Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-04-23

OF his DaCCle-aXe lalQ MIN on Cne STOunQ.
Bruce, who was in the thickest of the fray,
lish, when they learned that their command
er was killed, fled back toward the castle,
but only few reached that point.
After close siege for long time the gar
rison agreed to surrender on a certain day.
When the day arrived, Bruce sent thirty
men to take the castle according to the stip-
ulation. The garrison had, in the mean
time, changed their mind and determined
to hold the castle to the bitter end. TO en-
able them to effect this purpose, they retain
ed as prisoners the thirty Scotchmen sent to
receive the surrender of the castle. These
prisoners they afterwards eat. But not
withstanding this they at last surrendered,
and Bruce placed a garrison in the castle.
Edward Bruce, after having overrun large
part of the north of Ireland, was killed by
a man by the name of John Mamphus, near
Dundalk, in Louth county.
East, or rather southeast Of Larne is Is
land Magee. This is not an Island, but a
peninsula. It is strange piece of land.
tarne Lough, which is Wedge-shaped, the
sharp point being, about opposite Ballycary
seems to have, atzsome time, slipped in be-
tween Island Magee and the other part of
Antrim county. The peninsula u.s. perhaps,
ten miles long and at its widest point two
miles broad. The inhabitants are generally
Scotch. They are remarkable for their law
abiding character and their kindness to
each other. On the peninsula of Island
Magee there are two Presbyterian churches,
each having pastor. This suggests a fact
which I may as well mention here as else
where. 1t is this In Scotland and in Ire
land, and I suppose in England, too, the
system of one man being pastor of two
or three or four congregations has no exis-
tence. 1t is not known. In this we Amer
leans may, if we will, learn an important
lesson from the Scotch and Irish.
In connection with Island Magee there
are some historic incidents which may be
interesting to the general reader. At the
peninsula, that is at the northern extremi-
ty, is Browns Bay. In this bay there is a
large stone which is called the Rocking
Stone. So nicely is it poised that child is
able to give to it rocking motion, but so
firmly is it fixed in its place that, in the
language of an Irishman, Fifty horses can
move it no more than child"
Browns Bay was named in honor, or in
commemoration, orin simple remembrance,
who, in the olden time, were wont to cele-
brate their nocturnal orgies there. The
reader will remember that, according to
tradition, there were once witches in Ire
land. In fact, according to the same au-
thority, there were witches in America.
I suppose some persons could be found now
who have, they think, seen witches and
ghosts. These persons must excuse those
of US who have not seen these hobgoblins
from giving credence to their declarations
until some witch presents herself to US.
Then, and not until then, do we propose to
believe in the existence of witches, either
in the present or the past.
When the Brown family lived l do not
know, neither do I know that such family
ever had an existence. 1t is possible, how"
ever, that such a family once lived on or
near what is now Browns Bay, and that
witches. Be this as it may, about the year
I'LL eight women living, 1 think, on or
near Island Magee were charged with the
awful crime of bewitching one Mary Dun
bar. 1t is very remarkable that the actors
in all the witch tales that ever heard were
old, worn out women, and the persons upon
whom they practieed their nefarious arts
were either young girls or little children.
If the actors were young, rosy checked girls
and the subjects young men just completing
their teens, witch tales would not be so
hard to believe.
But to proceed with Mary Dunbar's case.
1t seems in the month of February, I'LL, she
was at the house of James Hattridge, on
Island Magee. She was lass of only eigh-
teen summers. The house of James Hat
fridge was thought by number of persons
to be haunted. This was not strange. Ev-
erybody has seen or heard of houses that
somebody thought were haunted. There are
some people that have very strange thoughts.
Their minds are curiously constructed
things. They believe without evidence,
and refuse to believe when the evidence is
overwhelming.
One day, while Mary Dunbar was at the
house of James Hattridge she found lying
on the floor an apron which had been mis-
sing for sometime. This apron was tied up
in five knots the like Of which no one had
ever seen before. The next day Mary Dun
bar, poor thing, was suddenly attacked With
violent pain in her thigh, and not long
afterward she fell into. convulsions. She
avered that she was grievously tormented
by eight old women whom she described
and whom all in the community knew and
believed to be witches.
The old women were prosecuted and ia
ken to Carrickfergus and in March tried and
condemned. The testimony given at the
time and on which the jury brought in a
verdict of guilty, was that strange noises,
such as whistling, scratching on the house
and the like were heard in and around the
house of James Hattridge. Some Of the
witnesses testified that they had smelled
sulphur in the house. Another witness tes-
titled that rocks, turfand other missiles were
often thrown in and around the house. An
other witness stated that the bed-clOthes
were often taken off the bed and made up in
the likeness of dead body. But to fix the
matter beyond peradventure one witness
avered that bolster on one Of the beds
leaped down from it's proper place and hav-
ing put on night gown walked out OF the
house into the Kitchen. In reference to the
extent of Mary Dunbar'S atfliction it was
proven to the satisfaction of the jury that
She at times vomited feathers, cotton yarn,
pins, buttons and the like. If she had been
in America she no doubt would have vomi-
ted lizards and snakes. On such testimony
as the above eight old women were confined
in prison for twelve months and besides
subjected to the punishment of the pillory.
No doubt some readers are ready to say
the Irish were great set of fools. No doubt
this is true, but no greater than the rest of
the world. In 1858, or about that time, the
English Presbyterians in New England
were putting people to death because the
celebrated Cotton Mather and a number of
his followers believed in the existence of
witches. The simple fact is, in 1858 only u
few had the discernment to discover the
truth on this subject. The belief in witches
is one of the natural outgrowths of Popery,
and traces of it still remain. | remember
when boy of hearing good old lady telling
about the daughters of one Drury- Walker
who lived somewhere in Fairfield county,
who vomited needles and pins, and who
were accustomed to get up in the dark hours
of the night and in their night clothes and
barefooted walk around on the top of the
pointed pales or "palings" which enclosed
thp Garden