St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-21
THE WITCH OF DRY SW AMP.
New York Recorder.

|
examines the scales. but can arking his
wrong. He steps up, night '"ss shsgs
weight exactly at 1872 pounds.
THAT'S correct. The scales is right,
am you kin say Leve Brunson spent
one lazy day in the cotton patch without
KNOWN Of it,"
"Jest like me-" says Bud Rainey. ~
alters picks er hunderd, wet or dry, an
loOky yere-sixty-nine poun'. AM
thought l wuz er pickin', did"
You wuz er tallin' ter Sis Dolley, "
corrects old man Hoover. "T'-virtu-
ously-''done nothin' but pick, an Iye
ninety poun'."
Well" says Buds father, nettled,
the differ ?''
That's all right, boys" interrupts
Pegleg; you picked all you knowed.
We're bewitched; that's what's the
matter"
An alarmed glance goes round the
| little group OF gaunt, yellOW-faced,
loose-jointed farmers.
you reckon ." falters one.
Il don't reckon; know it,"
He plants himself against tree, stick
ing his wooden leg in the soft sand.
The men and women, who were leaning
against the cotton house and on the cot
ton scaffold near it. straighten them
selves in their sudden Interest. The
shrek of a locomotive as train Of the
Jacksonville, Tampa q Key West rail-
way flies past startles them anon, for
they have hardly got used to the sound
in these almost primitive woods.
"Pve been bewitchcd now fer the
longest" resumes Pegleg. Look at
Sis Dolly's cotton-seventy-fve poun',
an she picks her hundred, an cooks
breakwus' an supper. Eff my cotton
| want bewitched, wouldn't hit erweigh
more'n that%'
There are many solemn looks and
shakings of heads in shapeless wool
hats and faded sunbonnets.
C Have you got any p'ine-blank s'pi-
ion, Pegleg?" asks one. II mean ergin
anybody in the settlement"
The p'lne-blankedeSt you ever seed.
Hits ole Mis- Lambert, an no one
least"
A great sensation runs through the
sSemblage, though there is little sur
prise.
Il alus said she wuz er WITCH" pm is
in salloW. lanky woman.
That accounts for her never erguine
ter church," volunteered another. "rve
offered her er seat in my cart, but she
said the young 'uns ID hurt her leg S."
That's the reason my gilt, that L
wouldn't sell to her, died mex day."
"She tol, ed off my goslins," continues
Pegleg. an that furst made me s'piclon
her. Then my chickens tuck the Group.
| Then Que time when | WllZ er hog
huntin' roun' Dry Swamp [ seed old
Mis- Lambert er drivin' out her geese.
Hou'd she do it, crippled ez she is, if
she amt a witch? In er natal way. she
| k in list make out ter hObbie Oh even
| groun'."
Yes, that's er true fack."
"Nother time seed her up er stump,
when she had clumb Outen the way of
er moccasin nest, and Pill be dog if
didn't STAN there an watch her charm
| them snakes clean away. OncJ she seed
me, an knoWd I'd ketched her, an ever
sense she's beWitched me. Every time
! | 90 out, ridin' or Walkin', little black
| dog comes outen the cross roads an fol
| lows me backerdS an fOrw erdS, an goes
back the same way. I've got er stOmick
fer mos anything, but that nigh erbout
worries me ter DEATH"
'Cayn't you run him off, ner shoot
i'm ner nothin'"'
Il cayn't. He keeps jest so fer fun
me all the time. He won't be toled, ner
sicked. ner muched. an pizened meat
he won't notice. AM now she's be
| Wltched my cotton"
That must be what ails us.Sis." NUT
tiers Leve; cole Mis- Lambert has
pulitzer bad mouth on u.s."
Siz is a slim girl, with evanescent
roses in her cheeks, that will fade by
and by, and leave her as salow as her
elders. She is tanning herself with her
sun6onnet, so he sees the red blood stain
her cheek and the angy light deepen in
her eyes.
81 didn't know anything allied us. l
| didn't know there was anything to ALL"
Now, Sis, hain't l your jewlarky?
SUI want you mine till somebody poked
in an tOk er passed. er hiS?'
EFF we WuZ you neenter remember
me or it; | amt overly proud of it, is
| the crushing answer.
The older women are still relating
| marvellous tales.
"My ole man tole Mis- Lambert she
mout come to our pen every mOrn'g, as
it wuz clost by an good walking, an
milk our cow. She's there with big
coffee pot every morning, an kin give
her any half dried up yearlin' cow, and
| she'll milk it plumb full, every time"
"She got mad with nanny layst
week. kase she wouldn't let me go an
stay er day er two with her." pipes up
youngster. ''Sence then our cayves
cayn't be foun' of er evenin'; nary hide
nor huff, AMI when we get back hum,
there's the cayves in the pen, all hud-
died up, skeered to death. We tried
waitin' fer 'em to come up, but the
longer we waited, the furder off they'd
CO."
why. she'd orter be killed." snaps
viXenish woman, old at twenty five.
you cayn't kill witches these days"
mot in law. But you kin draw er
witch's plctur an nail it on er tree with
er silver nail, and shoot it with er silver
bullet. Then if she WuZ the shore huff
witch, you could go ter her house an
fin her dead er wounded, jest like the
picture
That's So" says Pegleg. who has
been silent all this time; that's SO, fer
Ive got the identickle silver nail an
bullet that my grandaddy killed ole
Mis- Brown with, jest thataway. Come
in the house an Ill show you"
| He stumps into the house, followed
| by the crowd.
The mantelpiece, holding odds and
ends in indescribable quantity and con
fusion. is eight feet long, and SO high
that Pegleg can barely reach to the
back and draw forth an old mustang
| liniment bottle. From this comes
silver nail and bullet, both showing
use. They are handled with the utmost
awe, and the story of their original use
related in full.
"Somin's got ter be DONE" says an
old farmer; ''fer when hit gets ter be-
%itchln' weer cotton we cayn't git over
thatt" =
you don't never let er witch heve moth
in ner do nothin' fer her she'll lose her
power, an finally die away of herself.
But min! nobody mus do nothin' I,
in coprseln says Sis DolIey, iinpa-
tiently, "ef nobody does nOthin' fer ole
Mis- Lambert, she'll paysh tn death ayf-