SAVAGES IN NORTH DEVON.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 758, 3 January 1871, Page 3

SAVAGES IN NORTH DEVON.

Under this heading, about twelve months ago, a paragraph appeared iu the " Times," giving a description of a family living at Neynoet Rowland, in North Devon. The paragraph attracted much attention at the time, and we are informed that the Home Secretary requesting information with regard to these extraordinary people, the clerk to the magistrates in "the division where they live sent a return of more than fifty summonses which had been issued against them by the magistrates for various offences. Since then, and during the last few davs, the public in Devonshire have again had their attention attracted to this notorious family on aecount-of some proceedings which a respectable farmer, named Partridge, living near them instituted against them, for, as he alleged, entrapping his cattle into a field belonging to them, which has no gate to it, impounding them, and charging Mr Partridge a heavy sum. The case was tried at the County Court, and Mr Partridge obtained a verdict. Our correspondent paid a visit to the locality where the family in question reside. The family consists of an old man and a woman, their son, three unmarried daughters, Jand a numerous progeny of little ones.'They all live in an old barn propped up by posts, and this barn has neither windows nor doors in it. There is no dormitory rait, and one room, almost destitute of furniture, serves for every domestic purpose, a pit in it being the sleeping place of the whole family. In the summer many members of the family have been seen in a state of almost nudity at work in the fields, and nameless vicious acts have been witnessed by the neighbors. The clergyman of the parish, the Rev. Mr

Parkinson, informed our correspond, ent that the words and deeds of these people were disgusting and abominable, and that it was not safe for a lady to pass near their wretched dwelling. The remonstrances of the minister are received with oaths, and he is saluted with odious names and obscene language. The daughters of the old man and woman, who are robust young women, have the voice and manners of rough men. They use the foulest language to passers by who may be obnoxious to them, and often assault with alarming vigor those whom they dislike. On one occasion one of them attacked a respectable farmer in the neighborhood, Mr Carver, with such ferocity that he fainted from loss of blood, and he bears the marks of the blows on him to this day. Encounters between them and neighbors are frequent, and a gun has sometimes been fired from the old barn by concealed hands while these fights have been going on. The savageries of these people are indescribable, and the annoyance and alarm they have caused to the neighborhood is a subject of loud complaint. Many members of the family have suffered imprisonment for divers offences, but they have only returned again to renew their depredations and their nameless obscenities. Missionaries in foreign lands never encountered a tribe of savages who required civilising more than this wretched tribe of people in North Devon. They own thirty acres of freehold land, on which they live, and they are thus likely to continue for a long time to violate physical and moral laws with impunity, unless some measures could be taken to put an effectual end to the corrupting and dangerous influences which they exercise in the neighborhood where they exist.