The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-09-17
SLAUGHTER OF THE GAIiLEANs
Pontius plate Armed His Soldiers
With Clubs in DerisfOn.

Pontius plate Armed His Soldiers
With Clubs in DerisfOn.
1t was Pilates custom to come to
his official residence-a kind of palace
for public misunderstanding all feasts,
and he was there that day; but he
was in a very ugly frame of mind.
Such men as Ben Nassur, aided 'by
Ecalots from other places, were rou
ing their followers more and more
from hour to hour, until at last an
angry multitude swarmed around the
gates of Pilates house, cursing him
in the nam of the Law. and of the
Temple. They clamored for the resti-
tuition of the treasures taken from the
priests: the cessation of the a%queduct
work, which the fall of the tower SO
plainly declared to be wicked: and
they furiously demanded the removal
of the Temple guards:
The Roman governor had moi the
least idea of granting any of these
demands, and he determined to teach
the angry Galileans n lesson. He
sent to his camps for Il large num-
Der of soldiers. They were not to
como in armor, but In ordinary cloth
ing, and were to be armed only with
clubs. Strong mel CAN do d great
deal of damage with heavy cudgels,
but Pilates idea was to express in this
way his soldierly contempt for a jew
ish mob: His men were ordered to
surround it and to wait for such COM
mands as he might give them.
CyriIs fear of the fabbis and priests
grew stronger as he drew near the
Temple. There was no mother place
on earth, he believed, where Il sacri-
flee to God could be offered as solemn
ly as upon the brdzen gold-ornamented
altai, of burnt-offering, which he and
his father were soon to see:
Louder and louder grew the sounds
of the tumult in the open space be-
fore the governors. palace, but Cyril
and his father could no longer hear
1t, for they were now in outer court
ward the steps leading up to the gOr-
court. Here they were met by a Lee
the tleccy Offering which he had
brought and 50 carried in his arms.
During several minutes, however.
there had been strange sounds beyond
the gate of the outer court. and they
were fast growing louder. Era and
his son led the way into the inner
court, and they followed. In a mo-
ment more Cyril could see the smok-
ing altar. the EDlcndidly dlraycd
priests, the chanting Levites, the
swinging cGnsers. and all the grand
appliances of the Temple worship.
Everything was splendid beyond his
imaginings; but he could not look at
it for more than d moment. Behind
him, surEing through the gate into
the outer court, filling that space, and
then pouring OH into the inner court,
anne a shouting. shrieking, maddcned
multitude.
Pilates club-mGn had been doing
their brutal work only too well, and.
if his soldiers carried clubs only. other
enemies of the Galileans land they
wcrc many had seized this %opportun-
ity. for steel blades We're flashing
among the purSucrs. An angry mob
were now pitilessly shifting down the
Jews who had protested so zealously
for the Temple and the Law.
They did not pause at the gate Of
the inner court. but, III a moment
more, there were slain Galilenas ~
ing among tile the bodies of the ami
mails prepared for sacrifice, and the
revenge of PLATE upon those who had
~upbraided him was becoming terrible.
The priests and other Temple officers
were fleeing. From "tThe Swordmak-
er's Son." by w. O.. Stoddard, in st.
Nicholas.