Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-02-23
Men, Prominent in Business
Affairs and Down, Be-
lieve in Charms.
a WHOLE STATE AFFECTED
Maine Is Said TO Be the Most Super
stitious State in Union-Bis Bat.
ties Ended in Victory BY
Its Aid.
From the Kansas City Star.


ply, and perhaps some of the queerest
Of superstition. Those who nave super
stitions please read and gloat. Those
who have none. READ and ponder.
A certain millionaire In New York i'm
plicitly believes that something dread
Iul would happen to him and his for
tune IL anyone except himself should
ever wash his socks.
This superstition caused the man a
peck of trouble in the days that he was
q regular" of the Hotel Windsor,
which was burned some years ago.
One day, after he had been INDUCING
his pet superstition, this mar Of money,
happy in the thought hat all would
now be right with his finances until
g wash day. went over TO Brooklyn
20 pay a long deferred visit. He was
absent from the hotel for some hours,
returning just in time for dinner. after
which he went to his room and I'M
locked the door--to find the room flood
ed with water.
A haSty investigation showed that
after washing his socks he had failed
90 turn off the basin faucets. and the
flow being too great for the outlet the
basin lac overlooked The damage to
carpet, ceiling, ETC., amounted to 81, 900,
n after ne had settled with the land
lord he was asked to look for accom-
modations elsewhere. But lot even this
costly experience cGused the man to
lose faith in his superstition. which still
rides him.
Maine superstitions.
Maine. among other things, is noted
for it's unusual superstitlons. The next
time you meet a mar fresh from the
pine Tree state ask him II he ever
stuck his jackknife in the head board
of his bed prior to going to sleep at
night and it's dollars to doughnuts that
he will answer In all seriousness:
why. certainly; it's the only way to
keep the cramps from attacking you in
the night.
The story is told of q Portland man
whose wife banished all the wooden
beds from their house one day n sub
stituted brass one. The first night the
man was to sleep in a brass bed he was
IN Il quandary-there was no way in
which he could stick the big blade of
his knife in the bed head. In this d.
lemma he ~bethought himself Of the
practice Of a New York friend who, in
order to ward off the cramps, always
made It a point to Arrange his slippers
bottom up at the foot Of the bed. The
Maine man had recourse to this charm,
but along in the early morning he was
awakened by the first attack OF the
cramps he had had in years.
The following night there was no
shiny brass bed I'm his room: the old bed
was back In It's accustomed place, and
in its head board the big blade OF a
jackknife was thrust good and deep.
Suosrstitions About Aches and Pains.
All sorts of odd superstitions are en-
ployed by even well e and fairly
well educated people to prevent and
overcome divers aches, pains and dis
eases.
To possess n three-colored cat is
said to be a sure preventive of ma
iaria. Toothache can be got rid OF by
eating bread which q mouse has free
ly nibbled. IL govt or rheumatism
troubles you carry a rattlesnake skin
in you pocket, n before the skin has
begin to show signs Of disintegration
your pains will leave you. Have you
the stomach ache. Kiss a mule and
h ache will vanish while o are
showing your affection for the dumb
animal.
Seven drops of blood from a cats
tail is an ancient remedy for a suf-
ferer with epilepsy. and to ard off
this terrible disease many people re-
ligiously wear rings made of some
metal-silver preferably-which has
done duty on a coffin that has held a
corpse, Whenever a man falls in an
epileptic fit In some Of the foreign
quarters of New York. a ~bystander is
almost sure to rush up. open the VIC
TINS shirt and scratch a cross on the
barred breast with a pin or some sharp
instrument, in the belief that this
charm will bring the man ack TO nor
NAL.
Probably more odd superstitions
are woven around the wart than any
of the blemishes of the human face
and form divine.
One a when he was a boy OF Z
Or s, had q large wart right in the GEN.
ter of his forehead. which, naturally,
gave him much worry. He was told
by the negro servant OF the house to
cut the wart with a borrowed knife, let
a few drops of blood fall on a piece of
paper, then fold the paper UP after the
manner of a note, drop 1t on the side
walk In a f~requented spot. and in a
weeks time after someone had picked
st up the wart would disappear. II did.
and II has never returned.
How Negroes Remove Warts.
Negroes have diverse charms for re-
moving warts. One Is to rub a wart
with the rough side of a swamp bean
leaf for seven days and not tell anyone
that you have done such a thing. To
get rid of a seed wart, walk due west
some night when the moon is full. then
suddenly stop, stoop and pick UP the
first thing your hand touches on the
ground, rub the wart vigorously with
II, all the time keeping your eye on
the moon. Rub till you a stand the
irritation no longer, then make straight
for home and in the five or six days
the wart will have disappeared. never
TO bother you more.
A still more picturesque and not so
painful charm for removing a wart Is
to beg a chew OF tobacco from an old
negro, run dow the street until you
meet another negro, offer him the
chew, and IL he straightway puts it in
his mouth without question. goodby TO
the wart.
Have you a corn that has been CIV
ing you ali sorts of trouble when the
weather. Is preparing to change from
gay to grave? Would you like TO rid
yourself OF the little trouble maker?
Then search until you ind a snail.
break the shell, n with the soft body
rub the corn until the pain stops.
Witnin the week OF will drop the corn,
and none will come In its stead.
Hotel Superstitions-
The hotel business has numerous SUI
perstitions peculiar to itself. and they
are az widely believed In as are the
perstitions Of gamblers n habitual
ace track goers.
A hotel man Quakes In his boots
wheuyhe nnds that q register still In use
has bssn thoughtlessly closed BY some