Commonwealth v. Witch

I I stumbled across a newspaper article in the September 18th issue of the Virginian Herald, dated September 13, 1822. Its title?

I was confused. The Virginia witch trials ended in the 18th century, but as I read on, the article weaved a story of a curse, a witch, a fortune-teller, and a murder. It didn’t seem real, and I needed to know more.

The earliest mention of this case in the local newspaper was in June of 1822, and it depicted an unbelievable scene. On June 11th, local news reported that one man, Joseph Lewis, of Deep Creek, Norfolk County, was arrested for the murder of his neighbor, John “Jack” Bass. Lewis shot Bass on May 27, 1822, and Bass succumbed to his wound the following day. While researching a murder in this line of work is not unusual, the details of this case were.

Joseph Lewis’ wife had been sick for months, and Lewis came to believe the illness must be the result of a witch’s curse. The problem? He did not know the identity of the supposed spellcaster. In desperation, he sought the aid of Mrs. Courtney Evans, a self-proclaimed fortune-teller and witch in the Portsmouth area. While the details of Lewis and Evans’ meeting are hazy, Evans presumably offered enough information about the identity of the supposed curse-caster for Lewis to have an idea of the culprit. But based on the trial depositions, perhaps Lewis used Evans’ visions to justify a premeditated target. Regardless, shortly after their conversation, Joseph Lewis went next door to his neighbor’s house (the house of John Bass) and delivered a fatal shot to the innocent man.

Referred to as Jack, John Gibbs Bass was labeled a “free person of color” in newspapers and court documents, and he probably descended from the Nansemond tribe, like many Bass family members in the Norfolk area. He married Sally Price, a free woman of color in 1812, and based on the 1820 census, I suspect he had at least four children with Sally. He would have been around the age of 40 when he was murdered.

Per several trial testimonies, Bass and Lewis were not fond of each other to begin with; Lewis made several comments about killing Bass weeks prior to the actual event. Testimony given by Sally Manning alludes to the comments made by Evans as the last straw in an already fraught relationship between the two men. On the night of May 27, 1822, several witnesses testified to both John Bass and his wife Sally pleading with Lewis to not pull the trigger; some even recalled Bass saying, “I did not poison your wife.” But the conversation was cut short when Lewis pulled the trigger and shot Bass right above the hip, a shot that would kill him the next day.

Joseph Lewis was brought before the Supreme Court in Norfolk County for the first time on September 9, 1822, and the grand jury found the evidence against Lewis sufficient to continue with a trial. On Wednesday, September 11, though Lewis pleaded not guilty, the evidence convinced the jury of his guilt for the murder of John Bass, at least murder in the second degree. Lewis was sentenced to serve eighteen years in the local jail and state penitentiary.

This was not a surprising outcome. But what is particularly interesting about this case is that the supposed witch with “second sight” was also brought before the judge for her participation.

During the trial of Joseph Lewis, the court found that there was another person to blame for the unfortunate murder of John Bass: Mrs. Courtney Evans. The court ordered that:

…a certain Courtney Evans…, professing to be a Fortune-Teller, did delude the said Joseph Lewis by the exercise of said pretended art and was probably instrumental in causing him the said Joseph Lewis to commit the murder of which he has this day been convicted…Therefore the court issued a warrant commanding the said Courtney to be brought before the court to give security for her good behavior…¹

On December 16, 1823, when it came time for Mrs. Evans’ trial, the Commonwealth’s Attorney decided to not prosecute further against Courtney Evans, and the case was to be dismissed. But he did not dismiss the case before filing his complaint with the court:

Virginia, Second Judicial Circuit

Norfolk County, to wit…

Be it remembered that James Nimmo Attorney for the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the Superior Court of Law directed to be holden for the County of Norfolk, being one of the Counties composing the second Judicial Circuit aforesaid; Cometh into court in his proper person, and with leave of the said court, giveth the court to understand and be informed; That a certain Courtney Evans, late of the Town of Portsmouth in the Parish of Portsmouth and the County of Norfolk aforesaid, widow, being an idle, dissolute and immoral person, and not having the fear of God before her eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil, on the fifth day of May in the year of our Lord one Thousand Eight hundred and twenty two, and on diverse other days between that and the tenth day of September the same year, at the Town, Parish and County afores’d, and within the Jurisdiction of this court; did attempt to delude the good people of the Town Parish and County aforesaid, and to abuse their understanding by the exercise of the pretended arts of witchcraft and conjuration and by telling fortunes; and by means thereof that she the said Courtney Evans hath then and there stirred up, moved and incited diverse strifes, controversies, quarrels and disputes, amongst the ignorant and credulous; to the common nuisance of the good citizens of this Commonwealth; to the wit example of all others in the like case offending; and against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.

James Nimmo for the Commonwealth²

It is important to note that unlike the preceding 17th and early 18th century Virginia witch trials, the public, the news, and the court did not believe in Mrs. Evans’ witchy powers. She was not on trial for being a witch; she was on trial for “deceiving” the community and the public consequences of the powers she professed. Though there was not enough evidence to begin the trial process for Mrs. Courtney Evans, this story certainly, at the very least, provides an interesting glimpse into the early 19th century. I was never able to find out what happened to Mrs. Evans after she was discharged, so if anyone has further information regarding the elusive fortune-teller, please do share.