Starting from the railroad bridge at Harper's Ferry and running northwest, with the railroad track for six miles to Duffield's Station, is a region that has ever been the home of wizards, witches and all kinds of adepts in occult lore, besides being a favorite resting place for gypsy caravans. The construction of the railroad many years ago was the first interruption to the dreams of magic, and, then, the civil war, with its very practical ideas and, above all, perhaps, the subsequent introduction of free schools have completed the delivery of the worthy inhabitants from the very galling yoke of many professors of the black art - African and Caucasian - who profited in money and reputation by the fears they excited and the fees they received for cures or immunity.

In justice, it must be stated that the whites, mostly of German origin, were generally of a benevolent character and that the practice of their art was always directed to counteract the malevolence of the negroes who seldom devoted their mystic knowledge to any good purpose, especially where any member of their own race was concerned. They always appeared to have an instinctive dread of the superior race and were shy of practising on the white man, unless under very strong temptation. The gypsies alone keep alive the old order of things, appearing to have nobody to punish and every one to reward with a rich wife or a gallant husband for the trifle of crossing the sibyl's palm with a piece of silver. Indeed, they are not charged with molesting the person or property of any one. On the contrary, they are ever invoking the blessings of Venus, on the conditions above mentioned. Time has in no way changed their habits.

Two generations ago, great was the fame of the professors - white and black - but now it is difficult to get any one of either color, unless some octogenarian, to relate what used to occur in the olden times. They appear to be afraid of the imputation of superstition. In this way many interesting and even poetic legends are likely to be lost.

Of the white seers the most renowned was the miller - John PEACHER - a Pennsylvania Dutchman. He was a man of excellent reputation, and the only people who had any complaint to make of him were the evil doers, especially the thieves. It was useless for a thief to steal anything from John PEACHER, for it had to be returned, and by the culprit himself, in broad daylight. PEACHER'S friends, too, if they reported to him any loss were merely told to wait a little for the stolen article. So, neither PEACHER nor his friends ever complained to a law officer of any losses, feeling very certain that the missing would return.

In consequence, it was not unusual sight to see seated on a fence near PEACHER'S mill, or the house of one of the miller's neighbors, a man, nearly always a negro, with a bundle of some kind tied up to suit the contents. There the visitor sat until late evening, if not asked to get off the fence and tell his business. Even then, it was with extreme difficulty that he could get off his perch, and some were known to invoke the assistance of the proprietor to unfasten them. The man was sure to be a thief, and the bundle always contained the stolen articles, which were laid at the feet of the lawful owner - the proprietor the place - PEACHER or some one of his friends who had reported to him a robbery.

On one occasion a wagoner on his way to Georgetown drove his team past Peacher's place and abstracted from a wagon that belonged PEACHER some part of the gearing, with which he proceeded to Georgetown, fifty-seven miles distant. PEACHER soon discovered the loss but, as usual, he "lay low" and waited for the certain issue. In a few days a man was seen to approach PEACHER'S place early in the morning afoot and carrying an apparently heavy load. When he reached PEACHER'S gate, he climbed one of the posts and rested his load on the fence nearby. No one questioned him, for PEACHER and his domestics recognized the articles, the loss of which was known to them from the time of the theft, and the presumption was that the man was the guilty one. There the culprit sat without a word until the benevolent PEACHER thought that the penitent might be hungry and sufficiently humbled. PEACHER invited the stranger to get off and come into the house to get something to eat, but the hapless thief was glued as it were, to the seat and not 'till PEACHER chose to break the spell could the crestfallen victim get off his perch. He then confessed his guilt and told how his conscience did not trouble him a bit until he reached Georgetown with his plunder, when some impulse forced him to leave his team in the city and walk back, carrying the stolen articles, instead of waiting for his regular return trip to make restitution. After his meal, he commenced his journey back, afoot, to the city for his team and in some time after rode past PEACHER'S place on his home trip but did not stop.

How PEACHER worked his charms he never revealed, except that he said he had a wheel by the turning of which, as the case demanded, he effected his wonderful exploits at thief-catching. The wheel he never exhibited. For many years after his death there was a common phrase in the neighborhood, " I'll introduce you to Peacher's wheel," whenever any one was suspected of knavish practices - especially a child or superstitious person. It would take more space than we have allotted to ourselves to relate a tenth of the exploits of PEACHER with his magic wheel.

Contributed by Kim Myers
Redmond, WA