Gun Loaded For a Witch

1905

Charge Consisted of Shillings, Wadded With Bible Leaves

Nicholas Vedderman, a retired farmer of Angora, has come into possession of what he believes is a relic of the days when superstition and belief in witchcraft was general.

This is an old flintlock musket which contained a charge evidently prepared for the execution of a witch. Vedderman, who devotes his time to the collection of curios, purchased the musket, at an auction sale held in an old farmhouse recently. From its appearance the weapon antedated the revolutionary war, and when found was in a deplorable state of rust.

In cleaning it Vedderman discovered that there was a charge in the gun, and this he carefully withdrew. To his surprise, he found instead of bullets two silver shillings, dated 1781, tightly wadded with leaves from a Bible of ancient print. Beneath the shilling was a small lock of hair and a piece of paper containing an illegible quotation. The gunpowder was coarse and undoubtedly of colonial manufacture.

Vedderman, who has made a study of such things, says it was by firing such charmed charges that the superstitious believed they could scare off witches. — Philadelphia Record.

Note: In this little tiny article, the original manages to have the guy's name spelled three different ways. Vadderman (1), Vedderman (2), and Yedderman (1).

Chicago Woman Declares She Is Persecuted for Alleged Occult Power

1901

OUR CHICAGO BUREAU SPECIAL
Occidental Buildings, Sept. 6.

Persecuted for Witchcraft in Chicago

Persecuted and buffeted because some of her neighbors think she is witch with power to weave uncanny spells about her enemies — that is the complaint made by Mrs. Alexandrai Kostokas before a justice of the peace. Her tale of woe is directed particularly against Mrs. Mary Cohen and Thomas Kelley, who, she says, have made her life a burden by treating her as a practitioner of witchcraft.

A horse belonging to Mrs. Cohen died and Mrs. Kostokas was accused of exerting an occult influence over the animal. Then Mrs. Cohen's son was stricken with paralysis and the alleged witch was held responsible for the stroke. Mrs. Cohen also averred that her own illness was due to the sinister influence of her neighbor. Mrs. Kostokas says these stories have been circulated so persistently that others have really begun to think she is endowed with a supernatural power which she makes use of to the detriment of her neighbors. She seeks a way to end the alleged persecution and invokes the court's aid.

—Dubuque Daily Telegraph, Dubuque, Iowa, Sept. 6, 1901, p. 3.