The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1918-12-13
THE MOLOCH OF MISSISSIPPI

the world, there existed between
Tyre and Palmyra, in ancient Syria,
the great city of Hellipol;s, or Baal-
Hek, where the cruel god Baal, OF
McIoch, as he is better known, was
v9crshiped chiefly. In a wonderful
AMI splendid temple was a brazen
image of the deity: a huge thing
over sixty feet high and broad in pro-
Eortion-brass all through. 1t sat
apon a throne and was hollow. 1t
had arms which supported a tray, so
arranged that when votive offerings
were placed thereon, the willy priests,
unseen underneath, manipulated ma
ehjnery causing the arms to rise, tilt
the tray and slide the sacrifcial gifts
into the c%avernous mouth, which was
always open. Sometimes from the
mouth issued sulphurous flame and
smoke, from fires kindled underneath
and inside a special furnace under
the base of the idol. At these times
Mcloch was said to be hungry for
human flesh, and in abject devotion,
huma!. sacrifices were made TO him.
There were two acceptable classes
offered 70 Moloch-babies, or beau
fa$ul children, and the fairest young
@0z7en of the land. The living sacri-
fee was bound and placed upon the
satver on the knees of the god; the
brszen arms manipulated by machin-
sgy worked by the priests, slowly
lifted the tray and the wretched vic
Linas slid into the capacious mouth
sp'i gullet, down a metal chute, and
onto a gridiron arrangement under
which there was a fire.
The ~thunderous temple drums shock
ed the air with their %thrObbing; the
bESzen gongs nearby were beaten in
deafening clangor. There was Bray
Ing of trumpets and horns, and hor-
rible hootings issued through the
mouth of the idol, The priests had
a Strong-lunged chorus to chant a
load paeen to the glory of Moloch, all
sbs ceremonies and noise being de-
to drown the >shrieks of the ,
victims as they were being slowly !
roasted alive.
al the fairest and the best were
offered: when the chief priests de-
;ixnated a maiden or a babe in far
Palmyra or Tyre or distant Damas-
ms. there was no appeal. The sac
was Inevitable: Moloch was in
'Sorable and must be ~appeased. The
'Tazen mouth was always, open; the
.ptetite was Unsuitable.
In some respects, the political sit
in Mississippi right now is
,ct 81 all unlike the time when the
began to turn from the wor-
.hsg Of Moloch to a less severe and
reeNngod, speaking symbolieally and
g ii were. There have been sacri-
i@Ss in Mississippi in the not very
lecant past-the thump of the tom
on>ss the braying of many tin-horns,
lille the chief priests and devotees
aale -genuiexions and chanted &C.
tatICally and loudly:
Great is Great Moloch, for who
'ut he will w deliver us from the
laenace of the Ethiopian; who but he
discovered the niger in the
Then, there has also been revolt: an
'vertu1nlng of the idol, the discovery
the majority of the multitude that
her god was mostly brass with an
ingenious bellows attachment. And
hey bowed down no more but passed
to the true faith. And they mar
relied that they had been blind so
ang.
But there were a few of the high
'riests who stuck around, and con-
rived to get the image out of the
and seated askew upon a very
and insecure pedestal. Its
was still open. They tried to
up the bellows, which, howev-
y, was not greatly damaged, and
sind!ed a Pickering blaze under the
and prepared to bust
Out from the inner sanctuary.
were sent to the Struggling
faithful roosting amid the debris of
ne outer walls, with some such
grapevine message as: L
After the disastrous bombardment
II ballots I'VE are about ready to re-
business at the same old stand
.eloch has lost his chief menace.
hat of The Ethiopian, but he has
mother brand new one, more IN to
late and 1~em4ral1v ccarv hoo..a