Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-06-01

MURDERED AS A WITCH.
Talk Of. a Delirious Woman Causes
the Deed.

1 Talk OF q DeIirious Woman Cause
the Deed.
An affair has recently developed
near Stonewall, in the Chickasav
nation, which recalls the stories O
witchcraft, witches and spells Of til,
time Of Cotton Mather. While tbC
'witch'I in this case was not burned
alive, she was murdered, her body
given to the flames and all her be-
longings destroyed.
Near Stonewall lived quarter
breed Indian, with a grown son and
daughter. The daughter was a
widow and kept house for the father
and son. The fathers name is Joe
Gilchrest, the son is known as Young
Joe and the daughter was Mrs.
Sophia Loder.
Gilchrest is the owner of quite a
tract Of land, and until recently the
owner of a large herd of cattle and
considerable number of hogs and
sheep. The Texas fever killed off
The cattle in such numbers as to as
tonish him, and, to add to his trou-
bles, cholera got into his hogs and the
murrain into his sheep, so that they
numbered not score all together.
At this juncture, coming into the
house one day in February, complete
ly discouraged, he said to his daugh-
ter, bitterly:
81 believe some one has put spell
on me and caused the death of the
stock"
The woman brooded over the re-
mark to such a degree that in a few
days she, too, took sick and was
soon delirious. In the midst of her
delirium she would cry out:
eyes, yesl There's the witch!
She's glaring at mel Oh, keep her
off, There she goes on a broom
stick! Don't let her come back! It's
Lucy Mackin and / know she's after
my bloodp
Now, Lucy Mackin was a poor, in
offensive old woman, who lived a
short distance from Gilchrest, in a
little old log hut, surrounded by an
acre Of ground, with a COW and pig
and few articles of furniture. She
did not bear the best Of reputation
in the country, but nothing was posi-
lively known against her
Mrs. Loder died in her delirium,
with her last breath calling upon her
father and brother to "keep Lucy
off," AS soon as she was dead, the
father and son mounted their horses,
armed with Winchesters, and rode
rapidly to Mrs. Mackin's house.
They found the old lady in her hut,
attending to her duties, and, regard
less of her protestations of innocence
and cries for mercy, shot her down
in her room Then they killed her
COW and pig, tore up the shackley
stable and the fence, dragging them
all into the hut, set fire to it and
watched it burn until everything
was completely destroyed-until not
a vestige misunderstanding that the
least atom might breed disease and
death throughout the country.
AS soon as the outrage became
known there was great indignation
among the better class; but, strange
to say, the Gilchrests had many sup
porters among the ignorant half
breeds and Indians. who declared
they had done just right. The MUIR
derers were arrested and taken before
the Indian court, but discharged
without even reprimand, thus put
ting the seal of the approval of that
court upon their devilish action.
Mrs. Loder's funeral was a very
large one, and the rites at the grave
were of the ancient character, with
the idea of keeping away ghouls and
witches. lamentations, drum-beat-
ing and harangues by the medicine
men were the principal features
st. Louis Republic.