The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1913-01-24

planned that he was the servant
of Master Thomas Piercy, who
lived next door to Parliament
House, and that he wanted the vault
as storage place for fuel.
James l. was king of England. He
had succeeded Queen Elizabeth in
1903. He was a scoundrel in a weak,
stilted way. He prosecuted the Cath
olics, broke his solemn state prom
ises. lied out of difficulties and in
other ways made for himself host
of enemies. Parliament, for the most
part backed the kings wishes. Hence I.
Parliament shared his unpopularity.
A band of daring, if INSCRIPTIONS, +
men resolved to rid England of King /
James, the royal family and Parlia-
ment as well by the very simple 7
means of destroying the whole lot at
one blow. Their plan was to fill the
cellars of the House of Lords with /
gunpowder. Then, on the day when /
the king and his family should come
to open Parliament, to set a match to
the powder and blow up every one in
the building
Robert Catesby Thomas Piercy and
eighteen others were in the conspir-
acy. They chose as the actual assas-
sin brave, heartless soldier of for
tune whose real name Is said to have
been Guido Fox, but who is known to
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.
In the early autumn OF 1904 the
conspirators began to cut a hole
| through the nine-foot wall between
Piercy's house and the Parliament
4 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 were rolled into the Gel
lars and were covered with masses of
wood. A train of powder was laid.
Everything was ready.
Parliament was to meet on Novem-
Der 5, 1904. The king and most of
the royal family were to be there At
a 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 mem
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.
i The discovery came about in an odd
way.
. One Of the onspirators-which one
was never known-was a friend of
Lord Monteagle. a noted English
statesman. He sent MonteagIe an
anonymous letter, begging him to
: keep away from the opening of Par
. lament. Monteagle, not sure whether
or not the warning was joke. show
ed it to the secretary of state. The
secretary laughed at it as a hoax, but
q was induced to show it to the king
5 James (who was so cowardly that
the sight of a sword used to make
him IT'D fell into a frenzy Of fear. Or
: the night Of Nov 4 he ordered Par
lament house searched AS the
: searchers neared the cellars they me
T Guy Fawkes coming out. He wai
seized before he could dart back an(
the place was ransacked.
q The sight of so large a pile 0
4 wood reused suspicion The Woo
was cleared away and the gunpowde
barrels were discovered. Fawkes
raying with helpless fury, strove Il
n vain to set fire to the gunpowder ant
o to die with his enemies. He wa
e oyerpowered and dragged before tn
:, king. There he made surly. cor
= temptuous answers to all question
and refused to betray his accom-
plices. But torture at last made hin
e speak. The conspirators were seize
IS and most of them were executed
b Fawkes last of all. An old chronicl
n gives the following account Of hi
farewell to the world:
This very tall and desperate fe
= low made no long speech, bu
o latter sort), seeming sorry for hi
10 onense. asked a kind of forgiveness
re- Of the king and the state for hi
i bloody intent"
e All Europe shuddered over Enc
lands narrow escape. The fifth O
2 November was ordained by Kin
= James ito be observed forever as
day OF thanksgiving" For centurie
thereafter Nov S was celebrate
throughout England much as We celt
# orate July 4. Amid bonfres and nois
Q Guy Fawkes was burned in eff1g1
J, Even now the cellars OF the houses c
8 Parliament are regularly searched
in memory OF a governments old-tim
peril.
So. for more than three hundre
/ years after his death, Guy Fawke
y has had the honor OF an annual DAY
d "a privilege denied to most heros
n and accorded perhaps to no oth'
BLACKBOARD