Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-20
Witchcraft in Alaska.
Horrible story OF Superstition From
Fort WrangeI-OId Women and Chill
dren Burned and Cut m Pieces.

Horrible story OF Superxtitfos From
Fort wrangeI-oId Women and Chill
dren Burned and Cut in Pieces.
From the st. Louis Republican,
Those who attended the meetings of the
Women's Board of Missions at the Presby-
terrain rooms yesterday afternoon were griev-
ed and astonished when they listened to the
reading of a very sensational letter from
Miss Maggie J. Dunbar, a Presbyterian mis-
sionRry stationed at present at Fort Wran-
gel, Alaska Through the letter the author
described the terrible suferings of several
families, old men and young children, recent
" tortured to death for the alleged crime of
witchcraft. The victims included persons of
various ages, from to 20 years, who were tri-
ed by the heather tribunals of the place and
sentenced to death At Lock, q portion of
Alaska where the ancient population of the
place predominates and enforces their an
written law, which consists of all the super
stitions their ancestors found leisure to
devise and hand down to--their postsrffv, ~
family found guilty of being spiritual ;uggles
of type supposed to be in league with the
devil were taken out and tied to trees. The
grandmother of the family was tied to
large forest tree and left there to starFe
After giving her salt water whenever she
asked that her thirst might be quenched the
demons about the tree finally hacked her to
death with knives. The balance of the fani-
ly succeeded in breaking away from their
captors, and escaped by plunging into dark
| and, to ell appearances, impenetrable forest
filled with wild beasts These prosecuted
people wandered about through the dark re-
cesses of this wilderness, cold and hungry,
until they could stand their sufferings no
longer, when they concluded to cross the
enemy's country under cover of darkness
and reach, if possible, Fort Wrsngel, where
they would be safe in the presence of
United States man of-war. They reached the
ocean and took to a canoe In this frsn
bark they pursued their journey, hugging the
coast as closely as possible until they arrived
at the fort almost dead aud scarcely able to
talk The missionary, who was walking on
the beach on the evening of the arrival, saw
the canoe land. The craft contained an old
| man and two children, who related their
frightful adventures and asked for protec-
ton. The children were taken into the mis-
| sionary home of the fort. The two girls,
the letter states, looked rather odd walking
to the home along the beach robed in blank
cts tattered and torn.
A little girl whom the missionary calls
Georgia, only years of age and an orphan,
resided with an aunt. This aunt took sick
one day, when the child was accused of be-
witching her and making her bad medi-
cine" As soon as this accusation was made
the unfortunate little creature was locked up
in a room, where she was kept for three days
! without food or water, and whipped unmer-
Cllullf until ucT DOQy was ILLEGALLY covered
! with discolored marks. The chief of one Of
the Christianized communities heard of the
outrage and reported the matter to the mill
tary authorities of the fort, who visited the
place where the child was confined one
night, rescued her, and took her to the mis-
sionary home. Both the cases described
have been reported to the captain of the
man-of-war stationed at the fort. and the
savages, it is thought viii ultimately 6e-rqa-
ished.
This week" says the writer, Mrs Nc
Farland took in two interesting young girls
who had fed from Caps Fox village where
| some of their friends had been killed for
witcheraft The people of Alaska have be-
| lieved in witchcraft as far back into the past
as their traditions carry them. II a native
doctor is called upon 10 administer medicine
| to patient and the patient fails to recover
| with great suddenness, he accuses the nurse
or some other defenseless person with bang
witch and tampering with his herbs
and roots The person SO accused
/ is promptly taken out aud tied to a tree.
/ He is starved for some time, fed on salt va
/ ter, and then roasted to death or hacked in
pieces with knives When an epidemic or
any other calamity prevails all the Old wo-
men and defenceless children that can be
caught before they have time to take to the
! woods are murdered according to the regu-
lar forms approved by the Evolutionary Iz
non seriptd of the country. There is GER
tainly a great demand for missionary work in
such country In fact, in any country
| where old grey-headed women and little
children are starved, whipped, roasted alive
and fed on salt water, there is plenty of work
that ought to be accomplished in the interest
of humanity. The vitchcraft outrages in
Alaska, it is strange fact, are spasnodic,
and occur only at periods. When one per
son is accused, the chances are that alleged
witches viii be discovered in great numbers
| all over the country