Omaha daily bee., 1897-07-18
KILLED BY THE GoLD STANDARD.

KILLED BY THE GOLD STANDARD
II tell YOU that the gold standard each
year kills more people in the United
States than Spain kills in Cuba" eX-
claims William Jennings Bryan in his
free silver Grafton before the Trans
Mississippi congress. Since William .Ien-
ningS Bryan says SO. it must be true.
Although no corOner's jury has yet re-
turned verdict anywhere KILLED by
the gold Standard" every startling an
nouncement by wire and post reminds
MS of the fatalities that follow the cray
ing for gold.
We do not have to ranSack the records
of the last quarter of Il century to sub
Stantiate Mr.. Bryan's assertion. We can
find ample proofs of the fatal effects of
the gold standard in any daily paper we
may pick up.
The Chicago Chronicle of yesterday,
for example, gives prominence to the
following account of tragedy in that
city:
Razor in sleeve, carbolic acid vial in coat,
slungshot at side and revolver in pocket,
Frank w. Phelan of St. Louis, nationally
known labor agitator, lured Miss Kittie
Wadsworth last evening into the saloon of
Neely & Kelly, in the Palace hotel 103
North Clark street, cut her throat from ear
to ear with the razor, fired two shots into
| her head and then killed himself by sending
a bullet into his brain.
While on its face there is no relation
| OF cause and effect between this bloody
| afray and the gold standard, it is never
| theleSS true that the revolver with which
| the killing was done was bought with
money based on the gold standard.
The very same paper contains the fol
lowing dispatch under an Atlanta
| Georgia. date:
Emanuel Rich member of the firm of NJ
| Rich e. Brothers. one of the largest dry
| goods and furniture houses in the south
| committed suicide at his home in this city
| at 7 o'clock this morning by cutting his
| throat with fruit knife. Investigation re-
| veaed the fact that Mr.. Rich had stabbed
| himself thirty-siX times in the breast and
| throat before death ensued. One of these
| blows penetrated his heart and the other
| punctured the jugular vein. The dead mer-
| chant was native of Hungary and 40 years
| old. He was equal partner with his two
! brothers in the firm of NJ. Rich & Brothers.
| As the house enjoys excellent financial
standing, no cause is known for the suicide
| except nervous dyspepsia, from which the
victim was a great sufferer.
| The friends of the Atlanta merchant
evidently do not know what they are
talking about. Had DR.. Bryan been
called his diagnosis would have been
"Killed by the gold standard"
ON another page of the same paper we
find Il report of lynching bee near
Birmingham. Alabama, which tells the
old story of mob vengeance on Il negro.
The coroner'S inquest has not yet been
held. but we assume in advance that the
verdict will be "Killcd by the gold stand
ard"
Still another victim of the goid stand
ard figures in the same paper rs follows:
DR. Eugene Kean. chiropodst of Evans
ton was instantly killed yesterday morning
at the Grove street crossing in Evanston by
a suburban train on the Northwestern rail
! way.
1t stands to reason that without the
gold standard there would have been no
suburban train running into Evanston
and that Or. Kean would still be eN-
rractimg cornS from the feet of people
afflicted with tight shoes
An Associated press dispatch to tn
same paper from Paris, Kentucky, gives
this Information:
Hook Mason a desperate negro eN-con-
Wet was shot and Instantly killed this
morning by Luke Connolly Louisville &
Nashville railway watchman after a street
duel in which ten shots We're fired. Mason
was wanted On a charge Of murder aud
when Connolly attempted to arrest him he
opened fire on the officer The latter stood
~lls ground and returned the fire, three OF
his bullets striking the negro In the region
of the heart COnnely's clothes were rid
died. but he was uuhurt. MasCn had a leg
shot on in a similar duel several moaths
ago
Sixteen to one that this negro eX-cou
Wet was killed by the gold standard.
Another report from Texas town tel,
how Il murderer confessed that he co n
mttpd the bloody crime in an attempl
to blow safe which h believed to con
tain bag of gold. Would this man
have come to grief if our financial sys
TEN were not based ON the murderou
gold StandardE
What more evidence is there needle,
that The gold standard is every day Kill
ins more people in the Uuited State