Chap. 9. 



RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



203 



FANATICAL SECTS. 



DORRIMTES. 



PILGRIMS. 



of Windham county in the State. The 

 founder was an impostor by the name of 

 Dorril, a refugee from the British army 

 under Gen. Burgoyne. Dorril pretend- 

 ed to be possessed of supernatural powers, 

 and that, as he was armed with attributes 

 of Deity, it was not in the power of man 

 to hurt him. He and his followers ab- 

 stained from eating flesh ; made use of 

 neither food nor clothing, which was pro- 

 cured at the expense of life, and, if they 

 had full faith in him, he assured them in 

 the name of God, they should never die. 

 They put off their leather shoes and had 

 others made of cloth or wood. One was 

 a blacksmith ; he procured and used a 

 pair of cloth bellows, and all lived upon 

 milk and vegetables. They discarded all 

 revelation except what Dorril received, 

 set at defiance all the laws of man, and 

 were governed in all their conduct, as 

 they expressed it, " by the light of na- 

 ture." Meetings were held once a week, 

 at which their worship consisted in eat- 

 ing, drinking, singing, fiddling and dan- 

 cing, and hearing lectures from Dorril, 

 wlio was well qualified for that purpose. 

 Tliey had a covenant by which they placed 

 a large share of their property in common 

 stock, and the blacksmith became their 

 treasurer. In a short time Dorril collect- 

 ed a large society, among whom were some 

 very respectable families in the towns of 

 Leyden and Barnardston, Massachusetts. 

 People went from all the neigiiboring 

 towns to hear and see the marvellous do- 

 ings of Dorril and his associates. At 

 length, at one of their meetings, a goodly 

 number having assembled, Dorril opened 

 with music, &c. and began to deliver his 

 lecture. At that meeting one Captain 

 Ezekiel Foster, of Leyden, attended as a 

 spectator. He was a man of good sense, 

 of a giant frame, and had a countenance 

 that bespoke authority. When U6rril 

 came to the doctrine of his mysterious 

 powers, he had no sooner uttered the 

 words, "no arm can hurt my flesh," than 

 Foster rose indignant at his blasphemy, 

 and knocked down Dorril with his fist. 

 Dorril, aft'righted and almost senseless, 

 attempted to rise, when he received a 

 second blow, at which he cried for mercy. 

 Foster promised to forbear, on condition 

 that he would renounce his doctrines, yet 

 continued beating him. Soon a short par- 

 ley ensued, when Dorril consented and 

 did renounce his doctrines in the hearing 

 of all his astonished followers. He further 

 told them that his object was to see what 

 fools he could make of mankind. His fol- 

 lowers, chagrined and ashamed at being 

 made the dupes of such a base fellow, 

 departed in peace to their homes. Dorril 



promised his adversary, upon the penal- 

 ties of his life, never to impose upon the 

 people more. 



Pilgrims. — This was another vagabond 

 sect which infested some parts of this 

 State in the year 1817. Their leader was 

 a man by the name of Isaac Bullard. He 

 commenced his career at Ascot in Lower 

 Canada, a long confinement by sickness 

 having previously rendered him a visiona- 

 ry, or afforded him an opportunity to ma- 

 ture his plans for imposing upon the cre- 

 dulity of the ignorant and weak minded. 

 He assumed the character of a prophet, 

 wore a leathern girdle and rough garments 

 to deceive, and with a few adherents en- 

 tered the north part of the State, and pro- 

 ceeded southerly. Having received but 

 few accessions to his number, when he 

 reached Woodstock in Windsor county 

 his whole company amounted to only 

 eight persons. Here in a back and re- 

 tired part of the town he found materials 

 suited to his purpose, and soon succeeded 

 in making proselytes of two simple, but 

 well disposed and honest families by the 

 name of Ball. One of these, Joseph Ball, 

 was a Christian minister, and the other, 

 Peter Ball, was the owner of a small farm 

 with a large family. Having by decep." 

 tion and intimidation secured these to his 

 interests, he made the residence of Peter 

 Ball his head quarters for several months^ 

 in which time, by beguiling weak and 

 unstable souls in that and the neighbor- 

 ing towns, he increased the number of 

 his followers, consisting of men, women 

 and children, to about 40, among wliom 

 was a I\Iethodist minister by the name of 

 Holmes, a resident in Shurburne. 



Bullard professed to be governed and 

 to govern by immediate inspiration from 

 heaven, and he taught his followers to re- 

 gard his authority as paramount to any 

 other human or divine. The property of 

 those who joined the company all went 

 into the common stock, and was used or 

 distributed according to the dictation of 

 the Prophet, who also controlled at his 

 will all their most intimate domestic re- 

 lations, marrying and unmarrying, re- 

 warding and punisliing, according to his 

 sovereign pleasure ; and none dared to 

 resist his autliority or lisp a murmur of 

 complaint. Filthiness they seemed to 

 regard as a virtue ; and they were fre- 

 quently seen, even the adult females, roll- 

 ing in the dirt of the highway, and pre- 

 senting a spectacle as indecent and loath- 

 some as can well be imagined. 

 . Bullard himself said little when spec- 

 tators were present, but the tap of his 

 staff was well understood and instantly 

 obeyed by his deluded followers. The 



