The same M. Roger, whose intentional errors M. Charpignon has pointed out in one of our previous numbers, wrote in the Constitutionnel. It seems that the population of the commune of Guillonville, canton of Orgeres, has been in turmoil for several weeks, following the alleged miracles of a young electric girl. This girl, fourteen years old, farm servant, of a limited intelligence, would be (says the chronicle), endowed with a very extraordinary force of attraction, in the place of the furniture or other objects which surround her.
The first time that the effects of this singular faculty were recognized, the little peasant girl was cradling one of her master’s children: suddenly the two doors of a locked cupboard opened by themselves, and the the linen it contained is thrown across the room, as if thrown by an invisible hand. At the same moment, a pelisse which had been placed on a neighboring bed, enveloped the rocking chair and fastened on it so tightly that it was difficult to remove it.
From that day the proofs of this attractive power went on multiplying in a marvelous way, to the great pity of the electric servant; sometimes, in fact, it is a horse’s collar which comes to rest on his shoulders, sometimes baskets of bread which fall on his head; sometimes another empty sack which caps her and covers her entirely, and this new kind of Nessus tunic clings to her body without being able to tear it off. Is she in a room, the furniture dancing and changing places, as well as in a fantastic tale by Hoffmann. Other times, a ball of wire will become lodged in his back, and all sorts of objects, bits of candles, pieces of meat, and (this becomes more serious) his mistress’s earrings, end up in his pockets, and always, so it is said, by the sole influence of its power of attraction and by the virtue of electro-magnetism. A woman from the village, strong spirit of the place, comes to the farm, shaking her head with a skeptical air, and saying in a tone of defiance that she will only believe what she sees; shortly after, the young girl’s chef covers herself with a dish, without anyone being able to guess where this unexpected hairstyle comes from.
Such are the facts which have greatly agitated the inhabitants of Guillonville, and which, naturally magnified as they spread in the surrounding communes, make everyone cry out for a miracle; we owe the story to an honorable doctor from the department of Eure-et-Loir, who wins the general enthusiasm in spite of himself, although he seems to have seen nothing, with his own eyes seen, which is called seen . A benevolent reader of the scientific articles of the Constitutionnel, he does us the honor of asking us for a medico-legal consultation on this witch of the nineteenth century.
Journal du Magnetisme, tome VIII, 1849. (translated by Google Translate)
The girl is named elsewhere as Adolphine Benoit. It happened in February 1849?