They had to be told to leave the family alone? What the H*ll is wrong with these vicious kids?
I dunno. Just plain evil demons.
The old maxim was “you’ll never meet a bully who isn’t a coward”. It applies here; having tormented this child to death and then not satisfied with their acts, they go after her memory and her family. Old New England had good use for the stocks in the public square as a means of humiliation of wrongdoers; they need to bring them back.