Sunday morning globe., 1901-11-03


boring town to LAY" a witch or two.
He had several frstrate witch tests
which had on several occasions gotten
numerous old nearsighted ladies into
no end of trouble. One Of these tests
was TO place a large earthen basin
filled with water in the path Of any
suspected person and if that person
stepped into the water the evidence
was conclusive against that person.
For so everyone knows no selfrespect-
ing wicth will ever so around water.
They always plunge directly into it.
And as the rOadways i'm those days
were nothing but hills and hollows,
and as Mr.. Dali always took exceed
ingly good care to place his witch
traps in we'll concealed hollows in the
roadyays, he was singularly successful
in snaring the nearsignted old ladies,
and thereby proving beyond the perad.
venture of a doubt Of their being
witches of the deepestdye. BY such
means as these many old ladies who
had lived a lifetime among their
neighbors unsupported on the grave
crime Of practicing wItchcraft we're in
the winkling Of an eyelid unmasked
and shown up in their true colors to
the Mortified townspeOple. and you may
be sure that the punishment meted
out 10 them was as varied and as Sc.
we're as they certainly deserved. For
/ can tell you that IL is no pleasant
thing to be changed into a horse and
ridden all about the country in a single
night by the witches; and | am told
that in those days many persons could
be produced who would show you scars
and bruises upon their bodies which
were inflicted by the witches during
the time they were transformed into
horses and ridden about the country
as such.
another splendid test used by Mr.
Dali was to make the suspected witch
walk down a lane, for as you must
know, a lane is always crossed at its
either end by road, thus forming the
letter T, and as this letter bears a re.
semDlance TO a cross no witch of good
standing in her community would
dare 10 walk down a lane; thus when
q suspect escaped Mr. Dall's water test
she was requested to walk down
lane, and II she refused she was right.
ly Judged and treated as a witch. AS
there was no lane within two miles OF
the town, and as all the suspected par.
ties were ladies' Of decidedly ancient
origin, and barely able TO walk two
yards, much less two miles. their EN-.
phatic refusal to walk out to and down
the lane was rightly judged as com.
plete evidence as to their connection
with the witches
Now, in the spring Of the year 1880.
> Senuine witch scare threw the inhab.
rants Of old Georgetown into a de.
lightfully panicky state. Horses were
found in their stables of a morning
with their tails and names plated
sure evidence of their having been
visited by the witches during the
night. Hogs were mysteriously ahiict-
ed with the collie and other kindred
Barnyard fowls we're OBJ
served to whirl around on the slight
sts provocation, and numerous other
strange happenings we're reported to
have occurred at divers time. besides
Alexandria had had the previous year
quite a busy time with the witches.
and perhaps Georgetown was lust a
little bit jealous of this fact. any way
reputable citizens, principally very old !
men with notoriously poor eyesight. !
lad seen things" as they expressed
H. which would make your "ha'r"
stand upon end.
Soon a rumor started that old
Graney Wendell was practicing
Fitchcraft Indeed. "Samey" Slater. n
member of the town watch. and an
)ctegenarian besides, swore that ON
certain night he had seen with
MS own eyes a figure greatly re.
old "Graney" WendelTs %
salloping by perched on a horse and
when a neighbor's horse was found
lhe next morning with its tail and
name plated, the townspeopIe sboolr !
Jheir heads knowingly, and said tbat
,mey nad always suspected old Miss
w w ehdell Of practicing the black arts
i hen came divers old gentlemen who
nau' on several occasions, particularly
notlced old Miss Wendell cock un,' ber
eye at a chicken, and almost imma.
Ilately after, to have seen that unIucly
lo"I go careening about like a tae.
loIum All the folks who had hoo,
9lch during the previous year pou, %
,,ilOuted their Illness to "spaIle,, ,,,htaS
lau Deen cast on them by"Grapev "and
people who had lost animals or fowIs
ven, ng,nl,emently charged the old woman n,3' D.
their losses 'poiiSiDie TOT
Inc good housewife husbed tboir
..Iylng children to sleep al nigbt h,,
threatening them with the nreeenco ~ ~,
DIu Graney' Wendell II thew ala rot
instantly cease their noise Tn
their hearths with qooso
grease in the form Of crosses to ooe0 Igoor
On lhe witches, as every one knows
lnat this is an ideal charm aeatnst
Such characters, and when tbe winJ
oIeW and the states ratified upon tbo
TOOL and wild gusts came down tbo
cnilmneys, scattering the hot ashes
ABOUT the good folks drew close 10
one another, and tremblingly wblsn.
cred IN awed tones that "Old Granv',
wendell was abroad this night and
then you may be sure the grease NOT
was In constant requisltlon. PeonIe
VINO were abroad on such wild nights
oIten saw strange figures dvlng
through the air, sometimes seated CAV.
~ astride broomsticks. Indeed. there
can be no question about the chimney
OF Silas Perkins house having been
knocked down bv a yyitobIg broo.,