The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1883-03-15
Virgins, Avaunt.

Virgins, Avaunt.
/. Stone wiggins emersrs irnm the ehrysalis
state. or eondition of probation, and his name is
permanrnily enrolled the long list Of pretend
rIs and huinlrugS that have held hrief career on
The earth. Virgins firsi heard Of by the
general public only few months ago, and al
ready lac is enI'alme,l, after career of not more
than six muEiIs. We say This much in favor of
Wiggins.
When Virgins first sent Oui his prediction, he
gave the world 10 understand that I've made his
calculations from uneriing facts, and eould not
possibly be mistaken. He referred TO the fact
ihEt most weather prophets predicted certain
weather ''Hn or about given dates, thus allow
ing themselves margin Ia escape positive fail
nre: bUt that hs fixed a certain day, without
any room for uisglinG. The llth day Of March
the day s'.i l,v him: and the 9th Of Fehrua-
~ Nas io witness . storm. q PTslimi-
nary. The February storm total failnTr.
Then WIgg.ns claimed that he had simply made
mistake iu Tho position at the planets, as he
should have l"raird his storm the opposite
ride "T tn" world. BUt have heard Of no
storm There, AZ that time. But Virgins insisted
upon his IItl If March storm. However, he be-
gan {" brslgr. and give himself the room
for era = ling out that he had claimed not to in
dnlge in. He said the storm would occur from
the 9TH To the Ilth, and in some localities it
would not get in its work until the evening of
the 18Th. He had spread over five days instead
Of cnnfining himself to fixed day. Now, it
is safe almost any year, TO predict severe blows
within any fi.e days in the month Of March, and
Virgins coud not well fail of striking pretty
~ Rnf
even here lac hanpered himself by SAYING the
storm wnull he the worst and most terrible that
had ever occurred or could occnr. So that any
ordinary gale, even quite severe storm,
would not ill the bill.
As the time approached, tinIid people sought
places OF safety, nervous people became prostra-
ted, and some WoInen went crazy. At this time,
Virgins began to show the unmistakable signs
of the lunatic or crank. lie spoke of the storm
as a fixed fact, with the solemn assurance char
acterstic OF the insane and made journey to
Halifax, to observe the effects Of the storm. He
even announced that be would be glad to avert
the calamity, but that il was beyond his power
AS if the world wonld hold him responsible for
creating the storm, Well, the whole period has
passed. from the 9th TO the 18th, aud there has
been no unusual storm in any part Of the world.
There were heavy gales at some points on the
sea-coast, but not worse than frequently occur.
There has been but u slight loss Of shipping
Bnt ore of the results of the prophecy has been
a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars TO the
fishing interests. by delay in sailing, on
rount OF superStitious faith in the prophecy.
According TO Virgins, Canada to be the
place of greatest safety in any part of the world;
hal .f, and
snow there than anywhere else, but not to any
terrible extent. The Bay of Bengal was to wit
ness an awfully destructive tidal wave, and the
Gulf of Mexico was {" come next in the scale of
severity. The returns from Bengal are not yet
in, but the Gull of Mexico has had no storm or
tidal wave; and the storm that to strike
and sweep down from the Rocky Mountains, has
not vet struck. Even what gales there we're,
came in a contrary direction from that predicted
10y Virgins. In fact, his whole prediction is a
complete, total, disastrous failure, and lays him
ou the shelf as a weather prophet.
We arr glad that Wiggins' prophecy proved
the failure that il haS-ant that We had any
fears of its fuliilIment, dreaded any probable
storm of the season. hut because il will assist in
destroying: the occupation "f such frauds. To
h, SURE i large proportion Of mankind love to
lie humhngsrd, and Iavr v-ncrati"n for the
man who LumhU.S them aud ready tn be
taken in hy hnurbus after another: hnt
there are MANY others who can learn from expe
rience who may be benefited. There are actu-
ally thousands of moderately intelligent pee
pie who arc Influenced by these weather predic
lions, aud dire prophecies Of death and destruc-
tion from the conjunction Of certain planets, and
hy the appc aTance OF comets. The world has
been silrietrd with this humbuggery, for few
years past. Such failures they have all prov
Ell TO be, will go far Ia cure all sensible people
of all such foolishnes-, and To convince them
that no mortal man trTly predict the wealth
81 or any other event for many days ahead.
We srr il stated that Prof. rice Prnnounces
Virgins u crank, and accuses him of stealing
his weather predictions from him. Tice is cor
rect in his opinion, but hu could have truthfully
gone farther. and said that he himself a
crank; for if Virgins stole his prediction from
him, it makes him as great failure as Wiggins.
The truth i, that Wiggius, Yennor, Tice, and
the whole batch of weather prophet, aud proph-
cts of the stars, are cranks and impoSturs.