Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-02-09
q Horseshoe for iuck.

The horseshoe, now all the rage as
an ornament, and affected by men and
women alike. has long been considered
token of good luck, especially by
sailors. Few sailors would start on a
voyage in ship on which the potency
OF the horseshoe was not acknowl-
edged. 1t must be kept at some con.
spicuous place as a sign of good luck
On Western steamboats, not a deck.
hand could be induced to engage him.
self on a steamer that did not have a
partly-worn horseshoe nailed over the
companion-way of the bow.
How long this superstition has pre-.
vailed it would lie impossible to tell.
1t is by no means of recent origin
Horseshoes and conjurers have long
been allies. To find whole horseshoe
in the road that has been cast from the
animal and still retains five of the
nails in it is considered a remarkable
token of good luck.
But should any one find a horseshoe
with all the nails in it, he may consid-
er himself endowed with wonderful
powers of magic. This conceit no
doubt had its origin in the fact that it
is almost impossible for horse to cast
a shoe while all the nails are intact.
There lived man in Shenandoah
county, Va, who claimed to have
found such a horseshoe. His name
was Conrad Gerst. He was German,
with little education, but was consider.
able of knave. He professed to be
able to work wonders, and was be-
lieved by many people to possess GER
tain powerful conjuring powers. Gerst
was a shoemaker, and very poor, for
he was too lazy to work, and had a
large family of children. He could
heal the sick, recover stolen articles.
cure diseased cattle, find underground
streams of running water, and make
the butter come for the dairy-woman,
and drive off witches.
A woman churned all day over a
churning of cream, but the butter
would not come. She sent for Gerst.
He told her to get an old horseshoe,
heat it red hot, and cast it nto the
churn. Then, after cleansing the churn
with boiling water, he guaranteed that
the butter would come at the next eff.
fort. And more, if the woman would
inquire carefully among her neighbors
she would discover that some one OF
them ian enemy would have a severe
burn on some part of her body. There
were plenty of people who believe in
this.
Another case: A widow lady, liv
ing two miles from Gerst, had a sun
of money stolen from her. Instead O,
giving the matter into the hands of thu
authorities, she sent for Gerst. He in
quired into the affair, and, after per
forming number of incantations will
a stick that he carried, and placing hi.
horseshoe in the fire and cooling it il
the spring, he announced confidentl,
that on the morning of the second day
thereafter the money would be found
at certain place, with some othel
valuables that had been lost.
This conclusion of the coniurer wal
widely circulated, and on the mornin,
indicated quite a number of people ar
sembled at the widows house to Sc,
the predictions verified. The none,
was found at the place indicated. Tn,
solution was that the thief, whoeve]
he was, believed in Gerst's pretended
power, and returned the money out Of
fear. The superstition that impute.
such virtues to the horseshoe CAV,
birth to the prevailing idea that make.
it an emblem of good luck.
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