The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-05-14
w1rcHcRAFr AND MuBDER.

W1IG6ChAEI AMI MVbUEH.
Witchcraft is not dead in America,
nor did the last of the witches burn
during the days of the Salem witch
craft. In the fastnesses of the Penn
sylvania mountains, and in the farm
ing districts, the homes Of the Penn
sylvania Dutch, bordering the great
anthracite region, spells are as pow
erful today as they were 200 years
ago, and as implicitly believed in. The
belief in witchcraft which was burned
out Of New England survives in Penn
sylvania. That man was bewitched
is common excuse for crime there.
Only month or two ago farmer
named Weisinger shot and killed two
of his brothers. The men had lived
together and farmed together all there
days in peace and brotherly love.
They had some trifing dispute, and
one of them, walking into the farm
house, brought out his gun and de-
liberately shot his two brothers dead.
AT preliminary examination, when
asked why he did it, his only an
swer, given apparently in perfect seri-
BUSINESS and good faith, was: II must
have been bewitched." At present
he is in Jail awaiting trial, but unless
his lawyer prevents he will certainly
urge at his trial that he was not re-
sponsib1e that some one had cast a
spell over him. 1t is plea which in
the district where he has lived would
be accepted as seriously as it was
made. Even in the county seat,
where the trial must be held, it is
probable that more than one of the
jury will hear it with sneaking SYM
pathy. 1t is probable that that man
really believes his own statement that
he was bewitched. In his own mind
he probably has a very definite idea
lin Elm for ftfESed lie dnbbaiievfbq bbi bt to be Make i get
mock of it.
Still more recently, near Durham,
N. c., a respectable, middle aged
negro, named Lipscombe, deliberate
ly killed an old darky named Merritt,
who he believed had cast spell upon
his wife. Some time previous the
two men had some difficulty over a
trifing account. A little after that
Merritt went 10 Lipscombe's wife and
told her he had "drove up nail for
her" and that she'd be dead in three
weeks. She believed him and wor-
ried herself sick. Lipscombe saw his
wife apparently dying before his eyes
and went over to Merritt's house with
his Bible under one arm and his shot
gun under the other. He tried the
Bible first as a means of breaking the
spell, and finally, believing it the only
way, blew Merritt's head off. He
made no attempt to escape, went
quietly home and waited for the Off
GERS to come and arrest him and went
with them without protest.
Down in Cumberland county, Penn
sylvania, there is a degenerate class
of pennsylvania Dutch" who have
both negro and Indian blood in their
veins, and have grated on their own
superstitions those of the Indian con-
iure man and the negro voodoo until
the air is thick with spells, and nc
mans life is safe unless guarded by
innumerable charms against these un.
seen powers of evil, whom an enemy
will, of course, invoke.
AS a rule, these beliefs are only to
be found in the rural districts and are
carefully guarded from the profane
eyes of a foreigner" 1t is the
American of English speech who i:
the foreigner" In the isolated
farming districts of Berks, Schuylkil
and Lancaster counties, Pa, the be-
lief in witches, in pow-wows, in sew
enth sons and in the evil eye, is we'll
nigh as strong today as it was 2oc
,-sa.s .5o. Il a Il.au ePPaISntiy n.arA'
ed for misfortune has he what, out
West, or even up in New England
would be called run of bad luck :
do his crops fail, his buildings burn
his animals, or, perchance, his chill
dren, sicken and die; it is spell
Some one has bewitched him, and hs
generally has a pretty distinct ides
who this some one is. Naturally be
retaliates in kind. He does not tak'
the matter to court, seeking damage
or legal redress. He finds some ont
who can cast a stronger spell, ant
fights his adversary with his owl
weapons, witchcraft with witchcrait.
There is probably no other peopl'
in the country as a tenacious of tn,
beliefs of their fathers as the Pennsyl
vania Dutch-or, more properly, tn
Pennsylvania Germans, for their an
cestors were not Hollanders, but Ger
mans, and they remain today, afte
having been in America for more thai
two centuries, of almost undilutet
German blood, with all their Germal
characteristics unchanged and speak
ing a corrupt German patois amonI
themselves, aud English only whel
they have to, and then with decides
accent.
What they really believe it is yer,
hard for stranger to find out. AID
dressed in English, they answer al
questions quite cheerfully and appar
emily friendly-wise with "Ah don
know ow." They absolutely don
know-ow'' anything. But talk t
then, II, their own tongue. or even i