The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-08-22
vitchcrafs--Modern Beaievers In 1t

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Bessevers In At'
: Belief in wischcraft clings obstinately to
the ,tneducated classes I'm England, ana ire
1,,entiy cases arise In the courts Wnicn oc-
casion remarkable developments OF super
stition, An article recently appeared LII
Chambers Journal in which q large num-
Der OF instances OF belief in witchcraft were
cited from evidence taken in court. Inc
following are some Of the more remarkable
cases: ~"
AT stratford-on-Avon, in 1857, whole
family held firmly to the belief that tncy
were visited by beings OF very eXceptlona
character sometimes q human creature car
ryino his head under his arm; sometimes q
headless being that descended the chimney
sometimes a headless couple that tossed the
bed and the inmates about and made havoc
with the furniture. Neither ridicnle moi
serious talk could shake them in this
belief; they declared themselves to
be bewitched, and that relief could
only be found by drawing blood
from the person supposed to be the witch
Unfortunately for her, the foolish people
suspected woman named Jane Ward, who
lived door or two of. The father bounced
upon her one day, held her firmly and cut
her face with knife. The family professed
to be of once relieved by this mode OF break
ing the spell; they all slept well that night,
which they declared they had not done 1or
| some time previously. Jane Ward OF course
did not approve Of such an extraordinary
proceeding, and the magistrates committed
the man on charge OF cutting and MAIN
| ing.
In the fashionable town OF TunbrldSe
Wells, married woman, touched Win
| iealousy, went in 1865 to ascertain "hetlef
fortune-teller could confirm her suspl'
cions. The fortune-teller, an old man, re-
piled in the affirmative, and undertook "to
hewitch the other woman" by burning 4
certain chemical, and money was given to
him to buy the chemical. The wife, on lie.
turning home, and being attacked by rather
sudden and severe pains, suspected that the
man had bewitched her instead OF the other
woman. This absurd idea led to charge
being brought against the man for wrongly
bewitching, but the magistrates resolved II
simply into case OF obtaining money under
false pretenccs, and punished him accord
ingly.
| In 1870 q woman in Barnstable market
place was suddenly attacked by IN old man
who scratched her with a needle, drew
blood, and exclaimed, "Iou have hao
power over me long enough, and now vii
be reyenged!' The aid Of magistrate
being obtained, the old man declared thai
he had suffered affection through her fol
four wears; that he had four complaints
upon him at once; that he had lost fourteen
canaries and about fifty goldfnches, ant
"more than a hundred person" had tolt
him that he would get rid Of all his trouble:
il he could only "fetch blood out OF tht
old woman. He was rather Disconnected Al
being punished for adopting this singular
mode of Disseminating himself.
At Payhembury, in the county OF Devon
an instance occurred in 1872 OF fatal results
flowing from the depression OF spirits CON
sequent on witch-belief. A young married
woman made acquaintance with ga white
witch" during visit to Taunton. After
her return home she told her husband anC
friends that she had been 'oyerlooked" by
the witch; she became neryously depressed,
and ended her brief career by drowning
! herself. We are not told whether any SoOG
| result followed the cXhortations Of the coro-
ner to the jury to "do their best to disabuse
the minds Of their ncighbors Of this igno.
rant superstition" d. ~s ...,.
One more example, and our budget shall
end. It's date is SO recent as December,
1875. One day an aged woman at Long
Compton, Warwickshire, was returning
with bread from bakers shop, when q
man ran up to her and wounded her so Sc
verely in the leg with a hay-fork that she
died the next day. =. The man had for years
entertained the belief that fifteen or sixteen
witches in Long Compton, whose names he
gave, had bewitched him and interfered
with his work. The superintendent of po-
lice told the coroner and jury that many OF
the villagers believed in witchcraft, and
that the older women were those on whom
the accusations Of the bewitched generally
fell. The misuse or misinterpretation OF
the Bible is often noticeable in the conduct
and half-crazy reasonlngs OF these supersti-
tious folks. The man pointed to three
verses in Leviticus and one in the Acts of
the Apostles to show that he was justified
in killing the poor old woman who had
4" overlooked" him. ....,