The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-27

with their fists One was down on
her knees praying incoherently-oth-
ers were hurrying UP the knoll. With
the medivaeval instinct, they were
making straight for house of refuge.
Not far beyond was a. school house,
set in de-bushes, the patches OF
Iungworth making purple mass in
the sweet spring sunlight all about
the door. The school-mistress, bare
headed, was running across the field,
and far ahead OF her were her runa-
way boys racing toward the court
house. This incident stopped me for
moment, and l half turned about
with a qualm not unlike seasickness,
and just then the distant shouts of
men, mingled with the shriller notes
OF the boys, were borne to me, and the
mere gravitation OF curiosity hurried
me on.
AS ! passed through the streets I
noticed that some of the householders
were hurriedly closing their shutters,
and the places ordinarily animate with
life looked mute and frightened. 1t
reminded me OF the shopkeepers in
Paris and Constantinople, who hasten
to barricade their places OF business
when there comes rumor of street
fracas. But none OF these household
ers apprehended any personal danger.
They were in fact pulling down their
domicilary wells so as to not see or to
be seen, just as does the sensitive girl
when her modesty or her fears give the
alarm.
AN IMPENDING HORROR.
In a very short space of time the
rnn fnNta - li,arr lAp
had seized upon the whole town.
found myself in a mob of rough men,
men in butternut, gaunt, sGllow, hard
Jawed men, and in the centre the vic
tim. From this nucleus extended con-
centric circles of agitated people, rae
ing round in eddies, some of them
saying, 1T must not be-" eagerly and
helplessly; others shouting out. Burn
him--burn him. Here and there a
pale-faced woman, swept here by some
force that she could not comprehend,
staring up into the spring sky as If
God would surely interfere at the
proper moment, on account of her
nerves and put a stop to it,
But God did not interfere. The clank
of a heavy ox-chain, mingled with
oaths and laughter, sharply marked
each strophe of this Internal prepara-
ton, and presently the victim came
marching at the head of a motley
column. the whole town sweeping in at
his heels. The one glance I caught of
him showed him to be a brawny brute,
very little removed above the status
OF an animal. But an agony of fear
was already Transforming him from
that which had been at least a. sem
blance of humanity. The shirt-collar
round his neck was sodden with blood
flowing from a wounded face. One
eye had been struck out, and the other
rolled and cleaned with protuberant
agony and fright, emitting a bale light
as it swept over the faces of his tor
mentors in dumb. wondering search for
some look of human pity. During the
two minutes that I saw this CHASTITY
and revolving figure it was struck twice
in the face by missiles thrown from the
crowd, and both blows elected shouts
or eXultation. I confess that the sight
completely unnamed me- Shame and
an immeasurable upwelling reproach
made me sick. and I had to hold fast
to friendly tree for a moment.
DEMONIACAL.
While 1 clung there a mob Of inen,
women and children swept past me
that only Dante could have described.
The human phantasmagoria was made
up or afrites of terror and drunken
ghouls. All the basest impulses of the
insensate demon who boasts that he
is made in Gods image seemed to have
burst into an emotional debauch,
Somewhere, somebody with a venerable
wi l1i 20
ing feeble appeal from the tail Of a
cart for law and order Between him
and the surging crowds there were
centuries of separation. Save a. half
score of pale, determined men, who
stood near him trying helplessly to
represent society itself in this crisis of
deviltry, no one gave the slightest heed
10 MN. 1t was foregone conclusion
that once started, this orgie must
sweep to its dire finish, and most of
these spectators wanted to have a
place at the spectacle. Men with We
hlcles We're selling seats. Boys, both
black and white, were calling to each
other as on holiday, and women,
with their faces distorted by an OBJ
scene curiosity, were lifted up on boxes
and barrels that they might see the
dis+gured features of the human ami
mai as it passed. In this temporary
delirium all rational processes were
suspended. Man had agglomerated
and transformed himself into a pack
of rabid wild beasts.
l did not see the actual burning, be-
cause my nerves revolted, but L fol-
lowed the crowd to the place. And
now my pen refuses to repeat what I
there heard. In their unleashed rage
or vengeance. these men mutilated
their victim before they burned him.
they pressed up close to the fame and
gloated over the conVulsive writings
and cheered his agony as If every ad-
ditional pang were a pleasure to them,
and they hung over the embers and
calcined bones as if the excitation of
their miserable emotions had enchain-
ed them to the spot. Then, when there
was no more of the poor qulvering
flesh to feed their passions, they hung
their heads and skunk away.
SARCASTIC SYMBOLS.
On my return from that scene found
myself suddenly in front of the little
church again. Its doors were open and
the sound of prayer came like a MUIR
mur from the inside. But for the first
time in my life the house of God, as
the people called it, wore to me an in
eXpressible air OF impotence. As I
turned the corner of the street the
| cupola of the court house came in sight.
and on it was flying the banner of the
republic. l thought it wore for the