The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1916-07-31
EDGAR Tiff DESCRIBES OLD SALEM

| HILL" where nineteen witches were
hung. The clerk of the court politely
shows you the "witchcraft documents
and relics" Here are the manuscript
records of testimony taken at the
trials, the death warrants Of the
judges and the returns of Sheriff Cor
win This sheriff in one of his re-
turn records has: Il caused her to
be hanged until she was dead and
buried" This is grim horror for you.
The Essex Institute contains a vast
collection OF historical effects. There
are manuscripts, documents, portraits
and books. There are $4,000 volumes,
100000 pamphlets and 700 volumes of
manuscripts. The instruments of tor
ture are frighttul, such as thumb
screws, iron boots to crush ones
bones, pressing machines, needles and
pins to stick into your flesh. The
brain of man was exhausted in devils
ing instruments Of torture so as to
give exquisite pain. No wonder that
the gentle soul of Hawthorne looked
with horror upon that fiendish- tend
ency in man to- inflict suffering merely
because he had the power of legal
right" to do so. And yet we have
official idiots today who are advocat-
ing the restoration of the whipping
post and the keen lash The man,
woman, or child has not yet been born
who was ever made better by private,
public or legalized brutality!
Recalls Witchcraft
Let us think a little over the witch
craft delusion. Our doctors are tell
ing US today that we are breathing
deadly microbes through our nostrils
and mouths, and that we are always
at the mercy of this common enemy
Earth is said to swarm with trillions
and septillions of these destroyers
Now, our ancestors believed that
earth swarmed with millions of de-
mons OF both sexes, who increased
and multiplied at fearful rate. These
demons were of thin air. These devils
could pass through the hardest sub
stances with ease. They stayed in no
one place, but were tossed to and fro
in the immensely of space. When
thrown together in great multitudes
they excited whirlwinds in the air and
tempests on the water. These de-
mons were happiset when they were
destroying beauty and tearing down
what man built up. Their numbers
were increased by the souls of in
fidels, atheists, still-born children,
women who died in child-bed, jokers,
laughers, suicides and men killed in
duels. The air was full of them, and
men and women drew them by thou |
sands into their mouths and nostrils [,
at every breath. Thus these demons, !
like the modern microbes, lodged |
themselves in the bowels and torment |
ed their victims with pains and fright |
full dreams. They concealed them
selves in all good things to eat, hid in |
playhouses, lurked in novels and play
ing cards. You couldn't swallow a |
thing without gulping whole regi
ment of them.
Ancestors Firm in Belief.
Now our ancestors believed all this |
more firmly than we do in the germ or |
theory, because they believed !
in it religiously. When they believed |
that certain persons could invoke
these demons and use them to cause
disaster, the professional "witch-find-
er" appeared, and he made money just
like some detectives catch criminals
and take the reward today. 1t wasn't
any harder then to manipulate evil