The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1913-06-21

The most shocking immoralities,
gambling. drunkenness, adulterics
and incest, until his life vas ended
BY the vengeance of a man whose wife
he had soduccd. Pope John XVI.
had his ewes put out, his nose cut OF,
his tongue torn from his mouth. and
he was sent through the streets on a
donkey. with his face toward its tail
Pope Victor I'LL. declares that the
life Of Pope Benedict TX. was 20
shameful, ~ foul. 80 e1ecrable that
be shuddcred 10 describe Il. The peo-
pie, unable 10 bear longer his adul-
teries, his homicidcs and abomina-
tions, rose against him, and the pa
pacy was bought by a man named
John, who became Pope Gregory VI.
Pope vigilus killed his secretary
with a club, whipped his nephew to
death. assisted in the assassination
OF Silverius, was a miscr, a traitor,
and utterly without honor.
Pope Stephen. who succeeded For
mosus, unehrthed his body from the
grave, placed the bloated corpse in
its pontifcal robes and ornaments on
a chair, aud, after the manner Of a
trial, asked the dead body many
questions, declared the ordination
and acts Of Formosus invalid, as he
had held and usurped the office Of
Pope John, then stripped the corpse,
} cut of the head, mutilated the nude
} form and cast il into the Tiber. But
vengeance soon overlook Stephen.
He was chained in a dungeon and
strangled TO death.
Pope Urban put seven Of his car
dinals, whom he suspected Of a con-
spiracy against him, to the rack to eH-
, tort confessions from them. The tor
tures they endured were beyond de-
, scription, but no guilt was aclnowl-
edged. Yet he put five Of them into
I sacks and east them into the sea.
Two Of them were beheaded with an
axe, and their bodies rendered into
ashes, and kept in a bag TO terrify
others. He slew Aquilla, and threat
, ened 10 excommunieate anyone who
should consign his body TO the grave
IL seems TO us that men who led
, such lives as history records Of the
popes we have mentioned are unwor-
thy TO be reyered and adored as "our
supreme Lord God"
The character Of the opposition to
liberty, however, makes little diff
, ference. Every generation must fight
the battles anew, and sometimes It is
with difficulty that the fires of pa.
, triotism are kept burning.
A boon so hardly won at so much
cost Of blood and life as was freedom
Of speech and Of the press is not 10
be lightly esteemed or carelessly
, thrown away. but is something 20 be
! jealously guarded.
II is as true today as it was in the
!, dawn Of freedom that eternal rig.
Hdnce is Tho price Of liberty, and the
American people are not secure in
their rights so long as they may be in
, anywise deprived of them without
! that due process of law guaranteed
= : our forefathers in the beginning anG
solemnly affirmed in our constitu
:, ton.
I No American is safe in his life
J person or goods if the federal gov
ernment may, by an arbitrary die
tum, destroy the business Of any pub
Usher and force his press into silence
| No tyrant has ever fourished il
a nation where the press has beer
free. A free press is as obnoxious &
oppression as the deadly gases of {
mine are to human life, therefore
the first act of an oppressor is :,
stifle the voice of the press. Thi
being true it is clear that the peopl
Of the United States are not secur
in their rights if it lies in the powe
Of single man TO strangle and pu
to death the press. II such a Grim
against liberty is possible in the full
white light Of the twentieth century
we had as well know it now as later
and we welcome the attack Of IN
Knights Of Columbus, the Romal
Catholic hierarchy and the Amer
ican Federation Of Catholic Societie
and await with patience the result o
their pilgrimage TO Washington.
In the meantime we appeal TO ey
cry patriot in the land-every ma
and woman whose heart beats i