The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-13
BELIEF IN wrroHoaAFT
I:is stili Prevalent in Many Sect,
OF the Countrv.
From the Washington Star

II is difficult 10 understand how ~. oil,
enlightened age, there can still be- 1.eo,l
who have firm belief in witchcraft b..
it is fact that in one Of Pennsvlvapi,,
largest towns three witch doctor d
make a comfortable living by the pro.,j
of their supposed art. One case Ia Why
all three were called Is Of unusual irterI
est. 10 was that of "a little I
who, when about three wears /,
age, began to show signs Of great yre.,;,
ness Of the ankles, due no doubt to inf,~.
tile paralysis. The parents, however
after many consultations with friends ,r5I
neighbors, decided that the child had
been bewitched by an old man who lived
in the neighborhood. He was a singuja,I
old creature, of strange habits and m.
couth appearance, and he had a mania for
hunting buried treasure To assist him
in this he consulted every witch EoogSI
he could find, and tried the potency nj
various spells, " none of which, however
proved of any avail.
One day he came to Mr.. D., the fatbe,
of the little boy mentioned, and asked
him to contribute $40 toward the mar,
chase of certain book for which he was
obliged to send TO Ireland. He promiso5
that If he succeeded-as he felt sure bs
must-by means of this book in findir9
any buried treasure, Mr.. d. should shaT
it.
Mr.. D. was in receipt of a very small
salary, and he declined to make the con.
tribution. Promising to give him cause
to regret his refusal, the old man went
away, and few weeks later the little
boys strength began to fail. The moth.
er, IN telling the story, said;
SURE THE OLD MAN HAD BEwITCHED
''We was sure from the first that it waq
the old man that had bewitched him He
did it to get even with Jack for not helm.
ing to buy that book. We think he tried
first to throw the spell on Jack, but found
Jack was too strong for him, so he threw
it on Joey. That's the way they ALWAYS
do. It's bound to fall on one of the fam
lily. Joey used to tell us that he saw the
old man come alongside his bed, and we
had to burn light in the room all night
Sometimes he'd wake up screaming that
the old man was after him with knife
Then his tongue got stiff and he
couldn't tell us any more, except
by nodding his head when we asked
him questions. The old man was
bound, you see, that he shouldn't tell US
what he saw. Well, we took him TO
witch doctor then, and he said he could
cure him. We paid him S. and he DOW.
vowed over him for q while, and then
wrote something on a piece of paper.
which he made me sign. This he tackled
to the bed head, and Joey seemed to get
some better for while But the spell
got worked out, and he was so bad of
that he had to roll and push himself
along the floor when he wanted to move,
al he was all of twitch all over So
toalr hfvr, TO- fnh H.,
the seventh daughter of a seventh daugh.
ter, and she said she wouldn't
cure him without we paid her
$40 and gave her five yards and
a half of red flannel and pack of needles
and pack of thread. Well, it came
pretty hard on us to manage it, but We
was willing to live on oatmeal of only we
could get our boy cuped, and we gave her
all she asked. She gave us bottle OF
water and said we was to keep it for
eight days in a dark closet and on the
ninth day, at o'clock in the evening,
must build hot fire in the kitchen stove
and set the bottle on it. When it burst
the old man would come and the spell
made little hood of some of the red
flannel and had me tie 1t round Joeys
neck, and she put little bags Of red
flannel over each door Of the house. Wen,
on the ninth day l built the fire and put
the bottle on, and Jack and l waited out
side the door an hour to hear 1t burst
But it didn't, and when 10 o'clock camel
was just about sick | was so disappointed.
But before went TO bed went into the
kitchen and put the bottle right on TO the
Goals, Just as the witch doctor said was
to do if it didn't burst on top the stove,
The next morning l was awake long be-
fOysa dow hy,f dt1Tst lnva HOTE1 he
fore sunup to see about the bottle, for
fear I'd spoil the spell. was all ola
tremble when, at last, went into the
kitchen and raised the lid of the stOvej
and there lay the bottle, just as | had
put it in. But when | lifted it up it ran
from my hands like molasses candy.
THE WITCH DOCTORS EXPLANATION.
"Of course I went to see the witch doc
tor and told her about it, aud she said the
old man had come, but ne was stubborn
and we'd have to try it all over again,
and she must have another five dollars
and another lot of flannel gave her the
flannel, but didn't have the s. handy
just then, and promised to give it to her
if / saw the child got any better. The
whole thing was done over again, ana
this time the bottle burst almost as soon
as I put il on the stove, but no Old
man came and Joey didn't get
no better The witch doctor came for
her money and when I wouldn't give IL TO
her she threw u spell on him so he
couldn't raise his hands 20 feed himself.
We've tried another witch doctor since
then, but he couldn't lift the spell off and
l guess it's on him too firm for anything
to help him"
Another woman who was present
during the recital said that it wasn't any
use saying there weren't witches nova
days, for her own grandfather had been
able to cast spells" on people.
HE moved on a farm near my mother
place when | was about ~ years Old
she said, land he didn't like my mother,
and so he put a spell ON her churn. From
the time grandfather came mother
couldn't make the butter come, and we
had to heat clevis red hot and throw IL
into the churn. That always broke the
spell"
A woman living in this Pennsylvania
down on her cheeks and bought bottle OF
liquid warranted to remove supertluous
hair within fortnight She FASTENED 70
apply it literally, having entire faith In It's
efficacy. But Immediately her face began
TO burn, the pain growing so intense as 10
force tears from her eyes. In vain she
bathed it, covered il with -four and with
oil, and famed it asSiduosly-it contnu-
ed to burn At last she rushed to tDe
house of a neighbor, who advised her 10
allow the sexton of neigboring church
to blow on it, He was sent for, and she
declared that as soon as he blew on her
face all pain left her instantly The man
has been accredited since his boyhood