Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-22
ACKNOWLEDGING
Gypsy King Thinks His People
Should Settle Down.
DISCUSSES THE SUBJECT
Believes Members of Race Should
Take Up Farming
PLANS TO START COLONIES
Proposes Also to Urge Certain Re-
forms in the Matter of the
Marriage Ceremony.

A square-shoudered. stern and impla-
cable looking old man, who has the bear
| ing and appearance of Partisan boule
warbler, albeit he wears the clothes of
day laborer. sounded the knell of the
| traditions of a race this morning as lie
| stood in the Office Of his lawyer and told.
with touch of emotion that contrasted
strangely with the stoical Indifference of
his facial expression of the ultimate and
inevitable passing of the American gypsy,
The old man was Emil Mitchell, the
dark-skinned Brazilian who has just been
chosen king of the gypses in the United
States. and whose right and title to office
has been certified to by no less than two
ca binet officers.
"Eet ees de END, senor," he said with
just the suspicion of a tremor in his
voice. DE gypsy he mus max de
feenesh to de beeg road. De peopla do
not lk' heem. senior. Believe me. he is
good mans. but he people theenk heem
bad. All, evr place. he mus pay too
much money to walk de beeg road. Eet
ees not right. senior. but Get is come and
de gypsy mus stop de long travel and
max home, eh, senior?
Will Be Hard to Stop.
''Eet weel be hard. senior. but eet mus
be. De gypsy he ees wander so long,
SciOIs ctt ccS HI uC OiOOu Always lie
lik' see new people, fresh towns. ell? He
mus be farmer folks nov, He mus stop
travel 1 have wander far. senior. l
Hungary an cen Spain. l have liv' in
Egypt, senor.~ and / sell horse in Cape
Town. but / know eetF MUS end.
Il weel try 10 stop -Sct Il will max
people live beetle bit longer each place
thees year. senior. | weel punish those
u-af No mr. nh,-
de gypsy is max farmer folks. I weel
try: but .-eet ees a hard theeng, senior;
dam hard theeng.4 =
What the gypsy king said is only too
true, except that he is the first man ever
chosen to act as ruler of the American
gypsies who has fealiZed it. In recent
years most OF the states have enacted
rigorous laws designed to keep the gypsies
out and now there are only few places
in the country where he can travel
without being subjected to heavy license
fees. =.
Virginia now has law whereby each
county is permitted to tax each party
of gypsies travelling through it 500 This
prohibitive. Maryland has a law re-
quiring a heavy license fee for each
county and many other states have
taken similar steps to crowd the wander
er out. +.
Should Become Farmers.
King Emil is determined to teach his
people the absolute necessity of learning
how to,settle down and become farmers.
He proposes to issue an order immedi-
ately directing all parties to rema in sew
eral months in each place selected as
camp site, and that he may get in touch
with them he has decided to order them
all to be at certain appointed spots in
various parts of the country Christmas
day On that day he will telegraph or
ders to each band and will insist that
these orders be obeyed
He proposes To look over the country
thoroughly and select certain localities
for the colonies which he proposes to
establish when he has accustomed his
people to living long in one spot
he thinks he can purge their spirits of
the wanderlust and silence the call of
thte road. but Steve Nigel, his first-assist-
ant. whom he appointed this morning liz
not so sure that the gipsies going to
forget the lure Of the highway. Nigel is
from Egypt and speaks English with the
peculiar precision and amusing transpo-
sitions which sometimes characterize the
speech of Orientals.
Nigel Endorses Chief. :.
Ny chief has the idea that is large,
said he. 1T is the magnificent. as the
teacher in Alexandria would remark to
me when / was the boyhood student i'm
the days which in the past have gone
away. 1t is not easy. 1t is the matter
of great and much hardness The gypsy
likes to take the journey that is long
and to extremely far points that are
distant many miles. The gypsy has taken
such long travels for hundreds of the
years and he will not grow the plants
now just at once
Another reform which King Emil pro-
poses 10 establish is in the matter OF
the marriage ceremony existing among
so many OF the gypsies, particularly
among tho Syrians. Under existing con-
ditions the wife is bought by the hus-
band from her parents and no ceremony
is performed. The price ranges from
81. 900 to $4,000
Should the bride succeed in escaping
from her husband this money is for
feited and she Is permitted to live with
her parents.
"Thees ees not right" said King Emil
this morning. "Eet ees not what Catho-
leecks should do. All gypsies mos Catho-
leecks. and church no lik' dees theeng II
max order stop and eet weel stop"