Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-09-15
Hliscellamu.
Modern Credulity.

y
days ago. He was subject occasionally
to epileptic fits, and anxiously sought
for preservatives from that malady On
one occasion he was known to stand out
side the parish church and collect a
penny each from thirty unmarried wo-
men, wherewith to purchase a ring as a
charm against fits.
In 1870, a woman in Barnstable mar
ket place was suddenly attacked by an
old man, who scratched her with nee
die, drew blood, and exclaimed; "You
have had power over me long enough,
and now | will be reyenged !" The aid
Of a magistrate being obtained, the man
declared that he had suffered affiiction
through her for four years, that he had
had four complaints upon him at once,
that he had lost fourteen canaries and
about fifty goldfnches, and "more than
a hundred persons" had told him that
he would get rid of his troubles if he
could only "fetch" the blood out of the
old woman. He was rather disconnected
at being punished for adopting this
singular mode of disenchanting himself
The belief in a mysterious power at
tributed to corpse by some old super
stitions is almost incredible. AT Bewdly,
in the year just named, man was
found drowned in the Severn. When
the inquest was over, woman came,
bringing with her boy afflicted with
many unsightly wens on the neck. She
begged permission to draw the boys
hand nine times over the deceased man s
throat, in order that, as the body de-
cayed and wasted away, SO might the
boys wens The chief constable (rath-
er unwisely, we think acceded to this
request. About the same time a Suffolk
man died of typhoid fever, and super
stition led to deplorable consequences.
An old "wise woman pursuaded a
neighbor whose son was afflicted with
some disease, to submit the diseased part
of the boys body to the touch Of the
dead mans hand. The typhoid was
communicated to the poor boy, then to
other members of the family, and from
them to the neighbors several deaths
occurred, and the village long remained
in tainted state.
Two young girls went to consult a
Berkshire fortune teller in 1871. She
shufled pack of cards, made mighty
fuss with them, and declared that they
revealed the word London ;" that one
of the girls would obtain a good situa,
tion there, and then marry widower
that the other would fare even better,
and be married to a gentleman with
plenty of money. She induced both
girls to obtain goods from tradesmen in
the town and bring them to her house,
also wearing apparel, promising that
she would send these articles to them
when they reached London. The moth.
er of one of the silly dupes detected the
fraud just in time. 1t was only case
of fortune telling cheatery, but it shows
in how many forms this credulity mani
tested itself
In the same year a well-to-do farmer
at Illchester, shrewd man of business,
was troubled with strange fatality
among his cattle. Believing they had
been Overlooked" by witch, he ap-
piled to "wise woman" to remove the
spell. Acting on her advice, he heaped
up pile of faggots around the animal
that had last died, buried the carcass,
and pronounced over it an incarnation
she had provided. A veterinary sur
geon was also called in. The remainder
of the herd recovered but the farmer
and his neighbors attributed the good
result to the wise woman" rather than
to the surgeon.
In 1872, the Dorset magistrates had
to try cunning man." He had under
taken to cure an epileptic idiot boy, and
feeced the poor parents out of nearly
twenty pounds in eighteen months, part
ly for supposed benefits to the boy, part
ly to charm away an evil spirit which
the father believed himself to be haunted
with. The wife was more credulous
even than the husband, and was the
chief agent in holding interviews with
the knave, and paying him money.
At Payhembury, in the neighboring
county of Devon, an instance occurred
in the same year of fatal results flowing
from the depression of spirits consequent
on witch-belief A young married wo-
man made acquaintance with "a white
witch" during a visit to Taunton. After
her return home she told her husband
and friends that she had been "over-
looked" by the witch she became ner-
vously depressed and ended her brief
career by drowning herself We are
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