The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-08-21
A BEWITCHED FAMILY.
The Remarkable Event That Trans.
pired in a Michigan Town.

Flint. Mich, Aug, 3.-Much ex-
element has been created in th o
community by the queer doings of
a family by the name Of Whitney.
living in the township of Mount
Morris. eight miles north OF this
city, who are Iaboring under |
strange hallucination, and Imagine |
they are the victims Of wi,chcraft. |
From the many conflicting stories
that ara sfloa5 your correspondent
has sifted out from the stacks of
chsff the grains of truth herewith
presented. Until recently, two
families, br, thers-in law by the
name OF Clark and Sumner,
lived in small double house
on farm in the township Of vi.
emma. Clark's family consisted of a
wife and three children, and Sum.
ner's Of wife and one child. They
lived on the best of terms until
about two months ago, when
2-year old child OF Clark's was taken
sick with serious Illness, which re-
su ted fatally July /. After the
child was buried the families claim
to have heard strange noises about
the house at night, such as the
buzzing Of swarm of bees and the
retching of person in the act of
vomiting. Then the cry of "mu~.
der' would break on the mi n ght
air. A short time ensued, when
Mrs. Sum1er and another
child of Clark's were seized
With the same mysterious illness,
and, the strar ge noises contlnu ng,
they became frightened, and both
families moved to the b macs o the
wives mothers. Mrs. Whitney, in
the township o Mount Morris The
next night after their arrival they
CLAIM to have heard similar noise,
alfo bleating of sheep and the neigh.
ing of a horse. r4[o
The sec md night they say the
noises continued, and were accom-
panied by a peculiar stencil resem
bling burning flesh This part OF
the story seems probable, from the
fact that fifteen beings were
huddled together In 10 ise 16 by q
feet, in a wretched cond ton Of
squalor ard nastiness. In Gay oil
two, two more Of ClaTk's children
> were stricken with similar illnef
ard bedlam reigned supreme. I'm
! pressed W til the idea that they
= ere beRiiched, Whitney ard Clark
20. two Old mu- kets a1d commenced
firIpg through the windows to drive
away The witches This continued
for two nights, when the neighbor
becomidg frightened at n If strange
/ perfo mancea, Informed The eff ers
who proce eded to investigate ta'
affair The officers were resisted b.
Q Clark and Whitney, and threatened
with death if they approached. but
after considerable parleyiDg, the.
suffered the officers to escort then
to Fin but no admission to tn
: house vas permitted. Assist
tant Prosecuting johnson, wit
( a posse OF officers, visited tn
/ place on Tuesday las an
, were met by Dr.. L. D. Fuller, Q
Clio, whose clothes were saturate
4 wi b blood from wound receive
/ from the han Is of one of the hal
crazy women, who resisted his Ell
trance. The doctor said he ha
] visited the house to see if he could
: OF service to them, and wa, st bbe
1 by a Mrs Livingston, daughter
I Mrs. Whitney, in the breast. Nv
musicians we're summoned and To
dortor's wound vas dressed, whe
k, it was found he knife had pen
nr trated the b:esstbone and thu
saved dangerous or fatal result
Three of the inmates were arrests
! and logged in jail.
Saturday afternoon eight more
1.-THE bewitched or bedeviled familll
/ were arrested as disorderly person
brought to this city and lodged
! iaI. The rest fed and escaped Il
Is, officers. Some of them had cut
the ends of their fingers and toe
slit the ears of their cattle, etc..
use the blood 10 drive away tt
:" witches. When found. Mrs. SUI
70. ner was entirely naked. The a
thorities are 1t a loss to know WI
TO do with this Strange mess. In
found the premiaes in terrible CO
fusion. Toe glass in the windo7
Tyr is nearly all Lroken out by fri
nd u oney ind other things thruu
them drive off the witches. a
qr- the filth and wretchedness IL hey o
+ description. 1t is hoped and trust
the bars of the jail will keep out
evil spirits and they may recol
lze their equilibrium. on r.fu0