Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-05-18
HUMAN SACRIFICES.
sOOeRN RELIGIOUS FANATICS WHO
BELIEVE IN THEM.

| World, Particularly In Russia.
whose Members XIII and Cruelty
| That Salvation May BE Attained.
| That human sacrifices have been
made even in the nineteenth century.
| and by processing Christians, too, is
| brought out by The-American Journal
of Sociology in a striking article:
The Convulsionists, sect existing in
Paris about 176O, were wont to cruelty
| members Of their order. in emulation
| of the crucifiXion of the Saviour, in the
| belief that the souls of the surviving
| members would be saved by the sacri-
| fees OF their fellows. In 1917 the
| '-PaScheIians." an Austrian sect. muir
dered q man. his wife and daughter
| under the delusiOu that the trio. who
| refused 10 go with the fanatics, were
! possessed OF the devil On the follow
ing day they crucified one Of their own
| number 4 girl of 10 years. who had
suffered herself for the death. in imi-
tation of the death of the Saviour, in
order to save the souls of her fellow
believers.
In 1923 the leader of a Pietistic cir
Gle in Switzerland, after having dis
patched her sister, who gave her life
as a means of saving the souls OF her
relatives, was crucified by her follow
ers at her own command in order that
she might die. rise again after three
days and restore TO life the sister she
had slain. In 1868 two mothers, ad-
herents of the Holy Men," slew their
sick children, believing them to be vic
Tins OF demoniacal possession. In
1873 n Hungarian miller. belonging 10
the "Nazarenes," killed his son as an
Offering for his own sins after the
fashion Of Abraham. In 1870, in IT.
kutsk. Russia. one of the ''Schismat-
les" convinced himself by prayer and
fasting and much Scripture reading
that to save his soul he must be cruel
fed. Accordingly he attempted self
crucifiXion and succeeded so far as
the circumstances OF the case would
permit.
In 1880. liz the government OF Perm,
Russia. a peasant killed his child as
an offering for sin and buried the body
in an ant hill. Likewise, in the gov
eminent OF Vladimir, another peasant
killed both his children in due Abra-
hamic form. and while the babies bled
under the fathers knife the devOut
mother celebrated the service by read
ing aloud selected portions of the TWEEN
ty-second chapter of Genesis. In 1854,
in the government of Tambov. Russia,
a peasant. convinced that to save his
soul n man must have Il sin to repent
of, killed neighbor with an AK in or
der to satisfy this highly imperative
condition.
1t is Il part OF the creed of the WAN
derers." n Russian sect, that anti
Christ rules in high places there and
that accordingly good men must have
naught to do with governmental af-
fairs of any sort. In conformity with
this belief a man murdered in various
ingenious ways % men. women and
children, including his own wife and
babies, in order to free them from the
danger of losing their souls by suffer
ing the contaminating contact of the
government census taker. This occur
red in 1897.
The "DenierG,s another quite inter-
esting Russian sect, believe that evil
taints all earthly good and that the
only escape is death. In 1925 60 of
these men, strong in the faith, after
having murdered their wives and chill
dren, permitted themselves to be put
to death, one by one, by their leaders.
The "Scourgers,' who also form
widespread and influential sect in Rus
STA, in obedience to the behests of their
''saviors," are in the habit of indulg-
ing in human sacrifices, cannibalistic
feasts, erotic dances and other lewd
procedures as an extremely efficacious
method OF keeping the hand of evil
from off their immortal souls. So the
''Muckers' of KOnigsberg and the cell
ebrants of the black mass in Paris af-
ford further examples of the use of a
ritual of erotism. coupled with a prac-
tice of the most abandoned and OBJ
scene behavior, to promote the eternal
welfare OF the soul.