DOI Heft:
July 26, 1873
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16937#0050
38 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [July 26, 1873.
/ESTHETICS.
Jabberly. “ Was awfully Snubbed by Mrs. Dulcimer, last Night, at the Opera, for Talking to her while they were
Singing."
Maria. “ I think she wants Taste, then. A heavy, rough Voice contrasts so well with Music, and adds Flavour to
it, as an Olive does to Claret.”
PEACE IN SALEM.
_ Salem means “ Peace.” Jerusalem probably means the Founda-
tion of Peace. After which proof of the fact that Mr. Punch
possesses Dr. William Smith’s invaluable Dictionary of the Bible,
the former learned man proceeds to show how Peace is kept in
Salem.
A person named Delos Hefferen (we know not how he came to
bear the name of the birthplace of Apollo and Diana—which is
fastened to the bottom of the sea by chains, to which we invite the
attention of the Admiralty, as they must be miracles of workman-
ship) had recently the misfortune to murder a person of the name of
Halstead, at Salem. Perhaps it is unfair to call him a murderer,
as he was not tried, he may have been only a manslayer. However,
he found Salem no City of Refuge.
About two in the morning of the 30th ult.,
“ A body of masked men entered Salem, seized and held prisoners the
town patrolmen, and, proceeding to the gaol, demanded the keys of Deputy-
Sheriff Craycroft, who resides in the building. The Sheriff refused to
give up the keys under any peril, when he was seized and confined, and a
sledge-hammer procured, with which the mob proceeded to force its way into
the cell of Delos Hefferen.”
The Sheriff appears to have behaved like a man, and much as the
brave Governor of Newgate did during the Gordon Riots—see
Barnaby Budge. The mob (the word is not ours ; we should not
venture so to describe a body of free and enlightened Citizens) found
that the cell was strongly protected. But two doors, one of iron,
were broken open, and ‘ the murderer stood face to face with the
Yigilants.” Yes, that is a more gracious name for them. Delos’s
vigil had not been a pleasant one, for
“ Hefferen had watched the progress of the mob, which came thirsting
for his blood, and had prepared himself as well as he could for desperate
resistance. Knowing death awaited him if taken, he determined to fight to
the last, with some pieces of the furniture of his cell. He stood like a tiger at
bay, and guarded the dooi."
Or, rather, the doorway. It was not left for him to do as the vassal
is ordered to do in one of Joanna Baillie’s powerful dramas:—
“ Rise,
And set thy brutal strength against the door, ’ ’
for it was already forced. Still, he was not yet vanquished.
“ The mob, knowing the desperate character of the man, and that the first
who entered would meet certain death, hesitated to attempt an entrance.
They procured balls of twine, saturated them with coal oil and turpentine,
and threw some of them into the cell, and threw others forward on the ends
of long poles and set them a-blaze. Having thus lighted up the cell, bringing
the victim into full view, the mob opened fire upon him.”
If, like the classic hero, he prayed to “die in the light,” his prayer
seemed likely to he granted. There was considerable ingenuity
on the part of the Yigilants in contriving this charnbre ardente, in
advance. Well, twenty shots were fired at him, and one broke his
right arm, so that he could not use the only weapon he had—a chair.
Then a “rock ” was hurled at his head. This sounds Homeric, hut
we fear it was only a big stone; anyhow, it brought him down.
“ Before he could recover, he was seized, tied, and dragged out of the cell
and of the gaol. ‘ What are you going to do with me ? ’ he asked. ‘ Hang
you,’ was the reply. ‘ I will go along with you,’ he said. He was immediately
taken to a covered railroad bridge, about thirty feet high, about two squares
from the gaol, where he asked time to pray, but the lynchers replied they
could not wait.”
Dying in Salem is “parting in Peace,” we suppose, so the Yigil-
ants, who seem to be resolute theologians, held that no special
religious preparation was necessary.
“ The rope was put around his neck and thrown over a rafter of the bridge.
Hefferen was then pushed off. As soon as he was dead the lynchers returned
to the gaol, gathered up everjffhing they had left that could afford a clue to
their identity, released the Sheriff and guards, and scattered in every direc-
tion. None were recognised, and no person knows by what road they entered
or left town. The body was hanging till 4 o’clock, when it was taken down
and brought home.”
The work was certainly not done negligently. The Yigilants had
/ESTHETICS.
Jabberly. “ Was awfully Snubbed by Mrs. Dulcimer, last Night, at the Opera, for Talking to her while they were
Singing."
Maria. “ I think she wants Taste, then. A heavy, rough Voice contrasts so well with Music, and adds Flavour to
it, as an Olive does to Claret.”
PEACE IN SALEM.
_ Salem means “ Peace.” Jerusalem probably means the Founda-
tion of Peace. After which proof of the fact that Mr. Punch
possesses Dr. William Smith’s invaluable Dictionary of the Bible,
the former learned man proceeds to show how Peace is kept in
Salem.
A person named Delos Hefferen (we know not how he came to
bear the name of the birthplace of Apollo and Diana—which is
fastened to the bottom of the sea by chains, to which we invite the
attention of the Admiralty, as they must be miracles of workman-
ship) had recently the misfortune to murder a person of the name of
Halstead, at Salem. Perhaps it is unfair to call him a murderer,
as he was not tried, he may have been only a manslayer. However,
he found Salem no City of Refuge.
About two in the morning of the 30th ult.,
“ A body of masked men entered Salem, seized and held prisoners the
town patrolmen, and, proceeding to the gaol, demanded the keys of Deputy-
Sheriff Craycroft, who resides in the building. The Sheriff refused to
give up the keys under any peril, when he was seized and confined, and a
sledge-hammer procured, with which the mob proceeded to force its way into
the cell of Delos Hefferen.”
The Sheriff appears to have behaved like a man, and much as the
brave Governor of Newgate did during the Gordon Riots—see
Barnaby Budge. The mob (the word is not ours ; we should not
venture so to describe a body of free and enlightened Citizens) found
that the cell was strongly protected. But two doors, one of iron,
were broken open, and ‘ the murderer stood face to face with the
Yigilants.” Yes, that is a more gracious name for them. Delos’s
vigil had not been a pleasant one, for
“ Hefferen had watched the progress of the mob, which came thirsting
for his blood, and had prepared himself as well as he could for desperate
resistance. Knowing death awaited him if taken, he determined to fight to
the last, with some pieces of the furniture of his cell. He stood like a tiger at
bay, and guarded the dooi."
Or, rather, the doorway. It was not left for him to do as the vassal
is ordered to do in one of Joanna Baillie’s powerful dramas:—
“ Rise,
And set thy brutal strength against the door, ’ ’
for it was already forced. Still, he was not yet vanquished.
“ The mob, knowing the desperate character of the man, and that the first
who entered would meet certain death, hesitated to attempt an entrance.
They procured balls of twine, saturated them with coal oil and turpentine,
and threw some of them into the cell, and threw others forward on the ends
of long poles and set them a-blaze. Having thus lighted up the cell, bringing
the victim into full view, the mob opened fire upon him.”
If, like the classic hero, he prayed to “die in the light,” his prayer
seemed likely to he granted. There was considerable ingenuity
on the part of the Yigilants in contriving this charnbre ardente, in
advance. Well, twenty shots were fired at him, and one broke his
right arm, so that he could not use the only weapon he had—a chair.
Then a “rock ” was hurled at his head. This sounds Homeric, hut
we fear it was only a big stone; anyhow, it brought him down.
“ Before he could recover, he was seized, tied, and dragged out of the cell
and of the gaol. ‘ What are you going to do with me ? ’ he asked. ‘ Hang
you,’ was the reply. ‘ I will go along with you,’ he said. He was immediately
taken to a covered railroad bridge, about thirty feet high, about two squares
from the gaol, where he asked time to pray, but the lynchers replied they
could not wait.”
Dying in Salem is “parting in Peace,” we suppose, so the Yigil-
ants, who seem to be resolute theologians, held that no special
religious preparation was necessary.
“ The rope was put around his neck and thrown over a rafter of the bridge.
Hefferen was then pushed off. As soon as he was dead the lynchers returned
to the gaol, gathered up everjffhing they had left that could afford a clue to
their identity, released the Sheriff and guards, and scattered in every direc-
tion. None were recognised, and no person knows by what road they entered
or left town. The body was hanging till 4 o’clock, when it was taken down
and brought home.”
The work was certainly not done negligently. The Yigilants had