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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
15
1915, this time going to the Buffalo Diocese. Under
his administration the Cathedral debt of $1,600,000
melted away like snow under summer skies.
In 1918 Bishop Dougherty became Archbishop of
Philadelphia, and in his scant three years there he
has formed no less than twenty-one new parishes.
He has increased the annual collection for the dio
cesan seminary from $100,000 to over $186,000, and
made a similar favorable change in the Peter’s Pence
Collection.
The Holy Father is expected to assign Cardinal-
elect Dougherty to the Church of St. Pancras, where
in the year 1200 Peter of Aragon swore loyalty to
the Church before Pope Innocent III.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE PARISH
OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST,
SAVANNAH, GA.
(Continued from Page 6.)
to what disposition he is to make of the dead Priest’s
belongings.
We do not know when Father le Moine came to
Savannah only that he died here in 1794. Bishop
England relates that before the coming of Father le
Mercier several Priests had passed through Savannah
or died here; but they have left no records behind
them. There was an Irish Priest named O’Reilly
who came from Baltimore to Charleston on his way
to the West Indies in search of health, about the year
1790 or 1791. He is known to have visited Locust
Grove, and we may surmise that he stopped for a
while in Augusta and Savannah also; but there is no
record of such visit preserved. The Rossignols came
to Savannah in 1792 with other French refugees, ar\d
there were probably one or two Priests who accom
panied them here; but we know of none before the
time of the Abbe John le Moine, who lies buried
somewhere in the old “brick cemetery” of Savannah,
now known as Colonial Park. He remains, there
fore, the first Priest who exercised the ministry here,
of whom we have any definite record.
Regarding the two witnesses to the above record,
the following may be mentioned as worthy of note:
Doctor Charles Parseille, as appears on the Church
records, was married to Maria Joanna Emelia Tondee
de Marizette. The baptism of one of their children
appears on the old record book with an older child’s
name as sponsor. From this and other records we
learn that Doctor Parseille came from San Domingo,
and was married probably after he arrived in Sa
vannah. The name of “Tondee” suggests the pos
sibility that Mme. Parseille was the grand-daughter
of the famous Peter Tondee of Revolutionary days.
The will of Peter Tondee is preserved in the records
of Chatham County, in which he leaves all his prop
erty to his wife, Lucy Tondee, and in the event of
her death “to his own children,” to be divided “share
and share alike.” This will was executed in 1775
and was probated, as appears from a marginal note,
in 17 76, just after his death. It is, therefore, quite
possible that the wife of Doctor Charles Parseille,
witness to the first official record of the Catholic
Church in Savannah, was a grand-daughter of this
pioneer Catholic of the Colony and member of the
Provisional Congress of Georgia at the beginning of
the War of Independence.
Thomas Dechenaux, the other witness to this old
record, was made secretary to the board of trustees
when the parish was organized, and always took an
active part in Church affairs. His clear, beautiful
and legible penmanship is very frequent in the pages
of the old record book. He served on the City Board
of Health in 1805 and 1806, and was elected Aider-
man in the year 1813.
He died while in office on July 23, 1814, in the
47th year of his age, and was lamented by Catholics
and Protestants alike as an honorable and useful citi
zen of Savannah. His death record appears on the
old record book in the handwriting of Rev. Anthony
Carles, rector at that time of the Church of St. John
the Baptist.
CLERICAL LIFE.
(Continued from Page 7.)
vault, otherwise I am sorry to say I will be compelled
to blow out your brains.” The man had a pistol in
his hand. The cashier’s wife and daughter promptly
fainted, but the other lady turned around in her
chair and opened a door just behind her and ran up
stairs. One of the men started after her, but was
promptly told there was no other way of getting out
except by the Sixth Street door. As a matter of
fact, there was a door, seldom used, on Market Street,
and the girl went upstairs and down the corridor to
the staircase leading to the door and was unchaining
and unbolting the door when the noise she made was
heard by the burglars and one of them ran out of the
Sixth Street door, and as he came to Market Street
he saw her running up the street. He went after
her on a crowded street, but seeing her run into a
store, hurried back to the bank to find that the
cashier had not yet opened the vault. He gave the
alarm and the burglars fled. In a little time fifty men
were on the spot. The burglars took to flight, but
were captured at midnight when they boarded a train
at a way station some miles out of W. The grand
jury promptly indicted them and they were tried at
the ensuing term of court. They employed a very
competent lawyer, who was afterwards an assistant
district attorney in New York. The trial ended on
a Saturday with a Verdict of guilty, and the chief
justice promptly sentenced them to stand an hour in
the pillory, receive twenty lashes on their bare backs
and serve ten years in prison. Their counsel at once
arose, and protesting against the flogging part of the
sentence, appealed the case to the Federal court on
the ground of the cruel and inhuman punishment.
The chief justice said to him: "The court will hear
this motion on next Monday morning at 10 o’clock,
and forthwith adjourned the court. Before the pris
oners were taken back to the jail the judge called the
sheriff and told him to take the prisoners out into
the jail yard and put them in the pillory and flog them
at once. The sheriff did as he was told and no appeal
was made. A few months after their prison sentence
commenced they escaped from jail, but Frank re
sumed his professional career, this time in Suffolk,
Va., and was captured by the authorities. The State
made a demand for Frank and as the evidence against
him was rather weak, he was turned over to the of
ficers from N. and brought back to prison. He had
only been back a fortnight when 1 visited his cell.
The cell was clean, but provided with only a bed, a
chair, and a wash stand. Frank was standing as I