Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-19
EARTH JEWELLERS HUNT CAVES.
PRAYANDTRYTOEVADE COMET
Negroes Abandon Work and Keep to Churches
Miners Stay Underground-Blood Sacrifice of
Gir1Averted- Joker Makes Scary Shooting Star.

I'll M Av~AsSO JOAA~'e~
NEW YORK. May ia child of nine.
. gazing for the comet through broken
: bottle-the best telescope she had-was
!. shot during a street battle last night In
. Little Italy.
Her spine was shattered and she VIII
die. No arrests we're made.
Il In another street Of the same quarter
five hundred Italians fell to their prayers
when they saw, bearing down on them
from the heavens. bright ball OF name
I There was a panic in which many were
trampled when the supposed aerolitc OK
p,oded into small fragments.
Somebody had been unkind enough Oh
this, of all nights, to send up fire bal
LOOM
| Quit Work for Church.
In the Standard Oil works at Bayonne,
n. j.. the unskilled laborers, mainly Itai-
ians, quit work for the day in body and
spent most of their time in church.
There was an impressive demonstration
In front of old ST. Patricks Cathedral,
now a parish church in the Italian quar-
ter. The police dealt with 1t tactfully and
/ sensibly.
Down the street came 200 little folks in
white dresses, chanting lftany. Behind
them, informing supplications in deeper
voices, paced their elders.
The police inquired what 1t was all
about. The elders silently pointed to SO
much of the western sky as could be seen
above the roofs of the tenement houses.
| Slowly the procession filed into the
churchyard and knelt on the stone flag
ging.
In fear of q panic the reserves were
90 tI1nr
they persuaded the children to leave their
1 prayers for their beds.
/ The presence of the police seemed to re-
| assure them. Many fell asleep against
blue shoulders as they were carried gently
away.
Comet Made to Order.
Comet watchers Of Roselle, n. j.. were
thrown into state of terror late last
| night as the result of the practical joke
| of Herman c. Boehm, q chemist of that
place.
| Knowing that the residents of the town
| were on the lookout for any phenomena
| that might result when the earth passed
| through the tail of the comet, BOehm,
| with the aid of o small balloon. a guam
tty of sodium, time fuse and a stick
| or dynamite, contrived an apparatus which
| would rise into the air to height OF
| 1000 feet and then explode with a terrific
i
/ fall to the earth In great shower OF
| fame.
| Boehm, accompanied by his son Ru-
| dolph, took the apparatus to large
| vacant field In the south section OF the
town. 1t was released and worked to per-
| lection.
! The explosion of the dynamite could be
! heard for miles, Immed.a teIy all looked
| In the direction where the noise came to
see great streams of fire flowing to the
ground.
Pandemonium resulted 1t was not until
an hour had passed that the fears of the
| people had been allayed -
Miners Wouldn't Work.
wILKEsBARRE, Pa. May 19.-Thou-
sands of anthracite mine workers. fearing
the comets tail would destroy the earth,
| refused to work yesterday.
ALTOONA, May 19.-Foreigners here,
fearing that the comet marked the end
of the world. held an all-night fete.
/ YORK, Pa. May 19.-Many credulous
persons In this county were terribly
| wrought up over the movement of the
l HALEY comet.
Some were SO apprehensive that they
| called together the members Of their
households and held prayer meetings. The
| smallest children were much frightened,
thinking the world was coming to an end
Comet Chases Negroes to Prayers.
ASHEvM4LE, N. c., May 19.-Scared
by the comet, the negroes QUIT work and
focked to the churches.
People camped on the mountains to see
the spectacle.
Negroes Drops Dead at Sight of
! Comet.
/ SOCIETY HILL. s. c., May 19-Aris-
/ ing at 4 o'clock yesterday morning to see
the Comic as she told her husband,
Bessie Sanders. a negrcss, living near
this place. went into the yard, saw the
celestial wanderer. and fell to the ground,
dying In a few minutes.
The negroes Of this section held all
night prayer meetings. fearing the con-
| sequences of the proximity Of the earth
| and the comet.
Preachers Call Negroes to Church.
COLUMBUS, Ga. May 19-The de-
moralization Of labor on account of the
approach of Halley's comet compelled q
cotton factory here to close down yester-
day.
The negro ministers warned all negroes
to quit work and repair TO their churches,
| there to engage In singing and prayer
There was considerable uneas.ness and
Decentralization among the less intelligent
class. which many shooting stars, visible
In the northern skies last night, did not
lessen.
Mexicans Fear Change.
Ell PASO. Tex, May 18-Hundreds of
Mexicans from villages along the Mexi-
can border gathered about crucihxes
erected on the hills last night awaiting
II the appearance of Halley's comet which
they feared would destroy the world
For ten days superstitious Mexicans
nave sought TO avert the impending dis
aster with music, incantatiOns and weird
| ceremonies. Many spent day and night
in prayer. Hundreds have sought refuge
| in caves and canyons in the mountains.
| AS the hours passed without catastro-
phe dancing and feasting replaced the
religious ceremonies.
Sacrifice Of Girl Stopped.