Vandals Remove Head, Hands of Statue at Old Roswell Cemetery

ROSWELL, GA -- A Madonna statue at the Old Roswell Cemetery has been vandalized, and those tasked with taking care of the cemetery are on the hunt for the missing pieces.

The head and praying hands of the statue on the grave of Margarette Swindall Crowley have been removed from the structure, the Roswell Historical Society said.

Crowley was the wife of former Roswell Mayor George Elmore Crowley and the daughter-in-law of Laurel Mills President Seaborn Crowley. Her brother-in-law, Hugh Irby Weaver, was also a three-term mayor of the city. The family members, the Society said, were buried in the cemetery on Woodstock Road.

Crowley died shortly after giving birth to her son, William. Her heartbroken husband erected a beautiful tribute to her, a statue of the Madonna and a reflecting pool surrounded by engraved hearts.

While the head-less and hand-less torso was recently remounted on the pedestal at the cemetery, the Historical Society now on a "community-wide scavenger hunt" with the hopes to find the Madonna's head and praying hands.

Anyone who knows of the current location of these objects is asked to contact the Roswell Historical Society at 770-992-1665 or societyrhs@bellsouth.net.

"The Historical Society is not interested in punishing the vandals," the group said said in a press release. "They only want to completely restore the Madonna statue to its original configuration."

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Images via Roswell Historical Society