Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-29

an object on which evaporation can be
vented. We will not for a moment be-
leve 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 I'd Illinois would cremate
Governor Tanner alive, or permit any one
else to do so, although they constructed
a ridiculous scarecrow which faithfully
depicted their estimate of his worth. and
made a bonfire of the same amid ire
mendou5 enthusiasm at Camp Cubra Ii
pre-. Nor have we any idea that the SOL
diers hoped that misfortune would over
take the corporal through the medium of
his eftlgy. 1t is said that a certain tribe
of Indians possesses a very useful divin-
lty known as the swearing god" This
is a ridiculous little image nailed to the
wall. 1t represents the power of evil, and
it is considered a pious act to denounce
it in the most picturesque and forcible
nSuaS at ones If the In
dian bruises his finger or his mustang re-
fuses to be caught, he clinches his teeth
and makes a dash for the house. Once
safely In the presence of the Swearing
god" he shakes his fists, tears his hair,
dances with rage and gives vent to the
most horrible profanity. Then he feels
better.
SO with an effgy. One can burn it, shoot
at it, throw stones at it, curse it, and no.
body will be injured in the least, but the
person conducting the exercises will feel
better.
That immortal over advertised buga-
boo, Guy Fawkes. has been burned in
straw and tatters more frequently than
any other human being alive or dead. An
drew Jackson and Jefferson Davis were
so distinguished within the memory Of
men now living. Those two celebrated
Spaniards, Weyler and Charles Eliot Nor
tn, how hath c1o raJ he 49, Wal
the advance of civilization, his ceremony
has become a Christian act. 1t is GER
tainly more humane to hang up a scare
crow and throw stones at it than to hide
behind a stone wall and shoot the man
himself or hitch him by the neck to a lofty
limb and drive his horse out from under
him..
Punishment in effigy was legally prac-
tised in France, and with great solemnity,
up till the time Of the first revolution. If
the man condemned escaped a dummy
| was put in his cell, and the entire routine
of the law allowed to take it's course. The
warrant was read to it, and on the day
appointed it was conducted to the scat
fold in the presence of all the legal func-
tionaries and with all the circumstance
Of the law. Sometimes the same person
was executed in effigy simultaneously in
several cities, but that, alas. did not ex-
empt him from actual punishment should
iN pS etLlCl "oIu caught. L ~
stances on record where criminals nave
paid the penalty of their offenses both in
farce and fact. The Anglo-Saxon race
has not taken kindly to effigy burning as
a legal act. Though we are imaginative
enough, we always have a reserve of stol-
id practicability unassailable by super
stition. With us this curious rite crops
up in times of great popular excitement.
Oliver Cromwell was frequently burned
in effigy, and many copies of the covenant
along with him. An old chronicle piously
tells of one occasion wherein the Protec-
tor was vicariously burned with a fire Of
five hundred fagots, and volleys of shot
were fired of at least five hundre in a
volley."
This leads to the observation that burn
ing in effigy has been used very frequent
ly as an expression of religious fervor,
and, of course, poor old Judas Iscariot has
been the most frequent and long-suffer-
ing 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 betrayer of
Christ to 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 a scarecrow before their churches
and fire at it with guns and pistols until it
catches.