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Show AN INFAMOUS OUTRAGE, j Bnrniner of the Ursnllne Convent 1 the Know AothlnK. The burning of the Ursuline convent at Charlostown, Mass., was one of the most brutal outrages attempted by that infamous organization, the Know Nothings, says The Irish World. The burning of the convent occurred on the 11th of August 18.14. Mount Benedict Ben-edict is but a short distance from Boston Bos-ton and, like Bunker Hill, has its monument, mon-ument, though of a vastly different kind a monument of shame and outrage, out-rage, a monument of the excess to which ignorant fanaticism may be urged by malevolent conspirators. The Know Nothings at that time were charging, among other slanders BTTimxa THE tnsSXJLETH CONYEfT. igalnst the church, that women were being detained against their will in the convents and other Catholic institutions. institu-tions. The Convent of St. Benedict was marked out for destruction. There were about 60 female children and ten adults in the building, several of whom were ill. The attack was made still more glaring from the fact which was publicly declared by a committee of Protestant gentlemen who investigated investi-gated the outrage, that of the 60 pupil3 in the Institution, "for the most part children of those among the most respectable re-spectable families in the country of various religious denominations," not more than ten were Catholics. The attack was made on a Monday night following a simultaneous chorus of furious anti-Catholic harangues from the pulpits of a number of Protestant Prot-estant preachers the day before. The cowardly mob, after first charging the building and smashing the windows and doors with heavy missiles, fell back, fearing that there were icen inside in-side prepared to resist them. This gave a chance to the superioress to gather her terrified flock into the garden gar-den and thence escape in the darkness to friendly succor. The mob, finding that they had no resistance to face, entered en-tered the building and gave it to the flames by piling the furniture and religious re-ligious articles and books in a heap and setting fire to them. They also burned the bishop's lodge, a valuable library and the farmhouse and burst open the tomb of the convent con-vent stole the plates from the coffins and exposed the moldering remains of the dead. The decent Protestants were amazed as well as the Catholics by the wanton outrage. A public meeting meet-ing was held In Faneuil hall to voice their indignation. The report of the committee of Protestant gentlemen on the subject made a scathing indictment indict-ment of the authorities who apparently connived at the crime. . There were trials of persons arrested for complicity complici-ty in the outrage, but the accused were acaultted. and to this day no repara tion has been made by the state of Massachusetts for the deliberate destruction de-struction of the property aud the midnight mid-night attack upon a helpless community communi-ty of women and children. |