Evening journal., 1889-02-02
lHElk sUpERSTITlONS.
CURIOUS FANclEs ABOUT SPIRITS
IN THE OZARKS.

Blood Spots That Can Only BE Burned
oat-Ghosts Of Murdered Men Stalk
About at Night--A Belief That the Num-
Der 10 Brings Good Luck.
1T will never come out until it's burned
out--thnt's what they say So remarked an
intelligent business man of Forsyth, Mo,
pointing to a black stain of blood on the floor
Of J. S B. Berry's old store, where Capt
Kinney, the Knobber chief, had fallen when
shot 20 death by young Bill Miles. "A good
many have tried 10 scrub out blood stains,
they say, but never could do it,"
This isa common mountain superstition. The
moun.aineers have noticed that blood stains
on co.son goods turn black and are,not easily
washed away. They conclude that some SUI
pernatural power, instead of IA chemical COM
bination, keeps the stain there. II is a com
mon practice, they say, to cut out blood
stains and burn them.
II there is pyipace in the country where
a living spirit of evil, the personal devil is
believed in unquestioningly, it is here. Satan
travels up and down the gulches and ravines
and peers ia at the open doorways at the
iireSides, or, finding an open door, Just
melts bis way i'm Those who have read the
story Of the Bald Knobbers will perhaps
think there is good reason for their faith.
But the mountaineer goes further. He sees
Satan and his imps There are mysterious
sounds in the woods-that is, they are not
understood by him, and he says the spirits
are responsible for the mysteries Not alone
does he see the eva spirits, but the souls Of
the raurdered dead, he believes, are never at
rest. Capt Kinney, the dead Knobber chief,
stalks forth by night clad IN mask Of old,
uuf now with a blood stained STROUD around
aim instead Of the marshal coat Of blue that
was his pride That he will seek vengeance
on those who oppose the knobbers is not
doubted.
AvENGMG SPIRITS.
On the other hand, there are those a plenty
who say the old oak from which the Taylor
boys were hanged by Kinney's men still
siiieks and groans in agony as the boys did
| vainly for mercy, while the spirit Of murdered
1 Cosgburn comes down 10 the village square,
and there, Undertaking. as a man once more,
throws up its left hand, and striving TO draw
"A revolver fails TO get it raised. Then, fall
| ipg backward ON the ground, il hurls
| phantom pistol away through The darkness
They do not believe that the spirits of the
dead seek vengeance vainly Whenever mis-
fortune befalls any one they shake their heads
omrously If he has ever shed human blood
Sickness accident death. are not the results
| VI bad sanitary conditions or careleSsness,
hey are the visitations of justice loving
| spirits. But the fear of future visits of spirits
aever acts as a power to keep the ready hand
from The pistol
The fancy men have nearly all been
converted, according to their understanding
II Holy Writ Preachers and churches
ibound There are twelve preachers in a
population of 1000 now. What more could
me wishf Only the low trash are beyond the
ale of the church. IAN the best citizens of
.he county" are church members They read
he Bibse carefully, they sing religious hymns
nelodiously, they pray and say amen fer
sently. They give Literally TO the poor they
ne careful to entertain strangers. But some
low they never comprehend the Sermon on
he Mount or the Seventh commandment.
here is old Uncle John Hildreth He is the
'emover of warts for the mountaineer lads
md lasses. The old man takes piece Of
bread six inches long and ties a knot, draw
ng the knot tight directly above the wart,
aging some mysterious words as be does it.
The wart goes away, the mountaineers say,
within a week.
The superstition about the number 10 has
i curious hold here. They think combina-
lion Of - people for a purpose win be irwin
,ible The Knobbers are said to have organ
zed in groups of ID at the first, and there are
hose that believe that had that principle been
idhered to the Knobbers would have still
uled the Ozarks as they did in 1886 In their
thirst for whipping people they wholly neg
ected 70 organize gangs Of IL or multiples of
hat number Hence their downfall.
There is another curious theory held by
ONE Of the mountaineers. Thus Livery
nnn Ray, who carried a visitor from New
York TO see the victims Of the Knobbers in
he vicinity Of Sparta, told of a revolver that
10 had, which would sweat drops of blood
when fred under proper circumstances. Two
men had been killed with it. When a weapon
las killed two men it viii thereafter sweat
i drop of blood whenever fired at a living
-arget An inanimate target is Of no effect,
hey say.
| WHY THEIR HOGS DIE.
The whips that were used TO whip men with
we're invariably burned afterward 1t would
nave brought bad luck TO have left a bloody
witch in existence Various theories about
he i'll luck that would follow were held
jarvis Lawrence says that such a whip would
urn to a serpent that would hunt the man
who had used it and avenge the blood of the
'ictim with bite. There was no use in TAX
ng whisky for such bite. Death was sure
20 follow. Another notion is that the cattle
ind it within year and lick it with their
tongues. Then they would die Of the muir
/ rain
A little while ago in Sparta the village
aogs that everywhere run the streets ia this
,ountry were dying at the rate of three OF
our q day right in the street. The reason
vas plain enough 70 one who knew anything
bout hog cholera, SO called. There was a great
joCl of stagnant water near the center Of the
/ sillage that was the resort of all the hogs of
The neighborhood They had wallowed in il
The season through, and got nothing else 70
brink save when a rain storm made scarcely
-ess filthy pools elsewhere. Why shouldn't
hey diel Would the hog owners see itl Not
II nlL Il was a mysterious visitation. Likely
enough when the Knobbers were hanged at
ozark the hogs would not die any more.
That's what the anti-Knobbers thought and
aid. The Knobbers said it was just infiic-
ion on a people that were going to sacrifice
our victims to blind prejudice, and that,
100, when the hogs Of both factions were
lying Of course there were others who
bought that the cholera was due to a vista
ion on general principles-a sort Of a warn
ing to the whole people to abandon their sins.
Capt Kinney, the Knobber chief, under
TODD the people very well when he devised
he horned mask for his murderous crew It
IS impossible TO appreciate the abject terror
which those masks created among the MT
ority Of those who were visited The RIA
lives Of the murdere0. suun ID Uhrlsfiaa
county, Charley Green and win Edrs,~ ~,
i Ia It, ".