“A DEVILISH INSTRUMENT"

Evening Star, Issue 21632, 30 January 1934, Page 1

“A DEVILISH INSTRUMENT"

TOOTHBRUSH LEADS TO DEATH Thirteen peasants appeared recently in court at Cetinje, the capital of Montenegro, charged with the murder of a peasant who had offended their racial traditions by the use of “ a devilish instrument ” —to wit, a toothbrush, says the 1 New York Times.’ During the summer a peasant named Wunanovczek, living in the mountain village of Nikilch, near Cetinje, saw two tourists engaged in astounding activities. They were inserting into their mouths curious instruments which, in all his fifty years, Wunanovczek had never seen on heard of. before —toothbrushes. His interest amused the tourists, and one of them gave him an old toothbrush. Proud of his new possession, Wunanovczek began to clean his teeth daily at the pump in his courtyard. Neighbours watched him suspiciously, and before long discovered what was afoot. Windows had been broken at night by stones, and no one had seen them thrown. It was pretty obvious that the devil had been at work, and that the man who daily put a white stick with hairs on the end of it into his mouth was conjuring up the evil one. Filled with religious fervour, the thirteen peasants invaded Wunanovczek’s house one night to beat the devil out of him, and did it so thoroughly that the unfortunate man died. In court the thirteen admitted having killed the man, but claimed that it was a righteous action, since Wunanovczek was clearly an emissary of the devil. Their spokesman, the principal accused named Lalsca, who is the Mayor of Nikitch, told the court: “In the name of my fellowcitizens, I must tell you that we were obliged to take this action against Wunanovczek’s devilish conduct. Since the world and the Montenegrins have existed, Montenegrins have always had sound teeth and have never needed to clean them. This cannot have been, as the prosecutor says, a hygienic act—it was pure sorcery. Our fine, primitive race is being ruined by such vile practices of decadent city dwellers, and the strong hand was called for to wipe them out.”