The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-07-28
thsrei is no question. will be Of in-
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their is no question, will be OF IN
terset 10 rsadefs Of the Times em-
ocSats
BresdeH. Tent, July I3.-W. B. Caps,
| 4 quiet, orderly citizen Of this county. is
being made the victim of what appears to be
| a case of religious persecution, the only
charge against him being that he performed
some work on the first day of the week. Mr..
Caps was arrested June 2, 1893, and at his
| trial before the Circuit Court of Weakiey
| county. June ~, 1893. he was fined SO and
| costs, amounting in all to ISL 30. His case
| was appealed to the Supreme Court of Tenn
! essee, which affirmed the judgment Of the
| lower court, May "a. 1894, at Jackson. fixing
| the costs at 81 65, making as grand total
the sum of $IIo IS, to be served out at the
paltry rate of twenty-five cents day. This
will necessitate the confinement of the prisoner
442 days, one year and nearly three
months.
s.Mr. Caps has wife twenty four years
of age, and four children, the eldest being
| only six years old, and one of them sick at
| the time of it's fathers imprisonment His
| family is left all alone quarter OF mile
from any house. He is q poor man, and una
| BILE to support his family during his confine-
ment, He does not deny working on Sunday,
but did SO because he had rested the day
| recognized his God-given right to labor si,
days IN the week, beg inning on the FIRST, as
did his Creator; and because, in acceding to
the demands of the State to rest on Sunday,
ne WO0i0 De denying the LOU. AAShSS
he refused to pay the fine and costs,
regarding them un just, since the State is at
| tempting to enforce upon him dogma OF
! religion, with which it can of right have
gone to Jail, though physician stated that
| he could never live in that unhealthy place
| the time required by the enormity of the
States assessment
One would imagine to read this
distressing narrative that Tennessee
was in New England, and that the
laws regulating the observance of
the s'day of rest" in Tennessee were
the medieval blue laws of Connec-
! ticut. If farmer, who is Sew
enth Day Adventist, and who per-
forms his religious duties on the
seventh day of the week, making
Saturday, not Sunday, his day of
rest-if such a citizen as this is to
be fined and imprisoned for cutting
his hay or wheat, without shadow
of offense to his neighbors, on the
first day of the week, it is very
plain that the religious freedom of
which we are wont to boast with a
considerable degree of effusiveness
in this country is very much of a
| myth. 1t is not religious freedom
at all; it is the freedom or license
of majority of the population to
tyrannize over a minority because
the religious views and practices
of the minority do not conform to
the religious views and practices of
the majority.
And this is religious persecution,
at the end of the nineteenth centu-
ry, as surely as ever religious Perse-
cution was practiced either in New
England at the end of the eighteenth,
or in Spain at the end of the fif-
teenth, century. Tennessee should
make haste to change it's laws regu-
lating the ebay Of rest;" they are
not in keeping either with the civil
lied conditions of this part of the
world or Of this sdvanced age in the
worlds history.
Meantime, the imprisoned Tennes-
seean's fine should be raised by citi
z:ns of Tennessee and of Southern
States who disapprove this mediae-
val persecution of which he is the
victim, with view of liberating the
1uan and enabling him to provide for
maintenance of his family. A dol
lar apiece from no charitable Peo-
pie would be all that would be re-
quired to effect this object: and un-
less we mistake greatly, there are
many times that number of people
among readers of The Times
crat alone who would be glad to
contribute a dollar each from their
superhuous coin merely to mark
their disapproval Of such unchrls-
tan tyranny.
The Henpeeked Husbands Revolt
After Ten Years Servitude.
The strange sight Of a respectfully dressed