Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-06
PAGES II TO "a.

| portunity for inside observation, simply
removed" by the Scythemen. I do NOT
| absolutely guarantee the correctness of this
| assumption, but 1t is certainly prevalent
among the better classes of Poles with
whom have come in contact. The organi-
| zation Is radical throughout-radical in
the most extreme sense of the word, includ.
| ing murder, boycotting and the destruction
| Of the property of obnoxious persons
! Thus these Knights of the Scythe wers
| prominent in the church troubles in De-
troit, which are sufficiently recent to bs
easily called to mind, and it Is even
| claimed that the turbulent pastor OF tho
Polish church in Brooklyn, N. Y, Father
Yodyszus belonged to the order, as well az
Mrs. Kraemer, the beautiful Pole, who at
tracted so much attention early in the
present year through the newspaper motor
iety, in connection with the famine relief
expedition to Russia Women, 1t should
be explained, are eligible for admission to
the society's ranks.
The Society Grip and Cipher.
According to the statement Of Scythe-
man now in hiding, who is in dread of assas-
sination, having given offenss to the leader
of certain lodge, the methods and signs in
use among these desperadoes are somewhat
Masonic in character. The grasp OF fellow-
ship Is given as follows: Two members
meet and, desiring to make their identity
known to each other, they clasp their hands
apparently in the ordinary fashion. but
when so doing rapid circular motion il
described by each party with his torehnger
upon his friends palm. This had its origin
in the sweeping motion of a scythe welded
by the husbandman cutting grass or grain.
Business at the lodge meetings is trans
acted through a regular code of phonetic
ciphers, SO that even concealed witness
could not understand the proceeding. Thus
should the question of assassination bs
under discussion the conversation Is like
this: "Send A or 3 a package of tobacco"
(Kill A or B. "Send him q cigar"
MAIN or mutilate him "Send him .
package of tobacco snuff" (Burn down
his house,, and so forth and so on.
There is yet another class of foreigners
who, like the Poles, consider themselves an
oppressed and down-trodden people. These
are the Bohemiaus who, never willing to
be absorbed into the homegeneity of the
Austrian Empire, have always fretted under
the Hapsburg yoke. This unwilling sub
lection on their part to an alien rule has
produced the result familiar in all such
cases-it has fostered the development Of
secret societies. The better class Of Bo-
hemians who come here are saved through
their sturdy, staid qualities and the bene-
fcent influence of American civilization
from drifting astray, and it is only those Of
blunted moral perceptions who are found in
the ranks of the pariahs.
Secret organization among the latter may
be called Bohemian brigandage, as far as
its operations here are involved. In some
ways it is less deviIish than that existing
among the other nationalities described
above, for it does not include murder, rest
ing content with peculiar system of swim
ding and robbery, into which it has drifted
from its former phase of blackmail
The organization is strongest in New
York and Chicago and its c .--.sir
strange to say, are newly arrived immi.
grants from their own country. Robbery
is easy when the victim is lulled into sense
of security by the sound of his nativs
tongue. SERGE SUsCHENK.