na Shaw, eleven years
of age, daughter of John Shaw, Esquire, of Bargarran, Renfrewshire,
gave offence to a servant maid named Catherine Campbell, who wished
the girl's soul might soon be in the place of torment. It was feared
the offended damsel would seek revenge, and what followed convinced
those cognisant of the facts that their fears were well founded.

Soon after this the girl had severe fits and strange visions; and, in
a most unaccountable manner, she vomited or put out of her mouth
unclean hay, wild fowls' feathers, gravel stones, nut-galls,
candle-grease, egg-shells, and other substances, which she nor any
other person could tell whence they had come. For a long time she was
afflicted in a most mysterious manner. Her parents were distressed,
and her physicians perplexed. Change of air did her good, but as
soon as she returned to Bargarran her trouble recommenced. By-and-bye
it became evident her affliction did not proceed from ordinary
infirmity, but from the diabolical machinations of Satan and his
emissaries--certain well-known witches in the neighbourhood, one being
the offended Catherine Campbell. So convinced was the unfortunate
sufferer of her ills being caused by human beings acting in a
mysterious manner, that she frequently exclaimed that Catherine
Campbell and others, whom she named, were cutting her sides and other
parts of her body.

Great consternation prevailed in the country. The parish minister,
like a good pious pastor, prayed with and for the child. Clergymen
from adjoining parishes visited Bargarran, and witnessed Catherine
Shaw's sufferings. The presbytery appointed days of humiliation on
account of what left no doubt in the minds of divines that the girl
was bewitched. Fasting and prayer seemed to have an alleviating
tendency, yet they did not prevent the evil continuing in a mitigated
form. Recourse was therefore had to the law. Mr. Shaw, the girl's
father, applied to the sheriff-depute; and that officer, in what he
considered a proper discharge of his duty, imprisoned Catherine
Campbell.

This judicial proceeding had the effect of securing relief for the
afflicted girl for a time, but her enemies were not all confined nor
rendered harmless, for she declared she heard now and again
tormentors, whom she repeatedly named, whispering among themselves
that they were, by desire of the devil, to carry her away. And it was
supposed she would have been conveyed away from her friends, had not