Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-20
THE ODIUM OF FRIDAY.
Il Day Believed Gy Hany To Be Fdted VitIi
TII-LtGcE.

Il Day Believed by Hany To Be Rated Rith
III-LucIs.
A newspaper reporter who has attended
thirteen executions declares he will never
attend another. 1t is suggested that he is
now eligible as member of the Thirteen
club, and if he joins that organization he
may be expected to give most Jealous sup
port to the efforts OF the club to remove
''the odium attached to Friday" Having
been greatly shocked and depressed by
the spectacle he witnessed in the Tombs
prison. yard last Friday, he may be
supposed to be keenly sensitive to the cos
tom which chooses Friday as the one day
on which murderers must e1piate their
crimes. In the preamble to their resolu-
tions calling upon the president, the gov
ernors, and judges Of courts having power
to sentence to death to consider the pro-
priety of selecting other days as well as
Friday for the hanging of murdersr5, the
members of the Thirteen club express the
opinion that "the superstition connected
with the day of the week called Friday has
been materially aided and abetted by its
selection as hanging day." In this they
are undoubtedly right. and there are
serious reasons why the change they advo-
cate is to desired
It is fact not to be disputed that vast
multitude of people, even in this land of
boosted intelligence, are under the infu-
ence of the Friday superstition. The sta
tistics of railway travel infsllibly indicate
the dread which the day inspires. 1t is
well known to all railway men that tia.
amount of travel on Friday is less than on
| al Ior Of hn 4Po al
ers carefully calculate so as to reach their
destinations before Friday, and still more
refuse to begin journey on that day. i
is useless to attempt to convince the vic
tins of the Friday superstition that no day
81 the week differs from another in the
amount of misfortune it brings; they
are seemingly deaf and blind to al
that happens on Friday which is no
melancholy, or at least they have no mem
ory for other events of that day. If tol(
that George Washington, Daniel Webster
President Vans Buren,, President Taylor
President Pierce, President Hayes, Ed
ward Everett, George Bancroft, Longfel
low, Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, auc
other notable men we're born on FridEy
they are likely TO reply that Jefferson Da
Wis was..aiso born on Friday, that the South
/
that Col. Ellsworth was shot, and TIA
President Polk, President Tyler, Prssi
dent Lincoln, President Pierce, and Hor
ace Greeley all died on Friday. There
no reason to believe that Friday sUpersti
tions are declining; on the contrary, it i
by many thought TO be increasing.
If the unanimous expression of tn
Thirteen club that other days of the wee
should bear at least their share of tn
odium attaching to Friday effects the de
sired change in the ''reprehensible Gus
tom" which makes Friday hanging day,
. is possible it will mark the beginning o
the decline in this country of the superst
ton which for centuries has regarded tn
6 day as unlucky. It is true that Friday wa
:. chosen for hanging because it was regarde
as unlucky, rather than regarded 8
y unlucky because it is chosen for hanging
4 but to change the custom as to execution
n would lift from it great weight of gloon
Certainly it is a public misfortune to hay
4 one day in every seven associated wit
,. misfortune and filled with darkf0rebodinS
: and governors and judges may wisely hee
! the suggestion OF the thirteen times thi
g teen members of the Thirteen club rs
v making all other days but Sunday be-
y their share of the odium now attaching
Friday as hanging day.