Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-04-21
Mozl Pitcher.

Moz1 Pitcher.
The vicinity Of High Rock was long
memorable as the residence of Mol Pitch
er, the fortune-teller of Lynn. Twenty
i've years ago there were very few fire.
sides in New England that her fame had
not reached, perhaps disturbed; and her
successful predictions, alike astounding
to the vulgar or perplexing to the e.
lightened, were the theme of many a
midnight watch or forecastle confab. She
was not the withered, decrepit, and
toothless crone of Spenser, or Otway's
Picking dry sticks and mumbling to herself
but woman who lived in the full gaze
and gossip of the world, which only &C
cepted her claim to foreknowledge upon
the uneq7ivocal testimony of thousand
witnesses. Do you contend that her rep
utation was due solely to the shrewdness,
penetration, and ready wit with which
she was undoubtedly and in remark
able degree gifted? How, then, will you
explain revelations of the future made
ten and twenty years before the events
predicted took place.
When she was in the meridian of her
fame and life the ordinary applicant saw
woman of medium stature, having an
unusually large head, pale thin face
shaded by masses of dark brown hair,
who was rs thoroughly self-possessed as
he was i'll at ease, and whose comprehen-
sive glance measured his mental capacity
before he could utter syllable. People
| OF better discernment, who recollect her,
say that her face had none Of the wild
| ness of the traditional wich, but was
clouded with habitual sadness, as of a
mind overburdened with being the de-
pository OF so many condolences, perhaps
crimes She had full, capacious fore
head, eyes that read the secret thoughts
of suiter, a nose inclined to be long
and thin lips-a physiognomy wholly
unlike the popular ideal, but rather
that of a modern Egeria; i'll short, the witch
OF the ninthteenth century.
During the fifty years that she pursued
her trade OF fortune-telling, in what was
then lonely and little trequented quar-
ter OF the town, not only was she consult
ed 10y the poor and ignorant, but by the rich
and intelligent class. Love affairs, lega-
cies, the discovery of crime, lotteries, COM
mercial ventures, and the more common
contingencies of fortune formed, we may
we'll imagine, the staple Of her predictions
but the most valued clients came from
the opulent sea-ports within sight OF
High Rock. The common sailor and tire
MASTER the cabin-boy and the owner
equally resorted to her humble abode to
know the luck of the voyage. 1t is
asserted that many vessel has been de
serted when on the eve of sailing, in con
sequence of Moll's unlucky vaccination
She was also much besought by treasure
seekers-a rather numerous class IN he
day, whose United digging along tn,
coast of New England would, if useful,
directed, have reclaimed for cultivation
no inconsiderable area Of virgin soil. Fo
! such applicants the witch had short an,
= sharp reply "Fools," she would say, 81
l knew where money was buried, do yo1
, think would part with the secret?"
= Moll Pitcher died in 1913. at the age Q
: seventy. She was originally of Marble
head, and is said to have inherited tn
J gift of prophecy from her grandfather
= John Dimond, who must, however, hav
lived in a time when 1t was neither wis
- uOI SAFE " cAelClse powers tueu universe
- ly attributed to the Evil One. Her iatl
: er sailed out of Marblehead as master G
:, a small vessel. Mary Dimond marie
:. Robert Pitcher shoe maker in 175l
. Mr.. Lewis, the historian of Lynn, asser,
- that she was connected with some Of tn
. best families in Essex, that, except hi
= fortune telling pretension, there was notl
ing disreptable in her life, and that he
y descendants were living and respecte
! when he wrote. Her life seems rathe
:, to mark the line which divides old an
- new superstition than any decay of that il
:, extinguisnable craving to pry into futurit
i which has distinguished the human fam
,f ly in all ages. One of our native poets r
e gretfully exclaims:
- Even she, our own weird heroine,
Is Sole Pythoness of ancient Lynn,
II Sleeps calmly where the Lying laid her !;
d And the wide realm of sorcery,
I. Left by its latest mistress free,
- Hath found no gray and skilled invader
- IS. 4. Drake IN Ha,per's Magazine for Na