The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-22
SANDERS on FRIDAY.
That Day Does Not Deserve the Bad
Name It Has.


Megargee in Phuadelpha Times.
A man named Maj Mckinley. who has
many reasons 70 believe that he viii be
the next President Of the United States.
is quoted as Directing 10 his republican
nomination being made on Friday. He
is recorded as telegraphing 10 his mas
ter-they call him Hanna-''Please do not
have me nominated on Friday. Remem-
Der this. Friday Is terribly unlucky day.
Blaine was nominated on Friday. and Har-
rison was nominated the las- time on Fri
day" This is the story the telegraph
wires bring. and il sounds like Mckinley.
He cannot possibly be aware Of the fact
that this declaration VIII bring upon him
not only the contumely. but the contempt
OF the famous Thirteen Club OF New York,
which has done so much tl destroy ig-
norant superstitiOns in this country, nota-
bly, by inducing a number OF governors
OF states and territories TO ignore the
custom that once made Friday Hang
mans day. and thereby surrounded all
undertaking begun at that period OF the
week with prOgnosticaU0n of ill-luck.
The Thirteenth Club. which certainly
never again can consistently hold Mckin-
ley In respectful repute, has solicited and
obtained contributions from many public
men as to their views upon popular super
stitons. OF these they have made a coll
lection. II errs, however, In sending forth
a sentiment proposed in its honor by the
late Sunset" Cox just before he depart
ed on his mission to Turkey. He wrote
have toast to propose to you. The
health Of Trismegistus, who was the thir-
teenth son of a thirteenth mother, and
who, in dying, according TO the accounts
which come to us from some of the mono
ltths of Egypt, in the best hierOglyphics
of that period sang out; "MOrituri &c Sa-
lutsmus.' / need not say that he has long
since been dead His salutation TO death
is only equaled by the vivacity of his
life.
The words Of TrismeglsUs (thrice great
esO which mean being about to die we
salute you" have been adopted as the
motto of the Thirteen Club, but probably
that organization did not inquire who
Trismegistus was. To him is attributed
the act of writing in hieroglyphics the
first code of Egyptian laws, harmony,
astrolOgy, the lutte and Tyre. magic and
all mysterious sciences. Scarcely the
man, you must admit, TO be held UP az
an eXemplar by body OF anti-supersti-
tionists The club however, has in its
archives a more practical communication
from Hon. II. II. Chalmers chief Justice
of the supreme court of Mississippi, as
follows:
No man sympathizes more heartily than
l in the laudable object of breaking down
the silly superstitions, which your club
was formed for the purpose Of eXtirpat-
ing. From earliest manhood l have felt
the greatest contempt for them and would
regard their survival as the strongest
evidence of the truth of the Darwin the
DRY If ii could be shown that apes ever
entertained IDEAS SO ridiculous There
was recently convicted Pm the court of
which 1 have the honor to be a member
a poor negro who had slain another be-
cause he believed that the murdered man
had voodoOed him by placing in his corn
field the head Of a snake. What essential
difference is there in principle between
this poor, ignorant negro and the farmer
who must plant his potatoes in the dark
Of the moon, or the business man who
will not inaugurate a new enterprise on
Friday, or the woman Of the world, who
rnrFI Of afN of 70 IN rnFffh mar
sons There have always been some
judges in this state who avoid sentencing
a man to be hanged on Friday, and the
tribunal over which have the honor
to preside recently determined in the fu-
ture to always avoid doing so, our idea
being that there. should be no. especial
'hangmans day" in Mississippi, so FAR,
at least, as we could prevent It.
The great moral Snowman, the late
Phineas 7. Barnum, was heard In con-
necton with such radical movement.
| His last sentence is a whOpper, for show
menn, are the most supersutious men on
II the proposition of my name as an hon
| orary member of the Thirteen Club VIII
aid in the smallest degree in removing
| the ridiculous and shameful superstition
which exists in relation to the number
| thirteen, ! should feel honOred in being
so proposed. In my autobiography l ded-
icated a chapter to No. XIII and showed
my clergyman what a fortunate and hon.
ored number 1t is. 1t is humiliating that
in this nineteenth century the supersti-
ton stin fingers among Intelligent per
sons. No person ought to be hanged on
| Friday for the next hfty years. am In
| full accord with your society, so far as
| it tries to eXpel superstition in regard to
| No. 10 or Friday, or anything else. For
| fifty years have, so far as possible. made
| it a point to start my enterprises on Fri
| day
Two more letters will sufficiently exem-
plfy the work that Is being accomplished
! by this novel organization, and which
Mckinley has run up against A. @. Por-
| ter, when he was governor OF Indiana,
| wrote:
No satisfactory reason can be assigned
| for bringing Friday into discredit for max
| ing it specially the day for executing Grim
| inals sentenced to be hanged. If In the ex-
| ercise of my Office 1t shall become neces-
| sary for me to fix a day for the execution
| of a death sentence. ! shall, by designat-
| ing some other day than Friday. endeayor
| to show my respect for your Just sugges-
| ton that the odium attached to Friday,
| by making 1t "hangmans day." should be
One of the most emphatic letters. came
| from Hon. Decius S. Wade, chief Justice
| of Montana, as follows:
Not long ago / sentenced a murderer 10
| be hanged on Thursday, and the sentence
| was carried into execution upon the day
| appointed. l could not see but the fellow
| enjoyed II just as well as though Friday
| had been the day appointed, and thought
poor abused Friday looked a little brighter
the next morning If this does not entltle
me to become a member of your club
will further promise to have the next fell
low hung on any day you name.
Wonder If Mckinley knows the origin
Of the superstition regarding Friday and
the number thirteen. Both branches of the
| same superstitious thought come from the
same subject
It was on Friday that the Savior was
crucified, and when he sat down as part of
the Last Supper with the twelve disciples
ne made the number thirteen typical Of
treachery and death
Does Mckinley fear crucifXion or treach-
cry?
If he doesn't, why should he bother
about Friday?
MASTERY OF PAIN.