River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-12-04
BURNED AS A WITCH.
The Horrible Tragedy Enacted This Year
in Russian Peasant Village.

! d. Ittc'cuulE NtlOc.
In the city of Tikhvin, on October 25
seventeen peasants were put on trial
charged with burning alive a peasant
woman, Aeraphena Ignatieff. so wears
old, as q witch. On the preliminary
investigation it was discovered that 40
.aphena, from her girlhood, had been
regarded as possessing the superhuman
power of .'spoihng" people; that is. of
inficting different diseases on the per
sons who displeased her, and also of
curing them at her own will. MARRYING
a soldier, she left her native village,
Crochet, and settled in St. Petersburg,
Two years before her death she return
| ed to her native place a widow and
penniless. The villagers were much
alarmed at her appearance, being afraid
that she would cause them much
trouble. The boldest, or perhaps tie
most cowardly of them, wanted to at
once shut up the witch in her house
and burn her. But at that time the vii
layers did not dare carry out this plan.
Agraphena was poor and sickly, and
lived principally on charity. Some of
the village families, out of fear of the
supposed witch, used to satisfy all her
wishes, while others, especially the poor
ones, had to refuse her demands, and
were wont 10 ascribe to her all the cases
of sickness and all the accidents that
befel them. While living in St. Peters.
burg, Agraphena had become acquaint-
ed with the properties of many valua-
BILE medicines, and after her return TO-
the village she often attended the sick.f
sometimes with wonderful success
This only confirmed the popular belle
in her witchc-att. Unhappily for her
self, she neither admitted nor denied
openly that she was a witch; perhaps
she preferred to leave things as they
were, drawing, no doubt, profit from
the villagers fears.
suddenly taken sick and died; then two
other women were Frustrated by some
kind of nervous disease. They cried
out that they were spoiled" by the
witch. Their parents tried to propitiate
Agraphena with their tears and pres
ents. But to all entreaties she simply
answered: II did not ipjure them, nor
can help them" Then there arose a
great indignation; the men of the vii
iage assembled and decided to shut up
the witch in her house, to feed her
there, but on no account to allow her
TO visit any other house. This plan was
to be carried out Immediately. On Feb
ruary 16 dozen of the villagers went
to the house of Agraphena. They took |
along with them nails and planks. Ar
irving there, they searched the woman's |
trunk for charms; except several phials |
of medicines, they found nothing sus-
picious; but 10 the supplemented and |
excited peasants these seemed to be |
the most positive proof of witchcraft. |
To make long story short, Agraphena
was shut up in the house, the door and |
windows were securely closed and nail
ed, and, though this had been no part |
OF the original plan, the house was set
on fire. The blaze attracted at once a
crowd of people; many expressed their
qualification, and nobody dared to in
terfere on behalf of the victim. Among
the others came the brother of Agra |
phena. He rushed to the door and /
tried to break it in. but was not allowed |
to do so. "The Mir have so decided,
let her burn" cried the mob. Some OF
the more humane, however, approach
ed the window and shouted to the wo-
man; Confess thy crimes and we will
save thee" But she kept silent. To |
her despairing brother she answered: |
'Dear brother, | am not guilty" One
of the crowd said aloud: There is yet |
time to save the woman; let us do il at
once, or we shall suffer severely"
Don't touch her." said septaugenari-
an; 81 answer for this deed with my
head" The fate of the woman was
sealed; nobody thereafter tried to save
her. Ga the contrary, some of the men
helped to spread the fire. Soon the
ceiling fell down, and the unhappy VIC
tim of popular superstition persisted in
the. flames. The people stayed at the
place the whole night, till the fire went
out of itself. On the next day the con-
stable found few charred bones. On
the trial the peasants confessed their
deed, but denied that they had commit
ted a crime. The jury found only
three, the ringleaders, guilty. One of
these was the old man above me ntion-
ed. The rest were acquitted.