The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-01-23 00:00:00

MANX WITCHCRAFT.

The popular belief of the Manx peasantry in witch-
craft is proverbial ; and the reader of the following ex_
tract, copied from a paper published on the island, will
agree with us that the superstition of the Manx people
in that respect is not more proverbial than it ought to
be :
" Within the last three weeks proceedings have taken
place in the parish of Marown, in this island, which may
humble those who boast of the march of intellect in the
nineteenth century. The following particulars, gleaned
from the testimony of eye-witnesses of unimpeachable
credit, may be relied on. A farmer named John Quine'
residing at Ballaharry, in the above parish, recently lost,
by death, several beasts : a heifer died from the effects
of injuries received from a man of ungovernable temper •
a cow, having received a double allowance of raw pota-
toes, became what is termed blown,' and a person un-
acquainted with the proper method of treatment, in at-
tempting to administer relief, stabbed her in the wrong
place, and as a matter of course the cow died ; the third
case was that of a horse, which, it is said, became
griped' by eating too many potatoes, was neglected,
and also died ;—all of which cases were attributed by
the infatuated man to the influence of witchcraft! Ac-
cordingly, a trespass warrant was obtained from his
Honour Deemster Heywood, on the Tuesday before
Christmas, on which day nearly half the people of the
parish were summoned to attend at the Half-way House
on the following Thursday. On that day, at an early
hour, the following persons were sworn jurymen :
Cmsar Christian, Joseph Cretney, W. Callister, and W.
M'Clure, the two latter being local preachers, but in
what connection we have not learned. M'Clure was
foreman, and he and Collister were particularly active •
but the other two jurymen appeared to be ashamed oF
the whole proceedings, and took little or no part in the
affair. The greater part of those examined, confessed
to having, on one or two occasions, passed through
Quine's fields ; but this was not the fact wished to be-
elicited. The principal questions (put in Manx) were,
" Did you witch Quine's cattle ? " " Have you done
injury to the goods of this man ? "Do you wish evil
to his goods ? " " Have you coveted his wife ? " " Did
you wish him to prosper or fail in his business ? " "Do
you bear him any malice ? " " Did you hear anybody
talking of Quine, or seeming to grudge him what he
had ? " These and such like questions, utterly ir! ele-
vant to matters of trespass, were asked the first day.
On St. Stephen's day several others were brought up to
be sworn ; but on this occasion Mr. Christian interfered,
and refused to allow such questions to be put. On the
labours of the jury being concluded for this day, the
people assembled were so disgusted with the superstitious
mummery, that before separating they gave three loud
cheers in utter derision of the proceedings.
" It appears, further, that Quine is a sort of preacher
himself, and on a late occasion was holding forth with
much fervour, at a publ c prayer meeting at a place
called the Rock, in the same parish, that God would
forgive all who wished to injure him ;' but, nevertheless,
recent events proclaim that his own tender mercies '
were anything but forgiving' ; for—can the reader be-
lieve it ?—Quine's sister-in-law, who, it appears, acts as
a midwife in the parish, was sworn, and confessing that,
having been sent for in great haste to a neighbour's
house, she had once crossed Quine's fields, and on ano-
ther occasion, her husband being intoxicated, in order
to get out of his way she went over a hedge of Quine's,
her field and Quine's adjoining each other,—she was
then asked if she had any malice against Quine, or whe-
ther she had ever come in any shape or ferns to do him
or his goods any injury !! ! The jury was then charged
to bring in damages against the poor woman for trespass.
" The closing scene in Mr. Burrow's, the Half-way
House, where this enlightened jury had assembled, and
were about to award their righteous verdict, and where
Mr. Fleetwood was busily engaged in writing the evi-
denc-, was quite in character with the other proceedings.
A few boys in the neighbourhood having caught a wild
rabbit, resolved to have some ' fine fun ' at the jury's
expense, and managed, unseen, to let it loose in the
room. On this formidable apparition making its ap-
pearance, the scene may be better conceived than de-
scribed. From those assembled, with open mouths,
distended lungs, and hair standing on end, shouts re-
sounded that the witch was caught ! '---‘ the witch was
caught ! ' and one of the party, of more than ordinary
unceremoniously courage a
nd
daring,
finishedseize di
t,,th
existence,
iculprit,steneatde
declaring
ring hazards,that
her witchship's pranks should then and there terminate,
and that poor Quine should not be witched in his person,
his effects, or the wife of his bosom any longer."

POLYGAMY.—George Nicholls, of Pottery•fleld, was
charred on Monday week, before D. Lupton and A. Tit-
ley, Esqrs., sitting magistrates, at the Leeds Court-house,
with having married three wives. The whole of the three
women were present in court. The prisoner made no de-
fence of his conduct. Lie was committed for trial at York
Assizes.—Leeds Mercury.

THE COUNTRYMAN AND HIS CONV.—A worthy coun-
tryman, who resides at Tarleton, catile, last Saturday, to
Preston fair with a cow to sell. Having disposed of the
animal for the sum of £6 10s., he was trudging down
Church-street with the cash snug in his pocket, •when he
was accosted by a 'cute chap, and asked if he knew the
parson of Tar:eton. " Know him I why, I's like."
" Maybe, then," rejoined the inquirer, "You can take a
letter to him, and a guinea, which I wish to send ?"
"Aye, as weel as any mon i' England." " Will you step
in here, and take a glass with me," beckoning his new
friend into the Dog Inn, " and I'll scribble a few lines to
his reverence?" They entered and glasses were called
for : the letter, too was penned, with the despatch of a
ready writer, signed, sealed, and addressed to the " Rev,
Mr. Vickers, Tarleton." They then talked of this, and
then of that, and, among other topics, of light sovereigns.
" And do you think," said Mr. Vicker's correspondent,
" all yours are weight ?" " Why, aye ; I reckon they
are." " But you had better be sure,—show them me, I
can have some idea." Honest Hodge forked out his
" gowd tins," and they were pronounced capital weight,
and honestly returned to the unsuspecting countryman.
" But I tell you what," said the 'cute gentleman, while he
was folding, in brown
paper, the guinea he pretended was
for the Rev. Mr. Vickers " had I not better fold up your
so
rn
sovereigns also, for it is dangerous to carry them loose at
fair ie, when ;.ielcporkets are ready at every turn."
Our Tarleton rustic thought it would perhaps be as well,
and the sovereigns, to all appearance,
were carefully en-
veloped in the brown cover. They narted—the one plung-
ing into the busy throng, the other wending his way
hornewar sto Tarleton. On his arrival there, the latter
called at the Ram's [lead, and informed the host that he
had a letter for the parsan, which he exhibited. The land-
lord immediately saw all was not right, and assured him
the letter., wes not for the parson. The countryman then
thought it was time to look for the guinea. For the first
time, he ento!ded the brown paper, and found therein en-
closed, threepence halfpenny! instead of the six pounds,
and the golden guinea for the minister. The poor fellow
turned ghastly pale, and was almost paralysed on behold.
ing the " browns" in the place of the " gowd tins."