Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-11-22
RIOT in EARTA's HoLlEsT SPOT
Fierce Battle in the Church Erected
Over Christ,s Iorah.

Fierce Battle in the Church Erected
Over Chrst's Tomb.
London, Nov. 22.--In the place of all
places on earth where peace and good
will might be expected to reign undis-
| turbed fierce battle in which five men
were dangerously wounded has just
taken place. The scene of this struggle
was the church of the Holy Sepulcher,
at Jerusalem, which is built on the site
&C the supposed tomb of Christ, and the
combatants were members OF the Greek
and Latin churches.
anonymously enough. ARRAYS of this
kind between rival religious sects occur
one was anticipated. The Turkish gov
eminent, which has the church in
charge, had a guard Of troops ready to
put down any riot, but both parties of
the contending worshipers proved so nu-
merous that the soldiers could do little
OF nothing. The immediate cause of the
trouble was an attempt by the Latins to
sweep the Quadrangle" or court around
the church itself. This Is of course, holy
ground. and the privilege of keeping it
cieanly swept has for years been claimed
and defended jealousy by the Greek
church.
The church of the Sephulcher itself Is
locked after by vicar custodian, who,
by the way. was one of those injured in
the recent battle, and a few assistants
appointed by the Turkish government,
who hold regular services. Various other
religious sects, who have churches of
their own round about. are. however,
allowed to hold occasional services
there, among them the members OF the
Latin and Greek churches. who; have
just come into conflict. Other worshipers
are the Armenians and the Copts. and
strangely enough, there is not one OF
these sects but that is violently jealous
of every other one. Black looks are in
,ariably exchanged between them. and
squabbles are SO frequent that few
Mohammedan guards are kept in the
neighborhood permanently to look out
for trouble.
These guards generally find their
hands particularly full after what is
known as the miracle of the sacred
fire." which consists in the appearance
on the altar of mysterious tongues of
fame at the end of the services, a mani
HESITATION which outsiders generally at
tribute to some clever trick. Upon the
appearance of this fire the most violent
sort of an orgie invariably takes place.
and it is hard work for the guards to
prevent the religious fanatics from in
Juring each other.
The custody of the holy tabernacle
was one of the ostensible causes OF the
Crimean war. and as to its authenticity
there has been conflict among students
for centuries. The tomb, which was for
hundreds of years buried under mass
CT earth, was exhumed by the Emperor
Constantine, who, IL Eusebius is, to be
believed. knew of its location by means
Of records handed down from the time of
Hadrian, in whose reign the tomb was
covered over Constantine brought to
light the rock sepulcher. which by his
orders was trimmed off and e,lcased In a
sort of shrine of ornamental masonry
Around this he built a circular cloister
and erected graceful tower at the east
ern side This building was standing
three centuries after, when 1t was de-
stroyed by Chosroes, king of Persia, but
was soon built up again by the monk
Modestes. 1t was seen at end Of the
seventh century by Bishop Arculf, a
French pilgrim, who left careful de-
scription OF 1t. Almost innumerable
changes were made after this, which
finally resulted in the church of the Holy
Sepulcher that exists TODAY