The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-13
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH'
 SUPERSTITION SURVIVES.

For the first time this year the th6r- l teenth of a month falls on a Friday to-day. and the superstitious will not
 be easy in their minds-or what passes i for nnind-until the ''hoodoo'' day is rover. The 11nIuckiness of Friday and of thirteen has long been prover bial, and a combination of the two natural | 1y constitutes the extreme limit in the 1 way of a. t'jinx-
 | ously is shown by the great decrease | in weddings on a Friday inc rnlr- l teenth. The records for the last Il- Er1- I York the number of marriage cere- monies performed fell almost to notf- 1 ing, while in Paris there were none at all The London papers Of the morn 1 ing following recorded no weddings as having taken place in England, ana any marriage of importance in Eng-
 the London Times or the Morning Post.
 In France the effects of the last Fri day the thirteenth were felt in nearly all lines of business, but especially by transportation companies. The Gen eraI Omnibus, Company of Paris re-
 ported falling off in it's receipts TOT that day of over ten thousand francs All the traction companies announced | statistics that indicated that tens of thousands of Parisians must have ab- stained from travel and remained closely in their homes on that day. The Friday superstition is doubtless
 based on the Crucifxion. while the prejudice against thirteen doubtless arises from the superstitution that at the Last Supper of Jesus, when one Of the guests proved to be a traitor and conspirator, there were thirteen at ta- ble Many eminent people have clung to this belief, and it is related by Sir Henry Lucy that the late Queen Vie toria once refused to dine until anoth- ter person was called to make the num- Der at table fourteen. Many otherwise sane and rational people believe that, 1J@ ar- tain to claim at least one of the diners before the expiration of the year. This
 fear is borne out by the mortality Of tables of life insurance companies, but it is unnecessary to say. that the num- Der thirteen has nothing to do with it. The greater the gathering of diners, the greater the chances that death will take at least one of them within a twelvemonth.
 Those who wish to show themselves truly brave will hold dinner parties with thirteen guests tonight break
 mirrors. spill salt, pass under ladders, cross the paths of black cats and end
 the happy occasion with a visit to
 graveyard at midnight.
 Elderly people may recall that to-
 day is the ffty-fourth anniversary of
 a terrible sea disaster that, in it's way,
 was quite horrible as the recent Tf
 tanic catastrophe. It was on Sept.
 lS. 1s5S,-but not Fr1day-Inat the
 Hamburg line, was burned at sea. The
 boatswain had been ordered to funi-
 gate the steerage by thrusting hot
 iron into a pail of &ar. The tar
 caught fire and in 8 short time the
 flames spread over the vessel, rushing
 with tremendous rapidity through the
 gangways and hatchways, and cutting
 off all chance of escape for those
 the forward part of the ship Scenes
 of indescribable terror and confusion
 followed, and the panic spread to the
 crew. so that all but one of the boats
 were swamped in launching. When
 the engines stopped the vessel swung
 around driving the flames in a new direction, and most of the passengers had to leap into the sea. Two vessels
 hove in sight during the fire and pick ed up about a hundred people. but over four hundred others drowned or
 were burned to death