[COYNE] DAVID RAMSAY AND LONG POINT 125 



Promising to look into the stone, she "retired to her chamber, 

 and after three hours returned with a worn look as if suffering from 

 some acute nervous irritability." Then she informed McDonald that 

 his outbuildings had been "burnt to the ground just two hours ago." 

 This turned out exactly true. 



"Have you ever seen a gray goose in your flock?" she asked. 

 He had, he had shot at it with a leaden ball, and the fowl had escaped. 

 She assured him, "no bullet of lead would ever harm a feather of that 

 bird." The bird was merely a shape assumed by his enemy. He must 

 use a silver bullet, and if he hit the mark, his enemy would be 

 wounded in a corresponding part of the body. He and McDorman 

 returned to Belledoon. Next morning, the goose reappeared with the 

 flock in the river. He fired, and the bird, "giving a wierd cry like a 

 human being in distress," fluttered into the reeds^with a broken wing. 

 Rushing to the long low log house, he found "the woman who had 

 injured him, with her broken arm resting on a chair, and her withered 

 lips uttering half-ejaculated curses." From that moment the witch- 

 craft ceased. The witch lived for some time, but suffered always 

 from racking pains throughout her whole body. 



Conflicting Narratives. 



More than a score of people residing in or near Wallaceburg 

 signed statements respecting the startling manifestations. Apparently 

 50 years had elapsed, the witnesses were of course well advanced in 

 years, and there had been time for amplification of whatever were 

 the actual facts. Most of them assert positively that they were 

 actual witnesses, others spoke from information received from near 

 relatives who had been witnesses. There are, of course, many and 

 very serious discrepancies in parts of the story. 



Dr. Troyer is in some statements called Rev. Father Troyer, a 

 Roman Catholic priest. Some of the witnesses state that McDonald 

 and McDorman went to Troyer's place at Long Point, and received 

 the explanation and recommendation there. In one narrative, Mc- 

 Donald would seem to have gone alone. It is left in doubt whether 

 Troyer or his daughter was the clairvoyant. 



According to one circumstantial statement, Troyer came to 

 Baldoon, remained some days, and his presence alone conjured away 

 the evil one. Some witnesses make no reference to the shooting of 

 the gray goose. One asserts that McDonald shot and killed the 

 witch. There are almost innumerable other inconsistencies in the 

 stories, which show evident signs of very extensive development 

 during the half century. The significant fact remains, that there were 



