Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-08-11
STILL BELIEVE IN WITcHcRAFT
Instances Of a Superstition Recalling
Bygone Days in Salem.

Instances Of a Superstition Recalling
Bysone Days in Salem.
Burning old women at the stake as
witches is a pleasantly no longer in
dulged in, even in Salem, but belief in
witchcraft is not altogether dead. Only
few months ago a woman in Jersey
City had neighbor haled to court on
the charge of pretending to possess
powers of evil and threatening to use
them unless paid to desist. AS the
complainant has suffered a streak Of
bad luck, in spite of paying to ward it
off, her belief in her friend, whom she
called a witch, was cruelty shattered.
More recently a woman living near
Butler, Penn, was accused of being a
witch. Mrs. Laupaule Orber was the
victim of this ancient superstition.
She was charged by Mrs. Julia Kroner,
farmers wife, with having gone to
the Kroner barn and casting a spell"
over a COW so as to prevent her giving
milk. Mrs Broner openly made the
charge Of witchcraft in court but the
Judge refused to consider it other than
one of disorderly conduct. On this
ground Mrs. Orber was found guilty
and fined SIS.
other tales equally absurd could be
told of the rural districts, but none
possesses the elements Of witch
story so much as that Of Abel Spiva
and his brother William, who lived un-
til a few years ago in McDonough
county, Ill. The events with which it
deals are a matter of court record at
Macomb, the county seat
Abel Spiva's forefathers came from
the Carolinas at a time when belief
in witchcraft was strong, and they
brought their superstitions with them
into what was then the western
wilderness. Thus Abel honestly in
herited his belief in witches, as did
his brother William, who as a witch
doctor had quite as extensive prac-
tice as a regular county physician of
| those DAYS. Whenever the simple folk
of the neighborhOod felt spelP'-to
which they attributed all their sick
ness and i'll luck-they called in Will
liam Spiva and he drove out the
witches; at least he convinced his pa
tients that he did.
One day Abel Spiva told his brother
that he was bewitched. Every night,
said Abel, witch took him from his
bed. transformed him into a horse and
rode him wildly about the country to
attend the meetings of the Devil and
| his host of Imps. AS result Abel was
so tired in the morning that he found
| it hard to do the work on his farm.
William didn't suggest that Abers
lcomplaint was probably sheer laZiness,
for they were agreed that the only way
to break the spell was to find the
witch and kill her. So they began to
cast about for a likely woman whom
they could accuse.
| 1t so happened that at that time
Mary Friend, wife of Charles Friend,
farmer living near the Spivas, was
dangerously i'll with fever which had
Ibaffled the local doctor. Not believing
| in witches the Friends had refused to
| call i'm William Spiva. so when Abel
opined that Mary Friend was probably
the witch that found so much enjoy
ment in changing him into horse, he
had a ready and willing listener In
William. The two brothers decided,
after scant reflection, that Mrs.
Friend was only shamming in order to
give her an opportunity TO lie i'm bed
and rest after her nightly rides to the
Devils camps.
At first William Spiva was puzzled
as to how TO rid his brother of 'he
witch's spell. bur after consulting his
"witch's book" he hit upon Il novel
plan. Abel must go into the woods,
carve the outlines of a wuman's Nc"re
i'm the bark of a tree, give it the name
of Mary Friend, the Witch" mold 8
silver bullet and at sunrise the fol-
lowing morning shoot the image.
Thus, reasoned William Spiva, would
the spell he broken, for it would mean
nothing else than Mary Friends death.
Abel Spiva did as his brother direct
ed and returned to his work with a
Ifeeling of renewed vigOr. Shortly be-
fore noon he was chopping wood when
a passing neighbor called out:
Heard the news, Abel? Mary Friend
is dead"
oh. | knew that" remarked Abel
a witch and | shot her with a silver
bullet" And he told the story of his
bewitchment, and how, as he thought,
he had killed Mary Friend
| The news of Abel Spiva's confession
spread quickly, and from all sections
of the countryside farmers came to
ask him about it, His story sounded
Iincredulous, but he told it with so
much seriousness, that it proved con-
vincing, especially as she had died on
the very morning Abel fired at her
carved image on the tree.
While the majority of Abel Spiva's
|
| had met her just deserts there was one
who was convinced that a crime had
been committed. Having no faith in
witches he filed a complaint before
Justice of the Peace Tridwell charg-
| ing Spiva with murder. Abe was ar
rested, and upon being arraigned in
court pleaded guilty.
Squire Tridwell was himself a be-
lever in witches, but he admonished
the prisoner that his confession made
him liable to a death sentence. Abel
insisted on his guilt, however, and the
justice reluctantly sentenced him to be
executed forthwith, the same as he
shot the woman"-sO reads the old
court recOrd-by being stood against a
tree and shot 10y the constable. Be
cause of Spivas plea no evidence was
produced to show that Mrs. Friend
had not died as the result of Il bullet
wound.
From the courtroom to the woods at
the edge of the village, went the con-
stable with his prisoner, followed 10y
crowd Against a tree they placed
Abel SpiVa, and the constable, raising
! his long barreled squirrel rifle" to his