, 1889-02-26
TWO WEIRD STORIES.
PEOPLE IN Pennsylvania sAD TO
BELIEVE IN WITCHES.

man nj Long Range
The belief of past ages In witchcraft is still
entertained by many people in this Berks
county. Hearing Of several men In the city
who were said to DO able to give well
authenticated cases of witchcraft, or ''hex-
ing" as it is called here, your correspondent
visited one OF them and was told the follow
ing story;
"Several yenrs g a family with whom 1
was well acquainted lived on Cedar street.
this city, and directly opposite them on tho
same street lived a woman who was known
to be a hex the Dutch for WITCH. There
was a child born In the family Of my friend
1t was a beautiful child, had the sweetest dis
position Of any youngster l ever knew, and
never cried or gave its mother any trouble at
all When the child was about three months
old this old hex came into my friends house,
and, taking it out Of the cradle, Rugged and
kissed 1t, at the same time muttering In the
language in which the Bible was first written
When she left it was at once noticed thnt the
child was as completely spotted as a leopard,
and It cried continually, as though suffering
great pain 1t would cry at night as long as
the hex across the street remained at the
window, but MS soon Us the witch would re-
tire Its cries would cease and 1t would get
some rest This state of affairs kept up
for some time. The regular doctors could do
nothing for the child; everybody knew the
poor little thing was 'behexed' tbewttchedD,
and the mother, worried nearly to death
through anxiety and loss of sleep while at
tending the little sufferer, would not be sat
isfiod until they sent for a witch doctor tho
Identical doctor still lives in this city.
EAs ENOUGH WHEN YOU KNOW HOW.
"He came in answer to their call, but pre-
vious to his arrival had sent them n note,
warning them not TO speak n word to him.
He wrote several words in tho Ethiopian
language on a piece Of paper, placed 1t in n
certain place in the Bible, and after putting
the book under the child's pillow, informed
the mother that II they would refuse tho hex
across the way everything she asked for her
baby would get well. The same day the bic
hex sent over for some triHesE think 1t was
for a smoothing iron or a pinch of tea-but
the mother refused to let her hnve them, and
from that moment the child commenced to
get better.
1.-THE third night after the witch doctor
had been sthero n big black cat came to tho
bedroom window and scratched to get in.
Tho child's father, knowing that tho old 'hex'
had sent the cat, picked up his boot, and,
hurting 1t through the window, sash and all,
struck the thing and knocked it to the ground.
Tho fact is, when tho boot struck the cat 1t
~ ~ bio nlbSh htIStll, lOI SIG nhu LuTDeu
herself into q cat In order to get into tho
room at that child. The next morning the
hex came limping around and said she had
fallen down stairs during the night, but she
never bothered my friends child any more,
and everybody knew well enough that the
words the doctor had put in the Bible were
too strong for tho devil In the hex This,
my dear sir, is n fact, and the child who was
bewitched is now q man and has children of
his own, and works on tho Philadelphia and
Reading railroad"
Your correspondent felt n very preceptible
chill course its way up along his backbone af-
ter listening to this recital, and the old gentle
mar noticing that something was wrong con-
tinued:
"You probably don't believe In witches,
but | know there arc witches in this city to-
day who can do just as they please with you
or Inc. Why, they sign n contract with the
dcvh, with u pen dipped In their own blood,
md he gives them the power. / knew a man
living in the neighborhood of Boyertown, in
this county, who was bewitchcd by q man
living on Tenth street, in this city, ten miles
away from him. What do you think of thntl
Tho witch would come TO his house In the
deal hour of the night, sometimes on a horse
and at other times In a big stone wagon, and
no one could 500 him but the man ho was tor
turing. Tho mans daughter could sec the
window fly up when the witch came into tho
room, and could sec and hear tho window
fall when he went out, but could not see the
witch himself. He would sit on the poor
mans breast and hammer and pinch him
dreadfully, and would keep it up nearly every
night until no had him 80 sore that he could
scarcely move around at all.
MAILING THE WITCH.
"He came to Reading one day and consult
cd the witch doctor, who wrote some words
on a slip of paper, folded it up, and, giving
the man q horse shoe nail, told him to 20 to q
certain tree carly in the morning, before sun
rise, stick this nail through the paper and
drive it into the side of tho tree next to the
SUM-, just far enough to hold the paper to the
tree. This, he said, would hurt the witch
and probably keep him away. If tho witch
would not stay away no was to hit the nail
another tap the next morning, but was
warned not to drive the nail clear through
the paper or no would kill the man who was
the witch. The witch continued to trouble
the man, however, and when he went out to
tap tho nail the third morning he was SO
angry that, taking tho AK in his hand, he
struck tho nail so hard that he sent 1t entirely
through the paper.
upon tho instant the nail penetrated tho
paper he saw the form of his tormentor fall
dead before him, and no went to the depot
and told several parties that he had killed
such and such a man In Reading that morn
ing. They laughed at him and said he was
crazy; but sure enough the witch, who was
walking in his garden in this city, ten miles
away, as the doctor said he would do and us
the man said he had done, fell dead in his
tracks just at hat time. Tho man who
killed him got well and was never troubled
again"
Tho names of tho parties were given In
both tho above cases, and the old man told
his story with such an air of sincerity tha
after leaving him 1 made inquiry In the local
tiles he had mentioned and found tho opinion
generally prevalent that just such things had
occurred. More especially was this tho case
in reference to the man who was said to AVE
dropped dead in the garden; and there are
not a few in this city who would swear that
1t is true substantially as herein given. Witch
and ghost stories, implicitly believed by those
who narrato them, can DO gathered by tho
dozen In this county. They are told by the
muscular farmer lover to his buxom country
sweetheart; are related to tho children in eu-
phonious Pennsylvania Dutch by their pa
rents, and nre the subject of many long
arguments and conversations In the country