The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-04-18
CalnnaQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D. .

the story Of an Ubiquitous bargain and
the use to which the tainted money
earned by it was put the preacher In
this sermon draws lessons Of the evils
that come from avarice and cupidity.
The text is Matthew xvii, 8, where
fore that field was called the field of
blood"
A grewsome fascination hovers about
boards, and the grounds where lived
and wrought some Of the worlds evil
workers. Island Of Blennerhasset!
Wonderful name, rich in historical as
sociations! I see the boats every spring
and summer and fall filed with sight
seers almost daily pushing out upon
the Ohio river to seek this little island
near Marietta. Why? Is it a summer
playground? Is it an Isle Of Wight? Is
its center a mansion? Are its banks
terraced? Are it's trees filled with
sweetest Of songsters as they were once
in the halycon days when its owner,
Hartman Blennerhasset, took his bride
there and changed this island into an
Edenic garden, as Nebuchadnezzar,
who had courted Princess Amytis
among the hills Of Ecbatana, to humor
the whims of his queen, had lifted high
for the wonderment Of the world the
famous Hanging gardens of Babylon?''
Oh, no. Blennerhasset island today Is
Of little intrinsic value. A few scrub
trees, few rocks, perhaps few hoy
els such as can be seen in scores Of is
lands in the middle of this Ohio river,
are all the aesthetic beauties it has to
offer to the landscape artist. But to the
historian Blennerhasset has the same
fascination as have the broken walls
Of Kenilworth castle. Blennerhasset is
immortal on account Of the Infamous
history of Aaron Burr. That is where
the ex-vice president stopped on his
way to establish a monarchy in the
great southwest. 1t has an evil fame
as the rendezvous of the traitorous con-
spirators of that day, just as Is that
house in a side street Of Washington
in which Mary E. Surratt welcomed
the thugs Of the later time who were
plotting the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln.
The people in >swarms used to go to
an old fashioned New England house
where was kept a bloody shirt, the
relic Of a dastardly deed Of the Revolu-
tionary war. AS remember the story,
an American officer was surrounded
by the enemy while eating dinner In
this very house. When called upon to
surrender he handed over his sword,
hilt first, to one of his captors. In
stead Of the British soldier receiving it
aud placing his captive under guard,
he took the sword and plunged it
through the heart Of his helpless vic
tim. The rent in the shirt showed
where the sword had pierced its way
into the bleeding flesh. OF course such
cowardly act as this was condemned
by the British army as well as by the
American. But the condemnation of
the murderer has not anything to do
with my thought: The one fact want
to impress upon you Is this: Scores and
fascinated awe the places where
great crime has been committed. The
star in the floor of the Pennsylvania
depot, where Garfield was shot, for
years had its thousands of sightseers.
The scene Of the Chicago Haymarket
riot, the place where Edward Stokes
shot James Fisk, the sausage vat
where Leutgert disintegrated the body
Of his murdered wife, all have had
their morbid sightseers even as the
room in which George washington
breathed his last has its daily visitors.
"The Field of Blood"
Crowds Of sightseers in Jerusalem
for years after the crucifxion went to
the scene Of my text out Of a morbid
curiosity, as the multitude seek the
island Of Blennerhasset. Indeed, had
they not gone out of a morbid curios-
ity they never would have gone at all.
'Aceldama--that is to say, the field Of
blood"-is not, as some people might
suppose, an Esdraelon plain where a
mighty battle was fought. It was an
old potter's field, filed with clay. Il
was too poor ground to be used for
agricultural purposes. It had been
turned into paupers' cemetery. Yet
this paupers' burial ground had for
years hosts Of sightseers. Why? Per-
haps the best way to answer you is to
tell you what some of the sightseels
are now saying. Eyes, this is ground"
says some one, 'sthat was bought by
the priests with the thirty pieces of
silver Judas received for betraying
Christ "Aceldama-that is, the field
Of blood"-says another; ''it is well
named" Could we have better sub
ject to preach upon on the Sabbath
preceding Good Friday than this pot
ter's field, which became a paupers'
burying ground, bought with the money
Judas received for betraying Christ:
Aeeldama, In the first place, teaches
us that there is no honor among thieves.
When man becomes a Satanic hire
ling he is not likely to be true to bis
partners in infamy A murderer In
order to save his own neck, as a rule.
will turn states evidence against his
companions crime. A pickpoeket
will be just as willing to empty the
ear ST., ~ IN he lr,% To afas1