Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-07-28
STAR.
EXCITEMENT ABOUT A WITCH.
[From the New Orleans Crescent Of Julv IS !,

A few days since, rumors spread that two or
three German gipsies, generally known as
wood pilferers and blackberry piekers, and
who occupied q miserable little shanty on the
Geutilly Road near the junction of Laharpe
street-a long way in the rear of the Third
district-were neither more nor less than
witches, of Satans choicest brand. Wonder
full and thrilling were the stories circulated of
their mysterious doings, though no evil has
yet been traced to them. Numerous persons
declared that they saw the hags brewing in
fernal decoctiOns in a hole in the ground, back
Of their shanty; also that the boy saw them en-
gagged in a witch dance-all hopping round on
one foot, and making extraordinary leaps in
the air; a gardener living in the neighborhood
solemnly declared that he saw the chief witch
An old beldame named Elizabeth Suther.
land-cOme flying out Of her chimney. heels
foremost, and that she snorted flames Of living
fire from her nostrils.
We would never have believed that stories
like these could obtain credence with any
body; but it is an actual and melancholy fact
that hundreds of people, comprising represen-
tatives of the varied colors and nationalities
Of people in the old third, believed them so far
as so trudge all the way out to the Ridge TO
see for themselves. This was on Friday axd
Saturday last. 1t was a curious sight to see
these people collecting around the mysterious
shanty, at a respectful distance, climbing into
trees and upon fences, and every other avail
able emihence, to watch, with suppressed
breath and straining eyes, the movements of
the women whom they verify believed to be
the daughters of the devil. The women graf
fled the curiosity Of these visiters by cutting
up various senseless didoes, which was inter
preted into living proofs of the demoniac pre-
sence; and at the superstitious always enlarge
upon what they see, the stories they told On
their return caused still larger crowds to SO
out on Sunday.
The fences became so crowded with specta-
tors that they broke down in several places;
and so all-absorbing was the desire to see
without going near, that numbers climbed up
on a house in the vicinity, and remained there
some going and others coming throughout
the day; always in spite Of the owners re-
monstrance, and the danger Of the roof break
ing in. The unlucky ruralist found his prem
ises invaded as by a swarm of human locusts
whom he found it impossible either to coax or
drive off.
On Monday, the furore increased The
fences, trees, and house of the unlucky neigh
Dor were besieged by q crowd that could not
have consisted Of less than thousand people
The old women kept up their antics, going in
and out Of their shanty, and cooking, as was
supposed, all sorts Of unnatural things in the
hole in the ground. How long this excite
ment would have continued, there is no tell
ing, for the owner of the besieged house, fear
full that the roof would give way beneath the
crowd, and losing all patience, came into the
police-of6ce and prayed for the arrest Of the
so-cailed witches.
Sergeant johnson accordingly sailed out
and captured the chief witch, Elizabeth Suth-
erland, mneh 10 the astOnishment aud adm
ration Of the crowd there assembled The
crowd. of course, followed TO the guard -horsr,
and after the old woman was locked up, COO.
tinued TO hang about the place, under the
same superstitiOus spell which had lured them
out to the Ridge and detained them there
The officers at the station found the crowd a
nuisance, and made repeated endeavors to
drive them away, but without success. AT
midnight, one of the officers, little more wag-
glsh than the rest, went out and gravely told
the crowd that the witch had escaped by
changing into cat and leaping through the
window bars of her cell, leaving her human
skin behind in proof OF which he held up
something which in the dark might as well
have been such an article as not This had
the effect Of sending part of the crowd away
but considerable numbers, who wouldn't be-
lieve such a cock-and bull as that, remain
ed about the guard house till breakfast
time yesterday morning. Then the crowd re-
assembled, and was so great and bothersome
that Recorder SueZeneOu had to post OfieeIs
about the building to keep the sidewalks
clear; the courtroom being rs crowded as a
pot-pie.
The Recorder, after questioning the old wo-
man for a while, concluded that she was only
human, and had gone little crazy from pick
ing blackberries in the sun so he gave her
over to some charitable people of the Second
district, who took an interest in her from the
strange stories of which she was the heroine.
The old woman, it seems, processes to be a for
tune-teller, and told several fortunes, good
and bad, to the officers of the court, by read
ing the lines in their hands Taking the hand
of Sergeant johnson, who had arrested her,
she scanned it closely for while, then look
ing at him with wild eye and holding up
skinny finger, she said solemnly, young
man, you will not live long" :"
At this shudder ran through the crowd;
johnson is said to have turned pale, but this
We don't believe; and several iilers ran home
for the purpose, it was supposed, of writing
petitions to the Police Board for the expected
vacancy. After the old woman left, the
crowd gradually dispersed. When we were
down there, at 10 o'cloek, there were still su-
perstitious faces lingering about the building /;
and we were not little surprised and amused
by the tall darkey who stays at Recorder Ra-
moss ofice-a real intelligent, sensible fellow,
as we thought-asking us to find out and let
him know, for good and earnest, if the skin Of
the witch was still in the cell We knew long
ago that there were all sorts of people in the
Third District; but we never suspected that
superstition reigned 50 largely among them