The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-24 00:00:00

SORCERY IN TH,E 19TH CENTURY

Yesterday Wilhelm 3teinthal, an astrologer, for-
tune-teller, letter-write r, and commission agent, of
Cable-street, Wellclose-,square, was brought up on
remand before Mr. Y: it dley at the Thames Police-
court, charged with obtaining £lB by false and
fraudulent pretences or Andreas Mag, a baker, of
106, Lucas-street, St. George's-in-the-East.
Mr. Strauss, landlord.. of the Crown publichowie,
Rupert-street, Whiteeb repel, was again sworn to in-
terpret the evidence. Etc said that Steintlul and
Mag were both Prussian s and well educated.

Mag said he had not] iing-to add to his evidence,
on which the prisoner said he had a number of
questions to put to him.
The prisoner then put his questions in German,
and first asked Mag, di,). I ever receive money for
laying out the cards ? Did I make a trade of it or
not?

Mag—l don't know whether you carry it on as a
trade or not. I know you laid out the cards and
said the Frankfort lottery ticket would turn out a
prize. I paid you 3s. for laying out the cards.
The Prisoner—Did ;mil play in the German lot-
teries before you knew me ?
Mag—Yes, I did.
The Prisoner—Whin you came to me the first
time, and told me you had played in the lottery did
I not tell you I had a little book from my father
which told how to win a great prize? (A laugh.)
Nag—No, you did mot tell me so in the first in-
stance.

The Prisoner—Was it the first or second time
you came to me that I told you my father had won
a great prize ?
Mag—Yes. You told me that I was to pay you
£2 in different coins, from a sovereign to a half-
farthing, that each coin was to be put into a sepa-
rate piece of paper and deposited in a midwife's
bosom and turned about (roars of laughter), and
that in that way a man had won a great prize.
Mr. Yardley—Did you understand in what way
the cards were dealt ?
Mag—No I did not;.
Mr. Yardley—Why did you give the prisoner
the whole of the £lB ?

Mag—Because he told me, and I believed it, tha

if I brought him the different sums of money and
helped him to work the spell, I should be fortu-
nate and become very rich..

Mr. Yardley—Hoi; and in what way ? By deal-
ing the cards ?
Mag--Yes, and by spells, paying him in different
coins, burying the money in the earth, saying the
Lord's Prayer, throwing earth on a Bible, and
walking up and down a hedge. By doing that
I believed I should get a lucky number. (Laughter.)
Mr. Yardley—Part of the £lB was to pay for the
lottery ticket ?
Mag—Yes, it was.
Mr. Yardley—A whole ticket, or a quarter ?
Mag—There was a, whole ticket. I only paid
for one quarter.
Mr. Yardley—What was the price of a quarter ?
Mag—X2.
The prisoner—He saw the ticket.
Mr. Yardley—Yes, he saw what was represented
to be a ticket.

The Prisoner—Are you not quite sure it was a
regular kttery ticket P
Mag—l an not quite sure it was a lottery. ticket.
I do not know French, and the ticket was in that
language.
Mr. Strauss—All German lottery tickets are in
the German language.
The Prisoner—l have to ask Herr Mag again
whether the money was not tied up and sealed with
his own seal ?

Mag—Yes, sometimes.
Mr. Yardley—With whom was the money left
after it was sealed up and the incantations had
taken place ?
Mag—With the prisoner.
The Prisoner—lf he was not convinced and did
not believe in all I did he could not obtain the great
prize. I believed myself I should get the lucky
number. (Laughter.)
Mr. Yardley—No, I do not think you believed
anything of the kind.
The prisoner then asked Mag if they Jiad not
both the same interest in the lottery ticket ?
Mag--No ; I can't tell.
Mr. Yardley—Was Mag to divide the profits of
the lucky number with th prisoner ?
Mag —N o, the prisoner was to have 5 per cent.
Prisoner—Did I not wait with as much anxiety
for the money in the parcel and the working of the
spell as you ?
Mag—You appeared as anxious as me ; but I
don't know whether.you were so or not. You said
if we had a great prize we could marry two sisters
with large fortunes, have families, both boys and
girls—(immense laughter)—and carry on a most
extensive trade with all parts of the world.
The Prisoner—You said so; not I.
Mr. Yardley—How is that? Did the prosecutor
reckon on a wife with a fortune, large family, and
extensive trade, or not ?

Mag—The prisoner said so.
James Macdonald, police constable 102 H, said
that he took the prisoner into custody on Monday
night, and upon informing him that he was charged
with fortune-telling and defrauding one of his coun-
trymen of £lB, he said, " How can that be P it was
only last night he said I was the best man he ever
met with."

Mr. Yardley asked Mag how long he had known
the prisoner and who told him he was a conjuror ;
to which Mag replied that he had known the pri-
soner a year, and that a German midivife introduced
the prisoner to him as a conjuror.
Mr. Strauss was then sworn and said he had
visited the prisoner in the cell behind the court
that morning, and asked him if he intended to make
the prosecutor any recompense, to which he replied
that he would pay him £1 per month. Mr. Strauss
added that the prisoner was a man of very superior
education, and by his exercise of the black art had
defrauded many simple Germans of their money.
The interpreter then translated a letter written
by the prisoner in the German language, and ad-
dressed to Mag. It was as follows :

• " IfOuse of Detention, Clerkenwell, Sept 22.
" You have heard what the magistrate has said, that it
would be better if we settled the matter amicably ; therefore
when you come to-morrow to the police-court, ask for a
policeman 162 H. Tell him that you wish to see me ; then
he will bring you to me and we can then see how we can
agree. You must know how to act best. If we can agree
we can devise means how to procure money again. If wo
cannot agree we must then leave it to the judge whether he
punishes me, and should I get punished then there is no
prospect for you whatever to obtain a penny ; therefore
pause and consider, and come to me before we go before the
magistrate. " WinnELm.
" P.S.—lf you cannot find me, then ask for the police-
man, and should he not meet you see the interpreter."
The prosecutor said he had read the letter. He
could read and write well. All Prussians were
educated.

M. Yardley—To read and write and be well
educated is no security against a belief in necro-
mancy and conjuration.
The Prisoner--When Mag came to me the first
time lie said nothing about a lottery, but five months
afterwards he told me he wished the experiment
with the cards and money to be tried.
Mag—A German midwife brought me to you.
Mr. Yardley—Did you go to the midwife and
ask her to take you to the prisoner ?
Mag—Yes ; I asked the midwife to take me to
the prisoner, and she did so.
Eliza Watts, a German, the midwife who assisted
at some of the mysterious ceremonies with the par-
cels of money, said she came from the same part of
Prussia as the prosecutor, and at his request intro-
duced him to the prisoner to lay out the cards and
find a lucky number for the Frankfort lottery ticket.
the
wiltnnesasnssawidershtoe ahaqduteasktieonn
morefrom ptehresonpsritsooner
there are
,other Yes,
ptielerrseonasre who”
German conjuror.
Mr. Yardley—So
carry on this conjuration ?
T
witness
made a long defence, and endea-
voured laughed and said, ,
The
prisoner
to make it appear that he had performed
the ceremonies and incantations with the prose-
cutor'sb money and 1113 Olvn to get a lucky number
at Mag's earnest request ; that he had lost his own
money to' the amount of £8 ss. ld , and that
he only acted in accordance with the directions
contained in a little book for which his father
paid 150 Prussian dollars. His father obtained
a lucky number
by theboek, and he believed
hweentcotuolvd
jetoob_rtiaai_nparokn eau d also.
bur (At the
a umgohn. )e
yHe
ied h
when he went for it aga , and
£8 ss, ld. of his own in it was gone. There was
Mr. Yardley--There
e
money in the parcel.
that. re is only your bare word for

The Prisoner--Did not Mag see the packet of
money every day, and was it not- always in the
same state ?
Mag--I saw a parcel daily. I could not tell
what was in it.
Mr. Strauss said when the parties went to the
Victoria-park to bury the parcel which the pri-
soner said contained. the money the Lord's Prayer
was repeated by Mag, and a Bible was carried by
the prisoner and mould was thrown over it. Then
the parcel was put behind a hedge, ftnd the pri-
soner and Mag walked 300 yards in a straight di-

rection, and when they came back all the money
was gone, and the luck was gone too. (Laughter.)
The Prisoner—All was done according to the
book. I did it out of friendship.
Mr. Yardley—The prosecutor has lost £lB by
your friendship.
The Prisoner—But I lost £8 ss. Id. too.
Mr. Yardley—Which I don't believe.
The Prisoner—The 9th of October is to be the
lucky day for the lucky number. (Laughter.)
Mr. Yardley said the prisoner was putting on
an air of simplicity, and trying to make the Court
believe he had been deceived, but no one would
believe the prisoner had ever put any faith in
necromancy and conjuration.
The Prisoner—Mag saw me put the money in
the hole in Victoria-park.
Mr. Yardley—But the prosecutor did not see you
take it out again. When the prisoner was before
him the other day he said he knew the Act of Par-
liament well, but the prisoner, who was a foreigner,
could not have understood what he (the Magistrate)
said. He would now explain to him that there
was an Act of Parliament to protect simple
people from such practices as these. He was
firmly convinced there was no truth in the
prisoner's statement that he had lost money.
Mag was the only loser, and as an example
to others the prisoner must be punished. It
was most extraordinary that people were to be
found who were foolish enough to believe in
fortune telling, laying out the cards, wrapping
up different coins in separate pieces of paper, and
other tricks. Here was a man, a Prussian, belonging
to a country where every man was educated, with
wit enough to be industrious and frugal and to save
money, yet . foolish enough to consult a pretended
fortune-teller. The man was eager to be rich, and,
not satisfied with getting money by legitimate
means, he went to the prisoner and commiss•oned
him to buy a ticket in a lottery and perform charms
and incantations to make it lucky. (Laughter.)
The whole proceeding was very absurd, and, though
he expected order to be kept in the court, he was
not surprised at people laughing at such gross ab-
surdities—such folly on the one side and wicked-
ness: and cunning on the other. The prosecutor
was a fool and the prisoner a knave. Laws were
passed to protect fools against knaves. The pri-
soner's offence was within the terms of the Vagrant
Act. The prisoner had practised subtle craft on
the prosecutor, and he hoped this would be a cau-
tion to Mag not to attempt to get money unfairly
by conjuration. He would make some allowance
for the prisoner being a foreigner, and not pass
upon him the extreme sentence of the law, but that
was a piece of gratuitous generosity towards a bad
man. He sentenced the prisoner to six weeks'
imprisonment and hard labour in. the House of
Correction.

There were many dupes of the prisoner's in court,
but they were ashamed to make their cases known.
One German who lost £2O by the prisoner's arts
will prosecute him on his liberation from gaol.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

MANCHESTER-SEPT. 23.

Since our last report the trade has remained in a most
lifeless state, all parties restricting their purchases to the
supply of their immediate wants, and prices generally have
continued to tend in favour of buyers. There was about
an average attendance this morning. English wheat was
in fair demand, at is per qr decline on the best runs, and 2i
on inferior sorts, foreign at the same time being difficult of
sale at a decline of 2d per 701 b. Flour in limited request,
and 4s per sack cheaper. Oats were a very slow sale, and
new must be quoted rather lower. New oatmeal receded 18
per load. Beans and Indian corn were unchanged.