Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-09-27
Miseellaneulls geading.
LEGEND OF WANDERING JEW.
Was Supposed to Have Been Sentenced
70 Live Until Christ's Return,

Was Supposed to Have Been Sentenced
to Live Until christ's Return.
The Wandering Jew, Of course, start
ed his indefinite meanderings on .the
day Christ was crucifled, but this mys-
terious person seems to have had a
greater vogue between the thirteenth
and seventeenth centuries than he ever
had before or since. Save for the atten-
tion given him by Eugene Sue, General
Lew Wallace and F. Marion Crawford,
the Wandering Jew has been little
noticed in recent years. He seems to
have dropped out Of sight"
There are many versions Of this leg
end. The Wandering Jew is called
Josephus, Isaac, Lakedion, Cartaphilus
or Ahasuerus. He Is said to have been
about the same age as Christ, and to
have been Pilates porter, or a shoe
maker who dwelt near the gate Of the
city. He belonged to the tribe Of Naph-
tall, and when Jesus, fainting beneath
the burden of his cross, fell in front OF
his door, he struck the Savior a savage
blow with his fist and roughly said:
go faster, Jesus; go faster. Why dost
thou linger?" The Saviour glanced re-
proachfully at him and answered:
II. indeed, am going, but thou shalt
tarry till I come"
Some authors say that the unhappy
man, urged on by power he could not
resist, began his endless wanderings
at that very moment. Summer and win
ter, under sun and rain, he journeys
on. No danger appalls him, sickness
and death pass him by, and at the end
of each century the Wandering Jew
falls into a sort Of trance, from which
he awakens only to find himself as
young as when he thrust the Lord
away from his door.
AS the plague in the Middle Ages,
and the cholera in more recent times,
has appeared mysteriously in one place
after another, 1t is q popular supersti-
ton that 1t follows the Wandering Jew
everywhere he goes, and that 1t is part
Of his awful punishment to leave death
and sorrow in his wake.
Moncure D. Conway in his book.
1.-The Wandering Jew," relates the verj
sion of the legend as it was told in the
thirteenth century. In the year 1928,
according to the Conway version, an
Armenian bishop visited England, and
the purport of his conversation Is re-
corded in the Historic Major. The In
terviews between the monks and the
Armenian took place at st. Adams, and
If the replies Of the eastern prelate
were slightly rendered, his tendency to
the marvellous was sufficiently strong.
He was asked whether he knew any
thing Of the famous Joseph" 80 much
discussed, and said to have been pre-
served from the time Of the crucifixion
Of Christ, as a witness to that event. I
The interpreter said the parsonage In
question had dined with his master
shortly before they left Armenia, and
then gave the story as follows:
1.-The name Of the wonderful Jew
was originally Cartaphilus, and he was
Pilates doorkeeper at the time OF
Christ's trial. When the young men
were leading Jesus out from the hall Of
judgment this doorkeeper struck him
on the neck, and said.
"'Go, Jesus; go faster; why dost
thou linger? Jesus turned, and an
swered: I will go, but thou shalt re-
main waiting until I come (Here Is
quoted Matt. xxxvi., "a: The son Of
man goeth as 1t Is written Of him; but
woe unto that man by whom the son of
man is betrayed; it had been good for
that man if he had not been born.)
Thenceforth Cartaphilus has been
waiting. He was 80 years old when he
insulted Christ, and whenever he
reaches the age of 100 he faints; on his
recovery he finds himself as young az
when his doom was pronounced
1t was further related that Carta-
philus had been baptized by Annanias
(who baptized PauD under the name of
Joseph. He lives among eminent
Christians in Armenia as a holy man;
relates to them and to others who visit
him, sometimes from great distances,
much concerning the Apostles; he nev-
er smiles, but sometimes weeps; re-
fuses gifts, is frugal and talks little.
He hopes for final forgiveness, because
he knew not what he did.
These are the earliest written rec
ords of the legend Of the Wandering
Jew. From that time no trace Of 1t ap-
pears until the year 1547, when an in
dividual seems to have appeared In
Hamburg, pretending to be the Wan
dering Jew himself. The legend and
it's representative appeared in German
annals simultaneously. The narrative
as it was recorded follows:
"Paulus Won Ellen, doctor and bish-
op of Schleswig, related to me some
years ago that at the time he was
studying at Wittenburg, while on a
visit to his parents in Hamburg, In
1547, he had seen in church, placed
near the chancel, very tall man with
hair falling on his shoulders, barefoot
who listened to the sermon with great
attention, and whenever the name OF
Jesus was mentioned bowed humbly,
smote his breast, and sighed. His only
clothing was pair of trousers, ragged
at the ends, and a coat tied with a
cord which fell to his feet. He appear
ed to be so years Of age. There seems
to have been many of the nobility and
gentry who have seen this man in Eng
land, France, Hungary, Persia, Spain
Poland, Moscow, Sweden, Denmark
and Scotland, and in other regions
Every one has marveled much at him
And the aforenamed doctor, having
made inquiries as to, where he could
converse with the man, and having
found him, asked whence he came and
how long he had been there during that
winter. On this the man very humbly
told him that he was by birth Jew
of Jerusalem, named Ahaserus, his oc-
cupation that of a shoemaker; thai
he had been present at the crucifxior
of Christ, since which time he haC