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The rowan, or roan, tree is the English name of the mountain ash, and in some parts of Great Britain it is called witchen, because of its supposed power against witches and evil spirits and all their spells. In old times branches of it were hung about houses and stables and cow-sheds, for it was thought that "'witches have no power Where there is roan-tree wood."
He affirmed that, in execution of Schmettau's orders, the soldiers had dispersed themselves in the streets of the Pirna and Witchen suburbs, broke open the houses and shops, set fire to the combustibles, added fresh fuel, and then shut the doors; that the violence of the flames was kept up by red-hot balls fired into the houses, and along the streets; that the wretched inhabitants, who forsook their burning houses, were slain by the fire of the cannon and small arms; that those who endeavoured to save their persons and effects were pushed down and destroyed by the bayonets of the Prussian soldiers posted in the streets for that purpose: he enumerated particular instances of inhuman barbarity, and declared that a great number of people perished, either amidst the flames, or under the ruins of the houses.
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