Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-24
THEIR SUPERSTITIONS.
CURIOUS FANcIES ABOUT SPIRITS
 IN THE OZARkS.

CURIOUS FANcIEs ABOUT SPIRITS IN THE OZARkS.
 Blood Spots That Can Only Be Burned Out-Ghosts of Murdered Men Stalk
 About at Night-A Belief That the Num- Der 13 Brings Good Luck.
 "It will never come out until it's burned
 out-that's what they say." So remarked an
 intelligent business man of Forsyth, Mo, l pointing to 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 to death by young Bill Miles. IA good
 many have tried to scrub out blood stains,
 they say, but never could do it."
 This Is common mountain superstition The
 mountaineers have noticed that blood stains
 on cotton goods turn black and are not easily
 washed away. They conclude that some su-
 pernatural power, instead of a chemical com
 binat1on, keeps the stain there. It is a con-
 mon practice, they say, to cut out blood
 stains and burn them.
 If there is any place in the country where a living spirit of evil, the personal devil, is
 believed in unquestioningly,i it is here. Satan travels up and down the gulches and ravines and peers in at the open doorways at the hresldes, or, finding an open door, "just melts his way in." 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 evil spirits, but the souls of the murdered dead, he believes, are never at rest. Capt. Kinney, the dead Knobber chief stalks forth by night clad in mask as of old
 but now with blood stained shroud around him instead of the marshal's coat of blue that was his pride. That be will seek vengeance on those who oppose the Knobbers is not doubted.
 AvENGING 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 shrleks and groans in agony as the boys did vainly for mercy, while the spirit of murdered Coggburn comes down to the village square, and there, materializing as a man once more, throws up its left hand, and striving to draw revolver fails to get it raised Then, fall ing backward on the ground, it hurls a 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 omlnously If he has ever shed human blood. Sickness, accident, death, are not the results of bad sanitary conditions or carelessness; they are the visitations of justice loving spirits. But the fear of future visits of spirits never acts as power to keep the ready hand from the pistol
 The Fancy men have nearly all been -%,.I Of Holy Writ. Preachers and churches abound. There are twelve preachers in a population of 1000 now What more could one wisha Only the low trash are beyond the pale of the church. "All the best citizens of the county" are church members. They read the Bible carefully, they sing religious hymns melodlously, they pray and say amen fer vently. They give literally to the poor; they are careful to entertain strangers. But some how they never comprehend the Sermon on the Mount or the Seventh commandment. There Is old Uncle John Hildreth He is the remover of warts for the mountaineer lads and lasses The old man takes a piece of thread six inches long and ties knot, draw ing the knot tight directly above the wart, saying some mysterious words as he does it. The wart goes away, the mountaineers say, within week.
 The superstition about the number 13 has curious hold here. They think combina- ton of Is people fora purpose will be invin- clble. The knobbers are said to have organ lzed ill groups of 13 at the first, and there are those that believe that had that principle been adhered to the Knobbers would have still ruled the Ozarks as they did in 1886. In their thirst for whipping people they wholly neg lected to organize gangs of 13 or multiples of that number Hence their downfall.
 There is another curious theory held by some of the mountaineers. Thus, Livery man Ray, who carried visitor from New York to see the victims of the Knobbers In the vicinity of Sparta, told of revolver that he had, which would sweat drops of blood when fired under proper circumstances. Two men had been killed with 1t. When a weapon has killed two men it will thereafter sweat 8 drop of blood whenever fired at a living l target. An inanimate target Is of no effect, l they say.
 WHY THEIR HOGS DIE.
 The whips that were used to whip men with | were invariably burned afterward. It would l have brought bad luck to have left bloody l switch in existence Various theories about l the ill luck that would follow were held, | Jarvis Lawrence says that such a whip would ! turn to a serpent that would hunt the man | who had used it and avenge the blood of the | victim with bite There was no use in talk ing whisky for such bite. Death was sure | to follow. Another notion is that the cattle l of the men who used the whip were sure to lind it within @ year and lick it with their tongues. Then they would die of the mur- rain.
 A little while ago in Sparta the village hogs that everywhere run the streets in this country were dying at the rate of three or four day right in the street. The reason was plain enough to ore who knew anything about hog cholera, so called. There was a great pool of stagnant water near the center of the village that was the resort of all the hogs of he neighborhood. They had widowed in 1t he season through, and got nothing else to lrink save when a rain storm made scarcely ess filthy pools elsewhere Why shouldn't hey dief Would the hog owners see ita Not 1t all. It was mysterious visitation. Likely though 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 a just inf1ic- ion on a people that were going to sacrifice our victims to blind prejudice, and that, oo, when the hogs of both factions were lying. Of course there were others who Il. |