Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1910-01-31
MANY CRIMINALS,
~ EDITH y. Ross

eyes met. and the fiame of love was
kinuied IN the maiden's breast sha
was then only fifteen. but the image
o. the young man remained photo
eraphed indelibly upon her brain.
Inc time soon came when she
should be married. But. though she
was pretty and attractive, no sutton
appeared for her hand. The truth a
that she gave none OF the Young man
any encouragement. One day her "a
tner. who was a mathematician. ~
absorbed In bis figures that he took
nttie note Of anything else, said %
her:
"Jaharia, how old are your
Nineteen"
what! Nineteen ana not married,
What does 1t meanY''
There are no suitors," said the girl.
w." sO
\ am your daughter. and you see
me through fathers eyes"
Il wonder If that Is so. Perhaps il
Is. At any rate. you must have a hus-
band. | will attend to the matter to-
morrow
Now. this is what the old man meant
Dy attending to the matter" liz Siam
every woman who has reached GER
tain age without securing a husband
may. II she choose, be registered as one
OF the younger daughters OF the king.
This places her under the kings pro-
faQffnn aud saounv,ats, H., - a.
band for her. These husbands, how.
ever, are all lawbreakers. They are
not sent to prison or fined or executed.
but are condemned to marry one OF
the kings adopted younger daughters.
The condemned men are allowed to
make their own selection. but with
certain limitations. Those whose Of
lenses are light are permitted to
choose from among the better grade OF
women. the most attractive In phys
ical appearance and amiabilIty, while
the grave offenders must marry the
ugliest and worst tempered.
So 1t was that the poor girl cherish
ing In her memory the youth she had
seen in the park. with plenty Of young
fellows anxious to marry her. was to
be given to a malefactor. 1t was her
misfortune to have a father who. II far
penetrating In the problem OF mathe-
mates, on ordinary matters was in
ordinately stupid.
The registry had scarcely been made
when young man who had borne an
excellent character-a student in the
university-was caught pilfering. Ev-
erybody was astonished. He was
tried, but the Judge. considering that it
was his first otfense. gave him a IA
therly admonition and let him Of. To
the surprise Of every one. two hours
after his discharge he was again ar
rested for similar offense. This time
the judge condemned him to marry one
Of the kings daughters.
Within few days there was another
case of young man Of good reputa-
tion becoming a lawbreaker. This
case was the more remarkable be-
cause he was of noble family. On ac-
count of his rank he would not have
been prosecuted had he not repeated
his offense number of times, He,
too. at last was convicted Of crime.
One morning when the judge went to
court he saw In the prisoners dock no
less than six young men Of the best
families-some of them noble-who
were to be tried for petty offenses.
'sThere is an epidemic of crime among
our youth" said the judge to himself.
81 must stamp 1t out" Thereupon he
convicted every one of the lawbreak-
ers OF an offense OF the highest grade
and sentenced each to marry one of
the ugliest and most iraseible OF the
kings daughters.
Nevertheless the epidemic spread.
Young men of every grade were
caught openly committing onenses,
and all were convicted without mercy.
Finally one morning when the judge
took his seat on the bench be was as-
tonished to see in the prisoners dock
the son OF the prime minister. The
young man. whose name was karkalo,
pleaded guilty to stealing the purse of
the minister of finance.
The judge. not daring to sentence so
0lRu pSESOudkGs was abuuA "
charge the young man, but the latter
said that he would prefer to suffer as
a lawbreaker and should be obliged IL
the Judge would give him an oppor-
tunity to expiate his Offense. where
upon he was sentenced as one OF the
better grade of malefactors.
on the day when the criminals were
brought forth to select their wives all
these better class young men were
among the number. Among the wo-
men to be chosen was Jaharia. Twelve
OF the young men Of birth were obliged
to select wives from among the home
" and vicious. They were all In de-
spair. Little Jaharia stood mute. with
downeast eyes. equally Respondent
Presently an attendant told her that
she had been chosen and led her to the
man who had chosen her. When she
stood face to face with him she looked
up.
1t seemed 10 her that the people. the
walls the furniture. we're swimming