The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-08-30
AMuLETs, HooDoos AND THE LIKE.

the Hope diamond, but her tastes did not run
that way This was May Yohe, the American
actress who welded a son OF Lord hope, the
owner of the gem. She was credited at the time
| of her marriage with statement couched IN the
Inithv. vigorous vernacuar of which she was a !
master the gist of which was that she'd pei
everlastingly condemned if she would wear IT,
and she never did. Her marriage was lnfehcl-
tous: but inasmuch it might have turned out
worse for her than it did, no one can with Ger
tainty impugn her discretion In refusing tot
ador1l herself with the ill-omened gem
Probably no other jewel or trinket in history
is associated with such diverse misfortune or
calamities as this remarkable brilliant, the
| largest of the three important blue diamonds
! known. All three of them seem to have been
cut from a hundred and welve-carat stone
brought from India by the explorer Tave1ner
I in the seventeenth century, the Hope gem OF
forty four carats being the biggest fragment OF
il known today Two other fractions OF two
and thirteen carats are IN existence, the rest OF
it being lost. It's history need not concern us
further than to note that nearly every one who
ever owned or wore it came to poverty, dlsas-
ter. disgrace or death. Marie Antoinette and
the Princess Lamballe, whose heads were borne
on pixies through Paris streets, were among the
women who wore it proudly, and queen OF
Turkey VINO was Slain ana d prince ldSoll to
who was stabbed to death were others.
The only question of interest is whether
there is any basis of truth, however shadowy,
in the copious literature of all the ages relative
/ to talismans amulets charms or hoodoo trink-
cts which are supposed to bring good or bad
luck Amllets were held to be protective. The
brass ornaments on modern harness were anu
letio in purpose in Roman times, and the jewish
phylacteries and portions of the law worn as
frontlets on the foreheads attached to door
posts were held in superstltlous regard. In
the same class are luck pennies and pocket
pieces of diverse kinds. Articles OF this sort
were almost universally credited Of old with
supernatural capacity to confer benefits or
ward off evils. In early christian days hsh
was commonly engraved discs OF metal or
stone and carried for their protective powers;
while astrological devices or magical formulas
came later into use.
! The opinion of modern psychologists ap-
pears to be that any efficacy for good or evil
possessed by any nanimate object depends on
! it's power of suggestion. This has become
recognized element in the practice of medicine,
and religion. Suggestibility is leading fea-
ture in hysteria All persons, so it is said, can
be more or less influenced by suggestion. The
suggested force of popularity accepted maxlms
leads people to accept the moral code OF their
age and land Psychologists are now inclined
to believe that suggestion brings into operation
some obscure faculty or region of the mind or
dinarily submerged A proposition, SO they
aro11e NAV be so communicated that the mind
accepts it with conviction in the absence of any
logical ground for doing so and such convlc-
tlons operate powerfully on mental and bodily
processes
\ Most people, having no Hope diamond or
fragment of the original blue brilliant IN their
possession, and having spent their luck coins
long ago have only a casual interest in the sub
iect The present owner of the gem is. the Nc
Lean family in Washington whose son and
heir to double fortune was run down by
motor car and killed, some months ago. 1t is
not stated that the stone is on the market. 1t
was sold in 1901 for three million dollars to
Russian prince who was soon thereafter killed
by nihilists What value is put upon it now
does not appear, but when it is next for sale 1T
will be interesting to see if the evil repute Of
the historic gem has lowered the price.
/ Chicago is becoming calm once more. The
price of a shoe shine has returned to ten cents
after a trip upward to fifteen because of Gun
settled conditions It would be interesting TO
know whether the shine magnates foresaw
shortage in labor or in customers in time of
unsettlement.'
i With labor as full Of unrest as a man trying
to sleep in a bed full of cracker crumbs, the
fcoo,,ar tha ,,nuars hat be-if there he any such