Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1904-02-27

British Judge. lie orders him twelve
months hard" and II sound logging
Frequently the obcah man appeals
against this sentence TO the higher
court. ana In Jamaica 1t Is not at all
unusual for him to get Off on some
technical point. owing to the defective
drafting of the law. or course, he
tells the ignorant negroes that he pro.
cured freedom by his magical powers
and thus their superstition is strength.
cnod.
British law Furnishes obcnh with
flogging and Imprisonment. Ncverthc.
less obcah Is practiccd by the white
planters almost as matter Of neces.
slty In order to frightcn the negroes
ana prevent them from appropriat ting
the produce of the plantations.
You may walk through your friends
banana plantation and notice n skull
stuck on top Of stick. a small bottle
full OF dead cockrOaches tied to u
branch, or miniature black coffin
placed Oh little mound. "Hello. old
man" You say, working Obeah-eh? 4?
I'll come ana see you fogged at the
jail" lie tries to laugh II Off shame.
facedly, saying there Is really no other
way to make those wretched natives"
keep their hands of the crops. That
Is true. 1t Is needless. however to go
to the trouble Of placing these things
about your plantation. II some night
prOwler has stolen your bananas all
YOU need do Is to say next morning In
the hearing OF the natives: ITS all
right. l don't care. I've got the foot.
print" You will see them whisper
among themselves In an awcstricken
way ana presently one will come up to
you. nearly weeping with terror. and
confess himself the thief. The super
stltiOn Is that II you dig out the earth
upon which the robber has impressed
his foot ana throw II into the fire he
will waste away and die unless he
gives himself up ana takes his punish.
ment.-New York Commercial Adver.
tlser.
The disease known rs the plague
has but once visited country nominal.
~ enlightened-in 1865, when London
was devastated by the pestilcnce and
well nigh depopulated by the ensuing
deaths ana the panic that drove all
who could get away to places of great
er security. Yet the plague Is one of
the oldest diseases known to man. The
old testament contains an account Of
ut least one extensive and fatal cpl
demic OF disease which appears to
have been bubOnic plague, and which
was seemingly spread by infected mice.
After the epidemics Of the Middle
London in 1868, the disease was seldom
heard of in Europe, ana indeed It was
believed by many to have died out,
but for centuries it held its own in CEN
tral Asia and from there was carried
In 1891 to Hong Kong. Thence 1t
spread to India. where its ravages
were at one time so fearful as to excite
the horror of the civilized world.
Since that time the disease has fire.
qucntly threatened to invade the
cities of Europe and America. but al
though there nave been localized cpl
denies of sufficient severity to cause
apprehension, ms on the west coast OF
Mexico some months ago, the plague
has never really gained Il foothold
among civilized peoples.
When the disease was first studied
by modern scientific methods it was
believed that anly rats ana other ro-
dents shared with man the undesirable
distinction of Il susceptibility to plague,
and it was thought that wholesale de-
structlon of the rats would put an end
to the disease. Undoubtedly they are
the most commonly infected of all ami
mails ana the most likely to carry the
germs from one part of the world to
another, but recent investigation in
Hong Kong has shown that chickens,
horses, dogs, cats and nearly all ami
mails living in contact with man are
equally susceptible to the disease.
This fact complicates the problem of
restricting the spread of the plague on
land, but 1t remains true that rats are
tie only carriers of infec-
tlon on shlpboard.
Plague attacks chiefly the natives In
those cities where 1t prevails. This is
not due to any innate immunity In the
white races, but rather to the prOtec-