The Washington herald., 1913-12-28
BURY DEAD in NEIGHBORS' YARDS

believe. that the desecreation Of tombs
brings woe to those who allowed them
to remain in a ruined condition Re
Gently thsse crimes have decreased, owing
to the activity OF the police.
Mr.. Kokubu has recorded another ia
vorite Korean custom. namely. the carry
ing OF by force OF widows by bachelors
who are unable to marry in the regular
way on account OF their poverty.
Influenced by Confucianlsm. Korean
women In general believe that they are
morally bound not 10 marry a second
timG On the other hand. many men can
not marry on account of the great ex-
pense attached to the ceremony. These
two conditions have combined to bring
about abduetions, which are very often
nothing more than elopements- Imme-
diately a woman loses her husband some
Don Juan in needy circumstances is GER
tain to undertake her rescue from widow,
hood. Accompanied by friends he goes 10
the woman's house at midnight and bears
her away. Afterward the marriage Is an
nounced at banquet and nobody blames
the abductor or the abducted who are
supposed to be happy forever afterward.
Unusual Marriage Customs.
The investigation Of crime and crlrhl-
mails In Korea by Procnrator Kokubu and
the tradition Of the widows abduction led
him TO study marriage customs in gen
eraL These he finds have not been
changed by the annexation Of the penin-
sula to Japan
All classes OF Koreans marry very early.
Not infrequently one meets In Korea boys
and girls Of fourteen or fifteen already
married.
These boy and girl marriages are ar
TanRQd hNr thar a
having no voice In the matter. The de-
cision rests with an astrologer. to whom
the parents Of a prospective couple go for
advice. If the astrologer decides against
the pact the matter is dropped. II his
advice be favorable. presents are ex-
changed between the two families and the
coming wedding Is announced to the
actual parties to the alliance. They are,
however. still not allowed to see each
other.
In Korea. girls are kept confined in an
inner chamber and are not alIowes 10
go out. They are entirely cut on from
society, and consequently are melancholy
and unsociabie. The wedding announce
ment is accepted by the prospective bride
as heart-oreaking news. for she has TO
leave her own family and Join stranss
people. On the wedding day she says
good-by TO her parents and goes to the
bridegrooms house, carried I'm a Korean
chair covered with a tigers skin. This the
Koreans believe keeps away the evil
spirit The bride is only allowed to see
her husband for the first time when the
wedding ceremony Is over. for during the
ceremony her head is enveloped in a thick
veil.
Futile Attempt at Independence,
An attempt Of a few politicians in
Korea to form a righteous army to re-
store Korea to its Independence has COL
hpsed. and the leaders have been SEN
teneed to jail chiefly on the ground that
they were obtaining money under false
pretenses.
The defendants, numbering three. were
recently tried in the local court at Seoul.
The hearing had all the picturesqueness
OF Korean gathering, the top-knots and
the historic Korean stovepipe hats con-
trasting quantity with the modern Euro
pean dress OF the up-to-date Korean
dandy.
Two Of the defendants were Confucian
scholars and the third a farmer They
declared that their ambition was to show
foreign powers that Koreans were dis
contented with Japanese rule and that
the restoration OF independence was Jus
tihed and desirable. The righteous
army" numbered about fifty, and they
realized they were weak. Money was
collected for travelling expenses, but
nothing ever came of the movement.
vi Chong No, a small. thin man, who
stated that he had been made chief of
the general stan OF the army accused
the police of having beaten him as a
means Of forcing him to make incrimi-
natory statements. The defendants were
vague as TO the disposition Of the money
collected for the independence movement
Kim Chal Sun was sentenced to two
years for having invented a story aboat
the Peoples party. in Japan which was
supposed to be ready to help the Koreans
10 win back their independence Kwak
Han was given one and half years for
helping to arganize the righteous
army" and vi Chong No six months for
conspiracy against the government