Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1891-12-19
AID 10 MTCnES
several Ca<es q Illness in = snail settle
ment IN reanSylvSaiA

several Cases q Ulns>s in = snail settle
ment n reanSSlvzntA
The >toav hilS Of Earl sad houS!ss
townships eisA; miles fNu Reading,
Pa. form a Wild locSli;y. and the
country folk sReahout are mo- above
the average IN Intelligence Strangers
are rare a,here, and as the folk seldom
90 anywhers their information o. ne
simplest matter IS mesEer They aN
very easily influenced, and being very
superstciozS, taey + subject q TIE
deceit and wiles Of mlSchieyouS n un-
p-incipled persons The walls q their
houses and oUtbui.dinEs are O; stone
from adjoining fields and the crops
that they can gather are sufficient 10
keep them the year around Consider
able sickness has prevailed there ne
Gently, and it IS little 70 be wondered
at,that witches and w~itchcraft are r.
ferred TO as the cause. a few witch
doctors in Reading. are credited with
efforts toward increasing the belief
/ Spells influence, magnetism, w!tchery'
and the evil eve are everyday terms
! there at present, and if the fo.k be not
pursued by day they are haunted by
night. The sufferers say that they
have had spells that physicians cannot
cure.
According to a dispatch in the tits
burgh Dispatch, an unfortunate mid
dle-ared woman, the wife OF a poor
farmer, who has suffered some time
with a throat trouble, and been obliged
to wear n bandage over her mouth.
has been accused of causing much of
the sickness, the white band marking
her as a witch. Her neighbors whisper
to one another: Look out; she's a
hex" She was blamed for the death
of a child lately, and because another
child became lame in some mysterious
| manner, her neighbers insisted that
she had put an evil spell on the child
A oma near by, who is being
tortured bodily and mentally every
night, as she believes, accuses the un-
fortunate woman OF working evil spells
against her with the aid Of another So
called witch some distance Oft The
woman's mother had been accused OF
~witchcraft in her lifetime, and the
calumuies against herself have almost
driven her crazy, But in %bemoaning
her condition she declares that some
body has bewitched her pet COW, be-
cause it has been MIXED mys~teriously
at night, and because it jumps fences
now like all possessed"
A farmer who had been ailing all
summer, going to bed well and active
and waking 50 stiff that he could hard
~ move, went to a witch doctor in
Reading, who said that he had been
magneti2ed, gave him some powders,
and cautioned him against coming into
contact with any person or receiving
anything from anybody for nine days.
He kept aloof from all persons for that
period, and declares now that he is
well. A widow who lost her voice last
spring, and had it restored after the
spell had been removed, has lost il
again, and she is in hourly fear of the
evil spirits, Magnetism and influence
are the principal causes mentioned, the
folk knowing just enough about the
former to realize that its effects are
mysterious and wonderful The witch
doctors shrowdly withhold the names
Of the alleged witches and permit their
victims to place the responsibility ac'
cording to their W notions, the result
being the stirring up of unfriendliness
or hatred that may not be controlled
unless somebody takes the pains to ex,
plain to the simple folk the actua'
causes of the cases Of illness.-N. Y.