Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-31
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nv harpoons, and drawn on shore by non.con
Quoting poles Of dry wood
Remains of Old superstitions.
A few weeks ago police case in this city de-
veloped the fact that the superstition of witch
craft still fingers among some very ignorant
people. 1t was n case of swindling, in which 9
| crafty rascal made "A woman believe that the
sickness of her child was caused by witch, and
that if paid he would "kill the SPELL" A report
of another case of supposed Overwhelming" also
credited to Philadelphia is circulating about in
distant newspapers, and this has induced an.
| other cunning scamp to write letter to Phila'
| dephia intended to reach the supposed victim.
! Most people will marvel that such things can ex-
ist in this country, but we have this letter be-
fore us and can attest its genuineness The
writer signs his name and gives his residence as
doctor. The latter is in such clear, bold pen
manship and good English as to show that the
writer is no illiterate ignoramus. Speaking of
the "bewitche1" girl, this doctor" says, "You
are authorized to give hermy name and address,
and assure her that l will relieve her of any
trouble whatsoever coming from or being caused
by witchcraft, and to kill any power over her
by bad people, within eleven days" That an
educated man in these days will take the risk OF
writing such vilainouS stuff shows that he at
least is firm in the faith that "the fools are not
all dead YET" and that there are customers for
the arts which he processes TO practice.
Such occurrences demonstrate the unwelcome
truth, that, with all the light now beaming into
the human mind in our day and time, we have
those among us who are yet living in the dark
ages, when men and women were slaughtered
by the thousands as witches, wizards and ina
gicians," and SorcererS 1t is computed that
from the year 1913 TO 1860 more than three thou
sand persons suffered death in Great Britain
upon the accusation of "witchcraft." In 1890,
thirty years alterward there were in the prisons
of Scotland ninety persons under the same ac-
cusaton. Common sense sometimes operated
better than common law for the release of the
accused Sir John Powell, an English judge
from 1856 to the close of the century, had before
him woman, whose enemies testified against
Judge, "can you Ay?" Under the terror, or
the delusiOn which led such unfortunate
wretches to confess impossible things the pris-
oner answered, eyes, my lord" "Well, then,"
replied the sensible justice, "you may fly;
there is no law against fying!
The act against witchcrait in England was not
repealed until the year 1876. Even after this
some of its clauses were retained, for in the
records of the house of commons for March,
1921, appears a notice of the third and final
reading of the witchcratt repeal bill. 1t is
common mistake that the prosecution and pun
ishment of witches was a peculiarly New En-
land scandal. But the colonists, in their frenzy,
only repeated what was done in the old world.
The active witch persecution in New England
was short In 1892 nineteen persons were exc
CuIeu, ana one WAS pTCSSGu 10 uedIu. IHOu1u
there were many convictions, and more accusa-
lions afterward, there were no executions. The
main actors in the Salem prosecutions ultimately
abjured their errors in these words: eve signify
to all in general and to the sufferers in special,
our deep sense of, and sorrow for, our errors,
and we hereby declare that we were sadly de-
luded and mistaken; we also pray that we may
be considered candidly and Alright by the living
sufferers as being then under the power of a
general and strong delusion."
Among curious cases in Europe, is that of Ur
ban Grandier, a French priest who was strangled
and burnt in London, August IS, 1854. The
charge against him was that he had bewitched
a number of nuns; the actual cause of his de-
struction was that he had written libel against
Cardinal Richeeu He was declared duly at
tainted and guilty of the crimes of magic
sorcery and possession. The sentence was based
upon the dispositions of Ashtaroth, a devil of
the order of the seraphim, and the chief of the
possessing devils; and of Easas, CELSIUS, CedOn
and Asmodeus, of the order of Il c thrones; and
of Alex, ZabulOn, Nephthalin, Urel and Acbas,
of the order of the principalitiesl Thedeyils de
posed through the mouths of the women who
beie7ed that they were severally possessed, and
the testimony was deemed sufficient for the con-
demnation Of the unfortunate priest.
In the English trials is the case of Mrs. Anne
Turner, tried as an accomplish in the murder of
Sir Thomass who was poisoned in the
tower in the year 1913. On the trial were pro-
uuCeu pdTCHluCHIS COuldluiuS the names OF inc
particular devils who were conjured to torment
certain persons. Lord Chief Justice Coke
charged the jury that the evidence convicted
the prisoner of being possessed of seven devils !;
and of being a sOrcerer, witch, felon and muir
derer, with other grcyious charges She was
convicted. The last execution for witchery in
Great Britain was that Of an insane old wo-
man in 1922. The last execution in Germany
was in 1749, and the last in Switzerland in 1880
II is estimated that between one and two hundred
thousand persons persisted on the continent of
Europe, on the charge of witchcraft, between
the beginning and the close of the persecution
Over 100000 are credited to Germany alone.
The whole number of those put to death in
Great Britain is estimated at 1000. The credit
OF abating the terrible mania in England is due
to Chief Justice Sir John Holt, who from 1894
TO 1701, charged the Juries TO acQuit. Yet in
1716, poor woman and her daughter, aged
nine years, where executed at Huntingdon, for
pulling off their shoes and stockings and raising
storm at sea, by making lather of soapl
An anecdote of Lord Chief Justice Holt is as
follows: A poor woman was arraigned for
witchcraft. The witness deposed that she used
spell" The 'spelP-produced in evidence
was line from one of the classic poets, writ
ten on parchment The justice demanded 10 see
it, and it was handed to him. GLOW come you
by thisp he asked the prisoner. "a young
gentleman, my lord, gave it me to cure my
daughters ague." "Did it cure her?' so YES,
my lord, and many Others" 81 am glad of it,''
said the justice. Gentlemen of the jury, when
was young and thoughtless, | went to this wo-
mans house with some companions, had no
money to pay the reckoning, and pretended that
by spell | could cure her daughters ague.
She accepted the proposition and let us off scot
free. Ii any one is punishable it is the lord
chief justice, and not this poor woman" OF
course she was acquitted, but the credulous
multitude affirmed that the judge and jury were
all bribed. hiiadelphia Ledger.