St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-28
GAN ANYBODY EXPLAIN 1T
A Weird Tale OF Modern Witch
craft in PENNSYLVANIA.

New \ ork Sun: Il was on business |
trip through Central Pennsylvania re-
Gently. "said NewYork travelling man,
"and stopped one night in quiet little |
old Pennsylvania Dutch town, An old
woman had died in the place that day,
and wherever | went about the village
her death seemed 10 be the leading
topic. / finally asked the landlord of
the MOTEL where L stopped who or what
the old woman had been.
Oh, she was hex the landlord re-
Piled.
Not having the least suspicion of
, what in the world hex might be, |
pushed inquiry, and learned that great
many people in that vicinity, and in fact
throughout that entire part of the state,
were still firm believers in withcraft
and in the power of certain per-
sons, by ridiculous lamentations,
ceremonies. and prescriptions, known
under the generic name of pow
wowing,' to drive the witches
away from persons. animals, wells,
crops. or whatever has fallen unde the
bans. These witch doctors were usually
women, and were known in Pennsyl-I
yania Dutch as hexes. They were held
in great respect, and the death Of one
was regarded as calamity by the be-
levers in witches. The woman who had
just died had been particularly sue
ceSSful hex, and her death was an event
of no little Importance in the village.
Now don't believe in witches N.Y.
self, or in the power of hex said the
landlord. but ] would be obliged TO
some one who could explain to me an
occurrence with which the woman who
has just died was concerned, and which
came under my personal observation.
1t was certainly the strangest thing
/ ever heard of. even in this locality,
where superStitlous belief and credulity
fnd never-endlng weird and wonderful
things to tell.
% Il don't know how old the hex was
who died to-day. No one knows. But
twenty years ago she was an old
woman. She was the widow of we'll
known Pennsylvania Dutch farmer,
Jacob Freltcher, who died a quarter of
a century ago. Although she was left
wealthy, her daughter went out to
service, as is the custom with the girls
OF Pennsylvania Dutch parentage,
although they may be prospect
i've heiresses to thousands. This girl,
then about twenty years of age, worked
at this very hotel. Her name was Bar
bara, and she is to-day the wife OF one
of the richest farmers in the county.
The landlord at that time was leading
man in this county, and usually a jOvial
sort Of fellow. :. His name was Joseph
Boyer. For some reason he never could
explain he took an intense dislike to the
old heX's daughter. who worked for him.I
have often heard him say that when he
was near the girl, or she was in his
presence, he could scarcely restrain
himself from doing her personal injury,
and was constantly, against his will.
wishing that he OF some one else might
make her suffer-. 1t was most sigular
feeling. for the girl was honest aud in
duStrious, and, as the landlord fire.
quently said, the best girl he ever had |
in his house.
"'Boyer's unaccountable hatred of |
the hex's daughter was not the only |
strange fact connected with the two. |
The girls fear of her employer amount |
ed to terror. She trembled visibly |
when he was in sight, and that she suf-
fered greatly could be seen by the ex- |
preston Of her face. AT times she fell |
into; fainting fits after Boyer had left |
/ her sight, out of which she was revived |
with difficulty: Another singular thing |
was that the girl quit the landlords en- |
4plOy several times, but after an absence |
sof few days invariably came back and |
sre-entered his service. She TOLD his |
wife that she had such pains while she |
was away that she was forced to come |
{ back for relief.
''tIt seems that Barbara, who was a |
sensible girl, and not inclined to the |
SuperStitions her mother was believed to |
hold the charms against, did not make |
known to her mother the peculiar SEN
satiOns and sutferings she experienced |
and endured until nearly year after
they first appeared. Then, finding that
she got no better, she contided in her
mother, who told her at once that she
was bewitched.
"s"But who would want to bewitch
me, .mother?" she asked.
''"'l don't know" replied her mother;
''but will find out"
1.-The old hex took piece of black
paper, took down her witch book, copied
something from it on the paper, and fold
ed the paper. She then gave her daugh-
ter hammer and sharp nail and told
her that at IL O'Clock on the first night Of
the first new moon she must
take the paper, the hammer, and
the nail with her to an ash tree
that stood at the crossroads mile be-
yOnd the village. She must place the
paper against the tree, and with one
blow of the hammer send the nail home
through the paper. That, the hex said,
would not only destroy the witch. but
would uncover the person or thing that
81 remember it was a night in early
fall that Boyer, three others, and my
self sat down iE the back room yonder
to play few games of euchre. Just be- |
fore we sat down the landlord glanced
out of the window there:
"''HullO! a new moon, and | saw it
over my left shoulder. l won't have
any luck tonight"
1--WE played along until it got to be
almost midnight, and we dealt for the
last game. As the clock in the hall
struck IL Boyer picked up his cards.
The next second he sprang to his feet,
with look OF terror L shall never for
get. He cried out. almost Shrieked. the
name of the heX'S daughter, and fell |
back in his chair dead!
"'Cf course we were all paralyZed
with horror for moment, but, recover |
ing, we were hustled about to do what |
we cOul0. We summoned a doctor at |
once. but he was of no use. The land |
lord was dead-dead, undoubtedly, of |
heart disease, the doctor said.
IA few minutes after IL that night !
the inmates of a house half mile up |
the road yonder. toward the cross roads, |
were aroused by some one knocking |
violently at the door. The person who |
was knocking proved to be Barbara, the |
hex's daughter. She was pale as a
ghost, and as soon as she could find her |
voice she startled the family by ex-
claiming:
"'''I have killed Mr.. Boyerw
"'Thinklng the girl was out of her /
mind the family tried to soothe her, but |
she declared that she had seen him fail |!
dead as she drove nail into paper at |
the ash tree to ley a witch, according to |
her mothers instructions. at just IL |
O'Clock that night. She told what |
Boyer was doing when she saw him
drop dead in his chair. He was playing
cards, she said.
LAS soon as / struck the nail L saw
him. He called out my name SO that it |
rings in my ears yet! Then he fell
dead"
"'All this came out at the inquest,
which was held next day. The post