El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-14
Rene Bache

{ appeared a number of hide0us mon
| sters called yak or evil angels The
I principal role in the drama was as
sumed by the king, who was dressed
l Tor the character of Iudra the lord
I OF the SKY Al the conclusion Of The
/ performance the royal sire handed
I first q pair Of golden shears and then
a Eilded razor to the court hair-urte-
who then proceeded to remove the
princely topknOt
In 1855 there was a total eclipse Of
the sun in Siam. and the French sent
I q scientific expedition 10 observe IT,
I This pleased the kinE immensely and
for the occasion he built an Ohsarva-
tory on mountain top The incident
was fatal 10 him. however. FOR he
caught a chill on the mountain TOP
and died.
New Era for slam.
Then 10 was that the reign Of his
son, ChulalonkOrn. began. and with
his elevation 10 the throne dawned a
new era for siam He was progressive.
Science and invention interested him.
He imported agricultural and other
machinery from Europe. Whatever
could mOdernize his country and
bring 10 Up 20 date was Of Importance
from his point Of view IN short. he
was thoroughly enlightened mon
arch
4 particular desire n his was 90
aCqua int himself with everyrhinc that
was Going on in Siam. and 90 find out
what his people needed 10 make them
happy and prosperous. lie was not
content 20 get his information az sec
ondhand- AccOrdinE. he followed the
example or the Caliph Haroun Al
Rasrhid. and explored the streets OF
Bangkok by night and hr day dis
Gui7ed as an ordinary cltIzen-otten
as l1borer of the humblest class.
He met with many curious adven-
lures. and his observations resulted
in important reforms
Not Ions before he died. Chulalon-
korn visited an the countries of
Europe. for the purpose of studying
Occidental civilization. He reiEned 40
years. and on his death in 1910 the
throne passed 20 his son NaJiravudh-
The latter now 80 years old has
proved "a worthy successor TO his
father As already stated he was edu-
Gated i'm England. and his ideas are
thoroughly modern.
There is hardly any country I'm the
world about which the average Amer
lean knows so little as he does about
siam Tn the minds OF most people
i'm this country the Land OF the White
Elephant is associated with the
Siamese twins. so famous a genera
tion ago.
The SiameSe Twins.
The twins. Chang and Ems. were
really Siamese- They were horn in
1911. Of humble narentaEe. Naturally.
their mother. very uoOr woman. re-
Earded them as am affliction bestowed /
upon her by an iuscrutable Provi- I
dence- Being useless for ordinary I
labor. because OF the bond OF flesh 7
that Joined them. they were occupied 3
i'm tending A flock OF ducks when I
an English traveller named Bunker /
to come along and see them. ]
They were then 70 years old I
Bunker bought them OF the mother I
for a few coins. took them TO Europe. I
and exhibited them as curiosities /
Later he brought them to America. D
where they were shown 20 multi ]
tudes Of people other "coalesced~ !
twins have since been shown in pub 4
lie but Chang and Eng had the ad-
vantage Of being first in the market.
Bunker. fortunately. was a humane .
and honorable man He treated I
Chang and Eng kindly. and having
made a fortune by exhibiting them.
be- gave them their freedom when
they came Of age. with a sum Of
money to start on their own account
This happened at Raleigh, n. C..
where they met and married two sis
.ers named Yates The duplex mar
rage turned out very happily. ac-
cOrdinr to all accounts. and each OF
he sisters gave birth to several
One morning in 1874. one Of the