The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-04-14
REdARDiNd WiTcHoRAFf.


HE1ARDiN0 WiTcHoRAFT.
A Majority or the Citizens Of the Uhited
states BELIEVE In 1t.
Witchcraft is at the present time be-
lieved in by majority OF the citizens
Of the United States The larger num-
Der OF immigrants from the continent
OF Europe are more Or less id fear OF
such powers. To these must be added
no inconsiderable proportion Of per-
sons of English and Sc itch descent; for
strong vein Of superstition is discern
ible in many Irish, Scotch and some
English, whose ''felk-lore." diffu.ca in
nursery tales and neigh borhoo gossip.
has entwined itself strongly about the
fbers OF spontaneous snbc onscious
mental imagery. A nong the more
ignorant members OF the Catholic
church OF every nationality the belief
produces a mysterious dread, against
which men and women cross them
selves, and resort to various rites sup-
posed to be efficacions. ,
Where colonies of immigrants have
remained isolated, retaining the use of
their own language, the influence of
witcbcraft is more easily traced The
interior OF Pennsylvania aft )rds better
Illustrations of this and ON a larger
scale, than any other state 1t has been
but two or three years since suit was
brought by man against his mother,
in one of the counties of Pennsylvania,
to recover damages for dog which he
charged her with having killed by
witchcraft; and he not only brought
suit. but obtained judgment from
justice of the peace. Various witnesses
testified as to their experiences in
witchcraft, and only one said that he
had never had friend or relative who
was bewitehed
in divers villages Pennsylvania
some of them in the Dunkard ettle-
ment, are women who are supposed to
be witches Some are Shire wd enough
not to apply their arts for strangers
but to those whom they know. as stated
in an article in the New York Sun some
years ago, they will sell charms to ward
off lightning fr )m building, dry up
the wells of the enemies of applicants,
force cows to give bloody milk, cause
sickness in the family. destroy beauty,
separate man aad wife and eanite
estranged lovers.
In the interior parts of the southern
states, where large proportion of the
white population can not read and there
Is little admixture of society, there are
''witch-doctors," who, assuming that
all disease is caused by witches, Sc
cure thriving practice in counteracting
their influence. The Philadelphia
Times, on the authority of reputable
correspondent, who gives many facts
to sustain his representations, SAYS:
For generations the y or whites have
believed in witches, and the belief Is
deep-seated and ineurabie = ---------
The African population brought this
belief from the Dark Continent and it
persists among them to this dav, though
the progress of religion and education
is doing some thing to check it.
| have recently noted in various parts
of the United States more than fifty
suits instituted by, persons against
those who claimed had bewitched
them; but under existing laws the ac-
cused 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
in every southern state, have fire.
quently stayed for the night at the
houses of poor farmers. laborers, fish
ermen and trappers. In such journeys
have invariably listened to the tales
of the neighborhood stimulating them
by suggestion, and have found the be-
lief in witchcraft cropping out in the
oldest towns in New England, some
times within. the very shadow of the
buildings where learned ministry has
existed from the settlement of the
country and public schools have fur
nished means of education to all
classes The horseshoes seen in nearly
every county, and often in-every town.
ship. upon the houses of persons, sug-
gested the old horseshoe beneat which
Lord Nelson, who hal long kept it
nailed to the mast of the Victory, re-
ceived his death wound at Trafalgar
Rev. ]. NJ. Buckley, in Century.