Mobbing at Fashionable Marriages
A number of instances have been reported recently of the mobbing of fashionable marriages. In two of the most recent the newly-married couples were boisterously handled by the mobs. The couples had gone to suburban churches to have the ceremony performed, but they were followed by vast crowds who hustled them, pulled their clothes, threw water and other things upon them, tore the clothes from the janitor of the church, and committed other disgraceful acts. Many persons in these crowds were fashionable dressmakers who desired to get the style of the brides’ clothing. Not long ago a similar disgraceful scene occurred in New York City when an American girl was wedded to a foreign count. Such things speak in no uncertain tones of a deterioration of principle in the people who participate in the proceedings, and a servile aping of the fashionable which is certainly not of credit to any people. One of the tendencies of the times that is increasing in the world is well illustrated in the following item of news, which says: “One of the richest women in the world and one of the most tender-hearted and most charitable is Miss Krupp, daughter and heiress of the great gun-making millionaire. She has played the part of the dispenser of charity in her native town for years, and, since her father’s death, she has been especially busy with charities, schools, and hospitals. Yet so bitter is the socialistic feeling in Germany, and so intense the hatred of any one who has wealth, that this young woman has to be protected by a strong body-guard wherever she goes.” We will continue to see more and more of that spirit to the end of the world, and it does not tell us of the approach of a time of peace and safety. Cardinal Satolli’s visit to the United States, according to a report from Washington, said to emanate from a prominent Washington ecclesiastic, is for the purpose of establishing diplomatic relations with the United States, in order to have a nunciature at Washington. It is said that if he should succeed in this long-cherished aim of the Vatican, it would greatly enhance his claim to the papal throne, when the death of the present pope shall make it vacant. There is no doubt that the time will come when such relations will exist between this country and the Vatican, even tho Satolli’s diplomacy should not be able to bring it about. A new apparatus for detecting sounds through the sea has been perfected recently, which, it is expected, will be of great service in preventing collisions at sea. A vessel equipped with this apparatus recorded the sound of the paddle-wheels of an approaching steamer when it was three miles distant. At the same time it was impossible to detect any sound coming through the air. The captain of the vessel thus equipped declares that the invention will be of great service to battle-ships and cruisers in detecting the approach of torpedoes and torpedo-boats. General Bobrikoff, governor-general of Finland by Russian appointment, died on June 17, as the result of an attack made upon him on the previous day at the entrance to the Finnish senate, at Helsingfors, by the son of one of the senators. The assailant, after shooting the governor, turned his weapon upon himself and committed suicide. The governor was exceedingly unpopular among the younger Finns and the Swedish party, owing to the stern and tyrannous manner in which he ruled Finland. Steamship owners whose vessels ply between American and European ports have recently greatly reduced the steerage rates to passengers coming to America. As a result thousands of persons from the lowest strata of society are being landed at Atlantic ports. The government is investigating the situation; but it is expected that, in spite of all that can be done, thousands of the most undesirable element from the vicious centers of the Old World will be landed in America. By a decision of Judge Adams, of the Illinois Appellate Court, rendered on June 13, all “closed shop” agreements are held to be illegal, as is also the picketing of boycotted shops by members of the union. The decision makes the use of threats or intimidation in labor controversies criminal acts, as is also the combination or conspiracy between a number of individuals to ruin the business of another. Late reports from Armenia indicate that comparative quiet reigns there. Russia, England, and France are co-operating to prevent a recurrence of the terrible massacres that have been perpetrated in that country. The consuls of these countries are now located in the districts hitherto distracted by the terrible events that have occurred there, and it is hoped that their influence will help in the maintenance of peace. A chemist of Philadelphia is said to have discovered a process for producing radium which will greatly cheapen that newly-discovered article. This new process, it is expected, will make it possible to produce radium at a cost of only $500,000 a pound. Its present value is about $16,000,000. An attempt to perpetrate a terrible dynamite outrage was narrowly frustrated at St. Louis, Mo., on June 13. The lighting of the candles in the church of St. Anthony was to have ignited the dynamite at a time when the church was filled. Many lives have been lost and much property destroyed in Cuba as a result of a four-days’ storm which ended June 13. It is said to have been the worst storm that has visited Cuba in the past ten years. The Republican National Convention is now in session at Chicago.