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About The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1894)
r - ' , Ml THE MERICAN A 4 WffKLV NEWSPAPER. " 4 "ME RICA FOR AHERICAk8."Wt hold tkat all mom arm American who Swear AtltQionco to tho United StaUo without a mental nmervation in favor of tho Pop: PRICE fIVE I'lHI Volume IV. OMAHATImrUASlA ""Ndmbkb 3C. CONVENT . CRUELTIES. The Kyikakee, 111., Institution Said to be in Monsters' Hands. Eleanor Moore Han Sue Was Maltreated That Iilaneue llaben II ad Blood Drawn on Her, and That Yerouiea Casej Was Abused. We recently bad a conversation with a little girl by the name of Eleanor Moore, age 13 years, whose father died some time ago. She was placed In a convent at Kankakee, 111., November 1st, 1892, and was not taken out until June 20tb, 1894. Her aunt, Mrs. Moore, of Chicago, securing her release on that date. Eleanor says that she never wanted to go there, but her mother and step-father were so cruel to her that she hoped, by going Into the convent, to get rid of their abuse. She says It was much worse in there, however, and that the siBters tried to keep her from leaving the convent. She says they punished her in many ways, and that once when she desired to leave the room they refused to permit her to do so, and kept her confined so long that when her aunt did get her out she was under the doctor's care for some time, and all- on account of their outrageous conduct. Her guardian, Mr. J. W. Squires, of Godfrey, 111., gave the aunt permission to take the child from the convent. Against this the mother superior en tered a vigorous protest, but the aunt Insisted and took Eleanor home with her. Since then the Romans have been trying, In every way, to get the child back, and say they will have her too. They have gone so far as to employ a lawyer in the case. The lawyer em ployed is a brother of the priest of the parish in' which the convent is located. He has gone to the judge of the county court at Godfrey and Insisted that the Indira" should demand the eirl. He has i - o . also gone to the guardian and con vinced him that he had over-reached his authority in giving the aunt an order for the child. It transpires that the girl has a email Income from her father's estate, and that the estate will soon be settled. When that is done the child will be in full possession and the Romans want an opportunity to get their fingers on the cash. The child says she wishes to stay with her uncle and aunt, who are brother and; sister of the father and mother of the girl the two brothers having married sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Moore, the uncle and aunt of the girl, are Protestants, while the mother and Btep-father of the girl are Romans. Because they could not make Eleanor a Romanist was the cause of their ill treatment o fher. The child says she will never gojback to the convent unless they take her back dead. Mr. and Mrs. Moore live at 16 South Ualsted street, Chicago. They are willing to keep the girl, and 6ay if they were only left alone, they would clothe and edu cate her and not take one penny from her income, and when she became or age she would have the whole amount. But the mother -and grandmother still in sist that she be placed in the convent to be beaten and pounded to subjoction, as they wish her to become a Roman Catholic. The little girl Bays she saw a sister strangle a little girl by the name of Blanche Baben, almost to death. The parents of this little Baben girl live in Muskegan, Michigan. The sister took her out of the. way, up the stair case,and pounded her until the blood ran very freely, after which she made the child put the cloth, with which the blood was wiped up, in the closet. This is the sort of a place the mother wishes to place her child in. Eleanor also tells of another little girl by the name of Veronica Casey, who is ter ribly maltreated by the sisters. Ver onica's' mother is now in the employ of the city of Chicago. ot Heady For Prohibition. Grand Rapids, Mich., September 1. Bishop Richter, of the Catholic dio cese, believes the state laws regulating the liquor traffic ought to be enforced in every particular, and favors sobriety and temperance, but 's not yet pre pared to put a ban upon the traffic. "The church is opposed to intemper ance in the use of liquors, as in all other things liable to abuse," he said today, "but to raise up a standard of prohibition might result in more harm than good. Every influence of the church will be exerted, as it always has been, in the interest of temperanco and observance of the state laws, but beydnd this we are not prepared to go just yet;'i it t gtK .f t in m Stall THE TENTACLES OK IaJOIvIE. The energy exhibited by the emissaries of the church of Rome to secure influence and control over the spiritual and tem poral affairs of this country has set the American people to thinking, and has led to an examination of the past history of the papacy, its attitude toward the political powers of Europe and its relation to religious liberty." By examining the history of popedom we find, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, that in the year 41 A. D.,that Paul avid Peter went to Rome and established a church, over which Peter is said to have presided for twenty-five years, finally suffering martyrdom at the hands of Rome. Prior to the advent of Peter and Paul into Rome, it was the custom of almost every nation where man existed to have its national religion and its "national god," and as one by one these semi-civilized nations had been subjugated by the Caesars of the Roman empire, a new god was added to the temples of An cient Rome, and the conquered were permitted to retain many of their religious rites and practices upon the condition that they paid the'ir tithes into the treasury of the Roman empire. So it was, but natural that when the new religion of Christ had arisen in the east that Rome permitted it to exist at her national capital, thus adding a new god to her collection. In time, a church (or temple) was formed beside the throne of the Cajsars. This was composed first of a few converted Jews, Greeks and Roman citi zens, and was made famous by the teaching and death of its founders, and for a time it shone brightly as a beacon light, and its doctrines were everywhere celebrated. But ere long it de clined from its primative condition and advanced toward im perialism. Gradually the bishops of Rome assumed superiority over the surrounding churches, which had freely yielded, and thus the encroachments of power form one part of the history, and the resistance of those whose liberties were invaded forms another part, while the ecclesiastical power obeying the impulse of the general laws of human nature sought to mount still higher. At first the authority of these early bishops was limited to the superintendency of the churches within their several civil jurisdictions, but the rank which the imperial city of Rome held in the world gave promise to still greater destinies than those designated by its first pastors. The second century saw Rome the largest, richest and most powerful city in the world. It was the seat of empire, the "mother of nations," and according to Julian, "all the habitants of the earth belonged to her," while Claudian declared her "the fountain of all laws,' and thus, following the impulse of human nature, if Rome is queen of cities, why should not her pastors be kings of bishops, and why should not the Roman church be the mother of Christendom, and why should not nations be her child ren and her authority their sovereign law? It is easy for ambitious man to reason thus. Ambitious Rome did so. The bishops of Rome became fascinated by that charm which politi cal Rome had exercised over all nations, and aided in the work of usurpation, and gradually the bishops of other parts of the em pire yielded to the bishops of Rome that honor which they were induced to believe was due to the queen of the world, and in time the primative religion of Peter and Paul was swallowed up. At first they were treated as being on a level with the bishops of Rome. "But," says D'Aubigne, "usurped power increases like an avalanche," and the admonitions which were at first fraternal soon became absolute commands from the mouth of the Roman pontiff, and thus intoxicated with a desire for power, the foremost place appeared to be a throne. After having established himself on a throne in the queen city of the world, it was his ambition to dictate the religion of the Roman empire. The church lost no time in extending her power over the countries to the north and west, and for centuries the Casars and pontiff journeyed on, hand in hand, and the latter lost no time in enforcing upon those nations conquered by the sword, the religion of Rome, and with each advancing step the church be came more intollerant in her exactions. In the year otto the de cline of the Roman empire resulted in a division of her territory, but the western bishops maintained the authority of the Roman pontiff, and the papacy became more firmly established. In the yea A. D. 403, Innocent I. declared the supremacy of the Roman see, and ventured to repudiate the notion that the church was bound by any political divisions. From that hour on the ambiton of the bishopg was insatiable. They reach out, grasping and destroying liberty wherever found, and set up in its stead the most deplorable kind of slavery. Spain, learned Spain, cast aside her liberties and accepted the shackles of Rome. France did likewise, and Hungary, Poland, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, which had all advanced far beyond the then civilized condition of Rome, became charmed by her glitter of gold, tinkling bells, the tlare of her candles, the smell of incense and the unknown virtues of holy water, and followed in her procession. Tope after pope succeeded to the tiara, and each one seemed inclined to exact greater benefits for the church from the state. Many of them were the vilest of wretches no crime being too revolting for their holy (?) hands to commit. The people were ground down; all they were expected to do was to work, pay tithes, do penance, and this they did, though groaning and dying beneath the load imposed. But this Avas not the worst effect of popery. After centuries of suffering, after morality had almost received its death blow, a new auxiliary was formed for the advancement of the interests of the church. This new assistant was the Society of Jesus the Jesuits which proposed to accomplish, by craft, by persever ance, and by all means at their command, what the church had failed to accomplish by force. It grew. It became powerful. Through its manipulations, thrones were made to totter, and new governments, favorable to the church, were set up in their stead. But. while the people of France, of Germany, of Bohemia, of Italy and of Ireland suffered in silence a storm was brewing. Germany possessed a true patriot, a true christian, who was opposed to the course of the popes. Bohemia had her John IIuss, France her Huguenots, Italy her Giordano Bruno and her Waldcnses, while Ireland harbored the noble men who would soon be called upon to defend religious liberty against the encroachments of popery in the now memorable siege of Perry. And when the storm broke it was with a fury that the craft, the cunning, the diplomacy of the Jesuits has, for centuries failed to overcome. But they have been persistent. Though driven from European countries scores of times for interfering in the affairs of state, they have, as often, worked in national polities -through the church-until they have again been allowed to return. But with each victory for Jesuitism, liberty, morality and Chris tianity have suffered. In fact, because of their blighting influ ence, the morals of Roman Catholic countries are, even today, a disgrace to civilization, and history says they were of the most revolting character when the church of Rome ruled absolutely in the countries set forth in the above cut. Yet, while Luther's hammer-strokes resounded around the world, while the blood of the French Huguenots was still saturating the ground, and while the Waldenses and the Irish Protestants were standing out against the advance of Romanism, that church continued to till the spiritual and temporal soil of all European countries. But the spiritual soil of the old world ceased to be productive. Private morals had become as vile as harlotry and thieving could make them; while liberty of conscience was fading away as the day fades before the gathering shades of night. Suddenly a new world holds out hope for the victims of an oppressive and arrogant priesthood. To them it became not merely a mecca, but a land of promise. It became a place of peace, with a promise of liberty, and to it they determined to go. With as much speed as possible they fitted out ships, embarked upon an unknown sea and set out to search for pcaee for lib erty. For days and weeks they looked in vain for the hospitable shores. In some minds, per haps, doubts of its existence took shape; from none, probably, diil hope depart. Yet, whilo they scanned, day after day and week after week, the horizon of unbroken blue, what mortal could blame them for wondering if they would ever again set foot on land? But one day the blue was replaced by the gray Ply mouth Rock had been sighted. Then came the disembarkation. Strong men, weeping women thankful children kneeled upon the virgin soil of the new world and praised God for their de liverance. For a time peaco and contentment reigned. Then the creeping, slimy creatures who are "as a corpse in the hands of their superiors," who believe "the end justifies the means," and who are the most constant and persistent foes of religious and civil liberty, insin uated themselves into tho coun try, and began to breed dissen tion and discord among the pwipln. While they were thus engaged, others of their order, accompanied by bands of ruf fians, invaded our sister repub lic Mexico and for a century and a half kept tho people iu complete subjection. But in 1S10 Hidalgo, a priest, conceived the idea that it was wrong for all the emoluments of state and church, of the plantations, mines and of commerce to go to the "privileged gaehupines." With this idea uppermost in his mind and probably tho benefit of tho church etill above that he instituted a revolt. His attempt to overthrow the government proved abortive, and he was ex ecuted the following year. But the spirit of revolution was still abroad in the land, and Morclos, also a priest, took up the contest begun by Hidalgo, and carried it on for four years. But lie, like Hidalgo in another respect failed and was executed. Before his death, however, Mexican in dependence had been declared (1813) and was reaffirmed Feb ruary 24, 1821. In that year Ilurbide was proclaimed em peror. At about the same time Santa Anna declared for a re publican form of government, which was realized in 1821. But even this did not stop the tur moil the Jesuits were still at work and history states that there were COO wars, or revolu tions, from 1S10 until 1890. One month the country was known as an empire, the next as a republic. One month it was in the hands of the dictator, tho next under martial (or military) law, until the people grew weary of Jesuit interference and con fiscated or nationalized all the church property comprising nearlv one-third of the territory and Juarez entered the city of Mexico in 18G1 triumphantly. From that day on m fact from 1857, when state and church were separated Mcxiuo began to improve, and less than one year ago sue maae a giant striae toward complete liberty she expelled the Jesuits for their in terference in the affairs of state. Those creatures crossed her borders into the United States, and today they, with hundreds of their miserable class, are creating all kinds of disorders in this country, and unless the American people act at once, and with decision, the day is not far distant when the hydra headed monster of Romanism will have as blighting an effect on our national existence as it did upon Mexico before those heroes within and without tho church moved for their own preservation the greatest move being nuyTe by President Diaz, who is an honored member of the Masomic fraternity. Coutmued on Vane 4