The San Francisco call., 1898-01-16

my a dose of electricity which takes the form of stellar display, and has the effect of paralyzing. After the enemy has been knocked cold he may be dis patched at leisure or perhaps deprived of an ear in token of having got the worst of it. There could hardly be better scheme unless it be hypnotism. To hypnotize a whole army would be as practicable, more effective, and there would be an absence of the awful danger that the battery, getting beyond control, might burn hole in the uniform of the swordsman.
 It IS with a feeling of the utmost friendliness, not unmixed with ave- that I venture to speak of Parson Da- wis. AS there may be more than one Parson Davis, 1t is necessary to specl- fly that these few remarks apply to him of Oakland. This Davis Is a source or endless pleasure. His presence causes a smile to fit across the face of nature. If it were possible to imagine lat beam of sunshine wearing plug hat he would be it. Some have found fault because Davis occasionally thinks he IS a circus, they affirming that he Is only a clown, which is clearly an under es- innate He is the circus, ringmaster, bandwagon, dog under the same, cage of performing monkeys. and all the side shows. as we'll as the concert-noW- about-to- take-place. In other words and to abandon figurative speech, Da- wis is a daisy. Firing persons prone to rudeness might call him lulu. lie can sing, dance, lecture, act, strike
 nTs good taste in ties, gives first class spir- ituaI advice, wears his hair wide ana long. entertains his friends and an ex- alted opinion of Davis. That's enough for any Oakland salary. I am unable to credit the rumOr that at San Quen- tin he was observed to swing bottle
 above his head, a rumor which has
 caused him a high grade of mental an
 guish. Nor do believe that if he did
 swing a bottle 1t contained a liquid
 more exhilarating than ginger ale. He
 was over there with gang known as
 the Examiner push. When he went to
 the condemned cell to snatch a brand
 from the burning, what if he was
 merely disguised reporter under con-
 tract to describe the process at space
 rates? It is not for the worldly to lay
 down a course for the professionally
 righteous. He may have had a laud-
 able purpose. The gang by which he
 was surrounded was goddess to de-
 gree. No finer material ever fired evan
 gelistic zeal. The Examiner prize fight
 CTS were fierce and clamorous. When he found them not amenable to eXhor- tation, perhaps he felt an impulse to bring them by carnal means to state
 of grace. In this way the swinging of a bottle could easily be excused. and had he brought it down upon the pate of the unregenerate could even be praised, though the ginger ale had been sacrificed. Whether the Rev. MT. Davis acquired 900 worth of the high grade mental anguish hereinbefore men toned, is of course a matter not to be passed upon by me, but at any rate he has the satisfaction of knowing that
 he emerged from the scrtmmage with his halo polished to a new luster, his dazzling hat only slightly askew, and i his self esteem without spot or blemish. Now that his congregation have seen fit to uphold him, far be it from me to call attention to the fact that the con-
 gregation had the joy of being absent while their pastor was on exhibition
 with a rabble of co-workers at the prison.
 When an attorney named Terry. per forming the sacred rites of his calling before Judge Daingerfield. dashed glass of water into the face of the op- position, he was warned from the bench that he was in contempt. So far as is learned this closed the epi- | sode. Simply to be told that one is
 in contempt, one knowing this in ad- vance, does not seem to constitute strong restraining influence If Terry had been sent to jail the effort of spec
 tators to avoid sharing in the contempt
 would have been less arduous. For many months the Examiner has l been coddling the parents of a mur- derer who has now passed from the | scene. The coddling appertained par ticularly to the mother This woman's | picture has been printed times without
 number, always making her young and comedy, while-it is. no possible refiec- tion upon her to say it-she is neither. Money has been lavished on the fam 1 fly. Different members of it have been ! paid for the portrayal of emotions far
 better not described. Any trash the
 murderer himself might choose to
 scribble was seized upon with the avid | ity displayed by a buzzard winging it's l happy way to carrion feast. Re | porters capable of doing good work have been trained to be maudlin, tear
 full, slobbery. Tn vain the public re- volted against indecency long drawn out. To so much as to make known | in general terms the protraeted and
 disgusting programme adhered to
 would be offensive to morals. But
 there was a purpose behind 1t all. The
 giant intelligence which pilots the Ex- aminer thought that at the last it
 would get a confession from the mur- derer. With this end in view it scat
 tered money freely, hired men and
 women to camp by the condemned,
 ever hoping for a startling climax. At
 the end it's emissaries swarmed,,
 buzzed, flew in eccentric circles. They
 indulged in pugilism, hysteria, rant,
 rot. They brought a minister of the | gospel to the scene and at their he