The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-08-07
The Witch's Ring.

For We know that when we awaken
We shall be Satisfied
The Witch's Ring.
A very curious. struggling. sleepy,
Old village is Adlingtune. Half a cen
fury behind the rest of the world, it
still SITS between the green hills of the
Eastern state, its elbows on its knees
and its chin in its hands, musing on by.
gone days, whsn old King George held
the land under his sway, and when, as
Its old folks sagely remark, things
were not as they are now. There are
q great many old people in Adlingtune
In fact, very few die young there.
Tho atmosphere is so dreamy and
peaceful that excitement cannot exist,
and the wear and tear Of the busy
world is unknown, or at most ONLY
huns family over the hills, like the
buzzing of a fly On q sunny pane on "a.
sninme day. Aud so they sit in the
chimney corners from year to year,
and muse, and doze, and dream, until
they dream'they lives away and take
their final sleep. 1t was to an old cronc
Of tbs description that / was indebted
lOr my uyenture.
In the curse of my idle ramblings
about the village 1 CHANGED n day to
peer over a crumblng wall and dis
covered an old disused burial ground.
Tho brown slabs were broken, pros
trate ind scattered, with only here and
there a forlorn. unsteady stone stand
ing YEARLY, and waiting for the time
to come when 1T, too, might fall down
and rest with the sleepers beneath.
Scrambiing over the low wall stopped
about among the grass, pushing away
the tangled masses of vines and leaves
from the faces of the slabs that / might
read the inscriptions there. But the
suns and storms of nearly u hundred
years had obliterated nearly all the
letters SO that only portions of names
and dates remained. Finally, down in
a deep cornor of the Enclosure, where
the weeds grew densest and the shade
WAS darkest, j found an old stone,
which. leaning forward, had protected
IFS face from the storms, and on this
stone ! read the words:
BARBARA CDNWAIL,
PORN l67o. DIED 1890. AGE, so YEARS.
Hauing been awtiul7y eaecuted for TIC
practice OF Witchcraft.
My curiosity was at once aroused. /
inquired OF several persons as to the
history of this woman, but without
success for a time. FINALLY, however,
4 found on old woman, who told me
the history OF Barbara Cornwall, as it
had been handed down by her ances-
tors.
oEhJ atutprr in N ~ AID c&N~1 lo,,-1 - A.
edge OF the village, she was rarely
seen-for no one V e crossed her
threshold-saye when she was occa-
sionallyY met BY q frightened party OF
children ding awaya sunnler after
moons holiday in the woods, when she
would scpwl and pass away, STOPPING
along o the fields, gathering herbs
with which to brew her mighty po-
lions. Noone ever interfered with her.
however. until a sad year came to Adj
lingtane.
An epidemic broke out and ragged
with q fury that nothing COULD with
stand. People began to mutter that
Barbara the witch was the cause of it.
Passing along the road she was stoned
bya party of boys, to whom she turned
and, shaking her bony hand. hr.ekcd
that the curse was upon them.
Two Of the lads sickened and died in
a few days. and though scores were
carried away i'll a like nc
special import was attached to Their
death. Barbara began to be watched.
They looked through her windows al
midnight and found her bending over
a seetting caldron, throwing in herbs,
nanttering cabalistic words, and stir
rng the mixture with what they
reported to be human bone. Cid
Barbara wa working her charms.
so when IL morning a man came
into town bruised and covered with
mud, and testified that as he rode past
old Barbara house at y o clock the
night hefore. he saw the Arch Fiend
and the witch i'll conversational upon the
house-t5p. surrounded by flames, and
laughing tiendfshly in the lurid glare
as they Shook their fist at the plague.
stricken village sleeping below, his
tale found ready credence. The fact
that he was an labitual drunkard,
and had on more than one occasion
rolled from his horse in a drunken
stupor and passed the night in Il ditch.
dreaming wild dreams, did not in the
least detract from the belief of the vii
layers in his account of this pair OF
demons had pounced upon him, and
had first tortured and thrown him
senseless into q ditch. their Indignation
became uncomfortable.
Old Barbara was tried. condemned,
aud hanged, though she protested in
her innocence to the last. The little
sum of money found in her possession
was used to buy that gravestone-asno
n would dare appropriate it-and to
this day if any one were bold enough
TO 80 to her grave at midnight on the
same day OF the year IN which She was
hanged and say. Barbara, believe
O were innocent, at the same time
stretching out his hand oyerthe grave.
she would appear toliim and place in
his hard atalisman.
This talisman would bring good for
tune us long as he retained il, but at
some time IN his life the witch would
return to him and claim her own.
The old woman ended her story in q
low, impressive monotone, which. with
her earnestness and sincere belief in
what she said. almost carried convic.
i 10 me in spite Of reason. As /
sauntered away, ridiculing these igno-