TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13738, 20 May 1910, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

. Having safely accomplished Comet our brief journey through tho Scares, tail of Halley's ccmet, all

misgivings as to the occurrence of some terrible and unnamed disaster will now be laid to rest. The negroes of the Southern States of America, and many estimable Russians, will bo specially thankful. After all, those who had anticipated some untoward happening erred in the most excellent of company. All down the ages tho appearanco of comets has been* greeted with undisguised dismay. Halley's comet in 837 filled Louis the Debonnair of Franco with terror. He summoned his bishop in consultation. Then ensued fastings, prayer, and penance, the endowment of churches, and the founding of monasteries. In spite of all thi> palliation ho died — three years afterwards. One of the most remarkable cometary scares was that which swept over the world in the year 1000. The approach of the period had long been anticipated with alarm as heralding tho end of the world. Royal proclamations were commonly headed, "Whereas the end of the world is approaching—" Satan, it was prophesied, had been chained for 1000 years, and was now to bo loosed for a perid. Other forecasts boldly announced tho ruillenium. As tho fateful term drew near a comet suddenly appeared in the sky. The effect was electrical, especially upon the ignorant population of Europe. All work ceased, the peasants abandoned their crops and tho nobles took refuge in tho monasteries. On New Year's Eve, 1000, thousands gathered in the fields to await midnight and ttheir doom upon their kuees. But nothing happened. The sun rose cheerfully in clue course, and shone out upon dense masses ot halffrozen devotees Through universal neglect of husbandry operations, pestilence and famine stalked throughout Europe. Another widespread panic was caused by the appearance of a large comet in 1528. All work was abandoned, and Europe came to a standstill; or, rather, fell in an agony of terror upon its knees to pi ay. A mathematician named Stoffler added /■.est to ( the prevailing excitement by predicting that a second Deluge was at hand. Arks were hurriedly knocked together by the thousand. Inhabitants of the German coastal districts told their lands to the unbelievers for a mere sonc. and took to the hills. And once again nothing dreadful happened. The appearanco of the comet of iSll was regarded, oddly enough, as having a beneficent influence. The winter and summer were favourable to primary production there was an unexcelled vintage, and immense numbers of twins wero born to say nothing of the wife of a Whitechapel bootmaker .vhoin tho comet inspired to quadruplets. Nevertheless, the appearance of Beila's comet in 18.72 was responsible for further alurm, ,tnd its return in I$7Z wa3 hailed, on the authority of a pseudo professor at Geneva, as the end of ihe world. But the Earth continued to revolve solidly upon its axis, and was no more disturbed in it-, purpose than it was yesterday in its passage through the attenuated appendage of Halley's comet.

The English prison system Pleasant was recently the subject oi Prison some severe attacks in Jhe Life. Press by ex-convicts, who

complained bitterly of the degrading effect of coarse food, nerve-racking solitude, and absence of elevating influences. Tho contrast between the English and some American systems is certainly startlins. In the State penitentiary in Missouri, for instance, all food i& prepared under the supervision of a trained chef, and one is given to understand that a prisoner

who was given an inferior cut of meat would demand the chefs head on a charger. The bill of fare, says a London paper, would make an English prison official stare.- In England the prisoner f-ats his mouls in the loneliness of his cell; in Missouri the prisoners dine together in a bright and airy room, and are attended to by negro waiters. Tho prisoners are allowed to write one letter a week, and to receive as many letters as their friends like to send them. They may also have pocketmoney, and spend it in a '"tuck-shop" on the premise.-., and no restriction is placed on reading. Twice a year, on Christmas Day and the Fourth of July, a kind of fair is held in the goal, at which good conduct men are allowed to have stalls of various kinds. Last Christmas the prisoners in this gaol were entertained with moving pictures of the Johnson-Kctchell fight. There is a fine orchestra, composed of criminals, and many of the inmates have phonographs in their cells. In tho Atlanta prison., as well as in the Missouri penitentiary, smoking is allowed, anel pipe tobacco provided. If a prisoner prefers cigars he may buy them or have. them sent hy his friends. An hour every evening is given up to music. A wellbehaved prisoner can play any instrument he likes, with the exception of the big drum. Entertainments are ire(juently given by theatrical and concert companies, and sometimes the prisoners themselves provide a programme. Many American prisons have a magazine written and printed entirely by the inmates. In fact the whole system is entirely different from the English and from our own. Relations between prisoners and officials are much more familiar than under the British flag. Jiragine the prisoners in a British gaol presenting a testimonial to a retiring chief gaoler, as was done in tho case ol the governor of an American prison! No doubt tho American system would make more impression on the rest of the world if Americans were a little more law-abiding than they are.

An unexpected echo Bushranging of ihe Australian bushDays ranging days of evil Recalled. memory was heard in the Ballarat Court a few days ago, when a quiet-looking individual named John Franklin Dermoody pleaded guilty to. being drunk and disorderly. In consideration of a lengthy abstention from any breach of the law, he was discharged. The presiding justice's casual query, "Anything known previously against this, man?" brought the reply, "It is nearly forty joars since he was before this Court," and thereby hangs an interesting tale. Thirty-eight years ago, when Dcrmoody was only twenty, ho and the notorious Captain .Moonlight and four other prisoners made a sensational escape from Ballarat gaol. Captain Moonlight, who had been committed on a charge of breaking into a bank at Egerton, and Dermoody, who was alleged to have committed robbery at Clunes, planned the escape for the night before the criminal sessions. The four others were awaiting trial for petty larcenies. Dcrmoody was employed in the gaol kitchen, and secreted a butcher's knife, with which, by the simple process of hacking out a couple of bricks, he opened up communication with ithe adjoining cell, occupied by Moonlight. About 1 a,m., as pre-arranged, Moonlight pulled the night-bell in his cell, and when the warder arrived, he found Moonlight'bent doublo with simulated pain in the stomach. At Moonlight's suggestion, the warder went away to obtain some hot Water to relieve the pain, and Dermoody at once forced the lock of his own cell away, tho butcher's knife having served to cut through the sheet-iron lining tho door. When tho unsuspecting warder approached with tho hot water, he was seized by the two men, and carried to the kitchen, where he was gagged and bound with a blanket to the cook's table. Captain Moonlight and Dermoody then .set freo the .'our other prisoners, and all six cf.caped by means of a rope and a stool, with which they scaled the high wall arid lowered themselves to tho roadway. Moonlight, who was tho son of a clergyman, and had him/vslf been a lay reader, was recaptured, and in later years he was hanged at Darlinghurst gaol, Sydney, for murder. Dcrmoody, who is fiftyeight, and an American by birth, is still hale and hearty, and does not look his age. To a representative of the Melbourne "Age" he stated he and •Moonlight, whoso real name was Scott, received twelve months' imprisonment for the prison-breaking episode. He also professed his intention of giving up drink and trying to Iqml a new iife, but he failed to live up to his new ideal, and was arrested the samo night on a charge'of being drunk and resisting tha police.