Due West

Sooth. Cæsar!
Cæs. Ha! Who calls?
Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again! [Music ceases]
Cæs. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry ‘Cæsar.’ Speak; Cæsar is turn’d to hear.

Sooth. Beware the ides of March.
Cæs. What man is that?
Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face.
Cas. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Cæsar.
Cæs. What sayst thou to me now? Speak once again.
Sooth. Beware the ides of March. – JC I.ii.12-20

The Ides of March? ‘In the ancient Roman calendar the 15th of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of the other months; always eight days after the Nones’ – Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable p. 583

However obscure the Ides have become in our own day, in previous ages it was an ominous date. Plutarch, in The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, reveals the foreboding origins of 03/15 – ‘One finds it also related by many that a soothsayer bade him prepare for some great danger on the Ides of March. When this day was come, Caesar, as he went to the senate,met this soothsayer, and said to him by way of the raillery , “The Ides of March are come,” who answered him calmly, “Yes, they are come, but they are not past.” Plutarch p. 601

What did the Soothsayer foresee? Both Plutarch and Shakespeare offer interesting accounts of that particular day of 44 B.C. Visit your local Library for more information.

The Massacre of the Chinese at Rock Springs, Wyoming

Drawn by T. de Thulstrup

‘On the morning of September 2, 1885, a conflict between White and Chinese miners over work assignments at No. 6 mine apparently was the catalyst precipitating the mob action that has come to be known as the ‘Chinese Massacre’. About 2 p.m., a mob of some 150 White miners armed with rifles opened fire on the Chinese section of town and then set it afire. All the residents not killed or wounded fled into the surrounding hills. The Whites killed 28 Chinese, either by gun otr fire, severely wounded fifteen and forced some 500 to leave town…’  – Annals of Wyoming vol. 59, no. 2 – Fall 1987 – p.17

The Sweetwater County Library System has the following titles available.

Check our catalog.

‘Chinese Massacre’ (DVD) – Main Street Wyoming

‘Incident at Bitter Creek: The Story of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre’ – Storti, Craig

‘Rock Springs Massacre, 1885′ – Isham, Dell

‘The Rock Springs, Wyoming Chinese Massacre, 1885′ – Wilson, Arlen Ray

The Reference Desk at the Rock Springs Library also has a collection of magazine and newspaper articles titled ‘Compiled Information on the Chinese Massacre of 1885 in Rock Springs, WY’ prepared by Michelle Maser, Reference Librarian at the White Mountain Library. Ask the Reference Staff for assistance.