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were called upon to examine the school.
They made the examination.
They found nothing to report derogatory to its character, and so made no report.
Early in the evening of the 18th of August, 1834, these brickmakers assembled near the convent.
They were joined by others of like class.
Other men began to arrive in their carriages and stop and form a part of the crowd around the school grounds.
Some came from quite a distance.
It was well known in the vicinity that some-thing was to happen to the convent on that night.
The writer learned of it at Lowell, twenty-five miles away, and, in company with other young men, ascended Fort Hill, the highest eminence in Lowell, whence Mount Benedict could be easily seen with a glass, and whence the fire of the convent, between nine and ten o'clock that night, was very plainly visible.
A bonfire was built about nine o'clock in front of the grounds.
Soon after, the rioters broke into the buildings and drove out the ladies, forcing them to take refuge in the tomb.
Then, first setting fire to the bishop's lodge, they burned the whole establishment, not a drop of water from the fire department reaching the place.
This was so quickly accomplished, and there was such lack of information in Boston as to what was to be done by the rioters, that no general alarm was called.
On the following day, a meeting in Faneuil Hall, attended by the best people of Boston, denounced the outrages, and the utmost indignation was expressed at the horrible event.
The firmness, moderation, and full control which Bishop Fenwick had of the Catholic citizens of Boston prevented retaliation, the consequences of which might have been awful.
The Catholic Church, which owned the property, permitted the blackened ruins to be left standing as they were, refusing all offers of purchase of the site; and it was first encroached upon under the right of eminent ___domain by taking part of it for a street.
All in vain were the efforts of the officers of justice of the county of Middlesex to bring to justice the offenders who committed this monstrous arson.
John R. Buzzell, a brickmaker, who led the riot, and who confessed that he had done so, was tried and acquitted.
A boy of seventeen, Marvin Marcy Jr., who had been drawn into the affair purely for love of mischief, was alone convicted, and he was set at liberty at the expiration of seven months. Arson in the night-time
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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