The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-22

to the newspapers, and in view of the
state of the public mind it was an ex-
ceptionally good item. Usually the
youngster returned home a little later.
But the genuine cases of kidnapping
We're no commoner than usual. They
merely received more attention than
/ they would have otherwise"
"a very plausible explanation, "
admitted the man of leisure
and queer ideas, "but it won't apply
so well to fires and railroad accidents,
nor to the more important events of
history"
Possibly you can give some facts
other than the mere ipse dixit of a
fireman or policeman, to uphold your
theory"
II can. 1 have been casually looking
the matter up to pass away the time
Great Scott! What lot of press
ing business you must have on hand.
But let's have a few Illustrations, any
way"
We'll, of course I don't mean to say
that there are never isolated cases of
sensational accidents or CRIMES" ex-
planned the man of leisure but they
usually come in punches In the lat
ter part of 1898 there was a bunch of
big railway accidents in which about 125
lives were lost, while for year after
ward and for nearly year before
there was none worthy of being record
ed in Haydn's Dictionary of Dates. The
first three occurred between Aug. 26
and Sept. IS, less than a month. Then
there was an interval of about month
and three more were reported, after
which there was another interval and
then two more accidents The last two
were not so close together as they usu-
ally come, but the whole collection,
when viewed with relation to the time
+ preceding and the time following,
serves to illustrate my point. And
that isn't all. BY going back a few
years from that date q haven't
the statistics for more recent times and
you won't accept the conclusions OF uu
interested individually the way they are
punched becomes even more apparent.
Between Dec. 2S, 1889, and Jan. 81, 1890,
there were three railway accidents, in
volving considerable loss of life, and
in the time from July to Aug. 6, 1891,
three more followed by fourth Aug.
26. A period of comparative immunity
followed until May 4, 1892 but in the
month succeeding that there were slso
three, followed by fourth on June %.
Again there was an interval, and ther
came three between Sept. 9 and Sep.
81 1892, followed by a fourth, as usual,
about a month later After that no
other big one appears in the list until
August of the following year. If that
isn't punching things l don't know
what it is, and furthermore it isn't
open to the objection usually raised
when recent affairs of mora local inn
portance are cited that 1t just hap
pened so this time
THAT showing is rather extraordi-
nary" admitted the matter-of-sact
man.
Il haven't the statistics for fires
went on the theorizer, "but any fire
man will uphold the truth of my con-
tention. Perhaps it is just as well to
confine myself to the bigger affairs,
anyway. They are more convincing. l
suppose it never occurred to you that
revolutions come in punches, too"
do they?"
well, I should say So There are
isolated cases, of course, but they usu-
ally come in a lump. For instance, in
the three years between 1895 and 1898
there were revolutions in Holland, Po-
land, Venice and Rome, and eleven or
twelve years later Sweden and Hol-
land enjoyed a little similar excitement
within a year or two of each other.
Then there was quiet until 1880, when
In that and the following year, Poland,
the Netherlands, Brunswick, France
and Brazil all got in action, and Just
seventeen years later Hungary, France
and Rome amused themselves with
that kind OF fighting, all In the same
year, With the single exception of an
other in France there were no more
revolutions until 1859, when Italy
started the ball rolling again. and was
followed between that date and 1860
by the United States, the papal states
and Spain. Isn't that punching the
hits, as q baseball crank would put
it?'
II confess it is
Then take the attempted assassina-
tons Of rulers and others high in pub