Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-11-28
Burned as a Witch.


In the city Of Tihhvin, on Oct IS,
seventeen peasants were put on trial
upon the accusation of having burned
alive peasant woman, Agraphena Ig-
natieff, fifty yeats old, rs q witch. On
the preliminary investigation it was dis
covered that Agraphena, from her girl
hoCd, hid been regarded rs possessing
the superhuman rowet Of "spoiling"
people, that is, of inficting different
diseases on the persons who displeased
her, and also of curing them at her own
Will. Marrying a soldier, she left her
native village, frochef, and settled in
st. Petersburg. Two yeira Before her
death she returned to her native plahe,
widow and penniless. The villagers
were much alarmed at her appearance,
being afraid that she would cause them
great trouble. The boldBst, or perhaps
the most cowardly of them, Wanted TO
at once shut up the witch in her house
and burn her. But at that time the
villagers did not dare to carry out this
plan. Agraphena was poor and sickly,
and lived chiefly upon charity. Some
of this 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 to ascribe to her all the
cases of sickness and all the accidents
that befell them. While living in St.
Petersburg, Agraphena had become &C.
quainted with the properties of many
valuable medicines, and after her re-
turn to the village she often attended
a, n,.eN1
cess. This only confirmed the popular
belief in her witchcraft. Unhappily for
herself, she neither admitted nor de-
MED openly that she was witch per-
haps she preferred to leave things as
they were, drawing, no doubt, profit
from the villagers fears.
In January, 1879, a young woman
was suddenly taken sick and died; then
two other women were prostrated by
some kind of nervous disease. They
cried that they were spoiled" by the
witch. Their parents tried to ptopiti-
ate Agraphena with their tears and
presents. But to all their entreaties
she simply answered: II did not iniure
them, nor can 1 help them" Then there
arose a great Indignation; the men of
the village assembled and decided to
shut up the witch in her house, to feed
her there, but on no account 10 allow
her to visit any other house. This
plan was to be carried out Immediately.
On February 10th dozen of the viii
layers went to the house of Agraphena.
They took along with them nails and
planks. Arriving there they searched
the woman's trunks for charms; except
several phials of medicines, they found
nothing suspicious; but to the simple
minded 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 Sc
curely closed and nailed, and, though
this had been no part of the original
plan, the house was set on fire. The
blaze attracted at once q crowd of peo-
pie; many expressed their qualification,
and nobody dared to interfere in behalf
of the victim. Among the others came
the brother of Agraphena. He rushed
to the door and tried to break it in; but
was not allowed to do so. "The Mir
have 50 decided, let her burn" cried
the mob. Some of the more humane,
however, approached the window and
shouted to the woman: " Confess thy
crimes, and we will save thee" But
she kept silent. To her despairing
brother she answered: Brother, am
not guilty" One of the crowd said
aloud: There is yet time to save the
woman; let us do it at once, or we shall
suffer severely" Don't touch her," "
said septuagenarian; 81 answer for
this deed with my head" The fate Of
the woman was sealed, nobody thereaf
ter tried to save her. On the contrary
some of the men helped to spread the
fire. Soon the ceiling fell down, and
the unhappy victim of popular super
stition perished in the flames. The
people stayed at the place the whole
night, till the fire went out of itself
On the next day the constable found s
few charred bones. On the trial the
peasants confessed their deed, but de
MED that they had committed a crime
The jury found only three, the ring
leaders, guilty. One of these was tn,
old man above mentioned. The RES
were acquitted.-St. Petersburg Globe