The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-03-14
MORTALITY ~. LEG1srAT1oN.

york one night last week. and lie mad
all of them laugh by his quaint, not i
say irreverent, comments onfthc origi
: nal attempt to make men good b
legislation One of the statutes of Ii,
: Nutmeg Purtans was read by tn
8 Mayor as follows:
$ If any man or woman be vito
mat hath or hath consulted with
I familiar spirit he shall be put 10 DEATH
That was a good law-for Connect
cut; tho only trouble is that /
was never carried out to the lette,
i There would not be nearly so man
\ people in that State now il the la,
|, mad been strictly enforced. Thin
what q great thing 1t would have bee
Tor the peace and good order OF II,
country II all the Connecticut wftc,e,
male and female, had actually been pu
to death. Does anybody know l,oy
many of the people In that State ar
really descendants OF the witches
Can't Mr.. Taft direct M. Durand e
make inquiry on this point while he Is
taking the Census? In this age or an
cestor worship. when everybody in
New England wishes to trace himself
to the Mayflower, 1t would be interest
ing to know how many of them came
from the witches which infested that
country when 1t was trying to get
into the Jamestown class OF respecta-
bility.
The late Senator Hoar, of Massachu-
sets, delighted to speak Of tho people
OF New England as "winnowcd wheat
but, If William Bradford is to be cred
tied, and we think he should be, there
must have been some rather large holes
In the sitter. In his history Of Ply
mouth Plantation that great man wrote
a good many surprising things which
are of record even to this day. Among
many other very good things In his
chronicles no says that, In spite Of
the severe punishments inflicted upon
those who violated the law "all this
could not suppress the breaking out
of sundry notorious sins. especially
drunkenness and uncleanness; not only
incontinency between persons unmar-
| ried. for which many, both men and
women, have been punished sharply
] enough, but some married persons
also" The explanation of this state
4 of living among the godly made by
Brother Bradford was that the per-
sons who were engaged in filing up
1 the Plantation with we'll disposed set
tiers were so bent upon making money
out of their transportation that they
1 brought in all sorts OF people, there
| being at that period no such thing as
restricted immigration" Evidently the
fault with the Connecticut law against
the witches was not that it required
that they be put to death, but that
as the Colony grew away from its first
intentions, entirely too many cxcep-.
lions was made.
1t is up to Mr.. Taft and NJ Durand
now to gosinto this subject thoroughly,
and as an aid to their effort we
would suggest that they read what
old Bradford says about the Mayflower
and its first voyage to these predes-
tined shores. According to the re-
cords only 100 persons came over on
the first trip. the greater half Of them
AS we arc told. died In the general NOR
tali,y. and the most of them in two
or three months time. ".tnd for those
which survived, though some were an
cicnt and past procrcation, and others
left the place and the country (wcnt
over into Connecticut?) get Of those
few remaining are sprung up above 100
persons in this thirty years. and arc
now living in this present year, 1850.
besides many OF their children which
are dead and come not within this &C,
count
With this information as a starter
and with due diligence on the part OF
the President and his agents, 1t might
be possible to find out even now where
they all came from and why more Of
thcm werc not put TO death Possibly
Mr.. Pinchot might be willing to as
.sist in this important work!
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BIG nE.tNIED B.TTLilsHIPs.
The International race goes merrily
~, ~