The age-herald., 1898-10-25
CUSTOM OF
 BURNING EFFIGIES

From the Chicago Times s-Herald.
 very interesting ceremony took place at Anderson, Ind. few days ago. A woman of that city sent out invitations to all of her friends to come and see her hus- band burned in effigy. Needless to say, the invitation was cheerfully accepted, and the grotesque and pitiable image of the absent spouse was cremated, to the great satisfac- tion of all present. Any burning in ehigy is an interesting event, sure to call together all the children, old and young, of the countryside. This latest instance attracts attention on account of it's extreme achaic flavor. If there is truth in the doctrine of transmigration of souls. the lady in ques- ton must surely have lived at one time in old Greece. Theocritus tells us of sorcerers that pretended to work evil and even to kill the enemies of their clients by means of charms performed over doll images rep- resenting the offending persons.
 The original idea of an ef1gy was that there existed some sort of sympathy be- tween the image and the person for whom it was substituted, and that harm done the former or curses pronounced against it would actually result in evil to the latter.
 
 to do unto the absent offender, and were cheered by the hope that sooner or later their vengeance would overtake him. These are milder times and the ordinary i mind does not contemplate with pleasure l the incineration alive of human being. The burning of a person in efigy these days is d method by which the populace ex- i presses it's contempt for some person. It is an extraordinary and ostentatious h. 7 sult and it also furnishes an object on which exasperation can be vented. We will not for a moment believe that the lady of Anderson would burn her absent spouse alive could she lay hands on him.
 Neither do we believe that the gallant soldiers of the Second Illinois would cre- mate Governor Tanner alive, or permit any one else to do SO Ashough they constructed 1 a rediculous scarecrow which faithfully de- ! picted their estimate of his worth, and made a bonfire of the same amid tremen- dous enthusiasm at Camp Cuba Libre. Nor l have we any idea that the soldiers hoped ! that misfortune would overtake the corpor- al through the medium of this effigy. It IS said that a certain tribe of Indians pos- ! sesses a very useful divinity known as the swearing god" This is ridiculous little l image nailed to the wall. It represents the power of evil, and it is considered pious 1 act to denounce it in the most picturesque 1 and forcble language at ones command. If the Indian bruises his finger or his mus 1 tang refuses to be caught he clinches his teeth and makes dash for the house. Once safely in the presence of his swear | l, hi his hair. dances with rage, and gives vent to the most horrible profanity. Then he feels better.
 1 So with an effigy. One can burn it, shoot 1 at it. throw stones at it, curse it, and mo- l body will be injured in the least, but the 1 person conducting the exercises VIII ieei l better. -t ,f .t . l That immortal, overadvertised bugaboo, l Guy Hawkes., has been burned in straw ana tatters more frequently than any other hu- man being alive or dead. Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Davis were so distinguished within the memory of men now living. Those two celebrated Spaniards, Weyler and Charles Eliot Norton, have both shared the honor With the advance of civilization t...s ceremony has become a Christian act. l It Is certainly more humane to hang up a ] scare-crow and thow stones at 1t than to f.de behind a stone wall and shoot the
 
 lofty limb and drive his horse out from under him.
 Punishment in effigy was legally prac- ticed in France and with great solemnity up to the time of the first revolution. IT 1 the man condemned escaped, a dummy was 1 put in his cell and the entire routine of the 1 law allowed to take its course The warrant was read to 1t, and on the day appointed : it was conducted to the Scaffold in the pres- l of all funot rias and wit l all the circumstance of the law. Sometimes | the same person was executed in ed'gy ! simultaneously in the several cities, but | that, alas did not exempt him from actual | punishment should he be afterward caught. There are instances on record where ctiin. | inals have paid the penalty of their of- | fense both in farce and in fact. The Anglo | Saxon race has not taken kindly to cffigy burning as legat act. Though we are im- | aginative enough we always have a re- ! serve of stolid practieablity unassailable by superstition. With us this curious rite crops up in times of great popular excite 1 ment. Oliver Cromwell was frequently burned in effigy, and many copies of the covenant along with him. An old chronicle | piousiy tells of one occasion wherein the protector was -vcariously burned with a fire of 800 fagots, and volleys of shot were fired of at least 300 in volley.'
 
 nis leads to the observation that burning ! in effigy has been used very frequently as an expression of religious fervor and of course poor old Judas Iscariot has been the most frequen, and long-suffering victim On Maundy Thursday the people of Mexico go to see Judas burned and fire squibs at him. In holy week Portuguese sailors hang the betrayor of Christ in a yardarm and shoot at him. Then they pull him down and fall upon him with clubs, after which he is torn limb from limb and cast into the sea. The Greeks also, on the Sunday after Easter, hang scarecrow before their churches and fire at it with guns and pis- tols until 1t catches fire.
 THE NEGRO IN WAR
 From Golfers Weekly.
 What doubt there may have lurked com