EFFECT OF MYSTIC LITERATURE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 290, 28 March 1877, Page 4

EFFECT OF MYSTIC LITERATURE.

A atrango casu t>E mnrder. wfitntv shows tft#fiital effect <>U suppratifcUuT* literature on weak minda, has just some Iwfure the assize* of the-Katits-fciWfHe.., It appeared froift the «vidimuu that on Palm Sunday last a widow named Jordan catted otv her Btster4n-taw during vespew, and asked lier t«» coma and help fieir ttml a pn;eeof ltten«y she aaid she had tost in the hayloft. Tli» sistßr-nvlaw consented to. do aoy, and the' ceuph* proceeded to search tW th«■missing money.. A few minute*, how•■»»r, had hardly efapsed when the widow Jordan, taking advantage of the pi s' tion of ft*r sistpr-tn-tkw, a» she- stooped down toleofc under a neap' of wood, suddenly dbalt lier a fearful bkm on the t)»ek of tite n«ad with a itoaivy !<>£. Jordan then lm«It on her and completely smashed her •JraQ to piecta with a large stone. Hav-

ling committed the murder, the widow ! proceeded to the honse of a neighbour, | and showing her hands, red with the blood of her victim, exclaimed, "I have killed i Francowe; the demon will not trouble i her any more ; you will find her body in the loft." She then went to the policestation and made the same statement. Jordan b 49 years of age, and of a snper- ! stitious turn of mind. She denied that she had premeditated the crime. Slo said she believed in ghost 3 and spirit 5 and had killed her sister-in-law to evoke the demon. The medical testimony proved i that the prisoner's mind had been npsct by reading books on witchcraft and the like, and that she was not responsible for her acts. The jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, and the prisoner was acquitted.—Paris Correspondence London , mtttitdnrd.