The following most extraordinary instance of Irish superstition has just occurred in the town of Roscrea. The facts are as follows: a poor little girl, aged six years, named Mary Anne Kelly, daughter of Thomas Kelly, a resident of Roscrea, has been for six months past in a dying state, under care of the dispensary physician. An old hag who professed to be one of those rare characters, a ‘fairy woman’ persuaded the parents of the child that it was ‘fairy struck’ and offered to cure her if they would comply with her directions. To those terms they agreed. The child was to be placed on a shovel at night, in the open air, in the name of the D___l, after having a prayer or invocation in the same name said over it. In the course of the night the mother was to say to her, ‘Mary Anne, if you are able to come in, do so.’ This was done for three nights in succession, on the last of which the child died, a victim to the credulity of its father and mother. While enduring the cold of the nights, the cries of the little sufferer were the most piteous; and who can but wonder that a woman – and that woman a mother – should not be softened by the distressing cries of the child of her bosom, who was an idiot, had been born blind, and although six years of age, had never walked? On Sunday last, Mr O’Meagher, coroner, held an inquest on the body of the child. The following persons were sworn on the jury, viz., John Delaney (foreman), William Corcoran, Michael Doherty, Patrick Cahill, Richard Quin, Thomas Healey, John Corcoran, Jeremiah Maher, Wm. Saunders, Joseph Glennon, James Phelan, jun. and Solomon B. Matthews. Bridget Peters, the ‘fairy doctress’ and Mary Kelly, the mother of the deceased, were present in the custody of the police. The first witness produced was Mary Maher, who stated that the ‘fairy woman’ administered herbs in milk to the child and said that it did not belong to Mary Kelly, as it was a fairy. Mary Kelly’s own child she represented as having been taken away by the ‘good people’; she also stated that she would either ‘kill or cure’ the child. She blistered the child, and steeped it in water, after which she put the child out on the shovel in the air for three nights. The ‘fairy woman’ used to say to the child ‘Mary Anne, get up and come in’. The mother and she helped the child in. The ‘doctress’ said that on the last night the child would be very black, as there would be some fairies beating it; and that she would either live or die after it. The witness also added that the ‘witch’ had been in the house of the mother of the child for several weeks for the purpose, and that she heard Mary Kelly, the mother say to the doctress, ‘why don’t you do it quick?’ On the third night, the witness, who was a servant in the house, was ordered to put out the child on a shovel, and having refused to do so, she was discharged. Another woman named Mary Whitford, deposed that she heard Bridget Peters, ‘the fairy woman’, say that she had stuped the child three times and had given her ‘verbena and foxglove’. Surgeon Powell deposed that he know the deceased child, who had an affection of the brain and was very delicate. He was of opinion that death was caused by the treatment of Bridget Petrers and Mary Kelly. The coroner charged the jury, who returned a verdict of Manslaughter against both prisoners, who were then committed to gaol to abide their trial at the next assizes of Nenagh’. Tipperary Assizes (North Riding) Nenagh, Friday, March 21. A Fairy Doctress – Superstition. Bridget Peters, a decent-looking woman, was indicted for having caused the death of Mary Anne Kelly, by administering large quantities of fox-glove. Messrs Scott, Q.C. and Sausse, Q.C., prosecuted. It appeared that the deceased was a child about six years of age, and had been delicate almost from its birth, being affected with a softening of the brain, and partial paralysis. The father of the child was a pensioner from the army, living in Roscrea, and in comfortable circumstances, and Dr Powell, a medical gentleman of experience, had been in the habit of attending the deceased, but had no hopes of its eventually recovery. The prisoner is what is called a ‘Fairy Doctor’, and the mother of mary Anne Kelly having consulted her, she promised to recover her, or not charge anything unless her skill was successful. The consequence was, that this unlicensed general practitioner made up some mysterious preparations in a cauldron, putting in a variety of herbs, including fox-glove, which acts very peculiarly on the nervous system and vervani, which is regarded as a very wonderful medicine by those who are superstitious. But the prisoner, after examining the child, very significantly nodded her head, and told Mrs Kelly that is not her child, but a ‘changeling’, and that something must be done to recover the missing girl, who was with the fairies; accordingly, after every dose of the doctress, she had the deceased stripped by Mary Maher, the servant in the family, and carried out naked on a shovel and laid on a dunghill, the poor patient calling out mamma, and in a state of great alarm. The shock of such exposure, and this while under the depressing influence of foxglove, caused a great shock to the system, and on the morning of the 4th of September, another dose having been administered, the poor victim of this superstition died, although the prisoner concealed the fact until evening, pretending that she was in a sound sleep and getting on well. A book called ‘Culpepper’s Manual’, with a statement of how the planets acted on each drug was found on the prisoner, and had evidently been often consulted by this ‘knowing woman’. The jury found the prisoner guilty. ‘Witchcraft’, 13 Sep 1850, 4
