The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-22
ITEMS OF interest.

n
imagine. quite effective prohibition law
A decree has been proclaimed that IL
cense 10 marry viii not be granted 10 any
individual who has the habit of getting
drunk. and II one who has been drunk
ard apply for such license he must pro-
duce sufficient proof of reformation to
warrant his receiving il.
oliver NJ. Ramsay OF Perth Amboy,
the eldest son of Hugh Ramsay, the
noted shipbuilder, says; The day Of the
wooden ship is about over. Iron and steel
are the materials we must look 10 hence
forth, ana ships constructed OF them
have every advantage OF the oid-time
wooden ones. The depletion OF our Tor
ests would make the change inevitable
anyway. but aside from that the mari
time world Is a gamer by the new con-
ditiOns. The iron vessels are more dura-
bic, can be operated longer with less re-
pairs. and are imperviOus to the raVageS
Of the teredo and barnacle."
The last trial for witchcraft and its
punishment within United States terri
tory dates back from 1876, and occurred
al Rio Grande City. says the New York
Times. Capt. John G.. Bourke amusingly
describes 1t and the decision of Judge
sam Stewart. young Mexican or good
family was dangerously Ill with dis
ease which baffied the skill OF the local
medical talent" The doctors had given
him up. Then il was suggested that one
OF the numerous old hays (curanderas)
should be called in. Capt Bourke de-
scribes these curandas "as possessing in
equal portions a knowledge Of kitchen
and simple and a familiarity with just
enough prayers and litanies TO give a
specious varnish to the more objectiona-
bic features of their professions" one old
woman declared that cats had Jumped
down the patients throat. Another that
there were frogs. Then the small town
took up the discussion and there were
two bitter factions. the bullfroggers and
the Thomas caters" II ended by the ar
rest Of the most noisy of the curanderas,
and the Judge fined them SO each. OF
der arric or OLE
liberation from custody, and renting OF
the me. They were poor, humble wo-
men" But the Judge replied: That's
nothing. You can all get through key
holes. and you know where to find buried
money 10 pay your fines. That's all there
is about it,"
Some officers of the One Hundred
and Thirty-ninth regiment of the line, in
the French army stationed at Aurillac,
conceived the idea of making experiments
on the penetrative effect OF the Lebel
rife in ordinary snow. They made the
experiments, and the results took their
breath away, says the New York World.
FIRING from a distance of only 100 feet
at masses OF snow raised on the rifle
ranges at OmbradO and Buis. the rifle
men found that their projectiles stopped
when they were but five feet deep in
the target. That five feet of snow should
stop Lebel rifle ball was past belief.
yet there was the result There were the
rifiemen; there was the ball, hurled from
the muzzle with a velocity attainable
power hrearm-and there il was again. just
'five feet deep in a mass of soft snow.
bullet from the same rife at this dis
lance has crashed through a tree three
and half feet in diameter Here is the
theory of the French officers. 1t will
serve Tor the present and may be the
true explanation; They think the rifle
ball gets "battled up" just as a horses
hoofs do. only it is all done in the frac-
ton OF second. Entering the snow as
It does with a high speed and the spin
n no rtf nO1-
lects the particles about it and drives
them pack until the accumulated mass
stops its fight We, may yet see the
armies of Europe building snow forts.
But few people have any idea. says
Chambers Journal, that the originals of
the many colored ''eggs" which are now
being distributed as Easter gifts have
probably descended to us from the great
est of the Chinese Spring Festivals"
and can boast of an antiquity of more
than 200 years before the Christian era.
So there appears to be no new thing under
the sun; and although the magic eggs of
to-day are merely receptacles for a non
descript medley of the bon-bons and BIZ
Jouterie, they are a survival. or rather
World customs. This practical method Of
disposing of Easter eggs suggests that
much of the ceremony connected with
them is due to the celebration of the
Easter feast. which succeeds the Lenten
fast. That IAN egg of Easter is a very
old proverb in this country is sufficiently
SHOWN DN the TACT lndI the pope sent
Henry VIII. an Easter egg in a silver
case; while an extract schedule of the
personal expenses of Edward J. contains
against Easter Sunday, the suggestive
item: -Four hundred and a half eggs,
Is 3D." The price is as noteworthy as the
number But the most remarkable fea-
ture of the usage is its International char
acter. Thus, in Russia. it is customary
to exchange visits and eggs on Easter
day and Ito drink deal of brandy"
Again, in Italy. dishes of eggs are sent
tO he ~ q n no a v1rhin
they are carried home and placed in the
center of the table. il is the correct thing
for all the guests to eat one of them;
The custom also exists in Spain and
Germany, and generally among the
Jews, Greeks. Persians in some form or
another.
The Holy Inquisition was established In
1908 by Pope Innocent III. in Languedec
for the suppression of the Albigenses and
Troubadors. says Chambers Journal
From its establishment in Spain, five and
twenty years later, it rapidly spread all
over the continent II gave the death
blow to the knights Templars; in 1881
il drove the Jews out of Spain. A this
time the famous Torquemada was Grand
Inquisitor He was a short. stout man,
little suggestive in appearance of a bigot
1t is possible that his -ravages are exag-
gerated; but even when We allow for err
ror in this respect. the number of persons
who were put to death under his inquisi-
torship is enormous. His harshness was
so bending and his punishments so rigo-
account for his conduct to the pope
| Throughout the long, bloody record of
the Santa Hernandez. there is no trace
of any redeeming action. II was estab-
lished to root out heresy, and with terri
BILE earnestness il did its work The In
QUESTION was omnipresent; it followed in
the wake of the conquistadores into Peru
and Mexico; " descended upon the unhap-
py Netherlands in the van of the Duke of
Alva. In the reign of Philip II. the In
QUESTION reached the summit of its power
for it had become a recognized Spanish
institution. and the people were no more
shocked at an auto da fe than at bull
fight But with the growth of civiliza-
ton the Inqusition declined. 1t continued
to hnger on, but it was only a shadow
and when the soldiers of Napoleon enter
ed the inqusitorial prison they found few
prisoners to liberate. The rack and
wheel had grown rusty. the cords and
pulleys were rotting on the beam. Poe s
terrible nightmare tale of the torture bv
the pendulum is centuries behind its
time; the pendulum was there but the
knife was blunt and dull, and the mechan-
ism was broken and useless. An attempt
was made to re-establish the Inqusition
in 1914 and many persons were imprison-
ed; but the time for even the mummery
of persecution was past. The people
broke out into revolt, burned the prisons
and drove away the familiars. In 1890
the Holy InquiSition was blotted out.
Awarded