The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1913-04-23
Washington Negroes Are
Much Aroused.
SAY WOMAN HAS CAST spell"
On a NeighbOr After Quarrel
and Sheriff Is Asked
To Arrest Her.
AN ECHO OF We OLDEN DAYS
(By Sidney Espey-)

4 washington, April lS.-Wltcn-
craft has raised it's sinister head in
the vicinity of Washington. Witch
craft, long consigned to the cate
CORY of the obsolete, appears to
have found new foothold within
sight of the United States Capitol.
A young woman named Lynch,
light-skinned negress, who resides
in a cottage in the suburbs of Wash
ington, is causing quite a stir
among people hereabouts for she is
suspected of being a witch by many.
The charge comes directly from
Hannah Johnson, another negress,
who claims that the Lynch woman
has cast spell upon her, stealing
away her sight. The only direct
evidence is merely circumstantial.
The Johnson woman suddenly has
gone blind. She blames the light
skinned negress for her misfortune
and has preferred charges of witch
craft which the superstitious ne
groes of the community are COM
mencing to believe.
The negroes of this section, al
thought habitually in contact with
educated white people, still retain
their inherent fear of the uncanny
and have faith in the powers of
darkness. Treating the matter jok-
ingly in broad daylight when every
thing is going well, they alter their
attitudes in time of trouble and are
carried away by their awe of the
agents of the Evil One.
Hannah Johnson, the woman who
has gone blind, has applied to the
county Sheriff, asking that the
Lynch woman be arrested and tried
for witchcraft. The county Sheriff,
finding nothing in the laws of the
State which will empower him to
make arrests on such charge, is
somewhat bewildered and as yet no
arrests have been made.
The white people, for the most
part, scout the theory of the Lynch
woman being a witch, but some of
the more illiterate OF them look
asnance at her and draw their
children close to their sides as they
make d detour to escape passing
her cottage.
Strangely enough, the woman ac-
cused of being a witch is the moth
er of a boy of ten who is deaf,
dumb. and an imbecile. She is
held to be responsible for his mis-
fortunes and the story is told that
she cast a spell upon him several
years ago to make him stop crying
in the night. The woman's hus-
band is Woodworking man who
has a Job in Washington.
Hannah Johnson, the alleged vic
tim of the Lynch womans witch
craft, lives in a house adjacent to
that of the witch. 1t is said that
the two had been on friendly terms
for several months, but that short
time ago trouble sprang up between
them.
Hannah Johnson claims that the
Lynch woman was in the wrong and
knew it and that therefore she had
recourse to her sinister methods to
wreak her vengeance upon her
neighbor. The only tangible fact in
the case is that Hannah Johnson is
blind.
She claims that the Lynch wom-
an can restore her sight if she will
and desires the authorities to force
her to do this. Sides are being Ia
ken by negro neighbors of the pair
and the situation is strained. Most
of the negroes, however. are too
superstitious to have any faith in
the innocence of the alleged witch.
While they do not join the party
which condemns the witch, they re-
main aloof and neutral.
1t is considered unlikely by the
white people of the vicinity that
anything will come of the alterca-
tions. Ii is believed that the ami
mostly between the two women,
their families and supporters will
be conquered by time or by change
of residence, and the situation re-
lieved Just now the matter bo'ls.
sullenly.