Evening star., 1946-07-07

Andorra was the
Smoilest smallest inde-
Independent Stote pendent state in
Europe half a
century ago. The honor of deserving
that title belonged according to The
Star OF June 20. 1896, to Moresnet on
the German Belgian frontier about
half way between Verviers and Aachen
or Alx-la-Chapelle. It's mineral wealth
was responsible for its independence.
Both Prussia and Belgium claimed DOS
session of the territory, but the COM
mune managed to preserve Its neutral
character and its political independ-
ence.' The supreme chief of this minute
republic contented himself with the
oeSlgnatlon of burgomaster. An army.
consisting of one soldier. who wears a
splendid uniform looked after the
maintenance of civil order. Taxation
ABOUT 80 francs per capita, was devoted
to road mending and the subvention of
school for the younger generation of
the 1900 population Such ideal isola-
ton naturally could not endure forever
The Allied powers, in 1919, setting aside
the principle of elf-determination. gave
Moresnet, which had valuable woods"
TO Belgium IN partial compensation for
the destruction of Belgian forests
Irwin Ford, Negro laborer convicted
OF the murder of Elsie Kreglo on May 4.
was hanged at the Dis
Murderer trict Jail on June 26,
Executed 1896, and The Star re-
ported the execution in
detail, explaining: The man marched
to his death quietly, but, although he
was on the scaffold much less than two
minutes, the drop fell none too soon to
prevent an utter collapse on his part,
as at the supreme moment his courage
forsook him. Ford had been visited bv
his family on the eve of his punishment.
had begged his wife to pray for him and
TO bring up their child in a God-fearing
and God-serving way" 1t was men
toned that: In the opinion of the
officers OF the jail, no condemned man
ever suffered so much mental anguish
eAAN SS hSNeAy oppA lis
nate position" His crime, however, was
'an atrocious deed" in the editorial
estimation of The Star, which also d.
clared: "Unquestionably the miserable
wretch was transformed into an L.-
thinking brute by liquor, and his con-
fession shows that he realized the
fact when it was too late to save his
victim or himself.
A dispatch from Hartford. Conn, to
The Star of July l, 1896, told of the quiet
death of Mrs Harriet
Mrs Stowe Beecher Stowe, author
Sleeps Awoy of Uncle Toms Cabin,
or Life Among the
Lowly," in that city that day. The
famous novelist and social reformer was
"a years of age when she succumbed to
what was diagnosed as Congestion of
the BRAIN" Ill only a few days, she
"lapsed into an unconscious state" of
which the end merely appeared to be
a final continuance" More than a
million copies of her celebrated fictional
expose OF the evils of chattel slavery in
the South were sold during her lifetime
at little profit to the writer. Half a
hundred other works which she produced
were pot boilers" or tracts in the inter.
est of humanitarian causes which now
are forgotten. Mrs. Stowe herself and
the family to which she belonged con-
stltuted a story as fascinating as
any literary enterprise she ever at
tempted. Her father and five of her
brothers were clergymen, and a clue to
the drama in which she played leading
part may be discovered In the fact that