The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-05-09

covery of Stolen Horses, etc.
Columbia, Pa, Correspondence N. Y. Times.
The bringing of law suit in a jus.
tees court in one of the back regions
of this county by young man against
his mother to recover damages for the
loss of dog which he claims she be.
witched SO that it ran in a circle until
it died of exhaustion, has brought into
notice the fact that there is an almost
general belief in witchcraft, charms and
magic spells among the farming popu-
lation in those isolated localities, and
that there are many old women who
are regularly consulted by young and
old, and in whose arts and supernatur-
al powers they put the greatest faith.
At the trial of the law suit mentioned
several of these "witch women" testi-
fled in the case, and the curious and
absurd beliefs they profess were given
in great detail. The principal one,
and the one most sought for advice and
counsel by the community for miles
around, is Barbara Fisher, who lives in
the Dunkard settlement, five miles from
Reinholdsville, in a small cabin in the
mountains. She is 80 years old, bent
and gray, but is still active and we'll
preserved physically. She is shrewd,
cunning old woman and lives alone.
She is SO independent that she will take
the case of no one who is stranger to
her or who she thinks lives in any large
town, unless the applicant simply wants
her to treat him for common ailment
requiring no "wonder working" A
sufferer from hurts, fits, burns, bruises,
felons and similar ailments she will
treat at once, and men, women and
children come from near and far to
seek her aid. Husbands take their
wives and fathers take their children to
have her operate on them for every i'll.
If a child is deformed, demented,
blind, tongue-tied or unnaturally afflict-
ed in any way, it is taken at once to
Dame Fisher. If farmer has his
horse stolen the first thing he does is to
consult this old woman and implore her
to aid in recovering the lost animal and
detecting the thief. If there is fire
sought t leofghh}oShHstfio lof hh}ooSfh%stion ne as 10 its caase
and if it is believed to be incendiary,
for revelation as to who set the fire.
If there is trouble with cattle, if a COW
is breachy, if crops look bad, Dame
Fishers aid is the first thing sought.
She stands ready at any time to extend
her aid, and if she fails in what she
undertakes it is attributed to lack of
faith in her on the part of the person
she is working with. In her healing
operations she uses no medicines, but
depends upon her "charms. Her
"pow-wows" consist of breathing on
the afflicted part, waving the hand over
it, accompanied by a few muttered
words the purport of which no one
understands. The conditions for oper-
ating are implicit faith in the mode of
treatment, entire confidence in and
reverence for the operator, and strict
following of her directions to the letter.
She will then promise radical cure,
and after over half century of "wonder
working" in that community she en-
joys an almost universal reputation for
infallibility. She is only one of many
"witch women" who are consulted by
their credulous neighbors.
By far the most interesting feature
of this backwoods healing art is that
part which pretends to work magic
spells, charms, curses, bad luck or good
luck, or objects of hate or love. The
most of these women live alone. Each
has "mystery book" which is an an
cient volume, printed in the German
language, which is consulted when
charms are to be worked. Old Mother
Roske, who lives near Reinholdsville,
had the entire farming neighborhood
working every night for weeks in
search of gold, and when they failed to
find it she gave as reason that some of
them had COW with blood in its horn,
and until that could be found and kill
ed, and the blood drawn from the horn,
and spilled on the ground in the moon S
first quarter, it would be useless to look
further for the treasure. The farmers
spent much time trying to find such a
cow among their stock, and in case a
cow is killed in that vicinity to this day
the horns are sawed off in hope the
blood may be found and used as direct
ed by Mother Roske, in order that the
gold may be found.
In answer to questions asked of the
witness at the trial of the case of the
old woman and her son mentioned
above, the following were given as some
of the methods used by the witch women
in working their charms. In case a
horse is stolen the thief may be caught
and the horse recovered if there can be
three hairs from the missing animals
tail found in the empty stall. These
three hairs must be cut into equal
lengths, knotted in the middle, and
then lighted at both ends. This must
be done at sunset, while the hairs are
held on a shovel, near the table.
Whichever way the two ends of the
hairs point or turn as they burn will
indicate the direction taken by the
thief. The stub ends are to be buried
in the barnyard where the sun shines.
This acts so upon the thief that he car
not 60 beyond certain limit, and
gradually and involuntarily turns the
horse back to the spot from which it
was stolen, and it is only necessary for
the owner of the horse to be on the
watch to capture him.
To make a PERSONS well run dry
ashes of witch hazel are forced into the
mouth of a toad, which is then dropped
in the well. Cows may be made to
give bloody milk by obliging them tc
trample toads under their feet. Dry