The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-05-17

Some tales are lies frAe end to end,
But this am &aun to tell, ~.
Is just as true's the deips in hell,
Or Dublin City.
BURNS.
In this age of reason and doubt,
| it may be called superstition, but it
was once the honest belief in the
Dutch Fork, that a few of the orig
| inal settlers of that portion of eoun-
try knew a secret of dreadful po-
tency, empowering the possessor to
| petrify, in an instant, any living
creature, brute or human. This
anomalous condition, it was said,
could be removed only by the per-
son inficting 1.-THE suspended
functions were resumed as suddenly
as they had been arrested,-and
the act, in the performance Of
which the sufferer had been seized,
was completed, Independently Of
any will or exertion on his part.
Thus, if a poacher had been stopped,
in this manner, while cautiously
reaching out his hand to take a
pullet from the roost, he would
have been compelled to continue
the theft upon the restoration Of
his powers of motion even though
steel-trap had, in the meantime,
been substituted for the object Of
his unlawful desire.
Many a hearty laugh has har-
monized with the fre-side cheer,
at the recital of Addaly Nicksnoot's
adventure at Frederick Hexen-
meister's, an old gentlemen who
had long kept all the youngsters in
dread of him by his reputed pos
session of this terrible secret. Ad-
daly's account of his mishap
may be summed up as follows:
He was in the act Of leaping from
high fence into Mr.. HeXenmeis-
ter's yard, partly for general mis-
chief, and partly to test the old
mans powers as a wizard. Sud
denly he became deprived of mo-
ton. His limbs grew rigid, though
without loss Of sensation; and his
feelings were such as induced him to
believe, that he had been changed
into brittle soapstone. This was
accompanied with q dread Of fall
ing off from the fence and break
ing into fragments, from which he
thought he was saved by having his
arm hooked around a fence-stake.
1t was . cold moonlight night in
December, and Addaly saw old
Fritz $50 he was called issue from
his house followed by his six i'm
mense daughters. They placed a
huge empty hogshead Immediately
under him. and filled it with stale
persimmon beer, the brine Of saur-
kraft, greasy dish-water, filthy
soap-suds, and various other dis
gusting fluids. The spell was then
removed, and Addaly declared, that
in spite of all that he could do,
he was compelled to jump into the
villainous mixture, where owing to
his prostration he was forced to re-
main an hour, fruitlessly protesting
the harmlessness of his intentions,
and offering to marry any one of
the girls who would aid him in his
escape. .~...
But the story Sthat am gaun to
telI' is more particularly illustra-
tive Of this necromantic practice.
Dutch Fork q!
1t was hundred years ago, and
the Dutch Fork was different then
from what it is now. There are
those, not long dead, who spoke Of
it as a section Of country covered
with magnificent forest, and settled
by none but German people. l
myself can look back fifty years,
and dwell with pleasure upon dozens
of nooky homesteads tenanted
by quiet, knee-buckled proprletors.
and busy short-waisted matrons.
Between the dwelling-house and
the orchard was the inyariable
brick-oven, resembling huge terra
pin. In the back porch, hanging
against the wall, could be seen the
bags of garden-seeds, the punches
of red pepper, and, above the
towel, the festoon Of red bachelors
buttons. Upon the door-sill was
ever nailed the horseshoe. to the
discontinue of witches; while higher
up, attached to a nail, swung the
dinner-horn; and throughout the
whole house there was an odor Of
/ 1ovendar and rosemary Tn such