Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-09-23

WHITE WITCHES A Curious Incl
DENT.-We have received from an emf
nent American jurist the following inter-
Osting narrative:
Near the close of the seventeenth GEN.
tury that renowned judge, Sir John Holt,
Lord Chief Justice Of England, esteemed
by his contemporaries. as well as by men
Of after-ages, as an embodiment both of
the law and of justice, was presiding at
the assizes held in and for his native coun-
ty of Oxford. A decrepit old woman
was put on trial, charged with the crime
of witchcraft. The history of the case,
the offences of which the prisoner was al
legged to be guilty, we're laid before the
jury by the Attorney. General prosecuting
for the Grown. The chief Justice listen
cd to the opening of the case with unusa.
al earnestness, for there was recalled to
his memory curious incident connected
with his own early life. When student
at the University of Oxford his habits
were wild and irregular, and he gave no
promise of his great future eminencc, In
company with several other young stu.
dents he had been for several days on a
carouse through some Of the country pa-
ces in the vicinity of Oxford. Young
Holt had separated himself from his
companiors, and riding up to a way-slde
Inn, without any money in his pocket, he
yet directed his horse to be fed and an
ample dinner prepared for himself Stroll
lug into the Kitchen, he noticed the daugh.
ter of the hostest was sick, and was told
by her mother that she was great suffer.
er from fever and ague, and that the doc
tors had been unable to cure her. The
young colleglan at once declaring his abil-
ity to effect cure, Taking piece Of
parchment, he wrote upon it cabaliStlc
word ln the Greek characters, bound it
tightly upon the wrist Of the glrl, and
then assured her that while she retained
it she would have no further return Of the
chills and fever. He renamed at the inn
for several days, and the girl had no re.
turn uf her sickness. When demanding
his bill, the grateful mother said she had
nc charge against him, and only regretted
that her limited means would not permit
her to make him more ample payment for
the healing Of her daughter. He rode
away in triumph. And now, as he sat on
the beuch as the Lord Chief Justice ol
England, he knew that the decrepit cid
woman Oh trial for her life before him was
the daughter of the woman who kept the
way-side inn, and upon whose wrist he
had bound the parchment chaxm forty
years before.
She lad followed in his own footsteps
and had been using the charm for the ben
eft of her neighbors and friends. The
Chief Justice called her up, and as she
uufolded some old greasy rags, she pre-
sentcd to him the well-worn perchmen
with the cabalistic word IN his own hand
writing written upon it. 1t is needless tt
add that the woman was at once discharg
ed. If the great Chief Justice had pre-
viously entertained any doubts on the sub
ject of witchcrait, they were now remov
ed.
There is curious sequel to the Incl
dent above related. Some twenty-five
years ago the writer of this article was
sitting in the private Office in Wall Street
of the late Mr.. S., then wealthy re-
tired merchant, and acting president O.
one of the principal Wall Street banks
He was a quaint, curious maD, fond oi
the marvellous, and disposed to belief il
spiritualism, then first coming into promi
nent notice. Our conversation had beer
continued for some time, discussing Scot
tish second-sight, supernatural appearan
ces, and especially Kidd buried treas
ures, when he suddenly changed the sub
ject, saying, abruptly, 81 can cure th'
fever and ague." On asking how. be pro
duced small piece Of parchment with
cabalstic word written on it in the Greel
characters, saying it must be bound OF
the wrist, and the disease will disappear
or 90 away. He did not tell me how O.
when he had obtained the wonderful charm
Nor was ] at that time aware of the tria
before referred to, and sure / am that hi
could have had no knowledge of it. A
hundred and fifty years had come ant
gone since the fallacy had been exposed
by Lord Chief Justice Holt. 1t is prob
able that at some time during the fort.
years preceding that trial the woma'
possessing the pretended charm had com
municated the secret, and given copy t
some friend emigranting to America, an'
that it may have been handed dow
through successive generations, and per
/ haps in some cases etfecting cures by an
, through the imagination. 1t has bee