A RELIC OF THE DARK AGES.

Colonist, Volume XVII, Issue 1899, 10 April 1875, Page 4

A RELIC OF THE DARK AGES.

At the "Weston-super-Mare Police Court on Ist. January, Hester Adams, a middle-aged woman, waa charged with assaulting an old woman named Maria Pring at the adjaceut village of Lympsham, by stabbing her in the faoe and hands. Complainant itatsd that defendant, after assaulting her, exclaimed-" Now, I've drawn your blood, I m bT)efendanfc-I can prove that she is an old witch, and ehe has hag-rided^ me and my husband tor tne past two years. The Bench—ln what way ? Defendant—She comes to my house and groans at me. I have often seen her in the night. The Bench—Do you believe she has an evil eye i Defendant—l know she is an old witch. The Bench—What do you mean by calling her a Witch? Defendant—Why, an evil spirit. . The Bench—Why do you not take the advice ot the Rev. Prebendary Stephenson, your vicar, on the matter, aa he would dissuade you from such foolish notions? ~ . , . : Defendant-Mr Stephenson believes it too, but dofen't know what to do with her. Thomas Cook, a farmer, said he was passing complainant's cottage, when he saw the two women Struggling together, and heard defendant exclaim— " I don't care, now I've drawn blood from her. " The Bench—(to defendant)-What does the complainant do to injure you? Defendant—l had no rest night nor day before 1 •oratched her, and now roy husband is troubled by The Bench—What do you mean by hag-riding ? Defendant—A person that cornea and terrifies Others by night. The Bench-Have you been troubled by her (since you drew her blood ? . . Defendant—Not so much, but my husband is, anc I'll draw it again for her if she does not leaTa m< done. , , ■ , , The Bench-We shall stop you from domg that toi come time to come. • . , ~-v ■ Defendant—Complainant said she wished she nac a pood stick for me. . , The Bench—Which would have served you right. Defendant—l have been obliged to leave Lymp •ham because ehe terrified me so. The Barich —But what doea ehe do to you ? Defendant—Why; I cannot fltand (sometimes, o do anything. , The, Bench—Do you see her when she temne you? , ! ; Defen^arit-^Yes, I have seen her many times a : j)jght,.but she does not come bodiljt - . $he Bench—llow, t hen ? j ,Defendant— Why, spiritually. [Laughter.] The Bench—lt is a sad state of thing* to believe i: each superstitions as you do in the nineteenth oen • tury. The Clerk—How does the complainant appear t Defendant—ln a nasty, evil, spiritual way, n»»kin a nasty noise. . The Bench imposed a fine of Is for th» acsault, an bound defendant over to be of god behiviour foror - month, for using the threat aha had in Cpurt.—Z>o» ,4oti Daily Ntxot,

At a monster meeting of working men 1 Held at Berlin shortly after the late dastardly J attempt to assassinate Bismarck, a resolution 1 was passed to the effect that in the event of J any future assassin proving successful, this - meeting pledges itsolt to retaliate upon the I Pope personally. This is war to the knife -J with a vengeance. | It is stated in good quarters that, in con- J sequence of the eminent services rendered l by Lord Northbrook in dealing with the J famine in India, he will shortly be created -, an earl. There is, it is stated, no foundation J for the report that he is about to resign the - Governor-Generalship. J The Russian Imperial Gazette states, as a _ result of the Pope's encyclical letter that 24 parishes, with 26 priests and 50,000 laity - have voluntarily returned to the Greek rite. " Thebe is a'rumor, growing in strength - every day," says the Court JoW, "that . at the end of the season the Duke of Counaught will take to himself a wile, one ot the fairest of all the fair daughters of Jinn. Good-bye.—D—sr—li to Gladstone, in travelling attire-" Sorry to lose you! 1 began with books, you're ending with them. Perhaps you're the wiser of the two. A petrified snake four feet long was recently found in a Pennaylvanian coalmine. An effort was made to lorm a company m Fngland to engage in rice planting in South Carolina. _ , , Recent advices from Cuoa report numerous fights with the insurgents, in which the losses were severe on both sides, but nothing decisive was accomplished. Chinese fanatics have destroyed the telegraph line between Foochoo and Amoy. A settlement of the political trouble in Louisiana will probably be arrived at by compromise-the Conservatives to have a maiority of about 10 in the House, and the past action of the Kellogg (Radical) Government not to be inquired into. It ia announced from Berlin that Prince George of Prussia is engaged in writing a drama, the subject of which is taken from the Old Testament, and that with a view of belter preparing himself for the careful working out of the plan, he has called in the aid of ' a distinguished Semitic scholar to direct him in regard to the correct exposition of the accessories of the piece. A Canadian official report ou lunacy says about fifty per cent of the idiots of large towns in Canada are the children of drunkards. . A young- Frenchman has discovered • a plan by which potatoes can be had fresh from the roots all the year round, jib we have them in July—new * potatoes-and this, despite frosts and without hot beds or compost. In winter they must of course be subjected to a subterranean arrangement, similar to that given to truffles. _ i In England, during harvest time, a reaping machine cut a rabbit nearly in two. One man took it up and killed it to put it out of misery; another kicked it. Then came a case of law. The driver of the machine was acquitted, and the two men were treated leniently, for they were cleared on paying the costs. Their crime lay in having touched the rabbit. An old Otago miner writing from Cooktown to the evening papers on the Palmer goldfields, says :—u I left New Zealand last September, with a number of others, filled with high expectations raised by the exaggerated accounts published, of making a rise in this country, but can only report up to the present time an ignominious failure. Let me caution any Otago men, who may be meditating coming here, to reflect welt before they start. The road to the Pajmer and here is dotted with the graves of men, a large proportion New Zealanders, who were strong and able to do the work of horses, but who had to succumb to the hardships of northern Queensland. The majority of them started on their respective journeys totally unequipped, and with heavy swags and empty pockets, and were unable to procure proper food, without which a man cannot work here. They have paid the penalty ol their rashness.— Tribune. Mes Maguuder's baby (says the Danbury News) is carried out by ;the nurse now since the accident to its carriage, Magruder thought it would be a good idea to hay,< a tame g"oat to pull the coach, and he bough one for the purpose; but one day the goal met another goat that differed from him n politics or religion, or something, and eacl undertook to convmce the other by jamming him in the skull. Bvery time Magruder goat would rear up, preparatory to making , lunge forward, Magruder's baby would lurcl over backwards. And sometimes the othe goat would aim at Magyuder's goat, whicl would dodge, and then the other goat woul plunge head foremost into the coach ani mash the baby up in the most frightfu manner. And in the midst of the contest _ couple of dogs jo ned in, and goat backed off and tilted the coach into th gutter, and the dogs, biting around, kind c generally, would snap at the goat and caus it to whirl the baby around just in time fo the bite; until at last the goat got dv heartened and sprang through the fenci 1 leaving the coach on ifche other side, an struggling frantically to escape, while th . other goaf c owderi u;> against jthe baby i order to avoid the dogs, ami finally kij.qek* ' the baby out, and buited the couch t splinters'. Tivy say that the way Mrs Mi gruder went on ihat afternoon when the brought the baby home, mutilated and di hevelled was simply awful to behold; but si didn't speak to him for a week, and he had < soften her down by buying her an ostric ft at tier for her winter hat. Hoii-owAi's Ointment and Phis.—For bi ' legs, bad breasti, 'scorbutic and scrofulous *orei», tl v 'is an infallible1 specific The loud expressions ' earnest gratitude made by thousauds who h'n experienced its unrivalled powerover these, complain and who have been raised up from prostrate helplyi i nets and a condition loathsome to themselves a: '' others, Fender it quite unnecessary to enlarge'in tl place upqu itsordinary .virtues. The partfr aff.nt j should' be bathed with lukewarm water, and wh the pores are thereby .opened, the Ointment'shot Ibe well rubbed .in at .lefist twj.ee a day. It .» alw« advisable to t take £01lo way's jPilfc in these.dwo.-de tsftie action of I lie Ojptmvnfc'is.the/ieby wonder v minted, The -J?iuY check' .fever, 'ppi*ify £h.e ble< and iject »tt jnqrbid.uiitter engendered b^ di.e#es, A T>VT_