Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-27
THEIR SUPERSTITIONS.
CURIOUS FANclEs ABOUT SPIRITS
IN THE ozARkS.


Blood spots That Can DULY DO Burned
Out-Ghosts of Murdered Men Stalk
About ut Night-A Belief That the Mum
Der ID Brings Good Luck.
1T win never come out until it's burned
out-that's what they say" So remarked an
Intelligent business man Of Forsyth, Mo-,
pointing to a black stain of blood on the floor
Of ]. s. B. Berry's old store, where Capt.
Kinney, the Knobber chief, had fallen when
shot to death by young Bill Miles. "a good
many have tried TO scrub out '-0d stains,
they say, but never could do It.
This Is q common mountain superstition The
mountaineers have noticed that blood stains
on cotton goods turn black and ara not easily
washed away. They conclude that some su.
pernatural power, instead of a chemical COM
bination, keeps the stain there It is a CON-
mon practice, they say, to cut out blood
stains and burn them.
II there is any place in the country where
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 in at the open doorways at the
hresides, or, finding an open door, lust
melts bis way in Those who have read the
story Of the Bald Knobbers viii perhaps
think there Is good reason for their faith
But the mountaineer goes further. He sees
Satan and bis 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, be believes, are never at
rest. Capt Kinney the dead Knobber chief,
stalks forth by night clad in mask as of old,
but now with a blood stained shroud around
him instead Of the marshal's coat Of blue that
was his pride That he will seek vengeance
on those who oppose the Knobbers is not
doubted .
AvEEGNG SPIRITS.
On the other hand, there are those plenty
who say the old oak from which the TAYLOR
boys were banged by Kinney's men still
shrfeks and groans in agony as the boys did
vatnly for mercy, while the spirit of murdered
Coggburn comes down to the village square,
and there Undertaking. as q 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, II 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
VI
Sickness, accident, death, are not toe results
OF bad sanitary conditions or carelssuess;
they are the vtsitatious Of Justice loving
spirits. But the fear of future visits of spirits
never acts as a power to keep the ready hand
from the pistol
The fancy men have nearly sll been
converted, according TO their understanding
OF Holy Writ Preachers and churches
abound There are twelve preachers In q
population OF 1900 now What more could
one wishf Only the low trash are beyond the
pale Of the church. "Au the best citizens of
the county" are church members. They read
the Bible carefully, they sing religious hymns
melodiously, they pray and say amen fer
vsntly. They give literally TO the poor; they
are careful to entertain strangers. But some
bow they never comprehend the Sermon on
the Mount or the Seventh commandment
There IL old Uncle John H;ldreth He is the
ramovsr Of warts for the mountaineer lads
and lasses. The old man trkes 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 uountaineers say,
within a week.
The superstition about the number IS has
O curious hold here. They think q combine
siSH Va ~ PeOP1o lOH q pOoS Will IQVIQ-
chile. The Knobbers are said TO have organ
lied in groups Of Is at the first, and there are
those that believe that had that principle been
adhered 70 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 ID or multiples Of
that number. Hence their downfall.
There Is another curious theory held by
some Of the mountaineers. Thus, Livery
man Kay, who carried visitor from New
York 70 see the victims Of the Knobbers In
the vicinity Of Sparta, told OF @ revolver that
he bad, which would sweat drops of blood
when fired under proper circumstances. Two
man had been killed with it. When q weapon
has killed two men it will thereafter sweat
. drop Of blood whenever fred at living
target. An tnanimate target il OF no effect,
they say.
WHY THEIR HOGS DIE.
The whips that were used TO whip men with
were invariably burned afterward. 1t would
have brought bad luck to have left bloody
switch In existence. Various theories about
the III LUCK that would follow were held
Jarvis Lawrence says that such whip would
turn 70 a serpent that would hunt the man
who had used it and aveage the blood Of the
victim with bite. There was no use In tax
ing whisky for such bite. Death was sure
to follow. Another notion Is that the cattle
Of the men who used the whip were sure to
find 1t within year and lick it with their
tongues Then they would die OF the muir
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 one who knew anything
about hog cholera so called There was great
pool Of stagnant water near the center of the
village that was the resort of all the hogs Of
the neighborhood. They had wallowed in it
the season through, and got nothing else to
drink save when O rain storm made scarcely
less filthy pools elsewhere Why shouldn't
they def Would the hog owners see itf Not
at all 1t was 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
said The knobbers said IL was q just infiic-
ton on people that were going to sacrifice
four victims to blind prejudice, and that,
too, when the hogs OF both factions were
dying. OF course there we're others who
thought that the cholera was due to a vista
ton on general principles-a sort of a warn
ing TO the whole people to abandon their sins
Capt. Kinney, the Knobber chief, under
stood the people very well when he devised
the horned mask for his murderous crew 1t
in impossible to appreciate the abject terror
which those masks created among the nl-
jority Of those who were visited The rela-
lives Of the murdered men in Christian
county, Charley Green and VIII Edens, are
unable to 60 on with their stories when they
come to describe the impression created by
the masks Old Mrs. Elizabeth Edens turns
white at the mention of the word and barely
escapes faipting. 1t is said that men who
had determined to fight and were well fixed
for battle lost their courage and wits en-
trely when they saw the masks, and took
their whippings Like cowed curs.-New York
Bun