The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-02-27
About Witches.

ABOUT ~ ItChtSs
Rev. j. NJ. Buckley. dls'Iugu IN, d
Methodist divine, ard tditu, "t g. err
Official organ, his written Tor THE Cen
try Idgdziac for January q paper on
witchoraf. II is very interesting, and
treats of belief i'll witches or possessed
persons from the earliest history oi our
race down to the present time. We
select from the Paper the following
extracts:
Witchcrait is at tie present time believed
III by majority of the citizens of the
United States. The larger number of
immigrants from the continent of Europe
are more or less IN fear of such powers
To these must be added no considerable
proportion OF persons of English and
Scotch descent; for 4 strong vein OF
superstition is discernible in many Irish
Scotch and some English, whose 'io!k
lore" dit1used In nursery tales and
neigh borLood gossip, has entwincd itself
strongly ABOUT the libers OF Spontaneous
subconsclUus mental imagery. Am0. Z
the moro Ignorant members Of tie
CatI Ollie Church OF every n.jioTality the
belief produces a los ster, us dread,
against whicI men aud women cross
themselves, and resort t. various rites
supposed to be etticacious.
Where colonies Of Immigrants have
remained isolated, retaining their nwA
anguaga, the influence Of wircncEafr il
more easily traced. The interior OF
Pennsylvania affords better ilIustra. ions
of this, and on a larger scale, than any
other State. 1t has been bnt two or
three years since snit was brought by .
man against his mother, in Que Of the
counties of Pennsylvania, 10 recover
damages for dog which he char ed h r
with having killed by wi'cIcraft; and he
not only brought suit, but obtained judy
ment from justice of the peace. Various
witness testified as to their experiences
in witcLcraft, and only one said that lie
never had a friend or relative who WIS
bewitched.
In divers villages of Pennsylvania,
some Of them in the Dunkard settlements
are women who are shrewd enough not
| to apply their arts to strangers, but to
those when they know, as stated i'll an
| article III the New York SIM some years
| ago; they will sell charms to ward of
| lightning from the buildings, dry up The
wells Of the enemies OF applicants, force
COWS to give bloody milk, cause sickness
i'll the family, destroy beauty, separate
man and wife, and reupite estranged
| lovers.
Iu the interior parts Of the Southern
States, where a large proportion of the
white population cannot read, and there
is little admixture of society, there are
witch doctors, who, assuming that al
disease is caused by witches. secur,
thriving practice in couuteracting theil
influence. The Philadelphia Times, OF
the authority of a reputable correspon
dent, who gives many facts to sustain
MS ItpltSSul t.tlOllN, say L vi RGlN
| ratioDs the poor whites have believed il
witches, and the belief is deep seateC
| and incurable,"
The African population brought this
belief from the Dark Continent, and il
persists among them to this day, though
the progress OF religion and education 1t
doing something to check it.
have recently noted, IN various parts
of the United States more than fifty SUITE
| instituted by persons against these VIII;
| they claimed had bewitched them; but
under existing laws the accused could
not be prosecuted except where money
had been obtained under false pretenses
or overt acts of crime had been suggested
| or committed.
! During pedestrian tours in New Eng
| land, in various parts of the West, and il
every Southern State, have frequently
stayed for the night at the houses OF
poor farmers, laborers, fishermen, and
trappers. In such journeys | have in
variably listened to the tales of The
neigh bornood, stimulating them by sug
| gesti0n, and have found the belief il
witchcraft cropping ont in the oldes
towns of New Englard, sometimes with
in the very shadow of the buildings
where learned ministry has existed
from the settlement of the o1udtry, and
public schools have furnished means o
education to all classes. The horse shoe'
seen in nearly every county ana often IN
every township, upon tbs houses Of er-
sons suggested the old horse shoe benea
which Lord Nelson, who had long kept
| it nailed to the mast of the 'Vlctors,
received his death wound at Trafalgar