Part 11 (1/2)
”I, Catharine Dillon, say, that on Tuesday, 23d December inst, about five o'clock in the afternoon, I ith Eliza Mead to see the priest, Mr McDonnel, as at home Eliza remained there till about six o'clock P M At that ti her at the priest's
At half past eight o'clock the sa I returned to the priest's house for Eliza, and waited there for her till about ten o'clock of the sa that Eliza's conference with the priest would be ended, and that she would co there had been another besides Mr McDonnel there
About ten o'clock this other priest retired, as I understood Soon after this Mr McDonnel called me, with others, into the room where Eliza hen he said that she (Eliza) was POSSESSED OF THE DEVIL Mr McDonnel then co the devil if he possessed her The ansas, ”Yes” The priest then asked, ”How long?” and the ansas, ”Six months and nine days” The priest then asked, ”Who sent you into her?” The ansas, ”Mr Lockwood” The next question was, ”When?” ”When she was asleep,” was the answer He then asked the devil if Mr Lockwood had ever te me, and the reply was, ”Yes” Then the question was, ”Howher drink when she was asleep?”
”I careatly shocked at what I had seen and heard, and impressed with the belief that Eliza was possessed with the devil I went again to the priest's on Wednesday to find Eliza, when the priest told hin the church, and drove the devil out of Eliza That he, the devil, came out of Eliza, and spat at the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ, and departed He then told ot the devil from Mr Lockwood, in the house where I lived, I must leave the house i the appalling scenes of Tuesday night, Mr McDonnel went to the other priest and called him up, but the other priest did not come to his assistance
These answers to the priest when he was asking questions of the devil, were given in a very loud voice and sometimes with a loud scream”
”CATHARINE DILLON”
”Subscribed and sworn to, this 31st day of December, 1851, before me, JOB S OLIN, Recorder of Troy, New York” [A copy]
At the intervieeen Mr J W Lockwood and the Rev Mr McDonnel, officiating priest at St Peter's church, there were present Hon James M Warren, T W Blatchford, M D, and C N Lockwood, on the part of Mr Lockwood, and Father Kenny and Mr Davis on the part of the Rev Mr
McDonnel, on the evening of the 31st Dece any questions, questioning Mr
Lockwood's right to ask them: He would only say that Eliza Mead caht, with an evil spirit; that at first he declined having anything to do with her, first, because he believed her to be crazy; second, because he was at that ed; and thirdly, because she was not in his parish; but, by her urgent appeals in the name of God to pray over her, he was at last induced to admit her He became satisfied that she was possessed of the devil, or an evil spirit, by saying the appointed prayers of the church over her; for the spirit manifested uneasiness when this was done; and further, she was thrown into convulsions by Father Kenny's hhe exorcised the devil, and he left her, spitting at the cross of Christ before taking his final departure
As to Mr McDonnel's repeatedly telling Catharine that she must leave Mr L's house immediately, for if she remained there Mr L would put the devil in her, Mr McDonnel denied saying or doing anything whatever that was detrimental to the character of Mr L or any of his family
Mr McDonnel repeatedly refused to answer the questions put to hi that Mr L should visit his house on such business, as no power on earth but that of the POPE had authority to question hi reminded that slanderous reports had eainst Mr L he, Mr
McDonnel, said it was all to see what kind of a gerated, it was nothing to him
Mr McDonnel said that he cleared the church before casting out the devil, and there was but one person besides himself there That, every word spoken in the church was in Latin, and nobody in the church understood a word of it That he had heard threats made by Mr L, also that Mr L had said the pretended answers of the devil ware h the ress of the interview, made two or three attempts to speak, but was prevented by Mr McDonnel
Thus ends the report written down by Mr L's brother, as present, immediately after the interview It was all Latin in the church, we see; but the low Irish will not believe that the devil could understand Latin However, it was not all Latin at the priest's house, where Catharine Dillon heard what she declared on oath Ho the priest was to ad, and to believe that she had his sable majesty in her, until it manifested uneasiness under the cannonade of church prayers!
”But you will ask, how could an educated priest, or an intelligent woman, condescend to such diabolical iets to be a drunkard; he may not like the taste thereof at first, but afterwards he will s like whiskey,' and as their food beco wonders' converted into their spiritual substance So I think; I am, however, but a very humble philosopher, and therefore I will use the diction of the Holy Spirit on thedelusions, that they should believe a lie,' EVEN OF THEIR OWN MAKING, OR WHAT MAY EASILY BE SEEN TO BE LIES OF OTHER'S GETTING, ”that they all ht be dahteousness'”
”JOHN MURPHEY
”ALBANY, June 2nd, 1852”
It was said by one ”that the first te such h of derision” But it is with no such feeling that we place them before our readers Rather would we exclaim with the inspired penman, ”O that my head aters and ht” for the deluded followers of these willfully blind leaders! Surely, no pleasure can be found in reading or recording scenes which a pure ust Yet we desire to prove to our readers that the absurd threats and foolish attenorant recorded by Sarah J Richardson are perfectly consistent with the general character and conduct of the Ro ridiculous story translated from Le Semeur Canadien for October 12th, 1855
A NEW MEANS OF CONVERSION
In the district of Montreal lived a Canadianof French extraction who had become a Protestant Madahter, the sole fruit of a union too soon dissolved by unsparing death Their life, full of good works, dispelled prejudices that the inhabitants of the vicinity--all intolerant Catholics--had always entertained against evangelical Christians; they gained their respect,thehbors of the Protestant ho had often heard at her house the word of God read and commented upon by one of those ministers who visit the scatteredthe refor Christian rested her hope upon the promises of the Saviour who has said, ”Believe in Christ and thou shall be saved”
Her spirit flew to its Creator with the confidence of an infant who throws himself into the arms of his father Her last atory, where every Catholic believes he will suffer for a longer or shorter tihbors in the resolution they had taken to leave the Catholic church
Theburied the rehter upon her own land, a short distance from her house: the nearest Protestant ce it there