Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-06
AS YOU LIKE IT.
Some Stray Leaves From a Reporter's
 Note Book.

| NUt0 0OOA
 I Death duties" Is a source of rev.
 enue perhaps unknown in America,
 but which yield a handsome sum to
 the British treasury, and which con
 tinue to increase by leaps and
 bounds. The income from this
 source for the year will beat all rec
 ords by several million dollars. More
 than $35 100000 has been received
 in the five months of the fiscal year,
 and 1t promises to exceed the gov
 ernment estimate by the end of the
 year by about $12,00O,000.
 It was weird tale of spells and
 magic potions and incantations that
 witnesses solemnly related in an
 English court recently. The court was trying a witch, and few cen turies ago the judge and jury would
 have listened with due solemnity.
 Mrs Annie Samuels was charged with fraudulent witchcraft. The prosecu- tor asked the jury to believe the al legations, strange and ridiculous though they were. After hearing tho testimony of several witnesses, whose disclosures of the practices of modern witchcraft convulsed the court until the stern judge himself was carried away and laughed as loud as the rest, he said the cass disclosed an amount of human incredulity that one would have believed impossible in enlight- ened London. The jury found the witch guilty.
 Rev G. Ernest Thorn, Peckham's sensational preacher, riveted the at tention of his hearers the other Sun day night as he appeared on the stage of the Crown theater at Lon don clad in the armor of an olden knight--a surcoat of chain mail, hauberk, greeves, gauntlets, sword, and helmet. MT Thorn gave a stir ring address to about 5000 people, seconded by a band of music and strenuous congregational singing. His text was. "The Whole Armor of God" and the garb of knight was worn as being in keeping with the spirit of the sermon. You must get outside the line of conventionalism nowadays" he said after the service, If you are going to reach the people. The armor I wear affords a back ground of realism in the application of the Scriptures to ideas in which I am a believer"
 While in New York recently l heard bit of interesting gossip about the Hippodrome. This institu tion is one of the show places of New York. It seats 1000 or 5000 per sons, forget which, and is sight in itself. The first time I visited the Hippodrome I sat near the stage, half way to the left. When the ring master came out to the front of the stage. we had to look back at the au- dience to see him, so immense are the proportions of the stage. All this, however. is much better told by the nimble press agent of which this in- stitution maintains corps. Every one will remember that IL was in the fertile brains of Messrs Thompson and Dundy, originators Cf Luna Park and fathers of New Coney Island, that the plans for the llippodrome were first formed. They managed this monstrous amusement undertak- ing until this year, when they had d falling out with the moneyed inter- ests concerned which resulted in their severing their connections with the Hippo. Some say they ire stilljntef- ested, but the story told is to the ef- feet that they are out entirely and will devote their attentions to new place on the Hudson.