The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-20
GHOULS.
The History of crime i'm the Eli

cIlmfoal has lust been tried in Northern
India on q terrlbie charge. One Ramadheen,
a Hindoo OF the Mlrzapore district took to poi
soning as u relief from ennut. The NUMBER OF
his victims Is thus tar unknown. lie mas, now
ever, killed tWenty-seven IN year ana nall
and exhibited an especial taste lor molly men on
plgrimages. A society of poisoners IS believed
to exist in India. few years ago, oeggar III
Polomyia, Gslica was proved TO have killed
and eaten fourteen children. during the d
teenth and sixteenth centuries cannbailsm ire
auently manifested itself among those supposed
TO be civilized. On the l4th OF December, 1898,
the Parliament of Paris sentenced tailor,
named Chalons, to be burned alive for lycan-
thropy. The evidence. showed that he had
decoyed children into his shop or attacked them
when they strayed from home, and having torn
them with his teeth anu Killed them; ne dressed
them as ordinary meat and devoured them with
great relish. A whole cask full OF bones was
discovered in his house. In l440 Marechal de
Retz, Marshal OF France, scholarly man, a
patriot and man of holy liie," became sud
denly possessed by an uncoLtrollable desire to
murder children. Daring seven years he con-
tinued to inveigle little girls and boys into
his castle at tb5 rate OF about ten week,
and then put them to death in various ways,
that he might witness their agony and bathc
in their blood - experiencing after each
occasion the most dreadful remorse, but led
on by an irresistible craving to repeat the
crime. When this unparalleled miquity was
finally brought to light, his castle was found to
contain bins full OF childrens bones. Daring
+ the seventeenth century Hungarian countess
named Elizabeth enticed young girls into her
palace on divers pretexts, and then coolly mur-
aered them tor the purpose Of bathing In their
blood. The spectacle of human suffering at
last became such a dt light to her that she would
apply with her own hands the most excruc!a-
ting tortures, keehly reIishing the shrieks
of her victims. In this way she is said
to have murdered six hundred and fifty
PERSONS before her career was brought to an
end. The old Berserkers OF Scandinavia
killed human beings Tor the mere love of the
thing. Their chlct amusement aud business
was to set sail for some pleasant country, like
Spain or France, ana make all the coasts and
sacre. When at home fu the intervals between
their freeboptng expeditions, they were liable
10 become possessed by a strange homtcidal
mad ',ess, during which they would array
nj, mt "to snap the backoOncs, smash the skulls
and sometimes to drink with fendIsh glee the
blood OF unwary travellers OF loiterers." The
peasantry of many secluded portions OF
middle ages concerning Were-wolves. A
werewolf. or ioup gdr0n was person who
had the power OF Transforming himself into
"a wolf, being endowed while IN this lupine
state with the intelligence of mau,
the ferocity OF wolf and the irresistible strength
of demon. "Skin changersn was another
name for these mythical beings. According to
the medieval theory, while the werewolf kept
his human form, his hair grew inwards; when
he wished to become a wolf he merely turned
himself inside out. According to another theory
the person possessed had merely to put on q
wolf skin in order to assume instantly the lupne
form and character. Barring Gould, an English
writer has recently produced very entertain
ing volume on this superstition, wherein he
demonstrates from numerous Instances that II
has a foundation in fact to some extent He
cites many cases In which the homicldal and
cannibal craving has been accompanied by
genuine hallucination, in which miserable
wIetches have supposed themselye 10 be wolves
or other animals.-N. 7. AdUeTtiSeT.