The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-09
IN MARYS REIGN
By BARONESS ORcZY
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, tall. supernaturally weird, with great glowing eyes and tongues of flame H. iumining her person.
 "The witchi'' they shouted. the witch! the witchl" What do you want with meY mur- mured the poor girl. | Egged on by their passions. they smothereds their terror. They seized her violently by the wrists and drag | ged her out of her lair and on to the platform where the rest of the crowd were pressing.
 triumph. greeted the appearance of the wretched woman Not a spark of pity was aroused by her helplessness. her obvious. abject terror.
 .The witch! the witch, death to the wstcSn'
 They seemed to be flaming their own passions. adding fuel to the flames of their insensate wrath. There was the source of all the evil which might have befallen the peace full valley of the Thames, the creature with thes evil eye. the dispenser Of misery and deathi They had forgotten the guard now. Their lawlessness knew no bounds. But for the incessant din of the merry makers at the Fair. the banging of the drums and the shouts of the eriers. ttGtI VWH NCtiS VI GAtCAnttohf hhNAs violent curses and the shrieks of tho captive girl. could not have failed to attract attention.
 But everyone was busy laughing and enjoying the last hours of this happy day. No one came to interfere in this deviiish work which was about to be consummated.
 tered but brought further vitupera- ton upon her.
 She shouted "Helpl' "Hark, my mastersl" sneered Mat thew loftiIy "she calls to Satan for help"
 "what will you do with me7" she pleaded. i've done you no wrong"
 Thou hast brought the devil in our midst"
 "Noi nor
 q saw thee riding on broomstick --going to thy Sabbath revelss' Iris falsel"
 "Tie her to the pole!--Quickr' The so-called witch, the friend of Satan and of all the powers of dark ness, fell upon her knees in an agony | of the widest despair. Realizing her awaiting her, her whole figure seemed to writhe with the agony of her hor- | TOT. She dragged herself to Matthew's | knees--he seemed to be leading the others--she wrenched her arms free | from those who held her and threw them round him. She forced her voice | to gentleness and pleading, tried to | appeal to what was 8 atone-wall of un- | conquerable prejudice.
 "Slrs, kind sirs!" she entrated, you would not harm poor girl who had | done you no wronge - you won't harm me" you won'ts ooh God!' she shrieked in her frenzy, you wouldn'ts you wouldn't" . Holy Virgin protect me"'" :" A rough hand was placed over her mouth, and her last yells were smoth- cred as she was ruthlessly dragged away
 Then with two or three leather belts She was securely tied to the flagstaff, whilst a thick woollen scarf was wound round her face and neck. leav- ing only the eyes free to-roam wild | ly on the awful scene around. I Awful, indeed! Man turned to savage beast in the frenzy of his own fear.
 Swift and silent. like so many | rodents in the night. the men began l collecting bits of wood, broke up their sticks into small pieces, tore branches down from the old elm trees. Matthew the while. still the ring leader of this dastardly crew, was directing thes gruesomc operations.
 ''Hist!" he admonished IncessantIy, mot so much noises eve don't want the guard to come this way, do wei sNow, John the smith, where's thy resin?" SJames the wheelwright. thy finder. friend" "Here! these faggots are not close enough!s SSome more on, the left there!s ."
 And the men, as alert as -he.r clum- sy bodies would allow, as quick as the darkness would permit, croaaing sweating, falling up against one an other, worked with a will to accom- plish the end which they had in view
 To burn the witch!
 And she, the woman, her poor wits almost gone at sight of this fate ap- preaching, inevitable doom. did not at- tempt to struggle; had the gag been removed from her mouth, she would not have uttered a sound.
 Nature. more merciful than her own children, had paralyzed the brain of the wretched girl, and left her semi- imbecile. crazed, watching now with uncomprehending eyes the preparations for her own appalling death.
 Watch how the witch will burnP' said Matthew in a hoarse whisper. "her soul will fly out of her mouth and it'll be shaped like a black cat"
 They had all descended the steps and were standing fin a semi circle on the turf below looking up at the miserable holocaust which they were about to offer up to their own cowardIy super afftfo0