PlATISMOUIHMWSHtRlUD
n. 0. WATTER8, Business Manager
v.
H
PLATTSMOUTH.
NEBRASKA
MAKING MOVING PICTURES.
In a suburb of Paris is a factory
where cinematograph films are mad
The company operating tbe business
has a large tract of land fitted up as
an amphitheater, within which are en
siled the blood-curdling Bcenes whleb
delight audiences in the moving pic
ture shows. Recently pictures were
made depicting the death of a young
Christian maiden In a den of lions.
Vestal virgins, courtiers and knights
marched around the arena and then
took seats safely outside a huge cage.
A young girl was strapped upon a
cross within the cage and seventeen
real Hons were let loose. The Hons
were exceptionally hungry and made
thort work of the poor martyr. They
had been borrowed from on animal
show and had been kept without food
for three or four days. They tore the
maiden limb from limb and spilled
her blood all over the cage, but the
ir-.nidtn didn't even scream for help
heg flesh was papier mache Btuffed
with raw beefsteuka.
It is reported that the sultan of
Turkey offered to give $50,000,000 to
remain in quiet possession of the
throne and that the offer was refused.
It can be seen from this that the suf
fragette movement has not made
much progress among the Young
Turks, for the feminine heart could
never have resisted throwing such a
plain bargain.
"Thoughtless fun" reached a danger
ous pitch at lielolt college when in an
exchange of courtesies between young
lady students one of them was injured
by having red pepper rubbpd into her
eyes. The report runs that the injured
girl Is In danger of losing her sight. In
entering Into the college spirit girls
seem to show quite as much aptitude
as boys.
Th3 United Stales circuit court of
appeals at San Francisco has decided
that the great fire In that city was not
caused by the earthquake which pre
ceded it, and the matter Is now settled
so far as certain Insurance cases are
concerned. Hut this w ill not alU'r pop
ular conviction that if there had been
no quake there would have been no
lire.
Now a Washington minister says
that Cain's wife was a fine woman. It
is a good thing that it has struck
somebody, even though this late in the
day, to do Justice to this neglected
lady. As her history is buried in ob
llvion, It Is to be hoped that If her hus
band did exterminate his brother, he
was not anything of a ladyklllcr.
Still, while we are turning up the
nose of artistic scorn at the women's
hats, It may be salutary for the males
to recall that for the better part of a
century the acme of style in masculine
headgear has been a construction de
scribed, as "chimney pot" and afford
ing about the degree of comfort that
the name suggests.
The cauBe of aristocracy has fallen
on evil days. An Italian prince was
recently arrested and held all day in a
police station for running down two
workmen with an automobile for
which he had no license.
Why go to Morocco to be carried off
by bandits and held for expensive
ransom when one can Just as well In
vest one's money in lawsuits, gasoline
launches and other games of chance
here at home?
French art circles are discussing the
question "At what age Is a woman
most beautiful?" It Is a question
whether the ladles can be persuaded
to provide any reliable statistics in
the matter.
ASHINC.TON. -
jf?l was unveiled in toe tia
U I tlon's capital recently a
Miiiuc ui iuo nev.juuu
Witherspoou, one of
tbe signers of the Dec
laration of Indepen
dence. More and more
attention Is being given
throughout the country
to the memories of the
men who signed tho
liberty document Not
long ago there was held in Wash
ington a convention of the descend
ants of the signers. It is expected
that as the result of the labors of
this hereditary organization there
will be gathered together for pres
ervation in one safe place all the
things that are attainable which
had intimate association with the
men wno on the 4th of July, 1776.
took their lives nnd thir r.n in
hand.
In the year 1776 lived a wnmnn
who was fond of giving curtain
lectures to her husband. She was
the original Mrs. Caudle, though
v uu,ue was Mrs. Dickenson, the
wire of John Dickenson of Penn
sylvania, whose "Letters of a
Pennsylvania Farmer" had done
much to arouse a spirit of liberty
among the people. One night sev
era! weeks before the meeting of
the continental congress, of which
Dickenson was a member, his
spouse, speaking from beneath the
Shadow of her nlch,
Johnny, if you hnv nnvthi .
do with this Independence business
ou 11 be hanged, and leave a most
excellent widow." John Dickenson
spoke against the resolution de
clarlng the colonies to be free and
Independent
The great independence debate
was held within closed doors, and
no record of the speeches was kept,
because it was felt that in case of
mstf TH OAlGlJiAL ORAFT OF THE DECLARATION
Qt JnDEPtffDcffCc to PREoERVEi?
Kiaiuu oi iuo nev.jumi -TC SSS? TJ 1 iv Ml f I SO . , w I i I
ixie signers oi me uec- ZZ"V2l lWfftt 1 f& . S I : ' J '
A'K laration of Indepen- ' YlA VW 1 ,Jfc ' - I - r - ?
:Jh dence. More and more g MKf W P M & 7Z '1 - I - V " ' ; i
attention Is being given 'S. p$0 ISX 111 J VS 1 t7V) " I " " - "
typ?-J!- throughout the country -J- "M& Xj IinN ( ill Jai fr ' " t '
' i 7 i i im " s
The notable Increose In the post
office receipts all over the country is
very gratifying. Next to the bank
clearings, the postal receipts are the
best Indicator of the activity of business.
Some etymologist ventures to say
nickelodeons had their names sug
gested by "Old Nick." Walt till he
gets his chance for revenge againBt
the author of that statement.
Somebody announces that the tip
ping evil Is unknown In Finland. Must
we choose, then, between giving tips
and living In Finland? Give us time
to think it over.
Sound baseball advice: Never let a
game get away w hen it is possible to
win. As in crlbbage. pegging Just one
may make the victory, Ktp right on
top of your Job all the time.
ri
iASTOPIC DE3H V WHCi dffrSOt WfiOrf THf DrciAfiATOrt
A great many people are not tempt
ed to engage in intensive farming, be
cause they are not sufficiently Intense
Id their dispositions to tackle the Job.
New uniforms for the army will cost
$4,000,000. Vncle Sam's boys are aw
fully bard on clothes.
the capture of any one of the members of the
body that King George would have him strung
up speedily should there be written evidence
that he had spoken against the supremacy of
the crown. When the Brunswick monarch,
however, had been forced to relinquish his grip
on the united colonies, some of the delegates
told what they had said or what others had
said. These fragmentary speeches bad never
before been gathered together, It is believed.
Bits of them appear here and there In revolutionary-day
stories. Others are to be found In
the correspondence of some of the fathers of
the republic, and two others have had their
spirit, but not their letter, preserved through
one of the almost matchless orations of Web
ster. It Is a well-kcown fact that the declaring of
the colonics Independent was not thought of
seriously before the convening of the memor
able congress of the spring of 1776. Washlnf
ton was bitterly opposed to any such declara
tion until it became a military and civil neces
sity. Patrick Henry was perhaps the only out
spoken advocate of the year when the cutting
was actually accomplished, though Benjamin
Franklin and Timothy Dwlght thought, and
sometimes said, that the yoko should be re
moved. Henry, by the way, in one of his
speeches, undoubtedly gave the keynote to
which Robert Emmet afterward attuned the
last sentence of his speech when condemned
to die. As early as 1773 Patrick Henry de
clared that the colonies should strike for inde
pendence, and prophesied that France would
not be backward in coming to their aid. The
Ust words of his speech were almost literally
a pari of the concluding words of Robert
Emma.'i speech: "Then our country shall
take hr place among the nations of the
earth."
The original declaration of independence
was a local affair. Mecklenberg county, North
Carolina, at a public meeting held In the town
of Charlotte, in August, 1775, declared that
"it threw off forever all allegiance to the Brit
ish crown." It was not long after this that
North Carolina instructed its delegates to the
Continental congress to vote "first, laBt and
always" for the independence of the united
colonies. It must be said that many historians
doubt the authenticity of , the Mecklenberg
declaration.
The congress that was to declare America
free convened In Philadelphia, nnd In a general
way discussed tho matter of throwing off the
yoke. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia Intro
douced this resolution: "Moved. That these
united colonies are, and of right ought to be.
free and Independent states, and that all po
litical connection between us and Great Brit
ain Is. and ought to be, dissolved."
John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the
motion, but the names of both movef and sec
onder were omitted from the record, because ,
It was tbe belief that if the British authorities
got hold of them as prisoners tbey would
stretch hemn 'without a trial. Before the dis
cussion of the resolution congress adjourned
and came together again In June, when began
the debate, perhaps the most momentous In
history, tbu details of which, save In letacbed
form,' were never pre
served. During a part
of the proceedings Ben
jamin Franklin pre
sided. ,
In a letter written 20
years after the debate
one of the delegates
said that when Benja
min Franklin, after the
slgulng, said: "Now,
we must all hang together or we'll all hang
separately," Harrison, who. had a ready wit,
looking at his ample proportions, said: "If
they drop us off at a rope's end some of you
lightweights will be kicking and suffering long
after I'm done for."
During the time of tho adjournment, the
committee which had been appointed to pre
pare the declaration of independence chose
Jefferson, the youngest of their members, to
write the document, on the ground that he was
"the best penman" in the lot. Now, the word
penman In those days was sometimes used to
denote a man who expressed himself well on
paper, and not necessarily a man who wrote a
good hand. The English of the declaration
perhaps shows that the word was used with
the former significance, though some of Jeffer
son's detractors have insisted that Tom Paine
wrote the famous document.
The Declaration of Independence was read
paragraph by paragraph to the assembled
members. As a matter of fact, the most bril
liant speakers were opposed . to the resolution.
Among those so opposed' were Dickenson, Rob
ert R. Livingston, James Wilson and Edward
Rutledge. It leaked out afterward that most
of these men made speeches opposing the sev
ering of the British bonds. Of three of those
who spoke in favor of Independence It was
afterward said: "Jefferson was no speaker;
George Wycth was sensible, but not clear, and
Witherspoon was clear, but heavy."
It has always been believed that Richard
Henry Lee said, in standing for the absolute
independence of his country: "Why still delib
erate? Why, sir, do you longer delay? Let
this Nippy day give birth to an American re
public. Let her arlre, not to devastate and
conquer, but to re-establish the reign of peace
and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon
us; she demands of us a living example of
freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the
felicity of the citizen to the ever-Increasing
tyranny which desolates her polluted shores.
If we are hot this day wanting In our duty to
our couutry the names of tbe American lcgista'
tors of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the
side of Theseus, of LycurguB, of Romulus, of
Numa, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of
all those whose memories have been and for
ever will be dear to virtuous men and good
citizens."
Just how Lee's speech leaked out was not
known, but it led to a somewhat remarkable
scene in the English school of St. Bees. Lee
had a son, a mere boy, a pupil in St. Bees.
A member of a board of visitors to tbe institu
tion asked tbe head master who the boy was.
"He Is the son of Richard Howry Lee of
America." was the answer.,
.THT CTL CAF JSiVWCH TH DCVLARKTWtf
or msfyY0Sc- as preszrvsd
"C o m e
here, young
man," said
the Inquisi
tor, and
when Lee
approached
the English
man said to
him: "Do
you know
we will soon
have your
father's head
on Tower
hill?"
"You may
have it when
you can get
it," was the
boy's spirit
ed answer.
John Dick
enson of
al
though he
bad been one
of the fore
most advo
cates of resistance to tyranny, spoke forcibly
against the adoption of the declaration. It
may be that his wife's, "Johnny, you'll be
hanged," was still on his mind. He was one
of the best speakers In the congress, and the
friends of liberty feared the effect of his argu
ments. The gist of what he said was years
afterwards made public, and, while Dickenson
feared simply that the time had not yet coma
for the declaring of the country's Indepen
dence, and was In reality a patriot at heart,
his memory has suffered for the stand he then
took.
When Daniel Webster delivered his pane
gyric of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
he drew a verbal picture of that scene In the
continental congress when the Declaration of
Independence was under discussion. He knew
the thread of Dickenson's discourse as It had
been imputed to him, and though Webster
mentioned no name, his amplification of Dick
enson's words will probably stand forever as
containing the essence of the opposition of the
colonial legislator to the taking of a firm stand
for his country's freedom.
Dickenson's speech, as it has come down,
runs in part as follows: "Let us pause. This
step, once taken, cannot be retraced. This
resolution, once passed, will cut off all hope
of reconciliation. If success attend the arms
of England we shall then be no longer colo
nies, with charters and with privileges; these
will all be forfeited by this act, and we shall
be In the condition of other conquered people
at the mercy of the conquerors. For our
selves, we may be ready to run the hazard,
but are we ready to carry the country to that
length? Is success so probable as to Justify us?
Where Is the military, where the naval power,
by which we are to resist the whole strength
of the arms of England, for she will exert that
strength to the utmost? Can we rely on the
constancy and perseverance of the people, or
will they not act as the people of other coun
tries have acted, and, wearied with a long
war, submit In the end to a worse oppression?
"While we stand on our old ground and In
sist on redress of grievances we know we are
right, and are not answerable for conse
quences. Nothing, then, can be Imputed to us.
But If we now change our object, carry our
pretensions farther and set up for absolute In
dependence, we shall lose the sympathy of
mankind. We shall no longer be defending
what we possess, and which we have solemnly
and uniformly disclaimed all Intention of pur
suing from the very outset of the troubles.
Abandolng thus our old grounds of resistance
only to arbitrary acts of oppression, tbe na
tions will believe the whole to have been mere
pretense, and they will look on us not as In-
WLUA1 MSFJR, CU6TODJAN
jured, but as ambitious, subjects.
"I shudder before this responsibility. H
will be on us If, relinquishing the ground
on which we have stood so long, and stood
bo safely, we now proclaim independence
and carry on war for that object, whiU
these cities burn, these pleasant field!
whiten and bleach with the bones of thelt
owners, and these streams run blood. H
will be upon us; It will be upon us If. falling
to maintain this unreasonable and Ill-judged
declaration, a sterner despotism, maintained
by military power, shall be established ovei
our posterity, when we ourselves, given up bj
an exhausted, a harassed and misled people
shall have expiated our rashness and otonet
for our presumption on the scaffold."
It Is a fairly well established fact that on
of the delegates, lacking a prepared speech o
hlB own, quoted from Tom Paine's pamphlet,
"Common Sense." which some months befori
had created a sensation. Tom Paine, as h
well known, was an atheist, but that made
little difference to the delegate, who was said
to be a pious Puritan, when he had a chance
to let his feelings go ripping through sentences
like these: "It matters very little now wha!
the king of England either says or does; h
hath wickedly broken through every moral ant
human obligation, trampled nature and con
science beneath his feet, and by a steady and
constitutional spirit of insolence and cruetly
procured for himself a universal hatred.
It has been reported that John Witherspoon
of Princeton, stanch orthodox Presbyterian,
was the man who quoted thus liberally frooc
Tom Paine, atheist. Some years afterward tht
Scotch dominie, It )3 said, was taken to task
for quoting Paine, and reverend John said, tt
tradition may be believed, that tho devll'i
pitchfork was none too bad a weapon to ub
in prodding John Bull out of the country.
It was left, however, for.John Adams to
make the great speech that' brought to thi
side of those favoring independence all the
wavering ones, and strengthened in their post
tlon those who stood for the signing of the
declaration. What Adams said was given 19
substance to the world when there was na
longer any danger of his being hanged for hit
utterances. Daniel Webster lent his own elo
quence and something of his diction to his In
terpretatlon of Adams' discourse, which, on
the evehtful day, It may be truly said won
for the country the declaration of Indepen
dence.
Adams' powerful and electrifying speech
was in part as follows: "It Is true, indeed. ,
that in the beginning we aimed not at Inde
pendence. But there's a divinity which shapeiv
our ends. The Injustice of England has driven
us to arms, and. blinded to her own Interest
for our good, she has obstinately persisted till
independence is now within our grasp. W
have but to reach forth to it nnd it is ours.
Why. then, should wo defer the declaration?
Is any man so weak as now to hope for a
reconcilatlon with England, which shall leavo
either safety to the country and Its liberties or
safety to his own life and his own honor?
"I know there Is not a man here who would
not rather see a general conflagration sweep
over the land or an earthquake sink It than
one Jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to
the ground. For myself, having 12 months
ago In this place moved you that George
Washington be appointed commander of the
forces raised or to be raised for defense of -American
liberty, may my right hand forget
her cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth If I hesitate or waver In th
support I gl.-e him.
"My Judgment approves this measure and
my whole heart Is In it. All that I have and
all that I am, and all that I hope in this life
1 am now ready here to stako upon It.
I am for the declaration. It is my Jiving sen
timent, and, by the grace of Goa, fc shall bo
ray dying sentiment, Independence now and
Independence forever."
The 2d of July Is in reality Independence
day, for on this date in the year 1776 a ma
jority of the delegates from each colony voted
for the declaration. Two days later the docu
ment was signed and went Into effect and
from that day -to this, in fulfillment of' John
Adams' prophecy, the day has been celebrated
"with pomp, parade, games, sports, guns, bells
bonfires, and Illumination from one end 'of the
continent to the other."
