The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26
PENNSYLVANIA wTTCHcRAFT.
stiII PrRcticed i'm the Mountainous
Parts of That state.

Reading Correspondence New York sun.
A recent traveller afoOt passed through
what is known as the dark ground" of the
Blue Mountain district Of Pennsylvania
The Blue Mountains separate the anthra-
cite coal country from the agricultural dis
/ tricis of the eastern part Of the state
Along the base of these mountains. where
there are no railroads, civilization is a
/ half century at least behind the times. and
/ yet the grist mills and farmhouses are
substantially built of gray limestone
/ Many Of them are over century and a
( half old and in most excellent state of
| preservation. and strange to say. hidden
away in many of them are books on in
carnations. divination, or, as the Germans
say. "Hexerei" The people in this region
i are principally Pennsylvania Germans, and
/ the mystic books they own, and scrupu-
/ lousy guard under cover. are all in the
German language. The books give fun de-
I tails of the black art--coniuring, produc-
! ing spells. discovering thieves and prOduc-
ing cures. The "powwOw' doctor is an
! interesting character found here. This
venerable type of magic healer is fast pass
/ ing away. What the medicine man was TO
the Indians the pOwwow man is to the
people in the mountain country of East
| Pennsylvania to this day, with this eXcep-
ton. that the powwOw man uses no herbs
or medicines.
Aged Peter Bausher lives in a rough
hewn log hut at the base of the Blue
| Mountains in northern Berks county, some
| three miles beyond Straustown. He is
famous powwow man. And his services
! have been freely given for the last fifty
years. When younger it was nothing I'M
usual for him to go twenty miles away into
| the forest to powwow for some afflicted sui
! ferer. Added TO his excellent neighborly
qualities is the fact that he is sincere
Christian. And yet he practices m-gic heal
| ing. The mountaineers say he has per-
! formed wonderful cures, and for this rea-
son his services were in great demand.
But he is too old now to venture far from
home and the long journeys are things of
| the past. In his own way he told this
story of his life
My father could powwow. So could his
/ father. For $50 years the Baushers OF my
| family knew the prayers for various cures.
| Powwow healing is by faith and by pray
ers We do it all in the German language.
| For each affiiction there is special pray
er. None of my prayers heal so quick
as the one ! use for hemorrhage' l have
| frequently stopped a serious flow of blood
| in minute after powwOwing. Pains from
| burns l cure the same way. Erysipelas,
| wild fire, felons, lameness, sprains, poison
| plague and many other Affections, such as
wasting away fits, St. Anthonys dance
! Affections of the nerves, quickly disappear
| with powwowing.
81 use no medicine; only words said
| silently. OF course l cannot tell you what
the words are. The words / know were
| handed down from father to son. They
! were never written. All must be memoir
! lied l think my reat-great-grandfathe
! handed down the words now use. What
| they We're when he first used them ] don't
| know, but they have changed, no doubt.
Many words / use / don't know the mean
| ing of. No doubt they were all right when
| my forefathers used them. Mistakes in
| pronunciation and memorizing have been
repeated, and by this time some of the
words have changed completely. If my
secret is not to die with me l must tell my
| Oldest son, but he says he will have noth-
| ing to do with 1t. OF course, l can tell a
woman, but not man, except my oldest
son. Man tells woman and woman tells
man. In this way these powwow secrets
| or prayers or Biblical quotations are
passed from one to another, but must not
| be written down. You must know them by
heart: you must be near the person and
see him when you powwOw for him or her.
Il never made any charge in my life.
| I dare not. My gift must be given entire
| ly without price, so that all may have II,
| free as the water But if any one wants
! to give me anything for a present for my
| trouble he may do so of his own free will.
| Then 1 can take it. OF course, you will
| understand that in the olden days. CEN
| fury ago, in the backwOods, they had no
| doctors. Some one had to attend to the
| afflicted. There is plenty of Scriptural au-
thority for healing by prayer or powwow
| In German we say braucha. The Bible is
| full of evidence of miraculous cures. Read
of all the wonderful miracles of our Lord
who used the simplest words, even to rails
ing people from the dead
| while powwowing is all right for GER
tain affections, yet when person has ty-
phoid fever. diphtheria, or any dangerous
disease like tina then my advice is to
send for reputable doctor at once, and
don't bother with powwowing. But there
| are some things that doctors can't touch.
Powwowing can heal and cure every time
| have had thousands of proofs of the
| efficacy of powwowing. l could name
| hundreds of the best farmers of Berks,
Lehigh, or Lebanon counties who have
unalterable faith in powwowing. The pa
| tient, of course, must have, first of all
| the strongest faith in the powwow, or it
| won't do any good. Sometimes burns or
| injuries are blown upon when we powwow
or the hand is passed over the injury
lightly, during the operation of
| 'braucha.'
| "Hexerei is quite another matter l
don't do anything of that kind / only try
to cure people and help the afflicted. Heav-
en- knows there is enough suffering in the
world. 1t requires some time to learn it
and then to remember it. A person must
go under instructions. But it is a common
thing to meet old women who can pow
WOW for burns or blood letting. Their
| husbands told them how to do it. Their
cures to the outside world would seem
very curious. not to say startling. People
take the treatment as naturally as they
drink water and think nothing of It. You
must remember that a hundred years ago
| IN the forests of this country there was
| not a patent medicine advertised for every
| i'll that flesh is heir to- But it is the mys-
| FERROUS, battling Affections of human life
| that powwowing helps and cures. Many a
person declining to the grave under a
strange, unknown spell is helped, and the
consuming evil spirit within him is driven
out by prayer or powwow alone, and the
/ sufferer is healed. Nearly all the good
| old powwowers are cead. must find some
one to give my secrets to. / might not be
/ able TO rest in peace in the grave If died
with all the precious cures unrevealed to
some one worthy to hear them remember
/ them, and practice them for the benefit OF
| suffering mankind
Sarah Berahardt recently drew quite