Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-19
AN ALLEGED WITCH.
Mrs. Geiser Said to Have Bewitched Four
Children and . Cow.

Mrs. Geiser Said to Have Bewitched Four
Children and Cow.
Mrs. VIM. Geiser Of Paterson, NJ, II q
witch, some Of ter neighbors say. according to
the New York Hercld. and has the power to
blight life with glance OF her eye. Then
she has the faculty Of stealing vital power from
the children Of her ecquaintances and trans
ferring it TO her own offspring. who are plump
and four:shing. -Four children aud one COW
have come under her spell. the superstitious
assert.
The Herald saws: Lewis street is in the out.
skirts Of Paterson. 1t is very seedy thorough
fare. and the very place which a cherries
witch would probably select az location for
the Erie railway shrek pas: the house No. 22s.
in which Mrs. Geiser lives. and at night they
might sound to the terrified like the cries Of
lost souls. When the dogs OF Paterson have
nowhere else to bark they go out to Mrs.
Geiser's end Of Lewis street and wall to their
hearts content. perfectly safe from inter-
ruption. for the voters Of that vicinity fear to
put their noses out in the night air for pu--
poses of remonstrance
No one in Paterson knew that witchcrsft was
practiced in the city limits until Mrs Geiser
herself marched into the police court behind
state of mind. Justice Van Cleve was dis
posing of the cases of two drunkards Just as the
alleged witch stalked into the room, fourishing
her umbrella and demanding justice.
HER STRANGE EYES
The magistrate gasped when ne looked into
the woman's eyes. She is slim and dark. forty
years old and not at all good looking She
doesn't differ in appearance from hundreds of
Paterson women until you see her eyes. They
are dark and piercing and che has a nervous
affection that makes her keep blinking them in
way which the ignorant might thinK ma!ev-
o!ent. Even Justice Van Cleve turned from
her and afterward he said to me: Il believe I'd
have been mesmerized if she'd stayed here q
minute longer"
The burden Of the womans tale was that
Mrs. SandiOrd. a tenant in her house, was going
about denOuncing her WITCH claiming that
she mad laid spell upon her boys. John and
Henry sanford, and lrretrievabiy cursed Tom
and Adrian Nanderburgh. ne;Shburs: an old
COW belonging 10 The latter family had had her
soul consigned 10 perditioH. and, generally
speaking. there was the decce to pay at that
end OF Paterson.
Justice Van Cleve inquired whether Mrs
Geiser really was witch She Ile't UP aor
hard solemrly and said: II swear ia ny.
JUICE. They say dance around fire AID Il; ie
chicken bones in peoples pillows to gi;e :i.urn
rleuDiatis N, but it's lie. I'm not w.gch and,
what's mere. | never have been
The justice promised TO seId policeman 20
try and persuade Mrs SANFORD not 70 make
any more trouble.
jus: before The scene in the police co.rt the
Sandfords moved out of the basement of the
Geiser mouse and tCo1 up their quarters around
the corner When everything had been trans-
ferred they moved in body upon Mrs
Ge;sers home and .od her that she was per-
sonal friend of the devil.
HIRED A DEPUTY IMP.
You have been killing my boys" Mrs.
Sanford screamed. .You cursed them and
the flesh has fallen from their bones. and there
are big blo:ches on their skins which they
scratch and tear at like little demons. You
have hired an imp to choke them. and every
night ne clutches them by the throat"
At this point in the narrative Mrs. Geiser
banged her door. But Peter SANFORD. the
bows father, then took up the TRADE. and the
neghbors heard the who's story. Some of the
women crossed themselves, but the more sen
sible told Sanford that he was an old fool.
My little boy tore his pillow" said Sand
ford shaking his head. land when nv wife
sewed it up she found in il long cord of
feathers wound together. a piece OF glass, a
chickens foot and piecrust.'
They may nave been the childs piaythings,' ~
observed cynical reighbor.
.Playthings." exclaimed Sanford. They
are the very tools of the devil. In Germany
the witches weave ropes of feathers 20 destroy
their enemies. A chickens foot brings pesti-
lence. don't know what tine glass and pie
crust are, but think they bode no good
Il took the feather rope 20 a priest and he
wept when he saw them, saying some evil
would come of it. He told me to get tin pan,
fill IL full of water and have my children drop
pinch OF salt in it two nights running. On
the third night was to put it on tine stove till
it boiled When it boiled I should see the face
81 . II III
did as was told and on the third night Just as
the water began to boil. l looked around and
there was Mrs. Geiser standing in the doorway
glazing at me.
DRAMATICALLY DENOUNCED
'Old man Vredenburgh and we're frightened
and we paid fortune teller fifty cents for Il
remedy. She came out dressed in black veil
and after she had waved glass rod over her
head three times and puy the money In her
poke: she said: Look again In the pillow and
yon will find more feather ropes and lump of
pork fat. Never lend anything TO woman you
know. for rhe is witch
II remembered that Mrs. Geiser had Dor
rowed saucepan. Then the fortune teller
looked up in the clouds and exclaimed, turn
ing to Nredenburgh. who was ready to drop
with fear, You have a COW, also pair of twins.
You give milk every day to witch. Stop it or
your children viii die
NtectuDuTSu anu prayed all night, and
next morning NredenDurgh told Mrs. Geiser
that she was witch and could have TO more
milk. Ills twins became i'll at once. So did
the cow
Peter Sanford" said bystander. 'you are
an old stupid. There aren't any witches
Aren't there exclaimed Sanford. .Why,
the fortune teller told me herself that there
was"
Mrs. Geiser ridicuied the witch story She is
a Woodworking woman with a very bright fam
lily.