, 1877-06-18


adopting this singular mss!s nt ,'fsenrnn.Ing
himself.
The belief in \ mysterious power a.tr,hntci
to e95pso BY a"mc %ll suGerstttlons is almost
man wus found drowtcd In tic Severn. When
the in1uest was over. a woman came, bringing
with her boy afflicted With !nnny nnatghtly
draw tic hsy's hand nine Tines over Tic do.
ecased mans thrnat, IN order that, as the bo,y
tlccayed AM. wnsted away, 80 might tho
ioy's xea.i The Chief Constable trat!,: A.:
strange rcu1est. About The same ttmo a SUI.
folk fnan died Of typhoid fever, and supcrstitaon
led to deplorab1e consequences. An Old "wise
woman, ,"pcrsuadca a. ncghbor. whose son was
easei part Of the boy's boly 70 !te touch ot the
Gated ~ The poor boy, FROM him to other mem
bors; scvcraI. deaths occurred, and the village
lonE remained IN q tainted state.
Two young girls went TO consult a berkshire
fortuncicller In 1871. She shnilIcl Il pack Of
c!ared that they revealed The wora "Lonslon;"
that ons Of the girls would obtain good sttua.
tion there. and then marry widoower; that the
Other would fare cscn better, and he married 70
gentleman with nlcnty Of money. She In
duecd both girls to obtain goods from trades
men iu The town and bring them TO her house,
also wearing apparel, promising that she would
e'e sa a, s n ns wen i s ey yr ,e5ss ps.
detected the frani lust In &fn,c. 1t WIS only a
case OF fortnnc-tellng chcatcry,. hut IL shows IN
how tnany forsAs this stupid crcdul'sy manifcsts
itsclf,
In tho tamc rear well.to.lo formcr at II.
chester. sllrcwsl man Of business, was troubled
with q strange fatality amonp his cattle. l'e-
lEevlng. TINT they had been " ovcrlookcd" by
Witch, lc applied "wesc woman" to rciAovc
ptlc Of fagGots around tho body OF the animal
which had last died, bustcd the carcass, anl
pronounced over 1t an lncantation she hal pro-
yldcd. A veterinary surgeon was also called tn.
Tho remainder of tho herd recovered; but tue
farmer and Ills ncighbors attributed the good
result to tic "wiso woman" rather than The
surgeon.
"cunntnE man." lie tad undertaken to cure
an epllcptic IDIOT boy. and !ceccd tho poor
parents out Of nearly 80 In eighteen months,-
partly for supposed benefit to tho hoy, partly
believed himself to bo hauntei With. Tic fe vie
was more cred,llous even than tho husband, and
was tho chief ngent In hodIng Interviews with
tho krave, aud paying htn money.
OF Devon, ar Instance occurred In tho same vcar
Of fatal results lowing from thu depression 0f
spirits consequent on witch.bclict. a young
married. woman W = ,nale asqnaineanse wit. ~
her return homu sio told her husband and
friends that she had been "ovcrlookcd" by tho
witch; she became ncrvousiy dcprcshcd, a,i,l
EWaACN nGE Oflcl CNFCtE Wy ufNWll1HE DeldGlls we
nrc not told whether any. goul result followed
the exllOrtasfunA Of tho CUrncr to thu Jury, to
"io their bcst tn t3lsab,,se tbs minds Of their
neig!hors of this ignorant supcrstitfon."
On ono PARTICULAR Monday morning, la 1874,
ohstinately refused 10 descend the pits They
roatncd Idly about Dctlworth oil lay, losing
days wages, mud iu atl probability spending
sssaS ss.sse ga se9n s a syaa es ;' @es. ss 5
l'eon heard during. the prcecIing night in tho
ncighborl,ood. and that this always prcsagcu
some co'liery disaster. Whctller tlirsr
H''eFs as encn were m 'f, sos Es. EEss' nor or ss so
they 10 certain that thu number was
exactly; seven but they hal heard tho cries, mud
that WINS enough. In j. recent article III. Mys-
sounds produced by these "Whistlcrs" proccet.
ctl from birds flying overhead during Their MI
t:rattons.
Ono moro example, and our budget shall end.
s'ay nn need woman a. Long Coihpttu, Waz-
wiekshlrc, WIS returning with bread from
bakers shop, when 4 man ran up to
sr s and t ToupSa S.xo1 her I'M, 60 ~ ssvSte e r.
next tlny. The man had for years entertained
1e1ot That fifteen or sixteen wisr',cs IL Long
Compton, whose nnmcs hc gave, had l,cw!tcled
intendont OF puice told the coroncr md Jury
TINT many Of tho villagers believed in With
craft, an.l that tho older women Wcro those on
whom tic leGusatl0Na OF tic beWbtcheu mostly
fell Tim fMtaliso ". tntalntcrprctatIon OF tho
Ihle IL often noticeable IN tho conduct and
llalf.crazy reaaonnaa OF thcse supcrstIt[ous
folks; tho nlan pointed to three verses III
i.cvlttcus and me In tho Acts OF Tic Apostles
To stow that he wns Justified In killing the puor
old woinnn WHO "oycrluDkcd" lin.
Rarot, Dranwell, who tried the prSonrr In tho
caso Just nLyerted to, and who believed TINT
supurAtition Ind driven the man hnit nut Of hIs
wits, "hopgl that something would be done to
tltsniusc the ptop1u Of d belief IN wityhvruft."
H.AAl; int VIC fear thtA Improvement will be
tartiy unless tho intelligent middle class can
acquire moro real Influence with tho humber
and Ignorant class than they sccHl at present 10
posRrsB.
TIC longer tho publication OF this article Ia
deferred. tho moro numerous (npparGnLly) would
In tho available examples of iirss mingled .lia.
playa ut cretlulity uni ruglerY. While wo atc
INV writing {jilne, 1S7G}, thu counlFy Iowapa-
pcrs tell lis Of Il e71sa which calnc beGOre tho
lnaEistracy. A yonng ws,tsinI, complained that
tl,u was ''ovcrlooked' by witch; a "runnLng
man undertook, for q fec OF thtcc alliltngs, t0
wrltc out "ctlrsc," tito ultcri,lg Ut which
would kill tho witch, The fcu was ,aI,l; tho
Cursc was written nn1 uttered, bnt tlle witch,
somuhDw, refused 10 llo; nntl So tho ally gtrl
male public tho broken PROMISE uf tbe cunning
IN All.