The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-05-26

holes in his abdomen with . common dinner-Sork, in order to lef out the hsnd- Miss Hersey helped him to wash the blood fun his ciothins, and to hide the club and knife: then they joined their fellow-disciples in prayer. Sly was con- y;c.ed of murder. and ske wcsaan 2s 2n accessory, but his sentence was com rnused, and he died ia prison some eight wears ago. According to Sly. the power of all departed spirits since the fall of man was concentrated in the person of one Amos Hunt, upon whose death the millennium would come in the t~inkiing of an eye. Hunt $ now a practicing clairoyant in Connecticut, and figured in the Mary Ssannard murder case On Nex Years day, iS5o, more terrible tragedy was wrought by another Wake manise-Charies Sanford. the nephew of Mrs. Matthews. who brAined and decap- isated an old farmer named Umberaeld. and Enoch Sperry. father of the we'll known Connecticut politician. He vas convicted. but died in prison, of small pox. Several of the Wakemanitcs stiii live at New Hvena.
 A little more than a year afterwards in February. 1857. the case Of Giles Hiteh- ems. of Concord, startled all Delaware. Kitchens was farmer. somewhat eccen- tric. but with the reputation of being peaceful, and most certainly of an affec- tionate disposition towards his wife and their only child-a boy of eighteen months He had attended a methodist pro,racted meeting, aad received religion one night in that February, and his mind had been greatly excited by the preach CTS sermon on Abraham and Isaac. He could no, sleep. and arising early went to the woods 10 pray, when he heard a voice bidding him initiate the patriarch's command-kill his child and offer its blood as a sacrifice. Twice he prayed. and twice the command vas repeated, when. having prepared keen knife. he stole the sleeping child out of the house, without alarming its mother. and, carry ing it into the woods, laid II on heap of leaves while he prayed. and. like Abra- ham, waited for sign. He had hoped that the Lord would appoiat some other victim. and the hope was strengthened when little dog battered up and sniffed around his feet and a, the infant: but he saw no sign. and. taking up the child. he cut i,s ,hroa, and held i, by the feet to pour ou; its blood as an offering: then took it back to the house-a ghastiy burden. streaking the mud with gore-and laid it on the bed beside his mortified wife Kitchens, who gave himself up peacefully. was acquitted on the ground of insanity. and aiter re- maining some years in an asylum was set a, liberty. His wife dying. he re- married. and IS s,ill living in the house he occupied at the time of the murder. Another sacrifice of a similar nature was averted at Portsmouth. x. H., through the precautions of the father, taken while his mind was yet clear. A religious hypoehondriac named Goodwin had read the accounts of Freeman's crime, and had become possessed with the idea that the divine wrath was impending over him, and could only be avered by the sacrifice of one of his children, and he warned his friends to keep a watch upon him. and hinder him from carrying his purpose into execution. should the temp tation ever seem to be becoming irresist- ible. They were able. when they found him reviving the subject and paying par ticular attention to one child-his favorite. since its elder brothers death--to induce him to go to an insane asylum. A simi- lar sacrifice was reported from fo~a in 1880. and shortly afterwards came the ac- coun; of the excesses ot the murderous fanatics m Arkansaw, who butchered sey- eral persons 10 carry out their doctrine of /" blood atoncment. Their prophet one Mattlock. was killed in the spring of 1881. but whether by his follow CTS. IS a sacrifice. or by lynehers. was no, ascer- tanned. The la;es, offering of this na- ture took place al Los Angeles. Cal. in December last. One John Smith had been converted by methodist clergy man. and had for several m 1nths devoted himself to pouring oser the bible. till hnally he not only convinced himself that he ought to make human sacrifice. but brough, his wife and their only child, a boy of thirteen. 10 aoquiesSe m his views "When he talked 10 me-" said the woman. and persuaded me ,ha; d good wife ought to think as her husband did. got so as 10 take whatever he said as the truth. He made us fast. and xhen Ben asked him if God had ordered us ,o starve. he said yes. When he announced that the boy must oe killed. we both re- monstrated. bu, finally though, II was all right. On the day appointed for the ceremony. he called Ben out of the house and told him tha, he had to die for the Saviour. The little fellow knelt down, and got on my knees by his side. John raised the knife. looked hard into the boys lace. and then drove the knife into his breast" Though the woman per sisted in believing that the deed was jus uhable. she broke down on recalling the sight. .' am always thinking of Ben. ' she said: " am always hearing him in the night asking to be brought in and laid on his bed. and begging tor little water before he died
 
 George Sand.