The times., 1897-07-11
The LAST OF THE GYP5Es
With Civilization the Strange
Race Is Dying Out.
THE BANDS IN AMERICA
An Historical Sketch Which Seems
to Trace the Wandering BOhe-
niaDs Back to Their ExpulsiOl
From n-Their Customs
aud Habits in the United States

| Atthis season of the year the home-ioying
farmers and Villagers of Pennsylvania and
| its adjoining States are frequently sur
| prised by the sudden sprngng up In their
midst of tents, surrOundedby wagons, horses
| and a motley throng Of human beings.
| These pilgrims, though peaceful and meas-
| uraUly honest, have always been noted for
| their propensity 10 reap where they have
otsown, and leave zach haituig-
| place h little wealtnier than they 'aIne.
| Who ever got the better OF gypsy III
| bargaiu?
Whence came these wanderers, who.
| driven from country 10 country, can LAIN TO
| kingdom but the graye-tO which all save
| few have already gone? From their ian
| guage 1t WouId see III that they cane Jrig-
| nally from IIindoostan, where they are sup
| pnsed To have been members OF the lowest,
oI parah, class of natives. They were
proi,abIy driven TIA ence about the year 1909
when Tinaur ravaged India in tine eourse"f
his violent efforts to propagate the religion
of MoiIauIned. Many thousands OF The
| terrified inhabitants d0Onsed tu either
slavery OF dea TIA, took refuge In flight The
country t. the north and east being beset
| Ivy the invaders, it is most prOhdiAs That
the territory near to the mouth or the
| Indus was the first asylum OF the fuGitlT.s
| This is called the country of the Zinganen,
| and the origina! name or the gypstes was
Zinganee 1t is thought that they som
| fled ths country altogether, and, though
! then route is unknown, il is certain that
| porlionOfthenl settledin Egypt, while e0JheTs
| pushed northwaTd and westw ard
4
sizes, of which an English translation APP
| peared in 1877, there is an extensive
| catalogue Of gypsy and HmdoosraHee
words From this it appears that twelve
out OF every thirty words OF the gypsy
tongue are Hindoostanee. A few genera
tions ago, the Uranium Of gypsy whohad
died in prison in Switzerland, was scleutifi-
| cally compared with the cranium of an
| Egyptian mummy There was a striking
/ resemblance, a circumstance tending To
| confirm the opinion OF some ethnOlosists
| that the Hindoos themselves originally
came from Egypt
| Concerning the Egyptian origin Of the
! gypsies, Blackstone says:
When Sultan SeliIn conquered Egypt
! In 1917, several of the natives refused TO
submit to the Turkish yoke, and revOited
! under one Zinganeus; whence the Turks
i call them Zinganees, but, being at length
/ surrounded and banisned, they agreed
J to Cispesss. IN small parties All over the
world, where their supposed skill in the
black art gave them a universal reception
| in that age Of superstition and credulity.
! In the compass OF very few years they
/ gained such a number OF idle proseiytes
! twho initiated their language and complex
arts OF chiroHancy, begging and piIferingl
| that they became troublesome and even
| formidable to most OF the States Of Ea-
rope"
According to GreInan they first arrived
in Switzerland, at Zurich, ana other places,
4 in 141S, 10 the number of t ,ocO souls
| Blackstone dates their first appearance In
| Germany at the beginning OF the sixteenth
century. They invaded France in 1927 and
/ were expelled in 1861: and, willie treated
| with more Ienience in Spain, they were
neither permitted to serve as soldiers nor
to possess any lands in that country. 4.
number of them became innkespeTs In the
small towns of Spain, but fortune telling
and tinkering were their principal occHpu-
| hOns.
| Sir Thomas Browne designates them as
| a counterfeit SlDOTS-
| called them Bohemians. the Italians Zin-
| gari, the Germans Ziegenners, the Dutch
Heydenen or Pagans, and the Portuguese
Siganos Their Latin name was Cingari.
| One theory with regard to them Is that
having lapsed from Christiauity into
| Pagan rites few from every family were
doomed to the penance OF wandering
| about the world Another historian tells
| vagabOnd course, Judgment OF God upon
| their forefathers for having refused TO en-
tertain the Virgin Mary and the child esUs
whom they fled into Egypt.
However, BeIlouius, w who, in the sixteenth
/ century, met great numbers of them in
villages along the banks of The Nile, de
clared that the Egyptians, like ourselves,
regard them as strangers and wanderers
| The fact that they have, to no small de
| gree, the Arab type Of cOuntenance, leads
many to regard them IS Midiamtes, or de-
soendants OF Ishmael. one paiHstaking
historian claims TO have traced their origin
| TO Persia; another is equally assured that
| tuey originally came from WailachiAn Bul-
| garia and Hungary, and il is certain that
| they We're known in Austria three CEN
| turies before their invasion of Europe. at
| the beginning OF the Fifteenth century.
| Aventinus, writing in the sixteenth CEN
| tury, said: ''They have been banished
| by most Christian princes. The great Turk
atleast toIerates them near theinIperiaifty
He Is said to employ them as spies: they
! were banished as such by the emperor,
/ Charles v"
Aseariy as 1530 the English government
/ took alarm at their robberies, felpnies
/ and other crimes, and they We're ordered
/ to leave the realm, and not return TO il.
| under pain OF imprisonment and forfeiture
I of their goods. Still severer punishment
| was occasionally neted out To them,
for thirteen. of them Were ex xecuted at one
! of the Suffolk assiZes under the statutes
| which were enacted concerning them in the
| reign OF Henry VIII. During this reign a
! goodly number of them Were transported
! to Norway, where a few are still TO be
i found.
| IurIngtAetr Sojournl1 En- glaGl { h es-- ,lsie>
| devised among themselves alanguage which
/ they termed 'eanting" This was made Hp
/ OF q small number of English words and
i great many of their own coming, junIhled
/ together without order or reason and in
/ telligible to none but themselves It's
| ili iginator was hanged by theneok
/ Many Of them went to Scotland " her Il
i dered to leave England. and, although they
| were regarded from the first as species Of
| banditti the Scottish kings gavethen some
4 degree of protection Toward the end of
the last century that country was overrun
| with them, but they are steadily declining