
 all (In- I 
 
 IU, blackened \>y BtOI 
 
 I . (hat tli< mob mil 
 
 1 all time 04 a i 
 
 ■ 
 I 
 
 . Mr. 
 
 < . man \n1. 1 Hall to 
 
 with 
 
 I who 
 
 i •»•»<•* tll!"UL:ll til'" Mll'l |>! 
 
 II' 
 
 I the 
 
 I 
 
 but the 
 
 that I 
 
 . 
 aii'l tl 
 
 ! I.\ the ' n the 
 
APPEN DIX. 
 
 To the foregoing pages, may be added Borne opinions and re- 
 membrances, gathered in recent conversation with | 
 who were intimately connected with the mora- 
 
 ble night of the 11th of August, L834, 
 
 From \ Pupil of the < Ionveu i & a n 
 
 Mrs, Mary Frances Canaday | Peduzzi) was :i pupil of 
 tin 1 institution at the time covered by the circumstances which 
 have been related, hut Bhe was on a \i-it to her home in i' 
 mouth, X. EL, on tin.- day of thedestruction of the ( lonvent. She 
 is now a resident of Somerville, as Bhe has been for some j 
 She was a sufferer pecuniarily, hut not to the extenl of many other 
 pupils. She deserihcs the instruction <>t' the institution 
 ing of the highest order; the teachers being extraordinary pro- 
 ficient- in music, the languages, and in all tin- rare feminine 
 accomplishments. The Lady Superior was an extraordinary 
 ih scholar and reader. Nothing of religious sectarianism 
 was thought of at the school, ami there were only about a 
 
 dozen Catholics in the sixty or seventy scholar-; which formed 
 
 the whole number. She conversed with several of her fellow- 
 pupils, who described the firs! alarm of the nigl or as 
 
 coming with the suddenness of a thunderbolt. No Blich i 
 hail been thought of, for under the discipline of the institution 
 holars knew little or nothing of what passed in the bouse 
 beyond their own pursuits and duties. Their description of 
 the terrifying scenes of the night coincided with the accounts 
 
 which were published in the papers of the time. 
 
 Jn relation to the temper and hearing of the Lady Sup 
 
84 
 
 ■ r. their 
 itb the different t< 
 I lady, and was uniformly kin«l 
 dm in iMociation with th< Ail M 
 
 Mr. I I hi- mai 
 
 i 
 all ' 
 
 \ : g :ill the threatenii 
 
 It 
 h • riot 
 struct ion which ensued was I it out. He is -till 
 
 firm in th<- < .f »in j. »t» that had the I 
 
 table, and had come forward with M -- M 
 
 wd| 
 the result would haw \y diflfen iful 
 
 f the night would n 
 M I 
 ined in an article wril 
 
 i, w ho had •>•. ith him, and the foil 
 
 nit of the flight <>f the inmate* : — 
 
 . 
 i . 
 
 all, 
 ■ml 
 
 ■ 
 
to themselves, — their attendant*, in A 
 thither 1 , seeking orden from the Superior, 
 valuable articles of silver for rgot nil disciplin 
 
 rl of confusing events, — they i I the front of i 
 
 gazed ont upon the mob below. Some two hundred men » 
 
 tise, all crazed with excitement; yells filled the up the 
 
 ■rith lurid light; the mob surgi 1 bith< r an I thithi 
 in incertitude. The timid girls I • a from those upp< r v> 
 
 a photograph of Pandemonium. v 
 
 each others arms. There waa i i them, no comfort within 
 
 • rii. undismayed, and unyieldinj 
 
 • I reviling the mob, at intervals. - I the older p 
 
 their self-possession, b ther their property i- 
 
 parture, but the nuns forbade them to 
 • \ luck the mob disappeared from the front of the Convent, 
 
 and it seemed as if the perils of the night had pi 
 with hope, .md even the lineaments of the Bnperioi I 
 relief. The pupils were ordered to return to the dormitoi 
 
 y thither, when lights began to gl< am at the lower 
 The bedward procession was halt* I. \ iment more, and the mob m i I 
 upon the grounds in front of the Convent, armed with torchi -. and uti 
 the terrible cries that, heard in the night from the lips of an angrj po] 
 strike terror to the boldest hearts. The old grimness 
 the Lady Superior at the sight, hut she was still inti 
 said to the huddled pupil-. • go down to the front door, and shoa 
 to the mob; the sight of you may quiet them.' Obedient, the pu| 
 but during their passage from the third to the second story i 
 the window- were broken in. Instantly th pupils 
 
 ipe by the rear entrance. off at the mom 
 
 : through the long corridor, the fitted Mary John joined their ra: • 
 : out with them. Hurrying helter-skelter, and , I 
 
 not been permitted to visit this portion of the grounds, and were ignoi 
 its character, they ran down a steep declivity, and wen- check' I 
 and tight board fence, over t li i> , with much difficulty, the 
 scrambled, tumbling into a potato-patch, aid sped away towai Is Mr. I 
 Cutter's hou Dg to surmount thi 
 
 sank hack upon the ground disheartened, and n treating 
 
 feet grew fainter. 
 
 ■ .•inn- Mr. Cutter's house, the older pupils were instant! 
 and that gentleman and George Johnson al I hack to aid the little 
 
 one-. The reunited flock were safely lodged in some upper room-. 
 
 " In a little time the Lady Sup 
 Mr. (utter asked her to come in, hut the Supei 
 
 : his imitation ; hut -lie scorned it, and declared that • goto 
 
 Mr. Adam-'s house, lie offered to escort her thither, hut sh 
 allow him to do so. II persisted, however, and when tl 
 house, she said. ' Mr. Adam-. 1 want you to lei me in. not on Mr. ' 
 account, but on my own ; I will have nothing to do with him.' 
 tablished herself at Adam-'-, hersi If occupying an up] 
 below stairs, and all the Lights extinguished, the Superior • mptory 
 
 orders to the scholar- to join her there The older 
 
 At d iwn carriages came from Boston, and conveyed the pu] 
 >uring the riot, when the inmates of th.- Convent I 
 building was in flames, a nun ran up to Mr. Fitch < utt 
 for admission. He opened the door, and she asked I 
 where she could look ont upon the fearful scene. Here 
 night. Once she begged Mr. < lutter to go to a barn atta< I • I to I 
 and r- therein; she feared the barn » 
 
 were groundless; bat yielding l 
 went out and released the hone. Later in the night the nun n . 
 
86 
 
 • altar 
 
 1 
 
 Mr. ; with r. 
 
 : — 
 
 - 
 
 i 
 
 .. ■ 
 
 I 
 I 
 I 
 
 v 
 
 I 
 
 II and l>r>'t]i<T t'> : I 
 
 the minora outside relating to M u;. John, 
 
 tli.it tin • . :unl :i<l«l- : — 
 
 ■ 
 
 : 
 
 W. 
 
 i ' 
 i I f ft 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 II i. thai i 
 
 i resolutely wt work I 
 
 • 
 
 when tl. 
 
 ! I 
 
-7 
 
 hot have taken place. A d< r, havin 
 
 authority, with a dozen well-disp >-<•■ 1 in 
 
 him, could, in the opinion of Captain Quinn, !i . n -'ti* 
 
 the miscellaneous collection, which at that titn< 
 
 have I'tit little purpose or method, and with the authori 
 
 the law on their side the) could have effectively preserved the 
 
 , and prevented the commission of the crime and folly 
 which followed. He Btutesthat la- .-aw one of 
 
 tmen standing by the Convent fence when he arrived with 
 bis Company upon the scene of tumult, bul this official di 
 Beem to comprehend either the situation of affairs or his own 
 duty in the exigency. When the last of the trials w< 
 
 a cord, Captain Quinn was present vernment wit- 
 
 and he testified to this effect before the jury in an-.. 
 some questions by Attorney Genera] Austin. He was ; 
 
 then, why he did not interfere for the safety of property and 
 the preservation of the peace; and he replied that he h id no 
 
 authority whatever. He was a Boston fireman, and could not. 
 own direct a stream of water upon a fire beyond the city limits, 
 without order.- from the local authorities. The Boston papers 
 contained no reports of the Concord trials, except small para- 
 graphs relating to the extent of their proceedings, which i- the 
 reason this part of his evidence was never publishe 1 bi I 
 
 Notwithstanding the compliment which was paid by Mr. 
 Au-tin to the members of Engine Company No. 13, and th<ir 
 Foreman, in one ol hi> speeches before the .jury. Captain 
 Quinn has been somewhat Btrang< ly accused of being com 
 with the riot and outrages, and the company i long 
 
 time subjected to sneers and depredator 
 who wore unacquainted with the circumstances. I 
 of Engineers of the Boston Fire Department ordered an of- 
 ficial examination of the wholi subject, so I n 
 ginemen wen- concerned, and appointed a sub-committi 
 examine into the truth of various reports and alle 
 certain members and companies of the Fire Department while 
 on duty at the late fire in < 'hail, -town.*' This commit! 
 tended to the duty, and submitted a report on the 27th of 
 
1 . — 
 
 - 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 : 
 ■ 
 
 William < ■ . 1 
 David ] LA. Newt il, 
 
 w. 
 
 M: . JoeepbL. D 
 
 timeofthi 
 with the comp 
 
 Drew fully i ill tliu 
 
 1 tain Quinn in it 
 
 i ton ii .. :.«! be 
 
 atiment t» » M i, while i 
 
 wiili the latter firoi • ■ I • < 
 
 Mr. D i" the 
 
 stand. The Attorn I I him \\li 
 
 I Mr. D . t li.it be should 
 
 i hie opinion th< >uld have been d in the 
 
 :i prompt on the 
 
 the loin :.. \ i 
 
 i have j 
 
 and !• 
 
89 
 
 CONT] IfPOB Utl 1 >i-< i S8ION. 
 
 Gentlemen who had daughters in the Convent irere 
 
 Bubjected to much criticism at the time. [ tese were 
 
 Hon. Samuel P. P. Fay, of Cambridge, Ju 
 Middlesex county, and Samuel K. William-, 
 eminent Counsellor, and a man greatly respected in the 
 munity. There were many defamatory and depreciatory reports 
 afloat at the time in regard to the Convent school, 
 which reflected severely upon the parents of i>uj.ii- in the in- 
 stitution. In answer t.> these, Mr. Williams wrote the follow- 
 ing communication to the editor of the Boston Daily Ad- 
 vertiser : — 
 
 The interest the public have manifested in regard to the 
 School of the Ursuline Community, whose buildings have, 
 within the last week, been burned to the ground, and th< 
 connection] have had with it for more than three 
 I trust, any apology unnecessary for the statemen I i now make. 
 No request, or intimation even, from any person or persons, has 
 induced <>r influenced me to make this communication. Bui 1 
 frankly avow that the defamatory and vilely \\i ked reports 
 which have come to my ears, circulated insidiously, and no 
 doubt, by some with great zeal and industry, have, in my 
 opinion, made it my duty to presenl myself to the public in ■ 
 statement of such information as 1 have in regard t«> this In- 
 stitution. 
 
 My first acquaintance with this Institution was in the year 
 L829, and my inquirii - were then made to enable in<' to answer 
 a letter from Mrs. Guisinger, of Philadelphia, the lady of 
 Captain Guisinger, of the United - In tl 
 
 charge of my duty on thai occasion, 1 acquired such informa- 
 tion as induced me, two years afterwards, t" place two ol my 
 children at this school, and also the child of a deceased friend, 
 left to my care by the will of her father, and whose moth, r v\.is 
 also dead. From this time, viz., April. 1831, i laint- 
 
 ance with the school became verj intimate, and mj visits to it 
 were, on an average, from that time t" the present, 
 fortnight . 
 
 In December, L832, the child of my deceased friend I 
 sick, and after remaining at tin- Institution about two months, 
 brought to my house, and died there about one mouth 
 afterwards. 
 
tod a 
 institution 
 W ., than ha 
 
 ..Id, I 
 
 ; I 
 
 that in\ • 
 
 youth. 
 
 m the 
 
 . ■ 
 
 1 undation, and the tea 
 
 ( • the order of St. 
 
 I i 
 
 than tl. h« «>t il. 
 
 i illy a 
 
 I 
 I that tl 
 
 |>tlt lilt" til' 
 
 li ;i» the ; and that 
 
 in the 
 
 only in the I 
 iund in the 
 
 ■ . I . 
 lithfully i 
 
 I 
 • I ' 
 
 ii! wnwi ;ii :< il :ilt( iitj-m tO tl)4 
 
 and i 
 
 l W till I. 
 
 ■ 
 
 tn alth of im\ children whil 
 i inlil und< 
 
 ! 
 
 I 
 
 . the 
 
:'l 
 
 To all the vile surmises, and rumors, and report* which I 
 been put forth to the public, I can only say, that it lias ap- 
 peared t « » me thai as fast and as oft< :i as one is met and put 
 down, another has been ushered off to take it- ■ 
 gard i" the past, the present, and the futun . I have 
 
 l)i it one observation to make, one opinion to ofl 
 
 [f there is purity of life to be found !•;. . or in the 
 
 famili try of our distinguished I 
 
 throughout New England, it in do way surpassed (h l 
 excellent women Sisters ol the order <>t St. LJrsuline. 
 
 1 have here presented a view of my means and opportunities 
 nt' obtaining information, together with such information as I 
 thought of most interest at this time; and my object i 
 
 to disabuse the public of the errors which have acquired cur- 
 rency in the community. 
 
 I add herewith for publication the prospectus of the school 
 winch was put into my hands in the spring of 1831. The 
 school bad existed essentially the same as tlii- prospectus 
 presents up to the time its buildings were wantonly desti I 
 by an infuriated mob. This prospectus is now no other wise 
 important than as showing what this school promised, and 
 what all who knew it well, knew that it 
 
 S lmi ii. K . Willi \m>. 
 
 Cbsoxinb Community, )l"i m Benedict, Chablestown, m 
 
 This beautiful and extensive establishment i- -itu.it> . • and ;i half 
 
 miles from Boston, upon a delightful and healthy I 
 
 th<_- most beautiful prospects in the United States. In it youi 
 ceived from the age of six to that of four! 
 
 The plan <>t' education pursued bj t te Ladies of this Coram . 
 aprehending all those attainments which m 
 useful, and ornamental in society. I» voted bj : r Instil 
 tion of female youth, they Bpare no pnins to adorn their minds with 
 knowledge, and to form their hearts to virtue. 
 
 1 • ..a. mi this twofold object, their first care i- to instrut I I 
 and mii. lime truths of religion ; to endeavor to impit 
 tary maxims; and to point out the duties it imposes on th 
 God, their parents, and Buperioi , other mei I 
 
 towards themselvt -. 
 
 The school consists of two D distinguisl 
 
 , occupy ing 
 imiuunication whate* 
 
 young ladies in the Junior 1' minon 
 
 branches of education, such at 
 I . ipli^ , History, ancicnl 
 
 ! rlil all kinds ot 
 
 and tli anches, if requin d. W lit 
 
 i ed to tin- St nior />■ . 
 
 ■ plain and ornamental Writing . I 
 and pa rn, and natural U 
 
then* 
 
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 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1 
 In rr. /»'•/■• / \\ IK. 
 
 i 
 
 Mr. 
 
93 
 
 turn," and ending, "and I believe it ha- in re- 
 
 gard to all other children of Protestant parents." I 
 
 This statement appears ;•• us, and to ther pen 
 
 extremely vague and unsatisfactory. Will .Mr. William 
 Bwer the following questions? 
 
 Had tin- pupils in the Convent Biblt - in their : >n, in 
 
 any language which they could easily read and understand? 
 .in what language, and what translation? It they had 
 none, why bad they not? Ifthej had, were tbej permitted to 
 use them at their own discretion? It' there were any restric- 
 tions upon their use <>t' the Bible, what were they? Did the 
 pupils, while there, use Catholic forms of worship? In what 
 
 ceremonies, or forms of worship, not in general use a ag 
 
 i 3 tan ts, did they bear a part? It' in any, was il 
 of them? If not, how were they induced to d i it? 
 
 These questions arc suggested by information, apparently 
 worthy of credit, concerning other Convents. We will gladly 
 insert in our paper definite answers t" these qui Btions from Mr. 
 Williams, or from any other person, who will give definite 
 answers, and be responsible for them. 
 
 Mr. Williams replied in the following letter: — 
 
 To the Editor op the Boston Recorder. 
 
 I answer the questions yon propose in the Recorder, of the 
 . r )th in-t. 
 
 Every pupil at the Convenl school was required to h 
 Bible, or at least th: t pari of il called the New Testament. 
 Each of my children had one or the other of these books in the 
 common English translation, and the same they had used at 
 the Protestant schools in the city before going to the Convent 
 school : and these hooks they were do! only permitb ; 
 
 at pleasure, but were required to read them on the Sabbath. 
 
 It was also made known to me, at the time I first pul my 
 children at this school, that if I would furnish them with any 
 hook or hooks of prayers, the teachers would take charge of 
 
 them so far as to have such I k or books of praj ! and 
 
 studied by my children. And I did accordingly furnish my 
 children with the book of prayers published by the 
 Brooks, oi Bingham, and with the praj ■ Stone 
 
 Chapel in this city. And I have reason to be satisfied with 
 
 the use my children made of these I ks while at this school,' 
 
 and know that it was a matin- of gratification to the teachers 
 that t hese look- were furnished. 
 
 The Protestant children had prayers daily by thi 
 
n in tur:, 
 
 I 
 : tin- pnjen which were thui d tlio 
 
 I . 
 All tin- child *- . 'Kith. 
 
 I • ' 
 
 . • I . 
 
 i 'illy 
 
 '.\ nli tin •: i 
 
 |. . 
 
 In i , not in general 
 
 I ' . did the 1 ' I 
 
 It 1 i 
 
 (J'llholic To the 
 
 ever b d any 
 
 m, w have i 
 
 ij ni i llowed, I 
 
 In i i 
 
 hildn n |i :i--< "1 the Subbalh with m 
 I them, \\ lii'li i 
 
 iti t!. Sam m1\. Willi uts. 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 all bo 
 
 i 
 
 ■ 
 
 -: 
 
 ■ 
 I 
 
The rising sun now bringi the day, 
 And drives the shades of night tn 
 
 rial Light, « » God, ins] 
 With heavenly songs, Mir morning choir. 
 
 I I iund thy i 
 
 Thy lore, <>ur iir-t desires inflame, 
 That all our follow i 
 Bj th< ► be lay. 
 
 ale our minds that they m • 
 The unspotted • tity ; 
 
 Shut cut all ;ic. I 
 
 J. it in deceit and vai 
 
 God of ] . i in. 
 
 That we from qnarrels may refrain, 
 From slandeT let "ur speech be I 
 live in peace and charity. 
 
 This prayer, m<.st graciona Father, I 
 Thy equal Sou incline bis ear, 
 Who with the 1 1 
 Doth live and reign eternally. 
 
 I'.\ i m\., Prati bs. 
 
 1 adore thee, my God, and most humbly acknon anworthi- 
 
 ace of thy eternal M stj ■ 1 believe in thee, I 
 art Truth itself; I hope in thee, because thou art faithful to thy ■ 
 
 ith my whole heart, because thou art infinitely amiable; and, for thy 
 sake, I love my neighbor as myself. 
 
 How shall I be able to thank thee, o Lord, f"r all thy favors f Th 
 thought of me from all eternity ; thou bast brought me forth from nothing; 
 thou hast given thy life to redeem me; and thou continues! still, daily • 
 iiir with thy favors. 
 
 Alas! my God, what return can I make thee for all thj und In 
 
 particular, tor the favors of this day? Join me, ye 
 ye saints, in praising the i!".i of m< rcies, who is -■• bountiful to so unv 
 uro. 
 
 Holy Ghost, eternal Bonn f light, remove the ilark- bides 
 
 from me the number and grievousness of my off! 
 
 tl the sins I have- this day committed, In thought, word and a 
 
 me a feeling sense of them, that I it them from my heart, and dread 
 
 nothing so much, as ever t>> commit them s 
 
 Here they said the Lord's Pray< r. 
 
 Hnor. 
 
 >re the closing of the day, 
 Creator, thee we humbly pray 
 
 That, for thy wonti 'l in' ray's sake, 
 Thou us into prot< ction take. 
 
 May nothing in our min I 
 
 Vain dreams and phantoms of the night; 
 
 < )ur enemies repr< --. th 
 
 Our bodies no uncleanness know. 
 
 To Jesus, from i \ rung, 
 
 Begl i ng ; 
 
 The same t" i rod the Fath< 
 And Holj I ally. 
 
9G 
 
 - 
 low \ — 
 
 I a the 
 
 I reuline 
 1 at ut ( '1. mid ena 
 
 < imunity ; particul 
 
 ■ impro] in the 
 
 the inmates. Tl is mode - 
 
 of finding, in tl into tli- 
 
 nnery, tl. 
 
 ipular 
 
 I tluin with the grossest i n It n iti :i n it y 
 . in the i ' life, and particularly to i Mr-. 
 
 i in the latter |t:irt : and 
 
 another imputed to the Superior of tin- Community th< 
 unjuatifiabl nta upon the] I liberty of th 
 
 I • thought that \| '. :i ( w ho 
 
 . but who, as I learn from "tl I die mo 
 
 able i • inding it. 
 
 [iiaintance arith the Convent, and wh nt re- 
 
 moval from it w. table 
 
 to th' irho arc <!• is to know the truth. 
 
 • |>r< ju<l 
 
 1 Iiraiu I I 
 
 ; a ho ui undoubtedly a 
 
 :iv in thi 1 \ i'init i that hi 
 
 urea me that it- i 
 I from her, and that I 
 tcrmiix cl to -< nd hi* ■ >« n d to the 1 I 
 
 suitable age. 1 1 
 I 
 : immunity at i 
 
 by the foulest calumnies, and 1 trust thai jrou and other <ilitor« 
 desirous thai ti uth ihould pi 
 ■ the much ii 
 
 I h i\<- bar author 
 
 • 
 
 •it. 
 i i P, P. I 
 
 I : — 
 
M 
 
 Bi least, Eh pt. !. L834. 
 Sm : I have received your letter, and hasten to u an 
 
 early answer. The task is nol ■ pleasant one under such cir- 
 cumstances. No delicacy of feeling, however, shall withhold me 
 from doing justice, as far as Lies in my power, to that estimable 
 and never-to-be-forgotten Community. 
 
 [„ the month of December, L827, I entered the Drsu 
 
 Convent, Mount Benedict, as a candidate for that C munity. 
 
 After remaining about two years, 1 became convinced that I 
 had no vocation for that state of life. Having become exceed- 
 ingly attached to the Lady Superior, and those of her Com- 
 munity, 1 felt an unwillingness to leave. I found, howei 
 that it was vain to think of compelling myself to remain, and I 
 immediately made known my feelings on the ~u ! the 
 
 I ady Superior. So far from meeting with the least oppositi 
 shereplied, that "strongly as she was attached, and dearly as 
 she loved me, she must advise me to go, if I saw that I could 
 not he happy there;" for, Bhe continued, " no one can , i 
 that so well as yourself, and it shall be left to your own d< 
 ion • " telling me, at the Bame time, that " their Rules and < on- 
 Btitution did not allow any one to remain but Buch as found 
 their happiness there, and there only." She told me th 
 was at liberty to go, whenever I pleased, and should beprovi- 
 defl with every thing requisite for my departure, which was 
 done t>r» years after; having remained there that length ol 
 time, merely from personal attachment to the Lady Superior, 
 and her no less worthy ( lommunity. 1 >urin° my residence th 
 (a period of four years), 1 ran truly ssj that I never i 
 action to censun . , . 
 
 Their character is as unimpeachable as their eonducl is pure 
 and blameless. I can assure you, that as they appear al the 
 parlor, so are they in their mosl unguarded mora* nts— no un- 
 ending from that sweetness and affability of manner which 
 characterize them all. Every duty, both temporal and spiritual, 
 is discharged with the greatest fidelity. Hie love of God, and 
 the hope of heaven, is the motive for every actioi tch- 
 
 ers nothing canexceed the care, attention, and kindness which 
 ia bestowed on all placed under their instruction 
 Bec luded from the world and devoted to God, their purity of 
 conversation and moral principles, their nobleness of ^ heir 
 charity, kindness, and forbearance to each other, cannot fad oi 
 
 being a mosl edifying example to all around them. 
 
 My situation in that Community was such as I rme 
 
 thoroughly acquainted with every member, and part* 
 
: 
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