Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-09-01
Absurdities OF Modern CredulIty.


perstition, ignorant credulity, stir exist
amongst US to a lamentable degree. Even
comfortable farmers with wives and children,
small shopkeepers in country towns and
working-men and women in large towns are
to be found among the dupes of fortune-tel-
lers and witch-fuders albeit servant-girls
are the most numerous victims. Whether,
through the agency of school boards and
board schools, education will reach down
deeper into society than it does at present,
the next generation must show but moth
ing less than mental improvement, whether
given by schools, by healthy literature, or
by other agencies, will cure the evil. To
prove that We are not Oyerdrawing the pic
ture it will suffice to give a few jOttings so
recent in date as within the last ten years,
mostly derived from authentic police reports.
At Madeley, in StsffOrdshire, in 1867,
man went into a neighbor's house, and there
found child troubled with severe cough.
The father had delayed sending for doc
tor until he had tested the efficacy of
remedy which he declared had never failed.
This remedy or charm consisted in cutting
few hairs from the part of the patients
head where it Joins the neck, placing them
between two thin slices of bread-and-butter,
and giving them to dog to eat. Resisting
his neighbor's expostnlation at such an alb
surdity, the father of the child administered
this delectable sandwich 10 dog if the
animal had sickened, doctor for the child
would have been sent for; but as Rover did
not seem to care much about it, the invalid
was left TO recover without medical aid.
At Stratford-on-Ayon, in the same year,
rb,1o 10, l,,fl g., Ia1- 1-,F, 81
were visited By beings Of very exceptional
character-sometimes n human creature
carrying his head under his arm sometimes
headless being that descended the chimney
sometimes headless couple that tossed the
beds and the inmates about, and made havoc
with the furniture. Neither ridicnle nor
serious talk could shake them in this belief;
they declared themselves TO be bewitched,
and that relief could only be found by draw
ing blood from the person supposed to be the
witch. Unfortunately for her, the foolish
people suspected a woman named Jane Ward,
who lived door or two of. The hther
pounced upon her one day, held her firmly,
and cut her face with a knife. The family
prOiessed to be at once relieved by this mode
OF breaking the spell they all slept well
that night. which they declared they had
not done for some time previously. Jane
Ward of course did not approve OF such an
extraordinary proceeding, and the magl-
trates committed the man oD Il charge Of cut-
ting and manning. lit the memory OF Snake
speare has refDed hi birthplace, this refine
ment certainly had not reached the family
in question.
About the same period. the law had to
mete out justice 70 an eyil-doer in Devon
shire, who had met with a dupe OF almost
incredible sllliness. \ laboring man at
M0dbury. whose wife had an attack Of
paralysis, believed that she was "ill-wish'd'
by some one, apparently modification Of
the old belief in the Evil Eve" Having
heard Of a woman at Plymouth possessing
magic power, he went and sought her out,
as d means OF a>certaining who was the i'll
wisher The wise woman was equal 10
the occasion. She told him that his wife
would have to "see the planets. and to
gather certain herbs in the churchyard for
t%enty-one nights. Moreover, certain
powders were TO be burnt in the fire, one in
the morning and one in the evening, and the
nlnety-irst Psalm was to be read during the
burning: skin was to be worn round
the neck, put on for the first time on a sun
day. A piece of parchment was given to
him under the name Of charm. bearing
cabalistic signs or hieroglYphics. with a few
sentences-' W hOsOever beareth this sign
all spirits Will do him homage; This sign
against witchcraft, purtrid infections, and
sudden death" Whose beareth this sign
need fear no foe" This Is a sign against
witheraft and suicide and evil demons The
foolish man lent a willing ear to all this
and as be had saved little money, he be
came a welcome dupe to the wise woman,
who heeced him to the extent Of more than
four pounds. As his wife became more ill
wish d. than ever, or at any rate morepara-
lyzei, his eyes were opened little; he told
his grievances to magistrate, and imprison-
ment with hard labor was ALLOTTED to the
wise woman.
The same year presented an incident at
Newbury, strikiagiy illustrating the proyerb
that a fool and his money are soon part
ed" \ countryman lost his watch, and
consulted cunning woman about 1t.
She undertook, for fee Of twelve shillings,
to show him in glass the man who Possess
ed the watch. On the silly noodle giving
her the money, she brought sort Of bird
cage glass, and requested him TO look in 1t ;
he did so. and saw something that looked
like mans whiskers, bat no face" lie
paid second visit and gave her money TO
buy some "stuf at g chemists. The Gun
ming woman" went to his house the next
day, took tea with him, told him that
the person who had the watch was very
hard hearted" and demanded nine or ten
shillings wherewith. to buy more ''stuff
Another day came, and with it a demand for
more money, which the dupe gave, and so on
until iOrty-fye shillings in all had been thus
transferred. All the instructions she
gave him was to keep at home till midnight
when the man who had the watch would bring
it." OF course the watch never made its
appearance, and the only consolation Tor the
| Berkshire man was to get the cunning wo-
moman" punished for fraud.
4 married woman at Cuckfeld in Sussex,
being affected with some malady which her
friends could not understand, imputed it to
witchcraft. A cunning man" who had
"book Of necromancy" was consulted. His
| book told him that a charm must be tried at
midnight preceding the Sabbath, the planets
| being favorable. The cunning man and the
| friends of the sick woman met secretely,
pro7ided with some new pins, which were
stuck in certain positions; something was
| burned, jargon read out Of the book, ejacu-
lations uttered in commanding tone, in the
expectation that an invisible witch would be
driven up the chimney. Prying neighbOrs,
however, spoiled the charm and the wo-
mans illness had to be attended to by a
medical practitioner.
In 1870 woman in Barnstable market
place was suddenly attacked by an old man,
who scratched her with a needle, drew
| blood, and exclaimed You have had
power over me long enough, and now | vii
| be reveDged !" The aid of magistrate be-
! ing Obtained, the old man declared that he
had suffered affection through her for four
years, that he had had four complaints upon
| him at once, that he lost fourteen canarles.
about fifty gold-fnches, and "more than a
| hundred persons had told him that ne
would get rid of all his troubles if he could
only "fetci" the blood out of the old wo-
man He was rather disconnected at being
punished for adopting this singular mode OF
Disseminating himself.
The belief IN a mysterious power attributed
to corpse by some old superstitions is al
most incredible. At Bewdly, in the year
| lust named, a man was found drowned in the
Severn. When the inquest was over wo-
man came, bringing with her boy afflicted
with many unsightly wens on the neck.
She begged permission to draw the boy s
hand nine times over the deceased mans
throat. in order that as the body decayed and
wasted away, so might the boy $ wens The
chief constable (rather unwisely, We think)
acceded to this strange request. About
the same time a Suffolk min died of typhoid
fever. and superstition led to deplorable
consequences. An old "wise woman" per
suaded 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 com
municated to the poor boy, from him tC
other members of the family, and from them
to the neighbors several deaths occurred
and the village longremained in a tainted
I rat