Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1901-06-27
a Fortunate
aA Criminal.
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ON the shores of the Mediterranean
! there lies between France and Italy
| the little kingdom of Monaco. 1t num-
| berS fewer inhabitants than a large
village-in all 7,000-and is in extent
so contracted as not to boast more than
double that number of acres But, on
/ the other hand, ii has a real prince
who possesses palace. has a court,
ministers, bishops. generals and an
army-not, to be sure, a large army. 60
men, still an army-nor is the revenue
large Duties are indeed. as elsewhere,
/ imposed upon wine. alcohol and tobac-
co; but. although the people conscien-
tiously drink and smoke, there are not
enough Of them, and the princeling
would certainly be unable to feed his
courtiers and himself had he not the
| special resource of a gambling house.
! There people lose or gain, as the case
may be- but the keeper always profits
and therefore pays heavy dues TO the
princeling. lie can well afford to do so,
as his establishment is in Europe
unique. Similar places formerly exist
/ ed in some of the German principali-
ties. but years ago on account of fire.
quent catastrophes they We're suppress
ed 4 player, carried away by excite
ment, would lose all his own money
and sometimes even that of others and
then commit suicide So the Germans
forbade their little princes to keep
gambling houses, but no one could for
bid the potentate of Monaco, and that
I is why he has a monopoly
| Therefore all the lovers of trente ct
quarante rush TO his kingdom and for
his benefit despoil themselves. Hon
est toll does not enrich" says the Rus
sian proyerb. The princeling knows
| that the spring from which he drains is
/ impure, but what can he do? 1t would
not be more honest to increase his in
come by raising the duties on alcohol
and tobacco. A man must live So the
princeling reigns in peace, makes mon
ey and. like a real sovereign, lives sur
rounded by courtly ceremonial. He re-
wards, Furnishes, reviews his troops,
holds councils and promulgates laws,
just like other rulers, only on a smaller
scale.
Now. some years since a serious
event took place in the kingdom. a
murder was committed. The nhabit-
ants of Monaco are peaceable folk, and
nothing of the sort had ever before TAX
en- place among them. The judges met
and, as was proper, set about judging
All was done according to rule-puhlc
prosecutor. lawyer. jury. long and con
scientious debates. Then. in accord
ance with the law. they condemned the
assassin TO death. SO far. so good. The
sentence was submitted to the prince
/ ling, and after his ratification all that
remained to be done was to execute it.
1 But an impeachment presented itself.
/ The country possessed neither guillo-
/ tine nor eXecutioner.
After mature consideration it was de-
cided that to obtain the loan of mas
terly cutter off of heads. together with
his apparatus, the French government
should be addressed and that ut the
same time inquiry as to the cost Of the
move should be made Eight days lat
/ er the answer was received. The
! French government consented TO send
! the guillotine and the eXecutiOner. As
to the expenses, they would amount TO
/ 10000 francs.
| The matter was referred to the
! princeling His majesty thought the as
sassin was not worth that price. Six
teen thousand francs for the neck of
rascal All, no. indeed. 1t would in
that case be necessary to increase by ?
francs yearly the taxes of each citizen.
/ The people might resist.
/ 4 council was held. and it was decid-
ed to address the same request 10 the
/ king of italy. France is a republic,
/ and republics do not respect Caesars,
but the king of Italy, brother. might
/ be less extortionate. The reply was
/ Immediate. For the consideration of
/ 10000 francs. which would also cover
the expense Of transportation, the ltal-
4 Ian government declared its willing
ness to lend the apparatus and special
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