The Seaforth News, 1961-07-20, Page 7GIrudgo Killed
Almost Eighty
One September evening in 1727
a company of strolling payers
presented a puppet show ' Bur-
well, a Cambridgeshire village
About five miles from New -
Market. ,
It took place in a cob -webbed
and grimy old barn. The build-
ing was parked tight with people.
Farmers and farm labourers and
their families jostled for elbow
room with ladies and gentlemen
of quality and fashion, attended
by servants,
To -day, such a turnout for a
village puppet show seems fan -
tactic. But there was precious
little entertainment in tin rural
areas at that time, and here was
a real, live, professional show -
something not to be missed.
In fact, so many people arriv-
ed that many were turned away
at the door, They tried to force
their way in, but the door was
slammed in their faces and bolt-
ed.
The performance started well.
But as the first wave of aoplause
died down a man turned to his
companion,
"Can you smell burning?" he
whispered,
Barely had he finished *peak-
ing when an unmistakable wisp
of smoke drifted towards the
roof of the old barn. Other people
began take notice then, and
glanced round uneasily. Then a
heap of straw burst swiftly into
flames. It was as though a huge
torch had been suddenly light-
ed.
A nervous murmur came from
the crowd The building was con-
structed of wood, roofed with
thatch. They realized the dam
ger. Those nearest the outbreak
were the first to move They
scrambled to their feet, struggled
towards the door, and tried to
pull or push it open,
Then they stopped in sheer
horror. The clamouring crowd
outside had been so aggressive
that the door was nailed up to
stop them getting in. And by
now all the disappointed ones
had gone home.
A moment later the fire had
caught hold of the bone-dry
rafters, and the thatched roof
was soon blazing furiously, At
that, those nearest the door be-
san to attack it desperately with
hands, boots and anything avail -
Able. At last it burst from its
Binges. The way of escape was
Open.
But only for those at the door.
for as it collapsed the air rushed
and fanned the flames. The, in-
erior of the barn became a rag-
ing inferno.
Frantic shrieks of fear and
Agony came from the terror-
stricken and densely packed
crowd. Men, women and little
children pushed and fought in a
desperate effort to get away.
Their clothes and hair alight,
showered with sparks and black-
ened with smoke, they resembled
a painting of a dreadful night-
mare.
Many collapsed, or were Hurled
to the ground. For them there
was no hope whatsoever. They
were trampled underfoot by the
seething, screaming crowd, and
died where they lay. But most
of the others were no more for-
tunate. They were hopr]essly
trapped. Only a few - a very
few -managed to reach the open
air and safety.
The last awesome scene of the
tragedy came when the roof
crashed down, showering bt,rning
timbal's and blazing thatch,. One
long, piercing scream which
those who heard it never torgot
was heard above the roar and
hiss of the flames. And that was
the end.
When the fire had burned out,
,a thorough search was made for
the victims. The searcher= were
stunned and dazed, and in
several cases physically seek at
what they saw,
Separate graves for the victims
were impossible. And so two big
pits were dug in the churchyard,
and the pitiable remains buried
m these. Altogether and this.
is recorded in the parish register
- seventy-six people died ou
that awful night, and two more
the following day from their in-
juries,
But how did the fire start?
Naturally, there were exhaustive
inquiries, and eventually a man
named Richard Whitaker was ar-
rested. -die appeared ' at Cam
bridge Assizes in the following
March, and was charged with
negligently placing a lighted lan-
tern in close proximity to several
bales of straw, That, said the
prosecution, was the cause of the
disaster, writes R, T, Cooper in
"Tit -Bits."
After a fairly lengthy trial,
Whitaker was acquitted.' But his
ordeal was far from being over,
Despite the verdict, many people
still firmly believed that he was
indeed guilty of the crime.
Yet the jury was right. dieh-
ard Whitaker was completely in-
nocent of any responsibility for
the death of those seventy-eight
people. But.. it was a good many
years before this was proved
beyond doubt, over half a cen-
tury, in fact,
Then in February, 1784, a
poverty-stricken old man lay dy-
ing a village not far from Bur-
well. And despite his age and
feebleness he was by no means
resigned to his approaching end.
Instead, he seemed almost deliri-
ous with fear, fear for which his.
conscience was responsible.
And so the old man, a former
ostler, unburdened himself to
those around his bed, a fact
which was duly reported, al-
though briefly, in the Press.
He confessed that he had set
the barn at Burwell alight -de-
liberately. He had done so to
revenge himself on the owner of
the puppet show.
"I owed him a grudge!" he
said.
The payment of that grudge
had resulted, in nearly eighty
people suffering' a frightful
death.
When Teachers
Had It • Tough
These rules for teachers were
posted by a New York City
principal in 1872:
1. Teachers each day will fill
lamps, clean chimneys, and
trim wicks.
2. Each teacher will bring. a
bucket of water and a scuttle
of coal for the day's session,
3. Make your pens carefully.
You 'may whittle nibs to the
individual taste of the pupil.
4. Men teachers may take one
evening each week for court-
ing • purposes, or two evenings
a week if they • go to church
regularly. •
5. After ten hours in school, the •
teachers spend the remaining
time reading ' the, Bible or
other, good books,
6. Women teachers who marry or
engage in unseemly conduct
will be' dismissed.
7. Every teacher should lay
aside from each pay a' goodly
sum of his earnings for his
benefit during hie declining
years so that he will not be-
come a burden on society.
8. Any teacher who smokes; uses
liquor in any form, frequents
pool or public halls, or gets
shaved in a barber shop will
give good reason to suspect
his worth, intentions, integri-
ty, and honestly,
9. Theteacher who performs his
labors faithfully and'withoet,
fault for five years will be
given an increase of twenty-
five cents per week in his pay
providing the Board of Educa-
tion approves.
0. Make rigid 31. Purees
10. Diminutive of 36. Periodical*
Iienry 53. Cripple
11. Lerman City 40, Coarse hominy
16. Tract 43. Mediterranean
13. Shelter vessel
(cant.) 46, Danger
20. Make Into a 41, Kill
law
22. Of the sun 49. Prepare akin*
23. Pay homage to for leather
54, Marks of 60. Narrow inlet.
61, Svm•n,
63. I have
(conte'.)
64. Buddhist
column
67. And (Lat.)
CROSSWORD
PUZZLE
ACROSS DOWN
1. East rite tan i, Salt
weight
4. Leader of Jlnn3g. Age
Age Disprove
(Mohan.
4. Varlet* "I
beets
fl Morning loll.)
(i,v•ee
7..r 'Oete cake
3. Funder
myth.)
9. 'that womar,
12. Luldo'e eeoeorl
note
15 ['nest's
vestment
14. Scotch cap'
16. rather of •
Radii eland
Leah
17. Particular*
19. Solicit
51, ego
52. 0101105 faiu'lcs
26. Pertain
28. Hypothetical
force
29, Alas
31. $llpperi
51.'Dejected
84. Rends
me triceliy
36. New
(comb. Corm)
57 fag,
schoolmaster
39 aaplinge
41, Nigh hill (ab,)
42, Unbend
44 (Ind of the
lower world
16, ilntrut115
49, Calomel indite
49. Shudder
62. Month of
ollowera
50 elver Island
66. Artist's stand
63, The herb eve
K9. Had being
50, Sane
51, ltindrnnne
a
/6 •
wounds
20. C um resin
27. Pilndn
°east His
30, To bend In
prayer•
4
/3
0'
/7
7
/8
'7
/4
/a u
22
20,
31
42
23
/9
33
46
3a
24
49
20
u9
47
24
44
2/
30
40
rS
36
48
26 27
4/
53`
67
Anse et elsewhere on this
age.
LIKE LIFTING THE CALF - Young Lori Laish'ley makes like the
lad who picked up the calf each day until he could heft the
cow. The calf in this case is a 7-yeek-ol'd great Dane. Only
20 pounds now, It will grow to 180.
TIIISAIThI FRONT
Fake Inspector -A man *claim-
ing to' be a federal inspector re-
cently visited an Ontario hatch-
ery,•spent about 20 minutes look-
ing over the premises and then
asked for a $25 fee, He' had dis-
appeared by the time police were
called. Federal inspectors carry
identification and charge no fee.
*. * *
Amendments to Canada Dairy
Products Act regulations have
been made to safeguard this
country's valuable export trade
in cheddar cheese with the Unit-
ed Kingdom.
Effective immediately, the re-
gulations require that 60 days
must elapse between .the time
that cheddar cheese is first grad-
ed in Canada and itsexport to
the United Kingdom. The life
of a cheese certificate is 60 days
and as all cheese for export must
be graded, the re -grading made.
necessary by the regulations will
help ensure a uniform high
quality.
* * wl
If there is more than a 21 -day
delay between this re -grading
and shipment, a further examin-
ation of the product is neces-
sary before the product qualifies
fpr export.
Tightening up of cheese in-.
spection is an attempt to avoid
deterioration of the product
'which occurred last season in
some shipments where the inter -
v a l between manufacturing,
grading and export was much
less than now required.
* * *
From the central highlands of
Mexico, wild potatoes have been
gathered and sent to Canada for
research work in agriculture.
Canada Department of Agricul-
ture scientists hope that from.
these potatoes late blight resist-
ance can be bred into the Cana-
dian product.
Dr. K. M, Graham of the De-
partment's, research station at
Fredericton, N.B., said the im-
ports are being crossed with
good commercial varieties and,
from the crosses, seedlings are
selected that combine good yield
and quality with resistance to
blight,
* Y,, *
'In 'Mexico, many kinds of po-
tatoes grow ,wild in the disturb-
ed Soil of 'forest clearings and
in the shelter of other plants -
conditions favourable for blight,
Centuries of exposure to t h e
blight fungus has led to the na-
tural selection of wild plants
that are highly resistant to the
disease.
The National Potato Breeding
Program at Fredericton recently
received a large collection of
these wild potatoes obtained
from an exploration of the high-
lands, The wild tubers are very
small and bitter.
* * *
Blight fungus complicates the
breeding work by producing new
types and races and soon after a
new variety is released a new
race of blight may attack it.
However, the wild type of re-
sistance does slow down the
, fungus as it invades the plants
"and thus permits a crop of po-
tatoes to be harvested even in
years of severe blight.
Although, the battle to control
late blight by breeding may be
a long •one, a great reserve of
resistance is on hand in the wild
potatoes received by Canada.
* 4, *
Testing of the last cow in the
struggle against bovine 'tuber-
culosis will go down as an im-
portant milestone in Canadian
agriculture.
Appropriately, this historic
event took place in the beauti-
ful Peace River district of nor-
thern Alberta - one of the last
great frontiers of Canada.
*
Also appropriately, the pio-
neer spirit that initiated this
eradication program was person-
ified in Mr. Joe Skirlik, owner
of the last herd to be tested.
A native of Czechoslovakia
who came to Canada in 1933, Mr.
Skirlik acquired his modest
Peace River farm as a home-
stead and, aided by this hard-
working wife, cleared 80 acres of
bushland with an ax.
*•
* 0,
Men with pioneering courage
and foresight doggedly followed
the long trail that began with a
f e w experimental tuberculin
tests before the turn of the cen-
tury and ended with Lena, one
of two mills cows in Mr. Skirlik's
small herd.
* * *
The benefits are legion.
Not too many years ago, ii
was common to see farm chil-
dren suffering from bone tuber-
culosis - often crippled for life.
This has almost completely dis-
appeared from the Canadian
scene, And with the decline in
bovine tuberculosis has came a
marked increase in milk and
beef production.
It speaks well for Canada that
its people have voted large
amounts of money year after
year to stamp out this dreaded
disease.
Taxicab War
In Old London
Doused with champagne,
braced by an affectionate slap
on the rear bumper, the first of
200 low -slung little "minicabs"
darted out into London's traffic
bedlam one day last month -and
the "taxi war" was on,
Bright red and plastered with
ads, the Renault -built minicabs
were challenging one of London's
most beloved institutions - the
squarely built, uncompromising-
ly Victorian cabs that by law
must be able to turn in their
own length, and, by custom, en-
able a lady to get out without
embarrassment and a gentleman
to get in without knocking off
his topper. Owned by hard -
driving Michael Gotla of Wel-
beck Motors, Ltd., the minicabs
were hailed as the "working
man's taxis." When three per-
sons share one, Gotla claims, it
is nearly as cheap to go to work
by cab as it is by train or bus,
The minicabs charge a flat rate
of 14 cents a mile with no extra
charge for additional passengers.
By comparison, regular London
taxis ("maxica'bs" as Gotla calls
them) charge 24 cents to trip the
meter flag and 17 cents a mile
thereafter.
The only snag about the mini-
cabs is that a man can't just
step into Piccadilly and hail one
from the curb. Because the mini-
cabs operate under . "car -hire"
regulations, they must be sum-
moned by telephone. But this
didn't deter Londoners who made
1,500 minicab calls the first day.
Within a year, says Gotla, 2,000
minicabs will be on duty in
London,
The main opposition to the
minicab invasion came, inevita-
bly, from the regular cabbies.
They jeered at their new compe-
tition and maneuvered to box
them in at busy crossroads. But
these were only minor incidents
and did not detract from what
Gotla called a "glorious debut."
Even the London Times (whose
readers would find it hard to
open their august newspapper in
a minicab) editorialized: "If
(this) rivalry ....leads to more
thought for the people who keep
the meters ticking,, a. welcome
change will have peen brought
about."
Bad News For
Heavy Sleepers
Are you a heavy sleeper? It so,
here's some alarming news from
Italy. A new alarm clock design-
ed there for morning sluggards
rings normally at first, then hoots
like a car horn, barks like a dog,
imitates a gunshot and ends with
a noise like • an exploding gren-
ade.
It's no good trying to snatch a
few . extra minutes in bed when
you're wearing an alarm -cum -
wristwatch invented by a Swiss
watchmaker recently. It has a
built-in alarm, a device hardly
bigger than a dime which rings
.like a full-sized alarm clock.
Experts describe it as a miracle
of modern watch -making.
Q. What is a good and effec-
tive way to clean out a greasy
frying pan?
A. Fill the pan with hot water
to which a teaspoonful of wash-
ing soda or soap powder has
been added. Allow to boil for a
few minutes, empty, and rinse,
1. D&Y SCHOOL
LESSON
ley Bev. R. Barclay Warren
IS,A., R.D.
Matthew, the Converted
Publican
Matthew 9; 9-131 10:1-4
Memory Selection: He left all,
rose up, and followed Him. Luke
5:28.
It looked like poor strategy-
We
trategyWe imagine we hear people,
some of them friends of Jesus,
say. "Be has certainly spoiled
everything 'now. If Matthew
wanted to repent of his sins and
be a follower of Jesus, that was
fine. We just wish all those
Publicans who have sold them-
selves into the employ of the
foreign power that rules over
us, would leave their jobs, Why
should our money go to Rome?
But then to make this Publican
one of the twelve to go about
with Him, that will antagonize
our people generally,"
But the people who thus talk-
ed were wrong, In the first place
the very essence of the Gospel
which Jesus preached made it
most appropriate that one of the
inner circle should come from
the despised class of publicans.
The Gospel invitation is not re-
striated to a select few, "Whoso-
ever will, let him take the water
of life freely,"
In the second place, the inclu-
sion of Matthew as one of the
twelve was a constant reminder
to the Pharisees as well as to
the Publicans that Jesus loved
the sinners and desired to save
them, This was an encourage-
ment to sinners. Hence they
drew near to hear Him. As they
did, Jesus gave greater en-
couragement to them by giving
them that priceless parable of
the Lost Son. At the same time
it was a rebuke to the hypo-
critical Pharisees. Even in the
parable they saw their own sel-
fishness in the attitude of the
elder brother.
Too often fervent Christians in
zeal for their ideas, in reject-
ing what they think is wrong,
give the impression that they are
rejecting the people who do
these things. A medical doctor
invited me to have a drink, Now
I have never drunk any alco-
holic beverage and I don't ex-
pect to start. I think I can glori-
fy my Lord better by refraining.
By my example I don't want to
influence anyone to start the
habit, But this was no time frit
a, sermon to my doctor friend.
I slapped him on the back anO.
thanked him very much for his
generosity and said, "Really, I
don't care for any, .but come on
over and let us have a milk-
shake." In a few minutes he
wanted to know more about my
joy in Jesus Christ. I had the
opportunity to witness for Him.
I hadn't insulted my friend by
trying to prove that I was better
than he. Rather our friendship
deepened.
Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking
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ISSUE 28 - 1961
DOWN IN FRONT! -• Spectators scatter as a bull lunges into the stands in Bogota, Colombia,.
El
taro did not succeed, nobody was injured and the fight continued.