The Henry County weekly. (McDonough, GA.) 18??-1934, August 20, 1909, Image 7
THE TOLL. -ar 'isJ* 5r "T- ►■*''' fV .- f ,.- -M' —Cartoon by Maurice Ketten, in the New York World. SIX BABIES DIE AS “WITCHES’ 7 CHANT. Reading Coroner Investigating Deaths of Infants Treated by fr.cantations--Ha.cf Summer Compiaint--Operat>oris of “Doctor” Not Only Allowed Infants to Perish, But Started Neighborhood Feud. Reading, Pa.—Coroner Strasser is busy procuring evidence in the cases of six infants, all of whom died within twenty-four hours. It is charged by the Coroner that all six of the chil dren were treated by “witch doctors,” but that the only thing they were suffering from was summer com plaint. Coroner Strasser has reported the matter to the District Attorney. Reading has many “witch doctors,” and there have been cases in court time and again of persons who de clared that neighbors “verhexed” them. No sooner does a child become ill in this section than the neighbors rush in and declare the child is “ver hexed,” and a “witch doctor,” with his incantations, is sought out. the cases of the children that while undergoing this treatment were simply treated by chant- Kng mystic words while a red cotton cord was passed over the body. In other cases a bag containing charmed words was hung about the neck. The Coroner said: “Many children die every summer from summer complaint that do not have an attending physician. Upon investigation I find that the parents are of the middle class, and spend GUILLOTINE REVISITS PARIS. Only Fifteen Seconds Needed to Beliead a Parricide-—An Awesome Scene. Paris.—The French mind being pre-eminently logical it is difficult to believe that it will not demand a change in the method of carrying out execution. The law demands that they be publicly performed in a public place. In practice no member of the public, strictly speaking, saw any thing of the execution of Duchemin, the only eyewitnesses being 150 jour nalists, a dozen mounted gendarmes and twenty policemen. The difficulty in finding a place for the guillotine since the Roquet.te prison was pulled down has always been proffered as an excuse for the practical abolition of capital punish ment which Paris has enjoyed or suf fered for the last ten years. That this difficulty does not exist urns shown when the guillotine was erected at the middle of the 300 yard wall of the Prison de la Sante. It stood in the centre of four chest nut trees belonging to the double line of trees that border the Boulevard Arago. Opposite this wall are the grounds of a huge unoccupied con vent, so that nothing overlooked the spot. The only drawback was that there is no door to the prison on this side. Therefore the condemned man. leaving by a door on Sante street at right angles to the Boulevard Arago, was driven some seventy yards along this strefit and then 150 yards to the place of death. Some 1200 troops ! were on duty, barring every road ! around the prison. Double and some times triple cordons both on foot and on horseback fifty yards apart made [it an assurance that nobody could ap proach except those possessing a po llice pass. At about 3.45 Deibler's men began [erecting the guillotine. Silently, [without the sound of a hammer, with lout a spoken word of command being [given, it was put together by the light fcf a candle flickering in an old time ■antern, and this was used even when fceibler wished to test the machine (with a spirit level. Everything was gexact. In an hour’s time one of the Sexecutioner’s assistants blew out the Jandle. All was ready. The knife •fas run up to the top of the frame, gnut no test drop was made, so confi dent was Deibler in his men and the machine. I It was now the dawn of a perfect trimmer day. As the sun rose it re fcjpaled the maroon colored “timber of H^stice. ” Its position among the trees Sobbed it of much of its crude horror. jßbortly before 5 o’clock, when it was fall daylight, .the prison van came their money calling in old women who make a practice of ‘powwowing’ and using charmed words. “What is more, these women de scribe the ‘hex’ to the parents, and this is the cause of many of the neigh borhood feuds that are aired in court. “The parents of these children in nearly every case imagined that their offspring were suffering from witch craft, and they immediately hustled them off to a hexerai doctor. It is about time that the authorities inves tigate the illegal practice that has existed so long in Reading and Berks County, and which is the fundamental reason for the many deaths. “Parents are entirely too super stitious. In many cases they believe that their children have a spell cast over them and instead of consulting a regular physician go to a hexerai doctor and procure either a hoodoo or a charm to drive away the evil. “This charm or bag is worn on cer tain parts of the child’s body and is kept there for a certain length of time. Certain passages of the Bible are repeated daily by one of the fam ily to break the ‘hoodoo,’ and the powwow doctor calls daily and goes through funny stunts in an effort to chase out the imaginary spirits.” around the corner and up the boule vard and stopped opposite the guillo tine. Two men let down the back, which formed steps from the vehicle. Then down these came first the prison governor, then a priest and then a figure which might have been Lazarus coming from the grave at Christ’s command. It had its hands fastened behind its back and a loose covering hanging from the shoulders. The body was naked except for a pair of linen trousers. Over the face hung a black veil, thin enough to allow the features to be visible, for the Code enacts that parricides must be taken to the scaf fold in bare feet and with veiled head. Duchemin was twenty-eight years old, but the livid face might have been that of a man any age over sixty. It was the face of a man with out consciousness or feeling of any kind for whom assuredly the bitter ness of death had already passed. Within fifteen seconds from the time the prison van stopped the knife had fallen. This seems incredible, one of the newspaper correspondents took the time by a stop watch. In those fifteen seconds Deibler’s aids seized the cloak and veil, conducted the condemned man three paces be tween the van and the machine and laid him in place. The knife fell in stantly and the body was pushed into a basket. How such perfection can be at tained when the men have so little practice on living subjects is little short of marvelous. The speed com bined with the evident insensibility of the doomed man robbed the specta cle of its horror.' It had more re semblance to a clever performance of the disappearing lady act of the mu sic halls than to a tragedy of death. For those who were watching with in three yards the work of setting up the dread machine in the darkness and silence will remain a memory long after the recollection of the ac tual execution has faded away. Calderon is Foreign Minister. Carlos Calderon assumed the Min istry of Foreign Affairs in the new Gonzalez Valencia Cabinet, at Bogota, Colombia. It had been reported that Marco Fidel Suarez would be Foreign Minister. Two Dreadnoughts For Chile. The Naval Council at Valparaiso. Chile, has recommended the building of two ships of the Dreadnought type# Thousands Have Kidney Trouble and Never Suspect it. How To Find Oct. Fill a bottle or common glass with your water and let it stand twenty-four hours; i | a brick dust sedi /KjOS-IJ L -ps~‘ ment, or settling, ...Tra J stringy or milky \W \ appearance often ytS V)d Jk/Y \_X \ indicates an un- I health}’ comfi ifll \IT £fy«» / S t ’ on ie kid- \V pi rV*rV{ ne )’ s ’> t°° fre ■ I quent desire to -- pass it or pain in the back are also symptoms that tell you the kidneys and bladder are out of order and need attention. What To Do. There is comfort in the knowledge so often expressed, that Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Root, the great kidney remedy, fulfills almost every’ wish in correcting rheumatism, pain in the back, kidneys, liver, bladder and every part of the urinary passage. Corrects inability to hold water and scalding pain in passing it, or bad effects following use of liquor, wine or beer, and overcomes that unpleasant ne cessity of being compelled to go often through the day, and to get up many times during the night. The mild and immediate effect of Swamp-Root is soon realized. It stands the highest be cause of its remarkable . %a. health restoring prop- /SiffiSEQcEiSifacSij. erties. If you need a fSaKliSjiisSiccr medicine you should |K2S!IfS'I!!S!22;;i“ have the best. Sold by | jiff;asafUNq druggists in fifty-cent and one-dollar sizes. llouie ol Swauip-Ko. t. You may have a sample bottle sent free by mail. Address Dr. Kilmer & Co., Bing hamton, N. Y. Mention this paper and remember the name, Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp- Root, and the address, Binghamton, N. Y., on every bottle. Kennedy’s Laxative Cough Syrup Relieve* Colds by working them out of the system through a copious and healthy action of the bowels. Relieves coughs by cleansing tha mucous membranes of the throat, chest and bronchial tubes. “As pleasant to the taste as Maple Sugar'* Children Like It* For BACKACHE—WEAK KIDNEYS Try s Kidnepnd Bladder Piiia—Sura and Safi P| PORATABLC AN D STATION ART Engines AND BOILERS taw. Lath and Shlnvle Mills. Injeotors, Kmps and Tltllnga. Wood Sawn, Bplittars, •hafts, Fallsys. Belting, Oasollns Engine*. LOMBARD, faaafcj, Mathias »nd Bsilar Work* ud Suppij Start, av«usta. a a. Weak Kidneys Backache, Lumbago and Rheumatism immediately relieved by Pineules Delays are dangerous. There is no more common complaint than Kidney complaint. Nature always gives due warn- JTf gl ing and failure to rZvI'MH heed same may 1 e»rs\l resu h i n Diabetes, \ 1 Jr Lumbago, Bright’s J}f Disease, or some other v jr serious affection of the vT V Kidneys. A trial will h convince you they are unequaled. Pine- I ules are quickly ab \ sorbed and readily J but naturally elimin i M i ate P°i sons due to dis- Ij| / organed condition of IJJ { Kidneys and Bladder. They purify the blood and are a tonic to the entire system. Do not suffer from Backache, Lumbago, Rheumatism or Kidney and Bladder trouble when you can get Pineules. Two sizes, SIOO and 50 cents. The dollar size contains 2j times as much as the 50 cent size. Pineule Medicine Company Chicago, U. S. A. Horton Drug Co. Z. D. Ward, Stoekbridge. You can forgive even a politician by being the one yoourself. Blind persons never experience Icvc at first sight. CENSUS SUPERVISORS President Taft Confirms List of 330 Appointments. PATRONAGE DIVIDED IN SOUTH In Nine Southern States Supervisors Will Be D.vided Between Repuli publicans and Democrats. Beverly, Mass. —At an extended conference with Secretary Nagel of the department of commerce and la bor, Postmaster General Hitchcock and E. D. Durand, director of the census, President Taft approved tha appointment of 330 supervisors of the thirteenth census. The list had been prepared at Washington for ihe pres ident and the qualifications of every man inquired into. There has been marked discontent among some southern republicans over the decision of the president to divide the census patronage in the states of the “solid south.” When it is considered that each census supervisor will have a tremen dous force of enumerators under him, the census patronage may be readily realized. " The states where the supervisors are divided equally between the dem ocrats and republicans are Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala bama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisia na and Texas. Director Durand said that he hoped to have the supervisors actively at work by the middle of October. Pres ident Taft, it is said, laid down the rules, especially in states where a di vision has been made between dem ocrats and republicans, that super visors shall not be active partisans, and that no attempt should be made to build up political machines out of the census patronage. The far southern appointments an nounced are as follows: New Mexico, Paul A. F. Waler. Arizona, Franklin F. Towle. Florida, first district, Henry W. Bishop, republican; second district, Lesuer Galden, republican; third dis trict, Thomas David White, democrat. Alabama, first district, Lawrence W. Locklin, democrat; fourth district, George W. Parson, democrat; fifth district, William P. Cobb, democrat; sixth district, Simeon T. Wright, re publican; seventh district, James ,T. Curtis, republican; eighth district, Thomas P. Wood, republican; ninth district, John T. McEniry, republican. Tennessee, first district, Samuel Thompson; second district, Alfred Jefferson Agee; third district, John H. Earley; fourth district. Reese Q. Lil lard; fifth district., John B. Strong; sixth district, Harry A. Luck; seventh district, Marion Richardson; eighth district, Sidney E. Murray; ninth dis trict, Vincent Atkins Biggs; tenth dis trict, John William Farley, Memphis. Georgia—First District, Francis Xa vier; second, Eugene Leigh Rainey; third, George Ernest Rickey; fifth, Alonzo M. Brand; sixth, Charles Aker man; seventh, Louis Hanley Craw ford; eighth, Willis Beauregard Ad ams; ninth, T. R. Allen; tenth, Jo seph N. Lee; eleventh, Alexander P. Perham, Sr. Louisiana —First district, John A. Wogan; second, Walter Y. Kemper; third, Raymond Thurston Clark; fouth, George T. Reilly; fifth, Chas. Henry Trousdale; sixth, Orin Medicus Grisham. Mississippi—First district, Samuel D. Chamberlain; third, William A. Shelby; fourth, James N. Landrum; sixh, Nathan A. Boddie; eighth, Jas. B. Yellowly. North Carolina —-First district, Jo siah C. Meekins, Sr.; second, Jas. M. Newborn; third, H. Frank Brown; fourth, William Claudius Pearson; sixth, Irvin B. Tucker; seventh, A. Turner Grant, Jr.; ninth, J. Yates Killin. South Carolina —First district. Wil liam J. Storen; second George Water house; third, William Walker Rus sell; fifth, Robert Leroy Douglas. PEST IN SEA ISAAND COTTON. Caterpillars Invade Fields, Destroying Young Plants. Charleston, S. C. —Caterpillars are invading the fields of the sea island cotton in the Charleston territory to a considerable extent, and the dam age done by the peats is causing se rious concern. Energetic measures are being tak en by the planters to stamp out the caterpillars. The planters are feeling much con cern over the invasion of the cater pillar, as the pest increases rapidly and has been known to do great dam age to other crops in other sections of the country. Some fear that rav ages of the pest on the sea island cotton may reach the magnitude of the invasions of the army worm in the west, where broad tracts of grass and small grain have been destroyed in a brief time. SPIRITUALIST SWINDLE. Women Sent Great Fortune to Hus band in Other World. Mexico City.—W’hat they declare to be a gigantic spiritualistic swin dle, extending over a period of one year and which has well-nigh impov erished, Mrs. Maria de Jesus Perez, a widow of Colonel Trinidad Ruiz, has been discovered by the police. Surrounded by a coterie of spiritu alists, the authorities believe that Mrs. Perez became an easy victim. A great fortune, the police say, has been depleted by daily payments to the materialized form of her depart ed husband that claimed monetary needs to meet expenses in another world. GEORGIA LEADINU. Ahead of Other Southern States in Num ber of Rurel Mail Routes. Washington, D. C. —In a statement issued by the pastofflee department .t is shown that on August 2, 1909, there were in operation 40,919 rural postal routes in Wie United States served by 40,804 carriers. While some of the Southern states were slow to recognize the advantages of rural delivery, this can not be said of Georgia, for it is a matter of record that long before there were as many as half a dozen applications for the service presented from some of the neighboring stales, there were in operation in Georgia several hundred routes and petitions pending for as many more. On August 1, 1909, there were in operation In Georgia 1,594 rural routes and there are pending, unacted upon, 69 petitions for additional service. Service has been organized on a county basis in 32 counties and other counties will be taken up for reorgan ization as rapidly as conditions will permit. The reason that so many routes were put into operation in Georgia and other states was the fore sight of the people in promptly pre senting their petitions. Rural carriers in Georgia travel daily except Sunday and holidays nearly 40,000 miles of highway and serve about 630,000 rural residents. Since the establishment of the first route in the state extension and maintenance of the service in Georgia it has coat the government about SG, 700,000, the present annual rate of cost being a little more than $1,500,000. NATIONAL liUAKU IMPROVING. Major Palmer Pays High Tribute to the Georgia Enlisted Men. Atlanta, Ga. —The report of Inspec tor General F. L. Palmer, U. S. A.,, retired, as to the condition of the Na tional Guard of Georgia, declares that there has been a general and undoubt ed improvement as compared with conditions last year, but points out a number of defects in the various mili tary organizations of the stale. The criticism most stressed as counting against efficient and well disciplined military companies is that the commissioned officers are too. often ciiosen for social and political reasons, rather than for military skill and ability. However, the report notes improve ment throughout the state and credits it to the general interest and zeal of the commissioned personnel taken as a whole, and of the unfailing enthusi asm, energy, intelligence and zeal of the enlisted men, This improvement,, coupled with the premise of still great er improvement for the coming year, gives every encouragement for Ihe be lief that the Natlonol Guard will be a thorough success through progessive development along the present lines and is so already to a very large and satisfactory degree. Major Palmer declares that great Interest was shown in the inspection by all concerned and every effort made, generally speaking, to make the inspection a creditable one. State Capital News Notes S. G. McLendon, chairman of the railroad commission, states to his col league* on board he did not recog nize the action of the former govern or and the legislature ae legal and that he still regarded himself as the commisskm chairman. Mr. McLen don takes the position that the ac tion of the houses in dejKrsing him was null and void. It seems that he will continue to act as chairman of the commission until the courts pass upon his deposition. Mr. McLendon last week called upon the state treas urer for the arrears of his salary and the question of whether or not Le is still in office war. referred to the at torney general, who has not yet given an answer. The chairman has been at his office daily since the suspen sion order, getting his mail and look ing over such matters as came within his ken. In taking the position that he did with his colleagues, it is said that he is acting upon the best legal advice to be had in the state, able lawyers here and in other cities hav ing counseled him to do as he did. and to claim the office. There has been filed with the rair road commission of Georgia a peti tion signed by each of the 146 sher iffs in Georgia, in which it is prayed, the commission modify its general or der No. 3, in so far as it applies to sheriffs going to serve warrants and travel with prisoners so that they may ride free. The sheriffs have long contended that the right of free street car rides for firemen and po licemen in cities was on an equality with free transportation for them on. railroad trains, A preliminary report has been made’ to the secretary of the treasury by the commissioner of internal revenues, which shows that the revenue collections for Georgia have decreased over $300,000 during the past three years. Last year the decrease was $140,071,16. Prohibition is the reason for this falling offi, for it is principally of taxes on spirituous liquors and tobacco that the internal revenue col lections consist. There have been many inquiries a« to the exact language of the dog tax law, and when it will become effect ive. Under the general tax act,which will become effective January 1, 1910,. the following tax is laid upon dogs: “On all dogs the sum of $1 per head. Such tax to be enforced by levy and sale as other taxes are collected and not to interfere with the imposition and collection of any municipal taxes on dogs. Provided that in the event no purchaser at the sale of any dog bids the amount of said execution, that the levying officer shall causa said dog to be killed.”