The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-14

proper moment for such operations the
bounty of heaven should be lost"
"A curious relic of bygone times,
probably the only one in England,
still stands in Lancaster castle 1t is
strong iron holdfast, into which the
prisoner who in olden times had been
sentenced to be branded as a male
factor had his hand thrust and locked
The branding iron, after being made
red hot at the end, was pressed
against the "brawne of the thumb"
and on being Withdrawn the letter NJ
branded on the unfortunate prisoners
flesh Indicated from henceforward that
he was malefactor. The ceremony
was performed in the presence of the
judge and jury and in open court, and
the brander invariably turned to the
judge after he had done his work and
exclaimed: "A fair mark, my lord!"
1t is just 100 years since the instru-
ment was last used on two. men SEN
fenced to Imprisonment for manslaugh-
ter.
Mr.. Lambert, of the Troy Sugar
Mills, heated in large closed recep-
tacle a mixture of molasses and chop
ped straw. By drying this mixture in
a warm room a product was obtained
which he called pailmel, and which
can be readily packed and transported
and easily handled. This feed is COM
posed of 40 per cent. of. straw and 80
per cent. of molasseS. 1t contains at
least rs per cent. of sugar and IS per
cent. of digestible. matter. Twelve
horses employed in farm work were
fed ration composed of 10 pounds of
pailmel, pounds of oats and
pounds of hay during 120 days. They
were weighed once a week They in
creased in weight while doing hard
work. A number of sheep were fed
1-5 pounds of pailmel and 61a pounds
of peat per day during AZ days. The
total increase in weight per animal
was &c pounds.
The people of France are happy in
the anticipation of a reduction in the
enormous prices they have for years
been paying for sugar. Their hopes
are based on the recent action of the
lower house of the French Parliament
In reducing the internal revenue tax on
that article to s4.S2 per 22O pounds. Up
to the present time the tax has been
$11.5Q per 220 pounds and the retail
price of sugar in the groceries IL cents
pound. In the debate in the lower
house the opinion was expressed that
the consumption would so increase as
to compensate for the loss of excise
revenue, which aggregated SO, $50 600 a
year; but this loss of revenue is more
tnan compensated by the abolition of
sugar bounties, which in 1901 amount
ed to nearly $2O,00O,0 900. The lower
house also adopted a bill ratifying the
action of the Brussels Sugar Congress.
The cessation of the bounty does not
take effect until September, 1903
In olden times, when jury in Eng
land remained impervious to the judges
gentle mode of persuasion, fine and
imprisonment were resorted to. The
jury that acquitted Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton was condemned to eight
months Imprisonment in addition to
the payment of a large sum of money.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth a jury,
having reduced a prisoners alleged
crime of murder to that of manslaugh-
ter, was at once sent to prison and
bound over in a large sum to be of
good behavior. Penalties were like
wise inflicted upon the innocent wife
and children of the offending jury
men. Even now it is believed by some
legal authorities that a judge has the
right to infiict a fine upon a jurynan
refusing to obey his directions. Such
power is, however, not exercised ex-
cept in the case of juror absenting
himself without justifiable cause. OF
this practice there is the following
story: A judge had fined a juryman
for non-attendance. On hearing that
he had been unable to be present be-
cause of his wifes funeral the judge,
whose wife was said to be not of
particularly gentle nature, exclaimed;
Has he? That was a good excuse in
deed. l wish we all had the same!