Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1882-02-14
THIRD EDITION.
WirCHCRAFrIN ALASKA.
Old women and Children Barned
and Cut to Pieces.


The St. Louis Republican in a recent
issue, says: "Those who attended the
meeting OF the Women's Board OF Mis-.
sions al he PreoOy terian rooms Jester
day afternoon, were grieved and aston !.
isbed when they listened to the read :.
ing OF a sci sational letter from Miss
Mageir j. Dunbar, Presby terrain mis-.
siOnary STA toned at present At Fort
Wraug-ll, Alaska. Through the letter
its author described the sutferings Of
several families, old men and young
children recently tortured to death for
the alleged crime of witchcraft. The
victims, including persons of various
ages, from to 10 years, were tried by
the heather tribunals of the place and
sentenced TO death. At Lock, por-
ton of Alaska where the ancient popu-
lation OF the place predominates and
enforces their lLwrlt en- law, which
consists OF all the superstitions their
ancestors found leisure to devise and
hand down 10 their posterity, a family
found guilty of spiritual jugglery, of q
type supposed to be in league with the
devil we're taken out and tied to trees.
The grandmother OF the family was
tied to large forest tree and left there
to starve. After giving her salt water
whenever she asked that her thirst
might be queuched. the demons about
the tres finally hacked her to death
with knives. The balance of the fami-
ly succeeded i'll breaking away from
their caItors, and escaped by plunging
into dark, and, to all appearances,
impenetrable forest filled with wild
beasts. These prosecuted people wan.
dered about through the dark reCeSses
of this wilderness, cold and hungry,
until they could sand their suffering ~
no longer, when they concluded to
cross the enemy's country under cover
of darkness, and reach, if possible,
Fort Wraugell, where they knew they
would be safe in the presence Of a
United States man.ot.war. They
reached the ocean and took to a canoe
In this frail bark they pursued their
journey, tugging the coast as Closely
as possible until they arrived at the
fort, almos. dead and scarcely able to
talk.
The missionary, who was walking
on the beach on the evening Of their ar
rival, saw the Canoe land. The craft
contained an old man and two children
who related their trighttul ad ventures
and asked for protection. The children
were taken into the missionary home of
the fort. The two girls, the latter states, |
looked rat her odd "alkiug to the home
along the beach 70 bed in blankets tat
tered and torn.
A littla uirl w nyn tba At |
calls Georgia, only five years Of age and |
an orphan, re'ldti with an aunt. This
aunt took sick one day, when the child |
was accused of bewitcbing her and
"makiL her bad medicines" AS soon
as this accusation was male the untor.
tunate little creature Nas locked up in |
a room, where she was kept for three |
days without food or water aud whipped
numerically until her body was liter
ally covered with discolored marks. |
The chief OF one of the Christiauized
communities heard of the outrage and
reported the matter to the military
authorities of the fort, who visited the
place " here the child was confined one
night, rescued her, and took her TO the
missionary home. Both the cases de-
scribed have been reported to the cap
tain of the man -Of-war stationed at the
fort, and the savages, it is thought, WILL
ultimately be punished.
This week )" says the writer, "Mrs
Nc Farland took in two interesting
young girls who had fed from Cape
Fox village, where some of their
friends had been killed for witchcratt."
The people of Alaska have believed in
witchcratt Az tar back into the past as
their tradition carry them. If a native
doctor is called upon to administer
medi inc to patient and the patient
fails to recover with great suddenness
he accuses the nurse or some other
detenceleSs person with being witch
and tampering with his herbs and
roots The person 50 accused is prnnpt-
ly taken out and tied TO tree. He is
starved for some time, fed on salt wa
ter, and then roasted to death or hacked
in pieces with knives. When an epi.
demlc or any other Gala nifty revalls all
the old women and detenceless 81 il
dreu that can be caught before they
have time to take to the woods are muir
deted according to the regular forms
by the tradiiOnary lex non
scripta OF the country. There is GER
tainly great demand for missionary
work in such country. In fact, in
any country where Old, gray haired
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 inter-
est of humanity. The witchcraft out.
RACES in Alaska, it is strange fact, are
spasmodic, and occur only at periods.
When one person is accused, the chan
ces are that alleged witches will be dis.
covered in great number all over the
rOuntry