Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 August 1914 — Page 2

"The Witch Still Lives!"

r HE witch still lives, as court l.records in widely separated parts of the world bear testimony. True, these women who work magic do not use a broomstick as a means of transportation, especially now that'aeroplanes monopolize the airways and because the automobile is much

to be preferred. The emotional Celtic mechanic in Massachusetts, who invoked the law to free himself from the thrall of a woman, working a witch spell on him from Pennsylvania, was not laboring under a delusion, according to some of the best authorities on the subject. He was, indeed, bewitched, just as. much so as the victims of centuries ago, when they had a discouraging custom of burning the fell enchantresses. Furthermore, within the last few months a “witches' league" in Sardinia has felt the heavy hand of the law; a Wisconsin spell-workdr, in court, has told with undisguised pride that she is a witch and can flrish upon any one feood or ill; a man in Hoboken, N. J., charged with working witchcraft and conducting a school for instruction in the art, women being, his pupils, frankly has cohfessed he possesses supernatural pow<ers; a Paris witch has indicated the place in which the body of a missing man was . to be found and described the person who slew him. There are unquestionably hundreds of other cases to be uncovered in the most advanced centers of civilisation —black, white and gray’workers of thd spell; for psychological research, far from shattering some of the records of the past, goes toward making them credible and to demonstrate bow a woman, be she siren of lodk or malign of visage; may place others under, her domination and so bend them to her will that they are sick or joyous according to her command. It is surprising to know that even today among the great number of apparently enlightened people, the color scheme of witches still persists. “The popular theory divides witches into three classes," observes John Brand, in his work on sorcery and witchcraft, “of which the first, powerful to hurt but not to help, is appropriately called black; the second, of directly opposite quality, helpful but not hurtful, is called white; and the third, potent as well to help as to hurt, is styled gray.” And it is the gray witch that flourishes today for profit, and for power. She is the crone dragged to court, or the abundantly fleshed and bejeweled “seeress” who rolls to the houses of ■ Justice in the latest’ model of motor. Nor has the “evil eye” been relegated to that past which it filled with terror and death. You may test its baleful influence from the glance of beauty and of tragic age. It all depends upon your “psychic receptibility," the condition of your mind which leaves It open to the occupation of a will stronger than your own. The revelation of hypnotism and the study of nervous disorders have done much to make the witch of the past understandable and to show us that, despite the boastful declarations of supernatural power made by some <of the commercial cult, there are just as many, if not more, of them with us today than there were at the time when thousands of so-called witches were condemned and executed, the last in Great Britain and Scotland being in 1722. , By far the most remarkable oase of modern record is that of Mrs. Sarah Bennett, the “Witch of the Adirondacks,” committed to the insane asylum in Utica, N. Y., in May last. Her home was on a lonely mountain in Hope township, and she was the mother of five children, all of whom were under her mesmeric influence.

HUNT FOR MEAN BURGLAR

Mow York Artipt Asks Police to Search for Man Who Had Made Him His Victim. What Sebastian Cruset, who painted a panoramic view of New York City from the top of one of the towers of the Queens boro Ridge called the meanest burglar, is being hunted by the poUoe. Wdr fire years Cruset has been using th* balcony 0° top of the third tower

The eldest son broke away from the thrall, a daughter died after years of slavery to her mother’s eerie moods, and three strapping sons, under the imposed belief that they were consumptives, were kept in bed for 12 years, until recently liberated by the law. The physicians found them still under their mother’s influence, but could discover absolutely no trace of organic disease. The witch’s husband had also been bent by her will, and she rarely left the place, warning off with a shotgun inquisitive visitors who approached the “house of mystery.” It was. an unusual sight, one bitterly coid day of the present year, when Mrs. Margaret Pileon of Crandon, Wis., accused of getting $6,000 from a credulous bachelor in payment for “immunity prayers,” rose and faced the judge. She was a gray witch, and, though she did not designate the color, she Impressively tfdmltted that she was a witch and could wish any good or evil. She had been giving Bachelor Morin “immunity prayers” for 18 years, and, at last, he wished to be free from her. In the assizes court at Sasßari, Sardinia, last spring, a more striking setting by far for the trial of a witch, Rosa Artura, venerable, Imposing in appearance and speech, and known as the Saint of Sasßari, held the whole place under her spell as she declared herself. She’ had been arrested along with '3O other women accused of being in a, “witches’league.” Twentyfive of the prisoners, during a secret magisterial examination, declared that ,they were compelled to work under the powerful spell of six leaders, who professed mystic powers in locating treasures, to work miracles, to call up spirits df the dead with the certainty of the Witch of Endor. Several hundred persons believed them and paid to them thousands of dollars from small earnings. t)ne of the victims who gave evidence, was the former governor of the prison, who had been threatened with dismissal because of the escape of a ferocious brigand. His guards failing to capture the fugitive, and anxious to save his position, he consulted the witches. Certainly they could aid him —in fact, they were the only ones who could give him the pai> ticular service he needed. The witches promised to overtake the brigand in his mountain fastness and have demons seize him, and speeding through the air, return him safely to his cell in the prison. “Heaven be praised!” exclaimed the distressed governor. “You are not witches —you are angels.” But it proyed that he was the “angel,” for he spent all of his private means. Each day he went to the cell to see whether the trained demons had done their work, and found it empty. When his pocket reached the same condition and he loqjc his job, he raised his voice in lamentation,- denouncing the witches. When stately Rosa Artura rose to speak, the sun glinting on her snowy hair, her form erect, and a natural impressiveness mingled with her kindly manner, the spell of silence fell upon the place. She refused a lawyer’s aid, declaring that St. Thomas and St. Augustine had been sent from heaven to defend her; that they wo!uld advise her, unseen and unheard by others, and speak with her voice. Her speech was eloquent, carrying the spell of conviction with it. It seemed entirely believable, as Bhe claimed that she was possessed of supernatural powers, which enabled her to heal scores of so-called incurables, even raving maniacs. The Saint of Sassarl spoke with the inspiration of belief, it is said; but, though the court was not insensible to the mystic power of her presence and of her speech, still the failure to Explain why

of the bridge as a studio. On the first of each year he has gone to the bridge commissioner and renewed his permit. Recently he finished his panoramic painting. The canvas was five feet four Inches long by ten Inches high, and Mr. Cruset was very proud of hls work. Returning to hls aerial studio after an absence of two days, the artist found that an agile burglar had climbed up the 200-foot ladder leading to the tower balcony and stolen the finished painting and a camera.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IXP.

the demon pursuers did not bring back the feroeious bandit, acceding to contract, weighed against her and her associates. A close observer tells that the woman possesses undeniable power to influence others, by powerful suggestion, and that she unquestionably believes she has the gift of working miracles. This man, who is conceded to be a person of iron will and with a keen eye that “looks one through and through,” admits that he could not sustain his glance when his eye was met by the even, steady gaze of the Saint of Sassarl. “I felt as if, in that look, she had taken something out of me,” he testifies, “and I was as one with a strong will who had been beaten into submission.” Frederick Thomas Elsworthy, In his remarkable work on the “Evil Eye,” in discussing cases similar to this says: “The more imaginative races, those who have been led to adopt the widest pantheon, have been mostly those upon whom magic has made the most impression; and What was once, and among certain races still is, a savage art, lived on, grew vigorously, and adopted new developments, among people in their* day at the head of civilization. “Thus it has stood its ground in spite of the scoffs of the learned, and the experimental tests of the socalled scientific research, until we may with confidence assert that many practises classed as occult, and many beliefs which the educated call superstitious, are still performed and held firmly by many among ourselves, whom we must not brand as ignorant or uncultured. * “No doubt the grosser forms of en. chpntment and sorcery have passed away; no doubt there is much chicanery in the doings of modern adepts; yet, call it superstition or what we may, there are acts performed every day by spiritualistsj hypnotists, dowsers (handlers of divining rods) and others which may well fall within the term magic; yet the most skeptical is constrained to admit that in some cases an effect is produced which obliges us to omit the word pretendu from our definition.”

A Political Murder Society.

A political secret society, which had for its object the murder of 23 persons, has just been broken up in Portugal. Before this was accomplished one victim had been put to death. ; The organization is called the White Ants, its headquarters being In the village of Alcabideche, on the outskirts of Lisbon. The chief government authority of the town, himself a member of the White Ants, and a number' of his underlings, all of them membere of the society, are accused of seeking to do away with certain members of the Moderate Opposition Republican party. The White Ants belong to the Democratic Republican party. The first victim was murdered on his way home from a ball. A party of five of the White Ants had secreted themselves behind a wall near the man’s home, an“S as he wps about to open the door, they fired upon him. He fell mortally wounded. The chief authority of the village later was questioned and then arrested. A list of the 23 persons to be murdered was found in his possession, the list being headed by the inurdered man’s name. *

A Sympathetic Ceurt

“A westerner who narrowly escaped being run down by an automobile pulled out his pistol and shot the rear tire full of holes.” “I presume he was fined heavily in police court?” “No. Another speed fiend came within two inches of getting the judge the same day.”

Bridge Commissioner Kracke received a letter from Mr. Cruset telling of his loss, but the artist neglected to give hls address. The commissioner questioned all the paen who worked on the bridge, but could get no clue.— New York Times. ■

Absolute Rest.

Patience —Women employes of the government printing office are to have rest rooms. Patrice—You mean rooms vltore no talking is allowed?

GREAT CHANGE COMING

STEAM LOCOMOTIVES LIKELY TO BE ABANDONED. Before Many Years Electricity May Be Adopted as Motive Power by the Railroads of the United Btates. • - Newspapers and students of municipal problems have long prophesied that the time was not far away when the railroads would substitute electricity for steam as their motive power. But the silejpge of the railroads on the subject has been somewhat disconcerting, even though some of them have already carried the change beyond the experimental stage. Recently, in Atlantic City, was held a convention of the master car builders, railroad master mechanics and railroad manufacturers of the country, and they made the same prediction. “Pretty soon," they said, “there will not be a steam locomotive in the country.” This is indeed encouraging. Practical constructors of railroad equipment would not make such a statement unless they were sure of their ground. And there are facts understandable by non-railroaders which bear them out. After two years spent by one big railroad system in expensive investigation, the conclusion was reached that there was nothing in electrical development to warrant the abolition of the steam locomotive. But before the directors could act on the report, new progress Was made and they provided their great terminal in New York with electrical propulsion and are extending' the Bystem on their lines in other parts of the country. Over three hundred miles of one western railroad is operated with electricity. One great advantage of electricity to the railroads is that it cheapens construction. Electric locomotives can haul loads up grades which would stall the most powerful steam locomotive. Riders on interurban electric cars see confirmation of this every day. And the steam locomotive uses only about 15 per cent of the power of the coal it consumes and the smoke is not only a nuisance, but it inflicts heavy damage on the railroads and the cities and towns through which they pass. “Pretty soon” is rather indefinite, but it is more than probable that the last of the steam locomotive will be seen by many people now well on toward middle age.

TEST FOR HEROIC FIREMAN

Stuck Bravely to His Engine, Though 111, and Died After Run End&d. f Though ill from heat, John H. Atkins, a Pennsylvania railroad fireman, refused to leave the cab of his engine, but worked all the way from Ocean, City to Camden. Arrivihg at the terminal he was hurried to his home in Camden. In two hours he was dead. Coroner Schroeder, who investigated the case, said the courageous man’s death was due to heat -exhaustion. He was twenty-eight years old and leaves a young widow. Atkins was suffering severely from the heat when It came time to bring his train from the seashore resort The engineer advised him to remain and get medical aid, but Atkins said he guessed he would be all right after they got on the road. On the run, however, he showed great distress and occasionally placed ice to his head and at one time, the engineer said, turned the hose upon himself. This seemed to give him some little relief and he rallied considerably. The brave fellow stuck to his Job, piling coal into the furnace all the way, never failing to keep steam up for the 90-minute run. He must have suffered Intensely, physicians declare. —Philadelphia Record.

Hazard of Railroads.

It is the general and erroneous belief that coal mining ranks as one of the most hazardous vocations. This is easily accounted for by the occasional explosion in which several hundred lives may be snuffed out in the twinkling of an eye. The magnitude of the disaster naturally results In almost unprecedented publicity and a consequent exaggerated impression of its importance. As a matter of fact, explosions of different kinds are responsible for only a small percentage of the coal mine fatalities; It is the insidious and ever recurring falls of roof which, although lacking the spectacular features of the larger disaster, are none the less important in their final results. Thus in 1911 and 1912 nearly half of the total fatalities at our coal mines were due to this latter cause, while only 14 and 18 per cent, respectively, were the result of explosions. In point of numbers the 1909 census places the coal mine fatalities sixth in the list It is exceeded by such elemental risks as child-birth and burns and scalds, wbllq accidents on railroads head the list by a large margin with 6,659. As compared with other occupations the coal miner fares even better. Thus in 1606 the fatality rate per 1.000 in the bituminous mines of the country was 2.77, which was exceeded by eight other vocations, that for railroad switchmen being 4.50 aad the trainmen 7.46. — Engineering Mag* sine. * ' ,

HEROINE OF THE SIGNAL BOX

French Woman Leaves Dying Husband to Others to Make Base Passage of Train. A story of dramatic heroism is told in the Paris newspapers in describing the murder of a pointsman named Poullain while he was on duty on the line from SL Denis to Epernay, on the main Paris-Chantilly line. Poullain, who was aged fifty-one, lived with his wife and another family in a small cottage close to his signal box, at Pierrefltte, about 15 miles (torn Paris, and both of the Poallains were certified servants of the company. These boxes are only entrusted to tried employes, as the express service by day and night is almost perpetual, requiring unceasing vigilance. p The work was shared between Poullain and his wife, and soon after 3 in the morning the woman hearing a cry, ran down and found her husband lying on the threshold just able to say: “Help! lam being murdered.” Shouting aloud, she began to attend Poullain, when she heard the semaphore bell giving warning of the approaching 3:09 train, and, leaving her dying husband, she rushed to save the lives of the passengers by working the points, Which she alone now understood. The whole time she continued crying at the top of, her voice, and she saw first their son and then the neighbors come out and pick up the wounded man, but though half heartbroken and shaken with sobs, she remained at her post for the passage of the Calais boat train, due at 3:30. This she stopped, and Poullain, unconscious but stll breathing, was placed on board and conveyed to Paris, while his heroic wife refused to quit the levers till 6 in the morning, when finally she was relieved by another signalman. It was only then that the poor creature broke down in a long fainting fit, and as soon as she recovered she took train to see her husband, whom she found dead.

LEVITATED TRAIN IS SPEEDY

Emile Bachelet’s Invention, at Present Designed for the Transmission of Mail Matter. The “levitated” train, the invenyon of M. Emile Bachelet, a model of which is how on exhibition in London, is designed for the transmission of letters and mall packages, in the carriage of which, it is suggested, a speed as high as 300 miles an hour might be attained. Briefly, the novelty of the invention is that the train or vehicle is lifted into the air, clear of contact with the ground or rails —e. g., what may be shortly termed magnetlo repulsion, And by magnetic attraction is pulled forward when thus suspended in the air. This action has been known as a scientific fact for a good many years. A well-known demonstration of a copper ring held over an alternating current magnet, when the ring floats suspended in the air, is commonly associated with the name of Prof. Elihu Thomson. The railroad line consists of a pair of rails about 35 feet long laid over a series of coils or bobbins. The vehicle, weighing 45 pounds, consists of an iron car or tube fastened to an aluminum bed plate. This repulsive force acting on the aluminum lifts it Instantaneously, as soon as the circuit is closed, about half an inch into the air and holds it there. But at intervals the track 1b spanned archwise by other electric magnets. The iron of the superstructure of the car responds so that the vehicle is immediately pulled toward them. The electro magnet, as soon as the car reaches it, is automatically de-ener-gized and ceases to exert any influence on the vehicle, which passes on, being pulled forward by the next magnet beyond it. Thus it travels on, from one magnet to. the next, the speed being in proportion to their number and strength. The colls or bobbins in the roadway which lift the vehicle into the air ara. excited in groups by the moving vehicle through brushes affixed to the aluminum plate and kept in contact with the live rail by springs, so that the vehicle carries its magnetic field with it, each group being energized as the car arrives at it and de-ener-gized as the car leaves 1L

Oldest Railroader Sti11 Works.

George Washington Smoot, who is a full cousin of United States Benator Smoot of Utah, is the oldest man in the employ of the Baltimore ft Ohio Railroad company, if not the oldest train man in the United States. He was born at Elllcott’s Mills, Maryland, in 1838, and is now ticket agent at Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island- In 1857 he was brakeman on the Martinsburg division of the B. ft O. In 1868 Smoot was known to the fraternity and to patrons of the B. fti O. as “The Boy Conductor.” 'He was at Harper’s Perry, east-bound, when John Brown made his famous raid, and Smoot’s brakeman, E. L. Dorsey, was seriously wounded by one of Brown’s ’’minie" balls. When the Civil war broke out and the B. ft O. railroad was blockaded, Smoot went to Alexandria as conductor on the United States military railroad, and at the close of the war was honorably discharged. Then he returned to the B. ft O. as conductor on a construction train on the Philadelphia division. In, 1889 he went to Staten Island.

yKoi! flßy howiand Your gifts may be great and your purposes fair, You may preach, or excel as a finished musician; You may gladly possess an abundance of hair, And your health may be always In splendid condition; You may think yoti are anvled by men In , the crowd Because of your wealth or your wit or your station, But if you are fleshy you needn’t feel proud, . , ’ For you've got to be slim to command admiration. You all the records you need to convince Your friends that your pedigree’s lengthy and splendid: You may even point back to some noteworthy prince Or baron from whom you’re directly descended; " v You may claim all the fair opportunities that Are needed to bring you the wealth you’ve desired. But don’t you get cocky, old man, If you’re fat. For unless you are slim you will not be admired. Good lady, your ways may be sweet and refined, • Your sept may be small and your face may be pretty; You may justly'lay claim to true greatness of mind. Your friends may admit that you’re wise and you’re witty; You may ride Uk*.a queen in your fine limousine, You may suffer no hardship nor bear deprivation, But If you are stout let your pride flicker out, For you've got to be slim to command ‘ admiration.

Henry’s Foolish Suggestion.

"You seemed to enjoy the play thoroughly,” said Mr. Henpeck. "Oh, It was awfully funny,” replied < his wife. "I laughed so much that I fairly ached all over.” “Funny part that was where the man fooled his jealous wife and was out with another woman while the mother of his children ..was at home telling them what a noble fellow he was, because she thought he was working overtime for their benefit.” “I thought I’d die laughing at the ridiculousness of. It. I never saw anything In my life that was half so funny. How cleverly he pulled the wool over her eyes, and what a fool he made of her. Dear me, I have*to laugh out loud, even now, whenever I think of it.” "Yes, it was great. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I suppose if I do the things that man did you’d have a good laugh over my cleverness, and —” "Henry! How dare you suggest such a thing? Remember that»our Innocent children are asleep beneath this roof.”

ALL,.

"And with—and with—” “And with what, .darling?" “And with all your money.”

Swell.

Her wedding was a swell affair; The papers all agreed on that; Her. father had but little hair, But he was very, very fat. Her mother waddled down the aisle, /I She was Inordinately stout, And thus afforded many a smile To those who saw her bulging out The blushing bride was short and wide. The groom and preacher were a pair Who, stripped, would weigh five hundred, say— The wedding was a swell affair.

Lack of Confidence.

“Well, I don’t wish to cast toy reflections upon him, but if you insist on having my honest conviction, I will say .that I should not be Inclined to aocept him at hls word.” , “What reason have you for feeling that way?** “He says he breaks the iqe in hls bath tub every morning In the winter and enjoys plunging Into it**

“I want you to love me with all your heart?’ she said. “I do,” he replied. “And with all your mind.” “I do."