Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-02-06
FEAR POWER OF WITCHES
Cases of Intelligent People Standing
in Dread of Evil Spirits.

A woman tried for witchcraft! We
hold up our hands and wonder at the
bigotry Of those narrow-minded Puri-
tans in Salem, Mass Such situation
seems so remote from anything that
would be possible today So we are
in the habit Of saying, but it is not an
impossibility.
Only short time ago a woman was
tried for witchcraft in court of law
in southern Pennsylvania. That was
not the name used in the charge that
was brought against her, but that was
the accusation: that was lodged in the
minds Of everyone who was interested
in the case, which was tried in re-
gion so thoroughly saturated with ira
ditional superstitions that not even
the present prosperity and general
education can destroy them. Techni-
cally the woman was convicted of OBJ
tanning money under false pretenses,
but actually she was convicted Of be-
ing a witch-a hex" doctor who
"pow-wowed."
in Camden county there is hole in
the post Of mahogany bedstead filled
with salt which witnesses to his be-
lief in witchcraft. At one time he
prosecuted a case against an old wo-
man who, when convicted and fined,
left the court muttering incantations
and vowing vengeance That night
the lawyer was suddenly attacked with
violent pains in the head. The curse
had come upon him and he feared the
wretched old woman, whom he believ-
ed to be responsible for it. Only witch
craft can drive out witchcraft. No
doctor Of medicine would do in such a
case. A day laborer, who was born
with a caul over his face, was brought
in through the back door and taken to
the bedroom Of the suffering lawyer.
The electric lights had been extin-
guished and a candle flickered at each
side Of the bed. Looking at the pa
tient through the veil, which he AYERS
| is the identical one that he was born
| with the hex" doctor muttered his pc
| culiar ritual, tied a rattlesnake around
the sufferers neck and bored the hole
in the northeast leg Of the bed, filling
it with salt, over which he had chant
| ed incantations. This done he an
nounced that the evil powers had not
flied the witch, who lived in hut at
some distance, that she could no long
er hold dominion over the body Of her
enemy, the lawyer. The patient be-
lieved that his pains ceased from that
hour
A prosperous merchant in Carlisle
permitted the body of his infant child
to be covered with coating Of green
paint in obedience to the orders Of a
hex" doctor who had been called in
to ward off the evil spirits.
A stranger in Carlisle pretended
that he had suffered from pain in the
stomach which he believed to be due
to the evil eye of an old woman Of the
town who was generally believed to
have the ability to exercise this bale
full power. A hex" doctor visited him,
/ anu uS llS ldo uioSoNSi
ed a faith in their mysteries the
stranger withdrew and later summon
| ed him to his house, where he was in
formed that he had discovered that an
old witch had made wax image Of
the stranger and stuck pins in certain
portions of it. Hence the pains
Could he be cured? asked the patti
ent The hex" doctor assured him
that his powers were superior to those
Of the witch, and he undertook TO
prove it, Getting a wax image, he
placed it in front of the fireplace,
showed brass bullet into an old muz-
zle-loading pistol and extinguished all
the lights but that made by the fire.
The doctor knelt upon the floor and
the patient was told to hold his hands
upon the seat of his pains. The bullet
was then fired into the abdomen of
the wax figure, while incantations
were said, and the man was assured
that he was cured. With all truthful
ness he could say that he had no more
pain, and for himself had proved the
existence of witchcraft in Pennsylva-
MIA in the twentieth century.-New
York Herald.
SEr If is prOposed to award hero