Woman to be Stoned and Blindfolded Priest June 4, 2017
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern , trackback
Unpleasant story warning. This dates to 1834 and incredibly was given in a public talk at the Society for the Conversion of the Jews. It is clearly a legend (there are many European parallels): see below. But Beach is desperately looking for more of the same from fiction or from ‘fact’.
A clergyman in London, some years ago, observed a very interesting female attend her [?] place of worship, and sit in a particular seat, and she was very attentive all the time he was preaching, manifesting great attention, but he soon missed the young female; he made inquiry about her; some knew her, but none could tell where she was. Some gentlemen called upon him to request he would visit her, but he could only be allowed to do so under peculiar circumstances, for he was obliged to be blindfolded on his way to her house. Having been blindfolded he was placed in a carriage, and was driven to her residence; and, after lifting up his heart in silent prayer to the Lord, to be directed what to do, and the blind having been withdrawn from his eyes, he beheld the very same female lying upon a bed, bound down with cords. She expressed her gratitude for his visit; she mentioned to him that because she asserted that she was a believer in Christ, she was to be stoned to death, and she pointed out that stones which were to be used. He prayed with her, and encouraged her to be steadfast in the faith, and even to die a martyr for the Lord; and having encouraged her he took his leave; he was then blindfolded again, and driven back to his residence; he did not hear anything concerning her afterwards, and he did not know whether she was stoned or not. Anon, ‘Society for the Conversion of the Jews’, Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail (9 Apr 1834), 1.
The story goes as follows. First, a professional (doctor, engineer, executioner, mason, midwife or priest) is brought to a secret location; their eyes are often covered while they travel. Second, they find themselves involved in a crime, which is typically intimate and usually male family members against female: for example, the clergyman here is implicated in murder. Third, they are taken away and subsequently try to find their way (often with the authorities) back to the house in question: this does not happen in the narrative above, but let’s hope the clergyman reported his experience to the bobbies.
Beach would be really, really, really, really, really grateful for any stories of this kind. He (with the gratefully acknowledged help of friends) has found about fifty now dating from the 1500s to the twenty first century: drbeachcombing At yahoo DOT com They turn up everywhere…
