The Franklin County Publication Archive Index is constantly updated. By creating an account you can elect to receive notices when new articles are added and when people comment on the articles.
To search for a particular subject term, click on the highlighted link containing that term at the bottom of the article. For example, if you are seeking more articles about animals, click on the highlighted link which says Animals/Reptiles/Amphibians.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
The horrors of idolatry
The horrors of idolatry - Miss Harriet Brittan is writing some interesting letters depicting life in India, to the "Christian at Work". From a recent one we make the following extract in which she describes a religious gathering: "And now to turn to a sad sight witnessed during my visit to Allahabad...".
[Long article discusses diseased beggars, religious pilgrims who come once a year to bathe and shave at this spot. She describes one street "which appeared to be entirely devoted to fakirs...men who are supposed by self-inflicted tortures to have become very holy...They were about the vilest creatures that it is possible to describe; it made you shudder to think that humanity could be so degraded...These men were almost all of them almost entirely nude - none of them had any covering but one filthy little piece of rag, not more than a fig leaf...
Their hair and beards were all long and matted with filth, their bodies smeared with a mixture of cow dung and ashes; some of them had a thick mixture of whitewash or white plaster, with 1, 2 or 3 broad stripes, like, blood, down the forehead...One man...sat in a bed of ashes, with 4 fires built around him on either side; not of course close enough to burn him, but close enough to scorch him and cause great suffering...
There was another, a miserable looking creature, who for many years had held his arms up over his head with his hands crossed. At first when he began to do this, he was obliged to have his hands bound to poles, to keep them up until they stiffened in that position...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 26, 1875
News of the week
The Adventists in Chicago assembled Mon. night, in a private way, and waited till nearly morning with their white robes in readiness for the expected coming of Christ. They finally dispersed quietly.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 29, 1875
A colony of Communists
In 1842 a society of German Communists settled near Buffalo, N.Y., and after remaining there awhile removed to a point 74 miles west of Davenport, Iowa. They call themselves the "Congregations of True Inspiration" and from the name of their principal village they are known as the Amana Community...Their head is a woman, who is supposed to speak by direct inspiration of God...The men, women and children eat separately. "Why do you separate men from women at table?" asked the correspondent. "To prevent silly conversation and trifling conduct" was the answer. Each branch of business has its foreman. The children go to school from the age of 6 till they are 13. Their studies are alternated with knitting. Boys as well as girls are required to knit.
/ The women work hard and dress soberly. All ornaments are forbidden. To wear the hair loose is prohibited. Great care is used to keep the sexes apart. On Sun. aft. the boys are permitted to walk in the fields, and so are the girls but they must go in different directions. No young man is allowed to marry until he is 24 and matrimony is not regarded as meritorious. Each adult male is allowed from $40 to $100 a year for clothing; each woman from $25 to $30, and each child from $5 to $10. They have no library and most of their reading is in the Bible, and in their own books. They take no interest in politics and do not vote.
/ They employ about 200 hired hands, all Germans. They are excellent farmers, and keep the cattle. The members do not work hard. They say that 3 hired men will do as much as 5 or 6 of the members. They make woolen cloth enough for their own wants and supply the country about them...They have no debt and have considerable money at interest. In sickness they practice homeopathy. (See "Amana: the community of true inspiration" on Google Books).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 8, 1875
News of the week
A fire on Sat. aft. the 27th at Lebanon, N.Y. destroyed a large building and its contents, the total loss being $40,000 and no insurance. The property belonged to the Shakers, and the building was one that was saved at the time of the great fire in that village two weeks ago, which caused a loss of $125,000, The building was known as the Herb House http://tinyurl.com/6csgny , and there was a valuable store of extracts and preserved herbs consumed. The fire is believed to have been maliciously started, as it was discovered in three places in the third story, and that, too, only a few hours after a fire had been discovered and extinguished in the same structure.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, February 15, 1875
The New Lebanon shakers, whose village is about 7 miles from Pittsfield, met with a most serious los by fire Sat. the 6th, a somewhat new e
The http://sidneyrigdon.com/features/pilgrim1.htm New Lebanon shakers , whose village is about 7 miles from Pittsfield, met with a most serious los by fire Sat. the 6th, a somewhat new eperience with them, as they are so careful and methodical in their ways that it is not easy for fire to get the advantage of them. One mammoth http://www.shakerwor...-are-the-shakers.htm dwelling house , 3 barns and a workshop were burned, belonging to what is called the "Church Family", and situated near together at the fork of the roads. The house, which was the largest in the whole settlement, was built only 5 or 6 years ago and cost about $40,000. The first story was of hewn stone with 4 stories above of wood, and the whole was finished with much nicety though with severe plainness...The whole loss must have been from $60,000 to $70,000. It is believed that there was no insurance. The Church Family was the home of that eminent apostle of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers Shakerism , Elder Frederick W. Evans. The whole family lived in one house, probably from 150 to 200 persons, the men lying on one side and the women in the other. No appliances for extinguishing fires were to be found in the town, but a messenger was dispatched to Pittsfield for help, and the old No. 1 hand engine was loaded on to a sled and started over the mountain drawn by 4 horses and accompanied by another sled filled with hose. The machine made the 7 miles in 55 minutes and got to the scene in time to be of much benefit.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 4, 1875
A Hindoo funeral
A Hindoo funeral - a strange picture of Indian customs. The London Times of Nov. 14 prints the following extract from the letter of Lieut. http://www.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/Handlist_S.htm C.E. Yate , Assistant Political Agent, Bombay Staff Corps, relative to the death of the http://www.artoflege.../library/dictionary/ Maharana of Oodeypoor [this is really Udaipur]: the Residency , http://www.blonnet.c...2002021800130300.htm Oodeypoor Rajpootana, Oct. 12, 1874. "I would have written before if I could have found time, but I have been in such a continual state of excitement lately that it was impossible.
I wrote to you last, just after my arrival from Erinpoora [i.e. http://perso.wanadoo...20043%20erinpura.htm Erinpura , a military station] on the 3rd, and forgot whether I mentioned to you that the Maharana [ http://www.mewarindia.com/ency/shah.html Maharana SHAMBHU SINGH ] was dangerously ill. He had been so for some time, but I am sorry to say that just when everyone began to think there was a chance of his recovery, he had another attack, and died most suddenly two days ago.
On the 4th. Dr. Macdowall arrived here from http://neemuch.nic.in/ Neemuch (80 miles off) to consult with Dr. Burr here about the Maharana, for they had hope of his ultimate recovery, though very slight one. On the 7th he was much better, but at 10 o’clock at night the doctors were sent for, as the Maharana was in great pain. They returned to us very shortly to say that it was all over, and that they had left him dying; another abscess had burst in the liver, and the shock had been too much. Col. Wright, the political agent here, and I at once buckled on our revolvers, and jumping into the carriage, drove off to the http://www.dreamzico...-palace-udaipur.html palace as hard as we could go. The Maharana had died just a minute or two before our arrival, without naming any successor.
He had no children of his own, and he had always refused to adopt, as is customary acording to Hindoo law. [He actually had adopted http://www.mewarindi...20Singh%20Award.html Sajjan Singh , who became the next Maharana]. He left two uncles, both of whom were at deadly enmity with each other, and we were afraid that there would be a row between them for the succession: however, luckily, everything went off quietly. Each of these uncles, I must tell you, had been accused of having bewitched the Maharana, and the row was just coming to a crisis when the latter died.
One uncle at the time, was living in a garden next to the Residency, where he had come for refuge and the protection of the political agent. Three days before his death, the Maharana was weighed against gold , he in one scale and http://tranvuongviet.net/?tien=199 gold mohurs in the other. This enormous sum, about a lac and a half (150,000 rupees) was to be distributed among the Brahmins; consequently the city was crammed full of these people, who had come from miles round to participate in the spoil.
I saw, myself, no less than 30,000 of them fed in the palace a few days ago, and after the feast was over a piece of gold to the value of between 3 and 4 rupees was given to each as they went out of the palace gates; that is how the numbers were ascertained. Well, to return to the subject, Col. Wright and I, after hearing of the Maharana’s death, went down again to the waiting hall below. We fould that all Col. Wright’s orders had been carried out. The http://openscroll.or...atch_tower-21-0.html Zenana doors were locked, and everything was comparatively quiet.
The entire government, of course, lapsed into Col. Wright’s hands, and he is at present the de facto of the country. The excitement, which was greatest first, gradually got less, and about 2 o’clock in the morning it was all pretty quiet. We lay down in our clothes and took a short nap, but neither of us had any sleep. I do not think the women of the http://www.art-and-a...odhpur/jodfort7.html Zenana got news of the Maharana’s death for some time, and did not show their grief until early morning. Just at dawn we were startled by a fearful wail from the http://www.vaisnava.cz/clanek_en.php3?no=109 Zenana , which contains, I am told, 500 women, so you can fancy what a row all these wailing together could make.
[Interesting to think that with 500 women in his http://www.alovelywo...e/htmgb/udaipug1.htm harem , the Maharana still died without an heir]. Their cry was taken up by all the people in the palace, and went on, I may say, almost without intermission for some three hours, till the body was carried off to the place of cremation . Troops of women came in from the city, all wailing and crying in chorus. These all passed into the Zenana to add their lamentations to those of the inmates, and as day broke the preparations for the funeral went on and the crowd began to get thicker and thicker.
At this time the women in the Zenana began to get most violent. The two wives and the favorite concubine of the Maharana made most determined efforts to break through the doors, and doubtless they would have succeeded in getting out had not Col. Wright taken the precaution of having them locked in in time. I had possession of the key all the time. They wanted to be allowed to commit suttee [also seen as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice) sati ] and to be burnt along with the Maharana, and sent message after message to Col. Wright to be let out. Their efforts to get out were so determined that Col. Wright at last posted the two chief nobles of the State at the doors, and told them that he would hold them personally responsible that no one got out.
It is a rule here that if a woman gets out of the Zenana and shows her face, she is either obliged to become a suttee and be burned, or else to commit suicide. At last the Maharana’s mother sent a message to Col. Wright begging that as none of the others were allowed to become suttee, she might have permission to do so, as no Maharana of Oodeypoor had ever died alone, and it would be a disgrace if her son was to do so. All the time great preparations were going on for the funeral procession.
The noise was tremendous. In addition to the wailing of some 1000 women in the Zenana, all the men were howling and beating their breasts. They brought a lot of jewels on a tray to the Colonel, which were to be put upon the corpse: a pair of ear rings, a beautiful necklace, and an anklet were to be burnt with the body. The rest were to be brought back. The Colonel’s permission was also asked to take 5000 rupees out of the treasury for distribution along the road. About 9 o’clock in the morning a lot of Brahmins arrived and went up into the palace, and shortly after the body was brought back, dressed up in full court costume and bedecked with jewels. It was placed in a sort of sedan chair in a sitting position, covered with a canopy of crimson and gold, and thus borne on the shoulders of a lot of Brahmins.
The procession was formed and went off: first a guard of Rajpoots, then men carrying the 5000 rupees, then another guard, then some 20 or 30 torch bearers with lighted torches, then some men with lighted candles, then a whole crowd of Brahmins in the midst of which was the body borne aloft on their shoulders. Some of them sprinkled the body with rose leaves and flowers, others carried palm branches, two others, one on each side, waved long yac tails [i,e, yak?] about to keep off the flies, just as would have been done had the Maharana been alive; then came the emblem of Royalty, the Hindoo Sooruj or sun, the red umbrella, and other paraphernalia.
The wailing, as soon as the body was brought out in sight of the crowd was tremendous. The place of cremation where all the royal tombs are is a place some two miles outside of the city walls. The whole populace followed the body there, and as soon as the ceremony was over, every man was clean-shaved - beard, whiskers, mustache, and even the hair of the hand. All Rajpoots wear very long long, flowing whiskers, which they are in the habit of winding round their ears, and it must have been a great grief to many a man to cut them off. There is not a man in the country with any hair on his face, and it gives them the funniest appearance possible.
I did not know many of the officials when I first found them. It was all certainly a most extraordinary sight, and one that I may never see again. The Maharana of Oodeypoor is the head of all the Hindoos in India, the direct descendant of their great Rama, and traces his descent for more than 1500 years back. I forget the exact date at the present moment. After the procession had started the Zenana women became more quiet; one or two threatened to throw themselves from a high window, to the terror of some of the chief nobles, who begged the Colonel to pitch tents and awnings under the window to break their fall - a request the Colonel refused, of course, as it would only have tempted them to do it at once, whereas the hard stones did not look inviting".
On Oct. 14, Lieut. Yates writes: "Yesterday 8 of the principal sirdars, or nobles of the state, came to Col. Wright with a request from the Queen Mother that Sohung Sing, the uncle of the late Maharana, and others might be arrested and imprisoned in the palace dungeons, as he had killed the Maharana by witchcraft, incantations, etc. It seems hardly creditable that in the present day charges of that sort should be seriously brought forward, but it shows what queer people these Rajpoots are to deal with. The intention of the Queen Mother, if she could get Sohung Sing [also seen as Sohun Singh] and his confreres in the palace was to starve them to death before the expiry of the 12 days of mourning.
Had http://www.mewarindia.com/ency/saj.html Col. Wright not been here on the spot, it is allowed by all that there would have been no end of bloodshed. All these men accused of witchcraft would have been killed, and several suttees would have taken place to a certainty; and in all probability there would have been a regular disturbance and free fight. As it was Pusma Sale, one of the men accused of witchcraft was atacked on the way to the funeral, and only just escaped with his life. Col. Wright had that morning let him out of prison, and I fancy the old mother, enraged at his escape from her claws, instigated the assassination.
The old lady starved herself for 4 days after her son’s death, but then came round, as she found it harder to die than she expected - a most unfortunate thing for the community at large. All the sirdars want now to be allowed to spend 7 lacs of rupees (70,000 pounds) in alms giving, etc., and proposed to give the rupees to every Brahmin, man, woman or child who will come to take them. They say that was the sum spent when the late Maharana’s predecessor died, and even more ought to be spent now to make up for the slur cast on the Maharana’s name by Col. Wright having prevented the performance of the sacred rite of suttee".
Gazette & Courier - Monday, December 7, 1874
A Mormon tragedy
A Mormon tragedy - A special dispatch to the San Francisco Chronicle from Beaver, Utah, dated Nov. 13 says: "This quiet village is at present the focus on which all Utah eyes are now concentrating, for it is here that the notorious colonel http://ucjeps.berkel...magehtml/col-86.html John D. Lee , the leader in the http://www.utah.com/schmerker/2000/southwest2.htm Mountain Meadow massacre , is confined. The feeling here, as may be imagined, is intense. It is a matter beyond dispute that there are in this immediate neighborhood many of the rank and file of that band of disguised murderers, who under the command of http://www.onlineutah.com/massacre.shtml John D. Lee , 20 years ago, butchered in cold blood all the men and women, and all but two of the children of a passing emigrant train. From a personal interview with United States Deputy Marshal William Stokes, and Mr. Dye, who witnessed the affair, I am enabled to give you the particulars of Lee's arrest. Last Sat. the Marshal - having received information that Lee was at Pangwitch [actually http://utahtravelcenter.com/cities/panguitch/ Panguitch ], a small Mormon settlement on the Sevier River, 35 miles southeast of here - sent one of his posse, Frank Fish, to reconnoiter, and Fish having ascertained that Lee was then at Pangwitch on Sun. night, Stokes, with Fish, Thomas Winn, R.S. Rogers, David Evans and Thomas Lefevre, drew near Pangwitch and secreted themselves undr a hill for the night. The whole posse entered the town just after daybreak on Mon. morning. But early as they were, and secretly as their movements had been conducted, information of their presence had reached Lee, and suspecting their business, he had concealed himself. After thoroughly searching the houses where the criminal was supposed to be, the officers directed their attention to the outbuildings, and their labors were soon rewarded by finding Lee in a chicken coop loosely covered with straw. Stokes, who was the first to discover his man, advanced to the coop, pistol in hand, and covering Lee with his weapon from a hole in the roof of the coop, ordered him to come out. There being no reply to this demand, Will was ordered to enter the assassin's hiding place and disarm him, Stokes informing him that he would "shoot his head off" if he moved. As the muzzle of the officer's pistol was not more than two feet from Lee's head, saw that it was not a vain threat, so before Winn had time to obey the order of his chief, Lee said "I'll come out" and immediately emerged with a pistol in his hand. While Stokes was parleying with Lee, one of the numerous wives of the latter, Rachel, covered Stokes with a shotgun - a double barreled one - and threatened to fire. She, in turn, was covered by the revolver of Fish, and as Lee came out she was disarmed. No further resistance than this was offered by Lee's relatives or numerous friends. When Lee found himself in the hands of the Philistines, he evidently made up his mind to make the best of his misfortune, for he pleasantly and cordially invited the officers to breakfast with him, which invitation they gratefully accepted. Lee displayed an immense amount of sang froid when resistance was useless. He spent some time writing out directions for the management of his property during his forced absence, and seemed to overlook none of those details which a man in his position might reasonably be expected to forgo. Stokes overhead him say to one of his sympathetic neighbors who evidently believed that the head of the church had been derelict in his duty toward his subaltern, "President Young is not interested in this matter". The Marshal, with his prisoner, reached here on Tues., when he was immediately lodged in jail...John D. Lee is 62 years of age and has had 60 children, 54 of whom are still living. He has 15 grown up sons. He admits having 18 wives. One wife only, the faithful Rachel, accompanied him to http://www.go-utah.com/Beaver Beaver . She is here under the protection of one of her husband's numerous son-in-laws. He was very reticent on the subject of the charges made against him. That he feels indifferent to the result of the investigation would be asserting almost too much, but no one can talk with him without being impressed with the idea that he does not expect to meet the punishment of a murderer [He was executed]. He was born in Randolph County, Idaho, son of an Irish mother, whose maiden name was Doyle, and a father who he claims is one of the Lees of Virginia. He is 5'9 1/2" high, and weighs 165 lbs. He has a large head, blue eyes, and gray hair (once black). In Pangwitch and Beaver, and indeed, throughout the southern part of the Territory, he has been known for his liberality and kindness to travelers and the poor, notwithstanding the terrible and well known story of the Mountain Meadow massacre, for his alleged participation in which, he is now in chains.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 30, 1874
The Mennonites in Kansas
The http://skyways.lib.ks.us/history/alexwohl.html Mennonites in Kansas - About 2000 http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1977/77_3_juhnke.htm Mennonites have already moved to http://www.kshs.org/tourists/markers.htm Kansas and have located in Topeka temporarily until their lands are ready for them. They have purchased a tract of 150,000 acres situated in the counties of Harvey, Marion, Reno and Sedgwick contiguous to a railroad. They expect in the spring to have houses built for every family. Some of their http://www.bethelks....s/mla/images/leslie/ peculiarities are thus sketched by a correspondent writing from Topeka. "...They are all farmers, and expect to engage in grain and stock raising, but every man among them is the master of some mechanical trade, that being a requirement in their organization. They build their own houses, make their own farming implements and manufacture their own clothing. They have stores of their own, the land is every way managed as far as practical, and they do all their business, in general, inside of their own community. While staying here in Topeka, they have bought quite extensively of household goods and of horses, cattle wagons and other things necessary for the prompt commencement of operations in their new homes. They have probably spent $100,000. They buy carefully and sparingly and display good judgment in making their selections. Their favorite purchases in the household line are washboards and cooking stoves...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 30, 1874
(Deerfield) Two children of Abraham Bigelow and wife, town paupers, were taken to the Enfield Ct. Shakers on Sat., by the Selectmen, with the consent of the parents.
(Deerfield) Two children of Abraham Bigelow and wife, town paupers, were taken to the Enfield Ct. Shakers on Sat., by the Selectmen, with the consent of the parents.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, November 30, 1874
Brigham Young doesn't mean to step down and out at present, if he can help it, and he is building a magnificent residence at Salt Lake, which he says shall surpass any house on the continent.
Brigham Young doesn’t mean to step down and out at present, if he can help it, and he is building a magnificent residence at Salt Lake, which he says shall surpass any house on the continent.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, October 5, 1874
Child life in Shakerdom
http://jfh.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/25/4/491 Child life in Shakerdom - The Pittsfield (Mass.) Eagle says that children placed with the Shakers at Lebanon are indentured to http://www.hancockshakervillage.org/pdf/index.pdf Benjamin Gates , or some authority, until they "become of age", he agreeing in the papers to provide them food, clothing, etc. they are then placed in the "children's order", under the charge of a sister designated to care for them, and she commences at once to instill into their minds the glories of the creed. In their management, never a blow is struck. Refractory ones are punished by being laid flat upon the floor, face down. When they have been kept thus prostrate for a length of time, they are taken up and "talked to", the enormity of their offenses pointed out, and are exhorted to behave better in the future. Those from 8 to a dozen years of age, go to http://90.1911encyclopedia.org/S/SH/SHAKERS.htm confession every Sat. and "own up" (or are supposed to) to the little ones of the week that have escaped the notice of their guardians. And as they receive special approval after an apparently tall confession, they early learn to "cough up" quite enormous stories, knowing that they "will" their confessors into a deeper belief in their penitence. "Now don't you feel better after confessing all that?" asks the ancient virgin who has heard the story. "Yes, yes", says the little miss, and tipping a wink to her companions she walks out as sedately as a spinster of 70. Another method of punishment is to put the youngster into a large sack, tying it tightly round the neck. Should the child refuse to get into the bag, it is drawn over the refractory one, and then, head, feet and all enveloped, he or she is left to repent of the offensive disobedience. The children are sent to school 4 months each year - the boys in the Winter and the girls in the Summer. Co-education hasn't the slightest support there. The girls and boys must not converse together; if they happen to meet, and if a roguish youngster is bold enough to break the silence with some pretty maiden, the maiden must be deaf and dumb to him. "Isn't there some boy here that you are just a little fonder of than the others?" is a standing question in the confessional. The reply always is "Nay", and the blind old goodies believe it!
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 14, 1874
The moral sense of the staid Vermonters is shocked by the announcement that a free love community [which was known as the
The moral sense of the staid Vermonters is shocked by the announcement that a http://www.spirithistory.com/freelov.html free love community [which was known as the http://www.pressrepu...5_2003/052520037.htm 'Dawn Valcour Agricultural and Horticultural Association' ] is to be established on http://www.historicl...r/valcour_island.htm Valcour Island in Lake Champlain. There is to be "absolute social freedom" in this community, and the only governing law is to be "complete, universal free love". The society numbers 100 and will organize within a month. They are under the general supervision of the Spiritualist society of which Mrs. Woodhull is president. The island contains some 800 acres of land and is given to the community by Owen Skinman [also seen as http://www.pressrepu...5_2003/052520037.htm Orren Shipman ], who will also sell to the society his farm near Burlington, known as Home place for $26,000. This is the story that comes from Chicago, whence, it is said, many of the free-lovers will come, and it is yet to be seen whether any such plan will be carried out.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 10, 1871
Justice Trials
Justice Trials - http://www.electracat.com/Linda2/f378.htm Lorenzo Spurr of Coleraine was brought before Justice Brainard for assault on Patrick Butler. It appears that he met Butler near the Depot and demanded money that was owing him. Told Butler not to lie about it as he had before. The altercation soon assumed a more serious form. John Fitzgerald stepped in to part the two, but they were not separated until Butler got a black eye. He entered the complaint and Spurr was charged $1 and costs, from which he appealed. Patrick D. Moore, who had been about town getting money for the Archbishop of Dublin, was arrested for obtaining money under false pretenses and brought before Justice Davis, but discharged on technical grounds, though there was no doubt of his guilt. Father McGreavey, who was an assistant Priest here last winter, returned to town some 3 weeks since. During this time he has had a regular spree of it, and was arrested Thurs. night at Mrs. Pinney's as a common drunkard. Justice Davis sentenced him to the state workhouse for 6 months, from which he appealed. John Granden, for assault on James Murphy with a stone, was bound over to the Superior Court for trial in the sum of $500. James Murphy, for assault on James Kelliher, was bound over to the Superior Court in the sum of $200. This and the previous case grew out of the murderous row in which Patrick Murphy nearly lost his life. A couple guilty of fornication were brought up under the bastardy act, but the man agreeing to marry his victim, they were discharged.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 20, 1874
Fools are not all dead yet. 700 dupes of Mormon missionaries arrived at New York from Europe, on their way to Salt Lake City.
Fools are not all dead yet. 700 dupes of Mormon missionaries arrived at New York from Europe, on their way to Salt Lake City.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 13, 1874
Medieval persecution of the Jews
Medieval persecution of the Jews - From the friendly shelter of the Moslem caliphates and their native East the Jews, apparently possessed by a strong taste for wandering, or an insatiable love of gain, planted their unsteady colonies in all the Western nations, and sought humbly a hospitality that was never shown. Everywhere they were received with aversion and disgust. The dark-skinned and alien race, speaking an Oriental language that no European could master, and governed by customs of neatness and propriety that seemed to Goth and Hun an excess of fastidiousness, unwarlike, and highly educated, were met everywhere by an unvarying cruelty and scorn.
In Germany they were reduced to a peculiar form of slavery. A Jew was not a person but a thing, a chattel, and a waif. The emperor took possession of the Oriental strangers as his own peculiar heritage. They were his bondsmen. He protected them when he was able, and plundered them when he wanted money. Yet they soon grew numerous and wealthy in the cities along the Rhine, and aroused the envy of their Christian neighbors by an opulence which they sometimes incautiously displayed. They were forced, or probably preferred, to live apart in a quarter of the city by themselves.
They founded their synagogues and built their schoolhouses amidst ceaseless dangers. The ignorant priests followed them with maledictions, and the still more ignorant populace pelted them with stones, and beat and pummeled them with will. Accomplished and gifted rabbins were often looked upon as magicians. The Jews’ quarters seemed to the barbarous Germans a centre of mysterious and fearful deeds. It was believed that the Jews were in the habit of stealing the Host from the altar in order to mock once more at the crucifixion with secret rites, or that they enticed away Christian children to stab them with sharp knives and sacrifice them in a frightful ceremony.
When a child strayed away in the German or Italian cities, the Christian mother at once fancied that it had been lured into the Jewish quarter to be put to death. The Jews were all supposed to be acquainted with magic, and capable of weaving dark spells that brought disease and decay, misfortune and shame, to Christian households. Yet they were wonderfully prosperous and might have outlived their early unpopularity had not a suden wave of fanaticism swept away what little humanity and intelligence had yet sprung up among the European nations.
The preaching of the Crusades turned back the course of human progress for 300 years. The passion for bloodshed and for barbarous cruelty revived under the fanatical eloquence of popes and prelates. The Roman Church taught that it was no more crime to kill a heretic or an infidel, and it had never paused to exclude the Jew from its inhuman inculcations. "Thou shalt not kill", "Thou shalt not steal", were erased from the Decalogue, and the wild and cruel throngs, dissolute and infamous, that gathered under the banners of the cross made their first essays in robbery and bloodshed among the wealthy and cultivted Jewish colonies on the banks of the Moelle and Rhine.
They burst into the Jewish quarters; they sacked the rich households, and drove their wretched inmates to suicide and death. Fair women stabbed themselves in Mentz and Treves. Husbands first killed their wives and then themselves. The Rhine floated thick with the corpses of murdered Jews. Rich with spoil and drunken with license, the Crusaders swept on, carrying devastation to all the Jewish settlements through which they passed in Hungary and Austria, and at last perished themselves in countless numbers, in unutterable numbers of thirst and hunger, disease, labor, by the darts of the Saracens, and the hatred of mankind.
Nor as the second army, under Baldwin, the chivalry of age, more merciful. When Jerusalem fell they massacred all the Jews - men, women, and children - whom they found in the city, and with tears of joy knelt before the Holy Sepulchre. Yet they might have heard, in the lull of their fanaticism, the thunders of Sinai, and their own condemnation uttered from the flaming mount (Harper’s Magazine).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 13, 1874
The old Blue Laws
The old http://www.bartleby.com/65/bl/bluelaws.html Blue Laws - The territory now comprising the State of Connecticut was formerly two colonies, Connecticut and New Haven. The colony of connecticut was planted by emigrants from Massachusetts and Windsor, in 1633, and Hartfield and Weathersfield, in 1635-1636. The other colony, styled by its founders the dominion of New Haven, was founded by emigrants from England, 1665.
The statutes copied below from an ancient volume relating the history of the American colonies, were enacted by the people of the " http://personal.pitn...ources/bluelaws.html Dominion of New Haven ", and being printed on blue paper, came to be known as the blue laws: The Governor and Magistrate convened in General Assembly, are the Supreme power, under God, of this independent dominion...Conspiracy against the dominion shall be punishable by death...No one shall be a freeman or give a vote unless he is converted and a member of one of the churches allowed in the dominion. Each freeman shall swear by the blessed God to bear true allegiance to this dominion and that Jesus is the only King.
No http://www.geocities.com/jswortham/bluelaws.html Quaker , no dissenter from the established worship of the dominion, shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates or any other officer. No food or lodging shall be offered a Quaker, Adamit [i.e. http://www.atheistcoalition.org/docs/activism.html Adamite ] or heretict [sic]. If any person turns Quaker he shall be banished, and not suffered to return but on pain of death. No priest shall abide in the dominion; he shall be banished and suffer death on his return. Priests may be seized by anyone without a warrant. No one to cross a river but an authorized clergyman. No one shall run on the Sabbath day or walk in his garden, or elsewhere, except, reverently, to and from meeting.
No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair or shave on the Sabbath day. No one shall http://40.1911encyclopedia.org/N/NE/NEW_HAVEN.htm kiss her children on the Sabbath or fasting days [Why on earth did they object to this? And all of a sudden it’s "her"! P.S. One site says this is a spurious law]. The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday.
To pick an ear of corn growing in a neighbor’s garden shall be deemed theft. A person accused of trespass in the night shall be judged guilty, unless he clears himself on his oath. When it appears that the accused has confederates, and he refuses to discover them he may be racked. None shall buy or sell land, without permission of the selectmen. A drunkard shall have a master appointed by the selectmen, who are to bar him from the liberty of buying and selling.
Whoever publishes a lie to the prejudice of his neighbor, shall be set in the stock or be http://scorpius.spac...ious/chapter-10.html whipped ten stripes . No minister shall keep a school. Every ratable person who refuses to pay his portion to support the minister of the town or parish, shall be fined by court $511.1s every quarter until he or she pay the rate to the minister. Men stealers shall suffer death. Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver or bone lace above 1s per yard shall be presented by the grand jurors, and the selectman shall tax the offender $300 estate. A debtor in prison, swearing he has no estate, shall be let out and said to make satisfaction.
Whosoever sets fire in the woods, and it burns a house shall suffer death, and persons suspected of this crime shall be imprisoned without benefit or bail. Whosoever brings cards or dice into this dominion, shall pay a fine of $5. No one shall read common prayer books, keep Christmas or set days, eat mince pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music except the drum, trumpet and jew’s harp. No gospel minister shall join people in marriage. The magistrate only shall join them in marriage, as he may do it with less scandal to Christ’s church.
When parents refuse their children convenient marriages, magistrates shall determine the point. The selectmen on finding children ignorant may take them away from their parents, and put them in better hands at the expense of their parents. Fornication shall be punished by compelling marriage, or as the court shall think proper. Adultery shall be punished with death. A man that strikes his wife shall pay a fine of $10.
A woman that strikes her husband shall be punished as the law directs. A wife shall be deemed good evidence against her husband. No man shall court a maid in person or by letter, without first obtaining the consent of her parents, $5 penalty for the first offense, $10 for the second, and for the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the court. Married persons shall live together or be imprisoned. Every male must have his hair cut round according to his cap.
Gazette & Courier - Tuesday, July 8, 1873
(South Vernon, Vt.) The Second Advents, having set the third week of August as the final end of all things mundane are "if time las
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 25, 1874
The advance guard of what bids fair to be an extensive exodus of Mennonites from Russia reached here last week. The Steamer Hermana f
The advance guard of what bids fair to be an extensive exodus of http://homepages.roo...jrd/j__menn.htm#MENN Mennonites from Russia reached here last week. The Steamer Hermana from Bremen, which arrived at Baltimore on Wed., brought among her steerage passengers 185 http://www.bethelks..../russia_bibliog.html Mennonites , the largest body of these people that have yet come to this country. The agents of various colonies have already selected 4000 acres of land at Marrion Center [should be http://skyways.lib.k...marion/queries8.html Marion Center ] Kansas, and 10,000 acres at http://skyways.lib.k...marion/queries8.html Halstead Kansas, but it is said the immigrants referred to above will settle either in Dakota or Nebraska. They came from the vicinity of Odessa, the famous grain port of the Black Sea, and they represent that they had great difficulty in getting away, and were only permitted to leave after paying large sums of money. Thye are said to be a very industrious class, and ar possessed of considerable means, as they brought between $50,000 and $60,000 in coin with them. They will be followed by others to the number of many thousands. The Mennonites are the followers of one Menno Simonis, A reformer in the 16th century. In doctrine and usage, they agree as regards baptism with the religious denomination known as the Baptists. They have, however, some observances peculiar to their own sect, such as http://www.bibleviews.com/feetwash.html feet washing and forbidding their members to be married to anyone outside of their own organization. In 1859, acording to the leading Mennonite journal, they only numbered throughout the world a total of 282,237 souls, of whom less than 29,000 were dwelling in Southern Russia.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 2, 1870
Bold robbery in Guilford, Vt.
Bold robbery in http://www.sover.net/~gkvt/FACILITIES.htm Guilford, Vt. - Two men stopped at the farm of http://newenglandgen...ground.com/f_109.htm Ira Kent , and asked for lodging for the night. They were given food, and told to go to the hotel, since they could not be accomodated at the house. Upon leaving they told a Irishman who worked for Kent, that the old man would get his pay for the treatment they had received. It appears that they spent the night in the barn, and the next morning snuck into the house, bound and gagged the old housekeeper, and took $3800 in bonds and $500 in bank bills and other money. They were next heard from in Shelburne Falls, where they bought new clothes throughout because a detailed description of their dress was known. They are still at large. The robbers are Sylvester and Henry Hale of North Bernardston. Sylvester has just been pardoned out of the Vermont State Prison at http://www.whitneyge...ls/mass/windsor.html Windsor , and is dark complexioned with black whiskers, long Roman nose, & has lost a part of one finger. Henry is medium height, sandy complexioned, with short, pug nose
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 11, 1874
The Shaker family at Tyringham is fast breaking up and must soon disband. Hastings Storer, who has been the business manager since the dea
The http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/shaker/tyr.htm Shaker family at Tyringham is fast breaking up and must soon disband. Hastings Storer, who has been the business manager since the death, in August last, of Mitchael McCue, their former business man, has just died, leaving this once prosperious family almost a wreck. The household now consists of but http://freepages.gen...0Shaker%20Census.htm 5 males and 11 females , and they are anxious to dispose of the property and join the http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/shaker/han.htm Hancock Society . With the other misfortunes of the society, of late a young man of the world named Delany, and aged 20, who had been working for the family, has made sad havoc among the sisterhood. The young women were thought to be a little familiar with him, and one night Elder Brattles sought an unexpected entrance into the fellow's room, finding there a sister under the bed. Since then - Delany having of course been shipped - 3 of the sisters have become mothers, one of them bearing a bouncing pair of twins, and the society is less so many souls.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 3, 1871
George Filer, one of the best known citizens of Belchertown, though little in public life, died Mon. at the age of 72 years. H
George Filer, one of the best known citizens of http://www.belcherto.../history/history.htm Belchertown , though little in public life, died Mon. at the age of 72 years. He was a devoted follower of http://www.sylvestersrestaurant.com/slygram.html Graham , and believed implicitly that the millenium would come when the world would stop eating meat, and not a moment before. He was in many respects a radical, and, along with the rest of his heterodoxy, was an ardent Spiritualist. For more than a score of years he carried on a country store in Belchertown, but he was so fond of argumentation that he preferred at any time to discuss his favorite doctrines with his customers, rather than cut for them the desired yards of calico, or fill their molasses jugs.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 15, 1872
Field, Dwight, age 61, died in Montague City Nov. 22, 1871. He was born in Northfield. In 1843 he was "born again" while living in the town of Erving. Though his religious convictions were received u
Field, Dwight, age 61, died in Montague City Nov. 22, 1871. He was born in Northfield. In 1843 he was "born again" while living in the town of Erving. Though his religious convictions were received under the peculiar movement of that year, yet he never departed from them. In 1863 he joined the Methodist church in Westfield. In 1869 he moved to Turners Falls, where, in 1871, he became one of the first 4 members of the Methodist Church of that place...
- Fri, Feb 13, 2009
