Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-04-20
Is Shea Witch?

j., is witch, some of her LeighboIs
say, and has the power to blight life
with glance of her eyes. Then she
has the faculty of stealing vital power
from the children of her acquaintance
and transferring it to her own offspring,
who are plump and Aourishing. Four
children and one cow have come under
her spell, the supcrstitious assert.
Lewis street is in the outskirts OF
Paterson. 1t is avery scedy thorou gh-
fare, and the very place which cheer
less witch would probably select as a
location for her charm and curse fact
ory. The trains of the Erie Railway
Shrek past 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
Patterson have nowhere else to bark
they 60 out TO Mrs Geisel's end OF
Lewis street and wall to their hearts
content, perfectly safe from Interrupt
ton, for the voters of that vicinity fear
to put their noses out in the night air
for purposes of remonstrancc.
No one in Paterson knew that witch
craft was practised in the city limits
until Mrs Gciscr herself marched into
the police court, behind the City Hall,
on Monday afternoon in q great state
of mind Justice Van Cleve was dis
posig of the cases of two drunkal dS
Just as the alleged witch stalked into
the room, fourishing her umbrella and
demanding justice.
The magistrate gasped when he look
ed into the woman's eyes. She is slim
and dark, forty years old and not at all
good looking. She doesn't differ in ap-
pearancc from hundreds of Paterson
women until you see her eyes. They
are dark and piercing and she has a
nervous affection that makes her keep
blinking them iE 4 way which the ig-
norant might think malevolent. Even
Justice Van Cleve turned from her and
afterward he said, II believe I'd
have been mesmerizcd if she's stayed
here q minute longer"
The burden of the woman's tale was
that Mrs. Sandford, II tenant in her
house, was going about denouncing her
as witch, claiming that she had laid a
spell on her boys, John and Henry Sand
ford, and irretrievably cursed Tom and
Adrian Vrcderburg, neighbors; an
old COW belonging to the latter family
had had her soul consigned to perGi-
ton, and, generally speaking, there
was the deuce to pay at that end Of
Paterson.
Justice Van Clevc inquired whether
Mrs. Geiser really was a witch. She
held up her hand solcmnly and said ::
II swear am not, Judge. They say |
dance around fire and hide chicken
bones in peoples pillows TO give them
rheumatism, but it's lie. I'm not a
witch and what's more, | never have
been"
The Justice promised to send police
men to try and persuade Mrs. Sandford
not to make any more trouble.
Just before the scene in the police
court the Standfords moved out of the
basement of the Geiser house and took
up their quarters around the corner.
When everything had been transferred
they moved in body upon Mrs. Gel
ser's home and told her that she was a
personal friend Of the devil.
'You have been killing my boys, y
Mrs. Sandford screamed. "You cursed
them and the flesh has fallen from their
bones, and there are big blotches on their
skins which they scratch and tear at
like little demons. You have hired an
imp to choke them, and every night he
clutches them by the throat"
At this point in the narrative Mrs.
Geiser banged her door, But Peter
Sandford, the boys father, then took
up the TRADE, and the neighbors heard
the whole story Some of the women
crossed themselves, but the more sensi-
bic told Sandford that he was an old
fool.
&"My little boy tore his pillow" said
Sanford, shaking his head, land when
my wife sewed it up she found in it q
long cord of feathers wound together, a
piece of glass, chickens foot and a
! piecrust."
"They may have been the child's
playthings," abserved a cynical neigh
Dor.
''Playthings!" exclaimed Sanford,
"They are the very tools of the devil,
In Germany the witches weave ropes
of feathers to destroy their enemies.
4 chickens foot brings pestilence.
don't know what the glass and pie.
crust are, but l think they bode nc
good.
II took the feather rope to a priest
and he wept when he saw it, say
ing some evil would come oft. He
told me to get y tin pan, fill it full OF
water and have my children drop q
pinch of salt in it two nights running
On the third night was to put it on
the stove till it boiled, When it boiled
l should see the face of the witch or the
spell would be broken. did as ! was
told, and on the third night, just as the
water began to boil, looked around
and there was Mrs Geiser standing i'll
the doorway glaring at me.
odd man Nredenburgh and were fright.
ened and we paid fortune teller fifty cents
for remedy. She came out dressed in 3
black veil and after she had waved a glass rod
over her head three times and put the money
in her pocket she said; Look again In tks
pillow and you will find more feather rope:
and lump of pork fat. Never lend anvthinp
to wowan you know, for she is witch.
II remember that Mrs. Geser had borrow.
ed q saucepan. Then the fortune teller LOOK,
cd up in the clouds and exclaimed, turning tc