The record., 1912-09-19

OF Lords in Lon ~ WV
don. Johnson ex- GUY FAWKE:
planned that he was the servan
Of Master Thomas Piercy. VIII,
| lived next door to Parliamen
House. and that he wanted the vaul
as storage place for fuel.
James !. was king of England. II,
had succeeded Queen Elizabeth il
1908. He was n scoundrel in n weak
stilted way. He prosecuted the Cath
olics. broke his solemn state prom
ises. lied out of DIFFICULTIES and il
other ways made for himself hos
Of enemies. Parliament, for the RIOS
part. backed the kings wishes. Hence
Parliament shared his unpopularity.
A band of daring, II unscrupuious
men resolved to rid England of King
James, the royal family and Parla
ment as well by the very simple
means of destroying the whole lot al
one blow. Their plan was to fill the
cellars of the House OF Lords with
gunpowder Then. on the day wher
the king and his family should come
to open Parliament, to set o match tf
the powder and blow up every one IL
the building.
Robert Catesby. Thomas Picrcy and
eighteen others were in the conspir
acy. They. chose as the actual assas
sin brave, heartless soldier of for.
tune whose real mamie is said to have
been Guido Fox, but who is known tc
history as Guy Fawkes." No one
knows whether Fawkes was to re.
ceive money for his deed or whether
he consented to do it through hatred
for King James.
ia the early. autumi ~ 1904 the
.,o-,srir e-o,.- ha.-
through 'he nine-foot wall between
Pierey's house and the Parliament
cellars. Then, hearing the cellars
were for rent, Fawkes hired them.
After that the work went on easily
and safely enough. Thirty-six barrels
of gunpowder we're rolled into the eel
lars and were covered with masses of
wood. A train of powder was laid.
Everything was ready.
Parliament was to meet ON Noven,-
Der 5, 1904. The king and most cs
the royal family were to be there. At
signal Fawkes was to light the pow-
der train and was then to escape BY
ship to Flanders. The other conspira-
tors were to kill or captrue any men,
bers of the royal family who did not
chance to be at Parliament's opening.
No one betrayed this plot, which
might have changed the history of
the world. Yet it was discovered.
The discovery came about In an odd
way.
One of the onspirators-which one
was never known-was a friend of
Lord Monteagle, noted English
statesman. He sent Monteagle an
anonymous letter, begging him to
keep away from the opening of Par
lament. MOnteagle, not sure whether
or not the warning was a joke, show
ed it to the secretary of state. The
secretary laughed at 1t as a hoax, but
was induced to show it to the king.
James (who was so cowardly that
the sight of a sword used to make
him ill fell into a frenzy of fear. On
the night Of Nov. he ordered Par
lament house searched. As tho
searchers neared the cellars they met
Guy Fawkes coming out He was
seized before he could dart back and
the Place was ransacked.
The sight of so large pile of
wood reused suspicion. The wood
was cleared away and the gunpowder
barrels were discovered. Fawkes,
raving with helpless fury, strove in
vain to set fire to the gunpowdey and
to die with his enemies. He was
overpowered and dragged before the
king. There he made surly. con-
temptuous answers to all questions
and refused to betray his accom-
plices. But torture at last made him
speak The consrirators were seized
and most Of them were executed
Fawkes last OF all. An old chronicle
gives the following account OF his
farewell to the world:
This very tall and desperate fell
low made no long speech. but
tafter a sorD. seeming sorry for his
offense, asked q kind of forgiveness
Of the king and the state for his
bloody intent"
All Europe shuddered over Eng
lands narrow escape. Tho fifth of
November was ordained by King
James ito be observed forever as a
day of Thanksgiving" For centuries
thereafter Nov. was celebrated
throughout England much as We cole-
brate July 4. Amid bonflres and noise
Guy Favkes was burned in eficy.
Even now the cellars of the houses of
Parliament arc regularly searched"
in memory of q governments old-time
peril.
So, for more than three hundred
years after his death, Guy Fawkcs
has had the honor of an annual "Day"
"a privilege denied to most heroes
and accorded perhaps TO no other
blackguard.