Sharp County record., 1879-12-11
BURNED AS A WITCH.
Tho Horrible Tragedy Enacted this Year III
Russian Peasant Village

The Horrible Tragedy Enacted this Year III
n Russian Peasant Village
! From the ST. Petersburg Golos.I
In the city of Tikhvin, on Oct, 20, II
neasants were put on trial upon the ac-
cusation of having burned alive peas
ant woman, Agraphena Ignateff, 0o
wears old. as a witch. On the prelim,,
inarv investigation it was discovered
that Agraphena, from her girlhood, had
been regarded as possessing the super
human power of "spoiling y people,
that is, of inficting different diseases on
the persons who displeased her, and al
50 of curing them at her own will. Mar
ryino soldier, she left her native VII
lace, Zrocheff, and settled in st. Peters
BURG. Two years before her death she
returned to her native place, a widow
and penniless. The villagers were much
alarmed at herappearance, being AFRAID
that she would cause them great trouble.
The boldest, or perhaps the most cow
ardlv of them, wanted to at once shut
up the witch in her honse, and burn
her. But at that time the villagers did
not dare to carry out this plan. Agra
phena was poor and sickly, and lived
chiefly upon charity. Some of the vii
lace families, out of fear of the supposed
witch. used to satisfy all her wishes 4;
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 befelI
them. While living in St. Petersburg,
Agraphena had become acquainted with
the properties of many valua-
BILE medicines, and after her re-
turn to the village she of,
ten attended the sick, sometimes
: with wonderful success. This only con
| frmed the popular belief in her witch,
craft Unhappily for herself, she neither
admitted nor denied openly that she was
witch; perhaps she preferred to leave
things as they were, drawing, no doubt
r a profit from the villagers fears.
: In January, 1879, ayOung woman was
: suddenly taken sick and died; then two
. other women were prostrated by some
kind of nervous disease. They cried on
f that they had been "spoiled by thu
r witch. Their parents tried to propitiat'
Agraphena with their tears and pres
+ ents. But to all entreaties she simpl,
d answered: 81 did not injure them, no
It can | help them" Then there arose
d great indignation; the men of the vii
d lace assembled and decided to shut "
O the witch in her house, to feed her there
d but on no account to allow her to viSi
l. any other house. This plan was to b
d carried out Immediately. On Feb. 16
dozen of the villagers went to the houS
q of Agraphena. They took along wit
d they searched the woman's trunk TO
, charms; except several phials of medi
e cines, they found nothing suspicious
t. but to the simple minded and excitet
re peasants these seemed to be the mos
e positive proof of witchcraft. To max
e long story short, Agraphena was shu
il up in the house, the door and window
|, were securely closed and nailed an,
: though this had been no part of tn
e original plan, the house was set on fire
is The blaze attracted at once a crowd O
d people; many expressed their gratifca
Q ton, and nobody dared to interfere il
s behalf Of the victim. Among the other
l. came the brother Of Agraphcna. H
T rushed to the door and tried to break
d in; but was not allowed to do so. eth
y Mir have so decided, let her burn, " erie,
the mob. Some Of the more humane
however, approached the window an,
9 shouted to the woman: "COnfeSs tn
7 crimes, and we will save thee.n Bu
she kept silent To her despairin.
E brother she answered.: "Dear brother
o l am not guilty" One of the GROVE
said aloud: "'Fhere is yet time to saw
8 the woman; let us do it at once, or w
shall suffer severely" "Don't toucI
f her, said a septuagenarian; q answe
for this deed with my head" The fat
: OF the woman was sealed; nobody there
after tried to save her. On the contrary
7 some of the men helped to spread tn,
q fire. Soon the ceiling fell down, an,
+ the unhappy victim of popular supersti
:, ton periShed in the flames. The peopl
, stayed at the place the whole night, til
. the fire went out of itself. On the mex
{ day the constable found few charreC
! bones, On the trial the peasants con
, tessed their deed, but denied that the
! had committed a crime. The jury founc
' only three, the ringleaders, guilty. On
OF these was the old man above men
; toned. The rest were acquitted
Baron Rothschild Of Vienna, has
favorite horse, for whose accommoda
ton he has had a special loose box bull
| u tba nDct If OOn