The Irish standard., 1888-01-21
She Believed in Witches.
[Albany Journal. ]!


On August, FL, 1853, Matthew and
Eliza Ann Vedder, of WaterYliet Cen
ter, an elderly couple Of peculiar habits,
who were possessed Of property worth
about SIC, 600, secured the services OF q
lawyer, aud each had will drawn up,
in which each left the property to the
survivor in the event of his or her death.
Eliza Ann died. last March, and in
April Matthew offered her will to Sur
rogata Woods for probate. Then con-
testants appeared i'll the persons OF
Jeremiah and Emmanuel Sicker and
Maria Edick. nephews and niece, and
the controversy over the document has
been prolonged throughout the summer,
fall anG winter, until it WAS brought to
a close with the final arguments to-day.
During the contest some curious facts
were brought out. On behalf Of the
contestants it was claimed that Eliza
Ann was q believer in lwitchcraft, saw
ghosts and visions. and Was mentally
disqualified thereby from making a. will,
Some of these allegations were proven,
these among others When she died
Eliza Ann wanted to be ro,e0 as the
angels are. She often refrained from
making butter on account of the witches,
and would cut crosses Oh the bottom Of
hex churn TO keep them away. Another
time she said it was necessary to put a
hot iron in the bottom OF the churn and
burn the witches out before putting the
cream in.
Once when going to market i'll Sche-
ilectady at a. N. she saw ball OF tire
in the sky, with soldiers marching upon
it, and after the ball disappeared the
heaven looked like blood. One morning
she was putting ON her shoes when the
room became light, and. looking up,
she said she saw Jesus with a sword and
surrounded by angels. Anotherinstance
was when Margaret Disne1's sister had
child sick Eliza Ann claimed that
the chila was bewitched, and told Mar
garet if she felt OF the pillow under
the child's head and found bunch of
feathers in it that would be the witch.
In order to destroy the witch she ad-
vised Margaret to put the bunch OF
feathers in pot, shut the doors and
windows, plug up the keyaole and pro-
ceed to burn the bunch. If any one
knocked during the process she must
not open or they would kill her. She
must continue the burning until The
bunch was reduced t., ashes, and ia the
morning the dead body of the witch
would be found outside the door. LII
summing up to-day, lasting from 10 to 2
| o'clock, Mr.. Eugene Burlingame made
a very able argument for the contest
ants, contendlng that the evidence ad-
duced plainly showed that kliza Ann
was not competent to make will.
Judge Countryman, in an argument
Of three hours, claimed that even if
Eliza Ann did have visions and believed
in witchcraft, there were many 1llustri-
Gus examples in history, such as Lord
Bacon, Cotton Mather, and hundreds of
other kings who shared her be-
hall; for that reason she could
not be held incompetent SO long
as she knew the nature Of her
property and had selected the object Of
her bounty. Judge Countrymal, $ argu-
ment was one Of the most interesting
ever listened to. Surrogate Woods re-
served decision. Mr.. John Z. Nc
Donough was attorney for the proponent
and Col. Henry T. Sanford for the con
testants.
It is likely that Major Edwards, of
the Fargo Argus, will be arraigled for
contempt Of court. The Major has been
stirring u . the grand jury of late.
a A gay rooster tipped the light fantas-
tic toe up TO the occupant of quiet
nest and said: S'Will you dance?'
/. Excuse me- said the hen. Il am en-
gagged for the set. "