The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-06

N.
grave is an old-fashioned. weather.
beaten. tottering, marble shaft where
on may be deciphered this inscription:
..........t......+.. .-.....
DIGORY PEARDoN,
Died January 3. 1850. /:
Aged "A Years. i:
And thou shalt go to thy :
fathers in peace: thou shalt be. /:
buried in a good old age. :
....... Observation-Disclosures
Following is the tale as it was told
by one who knew and loved him well.
who testified to his many good and
renowned works as THE Charm Doc
tor of Wisconsin," where at his own
home on this beautiful prairie he prac-
ticed these charms on the multitudes
who fiocked from near and far to be
healed of their infirmities at his office,
the best room in the log cabin wherein
he lived.
This Digory Peardon, of whom no pic
ture is extant save in the memory of
the few yet living aequaintances and
friends, was born in Cornwall, Eng
land, in 1776, when superstition was at
its height in all England and more par
ticularly in the Cornish portion. He
was brought up in the Church of Eng
land, to which he always adhered in an
almost bigoted manner, and was said
to have descended from the English
peerage. dying with all that was left of
that aristocratic ancestry. the corrupt
ed name, Peardon, of which he was
proud.
He was small, wiry man, with keen,
penetrating dark eyes, gifted with a
knowledge of human nature and ideas
in advance of those early times when
Christian Science. magnetic healing
and the like were unknown terms. that
he yet practiced under the name of
tsfet,n 1s,ts 1yny Io. 4. "A
descended nearly 800 years in his fam
lily, and was at that distant period said
to have been copied from parchments
written and compiled in Christs time
from conversations the Savior had with
those whom he met as he wandered
among Jerusaiem's hills.
Be this as ii may, Peardon firmly be-
lieved in those charms he so success
fully practiced or was a most arch
hypocrite, and gained his ends by
working on the minds of those who
came to have their pains charmed
away, returning we'll and happy to pass
his fame along by word of mouth TO a
new throng of sufferers With a broth
er he emigrated from Cornwall. Eng
land, in 1874 settled in the Cornish set
Element in Eagle township, Waukesha
county, Wisconsin, where he resided
until his death. During his six years
residence there he devoted his time to
y
physical ills.
Neither his grave nor its neglected
surroundings now attract more than
passing notice, save from the few who
have learned of his wondrous charms"
from some of those few remaining SUI
perstitious "Cornishers" who only speak
of them with bated breath and awed
voices, as one speaks of some sacred
thing, who Will not alone after dark
pass the '.charmer's" last resting place
and who are said to practice these
charms or endeavor so To do among
themselves to this day and to believe
in them as strongly as they did half
a century or more ago, when their ex-
pressed belief did not subject them to
ridicule.
Digory Peardon. the Wisconsin
charmer. was guided in every act of
his daily life by the signs and omens
of the day the sounds and directions
of the wind, the motion of the leaves
on the trees, the fantasfic-s shaped feet
ing, scurryng clouds; the actions of
the beasts and birds. all were replete
with meaning TO him. The different
phases of the man We're all observed
and no charm was attempted save
at the proper time To secure the aid of
these Influences. He was a Christian
man. according to his light, believing
in the divinity of Christ, and tradition
something of the Masters miraculous
powers His wife also believed in
charms From few weeks before the
birth of her first child. now an old man
of IS, living within a stones throw Of
where his parents are buried, until her
death So years later. she wore about
her neck charm" given her when a
blooming young English matron by the
old Cornish priest of the Episcopal
faith in Cornwall to guard her against
the evils of approaching maternity. To
this priest blessed charm did she at
tribute long life, the rearing of chill
dren with comparatively little trouble
This charm she wore all these years
unopened. as IL remained until some 81
years after the good priest gave il 70
her, when sacreligious descendant
| opened II. TO find an ancient silver six
pence, with date obliterated. Worn
smooth, encased within a bit of soft
leather. the whole attached to bit oi
! string worn about her neck
With this statement of simple facts
reminding the reader yet again of the
| simple faith, devout piety and. in the
/ light of modern progress. ignorant SUI
/ perstition of those years Of the long
4 ago. that may compare ar fayorably
/ with the present as Will the customs
I and beliefs Of the present with those III
| coming centuries. a few 81 those
charms" may be quoted from the book
/ Of the only known praeticing Wisconsin
'tcharmer'' OF early DAYS. a book In turr
/ copied centuries ago from literature 81
+ q far remote period
] First Charm. a Charm for the Teeth
+ Ake"-As Jesus was walking by fh5
walls of Jerusalem. saw Peter weeping
/ and wailine ard kHashing ef teeth
4 Then said Jesus unto Peter, What
! afleth thee >" He answered and said
i ham grfeSaUsty tormenfed with the
/ teeth ak" Jesus said follow me
pray. o Lord that DigorE Pearaon
teeth may never more ak In the mans
/ Of the Father and u the Son aud If tbs
/ Holy Ghost say it three times.l
/ Strange as il may seem. the above