Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-03-19
THE FIRST OF THE GYPSIES
They Made Their First Appearance i'm
Western Europe in 1917, in
Germany.
The Prosecutions They Endured, and
Some of the Peculiarities of
These Wanderers.
Gynsies Appeared in the Far East
Long Before They Arrived in
Europe.

In the course of the numerous wars
which have rent the world into hostile fac
lions, the dispersal of nations has been of
not infrequent occurrence; but generally it
has happened that when a nation was scat
tered the members lost their national
identity, the men have forgotten to what
nation they belonged and have become alb
sorbed into other peoples. Two or three
notable instances to the contrary, however,
have happened, but of the whole number
none is more singular than that of the
gypsies, a people who once were a race,
and although now scattered bands of
wanderers, nevertheless preserve many of
those characteristics which are generally
considered to indicate nationality. Al
though their national identity was ages
ago completely destroyed, and by some
national movement they were sent from
their native land to become wanderers up
and down this earth, still the families of
Migrants retain much of their original
language, together with not a few pc
culiarities which completely separate them
from all other peoples.
The first appearance of the gypsies in
Western Europe was in l417, when band
numbering, according to different &C
counts, between 400 and 1,50O, appeared
in Germany. This little host of in
vaders soon found their way into
every part of Germany. The first band
was rapidly succeeded by others, and
under the influence of some un-
known agency the. gypsies soon
came in swarms, and found their way
across the Alps into Italy, across the
Rhine into France, over the Pyrenees into
Spain, across the Channel into the British
Isles. A few of their leaders were richly
dressed, and assumed all the style of medi-
aval noblemen; but the greater part we're
poor, ill-clad and worse fed. A singular
feature of this, the first invasion, lay in the
fact that gypsy band had been precisely
the same as the gypsy band to-day. The
men were on horseback or on foot, the
women and children in wagons; the gyp-
sizes we're noted for their fast driving, for
their love OF horses and dogs. They call
ed themselves the Sicani and told various
stories about their origin and the country
from whence they had come. Some said
they were from India, others claimed to
be from Egypt, and endeavored to excite
popular patty in their behalf by var
ious tales of their sufferings. In one town
they detailed pathetic narrative of hav-
ing been driven out of Egypt because they
abjured Christianity; In another they
claimed that the Saracens had expelled
them from Asia because they refused to
accept Mohammedanism. In still another
they declared Asia by the monster Tanner
lane. At first their stories were received
with some degree of credit, but the gyp-
sizes themselves soon fell into disfavOr.
They were horse traders aud horse thieves,
they were thinkers, they were petty pilfer
ers of any small goods that could conven-
iently be stolen and secreted. Their wo-
men were all for une tellers, and inculcated
among the people the belief that gypsy
woman could deal in the black art. In
various countries the people soon rose
against them, and, as we are naively in
formed, "divers were slain for their evil
decds.'
This was their first appearance in west
ern Europe, but long before this they were
known in the east, though how long is I'M
certain. Two hundred years before they
appeared in Germany they were mentioned
bv an Austrian monk who saw them in
Greece and Asia Minor. Writing a para
phrase on the book Of Genesis he pauses
to incorporate in the margin bit of his
his remarks on the verse mentioning the
birth of Ishmael.
This Ishmael is the father of these &C
cursed wanderers, who 60 upland down the
earth trading horses and stealing, work
ing in iron and making such employment
a cover for their wickedness. Buy moth
ing of them, for you are certain never to
get its full value
1t is even believed that the abode of the
gypsies in eastern Europe long antedated
this worthy father, and some writers on
the subject do not scruple to state that
among the wanderers and Migrants ex-
PEELED at almost regular intervals from
Rome, Constantipople, and other large
cities Of the Roman empire, we may rec
ognize the gypsies by the description of
''groups of men black as Tartars, who
worked at the forge, were good dancers,
were skilled in music, and were accom-
panied by thievish women who looked into
the palms Of credulous persons to foreteli
their future" The description is tolerab
ly true to nature, and makes it almost
certain that the gvpsies came from the
east, perhaps by the way of Egypt, long
time before they made their appearance
in western Europe, and also that they al
ways exhibited the same character of fea-
ture, and practiced the same employments
which has ever since distinguished them.
On their first coming into Western Eu-
rope, the wandering folk were almost gen.
orally well received. They were clever
people, generally more sbillful at the craft
than the native workmen at the time VINO
practiced it, and what they did not know
they soon learned. Pleasant spoken, court
eous, quick at acquiring the language of
the country they adopted fer their own,
they easily insinuated themselves into
good company. Earl In the fifteenth CEN
fury they were allowed to dance before the
English king at windsor, before the Scot
tisn king at Holyrood, and acted plays at
the French court. Early in the sixteenth
century they became famous as fddlers
in Italy. as guitar players in Spain, as
harpers in Wales and Ireland. They be-
came painters, wood and iron workers,
etchers or engravers ON copper, soon learn
ed to counterfeit, four of them being hang
ed for an attempt to counterfeit the great
seal of England in 1549, they made bows
and arrows, knives and swords. Some
times they were even held in distinction,
for more than one royal writ went out al
lowing their leaders to administer justice
In their bands according to the laws OF
Egypt.
In several countries of Europe this con-
fdence was soon abused, and then came
retribution. Up to the time of the gener-
al persecution the gypsies had been at
worst merely petty thieves and swindlers,
but finding themselves the objects of gen
eral detestation, they rapidly developed
worse traits of characters. They were &C
cused of many heinous ofenses. 1t was
charged that they were canniahals, that
they robbed graves, that they stole child
Zen for the purpose of eating them, that