Late Witch Attack, 1924 September 16, 2014
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary , trackback
***This post is dedicated to Jill***
This blog has long had an interest in witchcraft from western Europe and particularly bizarre late examples of witchcraft including alleged human sacrifice in Britain during World War II and even some witch killings in the nineteenth century. Here is a case of late witchcraft scratching: it was sincerely believed that if a witch had overlooked you then the best thing was to scratch said witch till blood fell thus ending their magic hold over you. In another post Beach and latterly a reader, Jill has gathered various examples of these stretching back through the centuries. The most recent British example comes, apparently, from 1924 and involves one Alfred John Matthews. This example appeared in our earlier post but we now have access to the full details of the case courtesy of Coxhead’s Devon Traditions & Fairy Tales and some contemporary news reports. There is no question that it deserves a wider audience:
A remarkable defence was set up by a man charged at Cullhompton Petty Sessions, on Monday 8th December, 1924, with having assaulted a woman on 21st November. He declared that the woman had ‘ill-wished’ him and ‘bewitched’ his pig and he declared that the police should raid her house. The defendant was Alfred John Matthews, aged 43, a smallholder living at Clyst St. Lawrence. He was summoned by Ellen Garnsworthy, a married middle-aged woman, of the same place, who alleged common assault, on the 21st November.
The details are ‘enchanting’, one can only imagine the shock of Mrs. Garnsworthy as a neighbour, she had a passing acquaintance with, grabbed her as she walked past.
Ellen Garnsworthy stated that on her way to fetch water on the 21st November she passed defendant’s door, and as she did so Matthews put out his hand and caught hold of her. She had to pass his door a second time and he grabbed both her arms. She felt a sharp pain, and her arms began to bleed. Witness was frightened, and said she would fetch her husband. Defendant said: ‘Perhaps that will teach you to leave other people’s things alone.’ Witness declared that she had never touched anything of his, and that she did not understand his meaning. Defendant thereupon said, ‘I have something else inside for you’ and witness thought he meant a gun, and that he would shoot her.
She understandably legged it. The policeman who was called to restore order stated that there were five scratches on Ellen’s left arm and four on the right. The scratches were as long as five inches… Clyst St Lawrence (pictured) is just to the east of Exeter, hardly the wildlands of north Devon, where things really did get out of hand at times. Why did the man so fear Mrs Garnsworthy? He told the magistrates that she had a crystal: which led to some low humour in court because several heard the word ‘pistol’. A crystal would be a fairly exotic thing to have in a house today. But they seem to have been more common in Edwardian England in an age when spiritualism (and various other creeds) were encouraging contact with ‘the other side’. There is only one credible Ellen Garnsworthy that Beach has able to find in the British censuses from these years. She was born in Sandford in Devon (another part of the county) and, if this is the same Ellen, she would have been about 67 when the attack took place. An outsider of a witchy age, then. Did she have a cat?
Perhaps the best line came at the end of the case when Matthews was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment and was told that the fallacy of witchcraft had died out years ago.
Oh, no it didn’t. It hasn’t with some of us. I say there should be a raid on that house.
Matthews was convinced that his pig couldn’t fatten, hence the overlooking. Perhaps it did rather better while he was in jail.
Other late witchcraft: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
27 Aug 2014 Chris from Haunted Ohio Books with some brilliant late witch stories from the US. ‘Here are some late-ish accounts of witchcraft accusations from the US, in chronological order. WITCHCRAFT IN INDIANA Mother Made to Draw Blood From Neck to Give to Baby. South Bend, Ind. Witchcraft is being practiced by certain Polish persons on the west side here. At an insanity inquest it has been learned that an aged woman has been posing as a witch. A few days ago when a 4-months-old babe was dying in the household of Jan Bykowsky, the aged woman appeared and induced the mother to draw a teaspoonful of blood from the veins in her neck and feed it to the child. This, asserted the “witch,” would save the infant. The mother was charged a $9 fee, and the next day became temporarily insane. In one instance the woman of magic is said to have scourged children to drive out the devil. Miami [FL] Herald 26 January 1916: p. 8 ‘WITCH’S’ WHISKEY SPOILED HER VOICE, WOMAN TELLS COURT She Then Drew Blood From Face to Banish Evil Spirits Which Had Been Called The Husband Is To Blame Scenes of Witchcraft Days Are Enacted in Pottsville Court by Mrs. Short Pottsville, Pa., Nov. 19. It might have been Salem, Mass., and the time two centuries ago from the character of the testimony in the celebrated “witchcraft” case from Turkey Run, on trial before Judge Koch. Mrs. Katie Short, aged, wrinkled and bent, wearing a hood over her shoulders is alleged to be a “German witch in league with the Evil One,” Mrs. Michaelana Zamowski alleges that Mrs. Short, “from her incantations and sorceries and alliances with the devil,” cast a spell over her so that for a year she lost her voice and was ill otherwise. Mrs. Zamowski was told that if she attacked the allege witch and made her blood flow, the spell would be broken. Accordingly she attacked Mrs. Short as she was walking the streets three months ago and scratched her on the face, and the result was a suit by Mrs. Short for assault and battery. As the testimony showed that Mrs. Zamowski was ordered by her husband to assault Mrs. Short, court ordered the acquittal of the woman, as under the law in Pennsylvania a woman is supposed to be coerced when ordered to commit an unlawful act by her husband, and the latter is responsible for her deeds. The husband was convicted. Wilkes-Barre [PA] Times-Leader 19 November 1914: p. 4 STORY LIKE ECHO OF WITCHCRAFT DAYS A Thousand Persons Gather About Home of Detroit’s “Witch Girl” Detroit, Jan. 26 Coming from every part of Detroit and from near-by cities, a thousand persons congregated today in front of the humble home of sixteen year old Celia Wrobleski, Detroit’s “witch girl” where they stood silently, apparently awaiting some visible demonstration of supernatural powers. Efforts of a squad of policemen to disperse the crowd met with only temporary success. It almost immediately reformed, eagerly awaiting sight of the girl whom they believed endowed with the power to turn herself at will into the forms of various animals, and to have cast a baneful influence over the community. Inside the house the girl laughingly introduced herself to reporters as a “bear” and wonderingly inquired what it was all about. The only bewitching influence noticeable were her eyes and smile. How the rumor of witchcraft started, no one seems to know, but it threatens to wreck the girl’s life. Inquiry among the crowd brought little information but many openly expressed fear to gaze upon the girl’s face, lest they suffer some horrible penalty. “It sounds incredulous [sic] and I cannot understand it,” said Rev. Father Felix Kieruj, pastor of St. Francis church. “The girl is one of my parishioners and the whole story is false. But even with police church and other enlightened forces of the community seeking to dispel the rumor the crowds about the Wroblesky house continue to increase in size as the fame of the “witch girl” spreads. Ft Wayne [IN] News 26 January 1917: p. 3 Witchcraft” Case Probed At Janesvile Janesville, Wis., AP The state today sought to unravel tales of witchcraft and sorcery involving an aged German farmer of Layden township, a few miles from this industrial center. Henry Dorn, 64, said he was forced to flee his home after neighbors and relatives shunned him because a spiritualist, Herman C. Englehardt of Rockford, Ill., said Dorn “read black books and worked evil.” Dorn said his sister, Mrs. Herman Prey, with whom he lived, blamed him for “casting spells” that caused apples to rot, chickens to stop laying, and cows to run dry. Walter Drew, investigator for the Wisconsin Medical association and official of the state board of medical examiners, will conduct a John Doe hearing to determine if Englehardt practiced medicine without a license. Dorn said it was during a “treatment” he received from the spiritualist that the witchcraft charges were made. Several of his relatives and farm friends were present at the séance, he said, and since that time his life was made miserable. The relatives and neighbors were inclined to deny Dorn’s story. Capital Times [Madison, WI] 7 October 1930: p. 5 Ill Luck Besets Farmer; Friends Cry ‘Witchcraft’ Janesville, Wis., Oct. 8 Relatives and friends looked askance today at Henry Dorn, 64, of Leyden township. Apples on the farm of Herman Prey, his brother-in-law rotted, the chickens suddenly stopped laying, and the cattle all went dry at the same time. Witchcraft, whispered Dorn’s kindred, and they called in Herman O. Englehardt of Rockford, Ill., a spiritualist. He said Dorn had “read black books and worked evil.” Dorn, shunned by neighbors and relatives, fled to the home of a friend. The state board of medical examiners was interested in Dorns story that it was during a “treatment” he received from the spiritualist that the sorcery charges were made. Walter Drew, an investigator for the Wisconsin Medical association and an official of the state board of medical examiners, will conduct a John Doe hearing to determine if Englehardt practiced medicine without a license. Ruston [LA] Daily Leader 9 October 1930: p. 4
Jill has tracked down the original article from 1924, 30 Nov 2017. thanks, Jill!
