Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-08-18

OF ilci, sHc tVultuHct1 uoHcttfs
to live there in spite Of al protests.
When a witch is about, any indi-
yidnal mishap, any storm-swept
crops or any blighted harvest is laid
ct her door, and Poor Mol must
have been held accountable for many
sims Of which she was never guilty,
but, at last, there came a great af-
Fiction upon all the people, and BY
universal opinion the plague was
attributed to her evil influences.
What this calamity was the story
docs not relate. Maybe, some ter
riblc epidemic Of disease Or some
great loss 81 lives or property BY
storm and flood. Anyhow, It was
enough to arouse the whole com
munity and the people determined
70 rid thcmselycs Of Moli Dyer and
her b1ighting witchcraft. But how
eould his be done without failure
and without bringing down upon
them greater evils
After long consultation it was
agreed 70 destroy Mol Dyer's hut
BY IRE, and force her 10 seek shelter
in another place. II was mid. VIM
ter and such q Winter a. The old
times knew Ii IL related that Oh
4 dark, stormy and freezing night
her hut wax surrounded and fired
BY the ayenging peopfo. With bare
~ time ID sayc herself, she escaped
from She flames and lled to the
woods.
She was not pursued, and the
people returned to their homes hop.
ing that they would be plagued no
longer By the dark arts Of the witch.
Nothing was heard 81 her for ser
cral days, until q boy hunting FOR
his cattle in the woods espisd her
knseling on stone with one hand
resting thereon and The other raised
a. ifinprayer Hcrlife had gonoont
il tho dark, cola night. aud shessill
rested II her suppliant poaition,
frozen stif with the Winters cold.
The story runs that she otgcrea d
prayer to be avenged 81 hex perse-
eutoys and that a curse 10 put upou
them AID their lands.
Years have passea since then, tlie
march 81 civilization has gone on,
the light Of religion aud science
have swept away many Of the su-
perstitioaa of our foreFashers, the
occult art has lived its life and rests
IN the shades d the past. to serve
Cor time 10 heightcn the interest
d novel or create 4 Witch Of
Prague but thore are those who
firmly believe in the old tradition
herein related, and such belief has
come down % ns III everlasting Re
cords, ~ the stream near BIZ the
hut Il known 70 this day Al Moll
Overs Run, aud The stone but
short distance away, upon which
she hnelt, Il now pointed out Ia The
curious. bearing upon its face the
clear impressions Of her knees and
hand.
Many times have belated travellers
on this road seen the ghost Of MoIl
Dyer making her midnight vista
tons 70 her accustomed baunts. It
is told BY those who have the corr
age and endurance to watch, that
once ~ each year. on the c0idest
night of Winter, she may BE- seen
vending her ghostly way from a
point South IL the Run. where tho
remains Of tho hut can yet bc faint
III seen, 10 where the stone il, and
knecling IN the same attitude as on
the fatal night, as if praying that
her curse may By continued.
There are those who think that
her prayer was heard when she
asked that the lands he made bar
rem and the nocks decimated, as
the country for several miles around
the location Of the hutis, to this
day, with few exceptions, desoIate
and unproductive.
g Horace Greeley said rive
are to recognize the worth and the