Copied from Vanover and Allied Families at the (Family History Center) A very unusual trail that took place in Dickenson County, Virginia. The old lady mentioned in the articles, Aunt Jane Dutton, was a granddaughter of Cornelius and Sarah (Hill) Vanover, being a daughter of Elizabeth “Betty” Vanover and Osborn Howell. “Aunt Jane”, as she was known, brought a slander charge against a neighbor who had called here a witch. The resulting trial gained nation wide attention. The case was dismissed. There may be a witch down there, but the good people of Crane Creek over in the South o’ the Mountain don’t mind that overly much. For they have a witch doctor, too; one well able, by his own account, to meet and master the powers of evil. This weird yarn will spin itself to some conclusion in Justice’s Court in Clintwood today. If you’ll just forget that this is the Twentieth Century and put yourself into a believing mood, you will not be amazed at the charges written down on legal paper and served by Deputy Leonard Younce, against one “Rocky Branch” Joe Stanley. None of mankind is exempt from petty trouble. Over in the mountain our troubles are humble, but we suffer from them just the same in our rough way. One’s cow may sicken, a mule may break its leg, or cramp seize the stomach of a human. Now “Rocky Joe”, it is alleged, noticed the manifold afflictions of his neighbors and sympathized with the sufferers in a neighborly way. A learned may is Joe in all the lore of human tribulations. “Rocky”, so it is written, professes more than an inkling of how the Evil One works through human agents. He knows the ways of witches and wizards of diverse kind and condition. They have it written down on paper that Joe, in his pity for his neighbors’ woes, offered, for a consideration, to draw upon his knowledge and powers to combat the moving cause of trouble. His neighbors believed in Joe, and he went into session with the supernatural. He divined, it is said, that Jane Dutton, wife of Isom, held delegated powers from Old Nick. She was using these powers, they say that “Rocky” said, on the people as her master wished them to be used - all against the peace and dignity of Crane Creek aforesaid. We have noted before that Joe could combat the art and mystery of witchcraft. This he would do, they charge, for a consideration of one dollar per case. There was no doubt in the minds of his clients that Joe could produce. For had he not assured them that there had been but three witches in Dickenson County and he had dispelled the other two and could do likewise unto the third? And Joe did produce - to their minds. Mrs. Dutton, growing old, suffered from some of the trials that flesh is heir to. Then her neighbors whispered and even said aloud that the arts of “Rocky Joe” were working in their appointed form and that the witch’s days were numbered. Isom, the husband of Jane, had much faith in the wisdom of a local attorney and sought him for advice. That advice was to bring a criminal action against Joe Stanley for slander. This was done, and the stage was set for as weird a case in court as any community ever had. Such happenings as this are news. An account of it went to the Roanoke Times, and from thence out over the wires of the Associated Press. So Dickenson may enjoy the same kind of notoriety as Wise had basked in during the Edith Maxwell case. The outside world will smile and wonder in all the airs that it can muster up. All this is strange. Is it any stranger than things we see and here of every day? The belief of simple folk in witchcraft, warranted, it is said by the Holy Writ, is not so odd as that men should plot and contrive to raise monuments to themselves or scheme to stand ever in the limelight and make their conscious selves believe their motives are pure and selfless. It is not as strange as that an industrial community should be ready to bend to the dust before three hundred pro__lasm and waste material when ___ mass struts through and throws ___ place a glance. It is not so weird that the outcome of Western civilization, which for two thousand years has worshipped Christ should gather its patriotic oratory and all its colorful pageantry around the body of a soldier blown to bits on the battlefield. It is not more illogical than that the United States should get itself into a fine indignation over Japan’s rape of China. Even our history stinks with the body of broken faith in dealing with the Indians, the robbery of Mexico, and the seizure of Spain’s western empire. It is not more peculiar than President Roosevelt’s hunches and superstitions. And, above all, it is not more wonderful than that any man should have the gall to smile or sneer at the weakness or folly of any of his fellow men. (The above article is from “The Dickenson Forum”, 10-8-37) CURIOUS GATHER TO HEAR TRIAL FROM “ROANOKE TIMES,” 10-9-37 BY CARTER LOWANCE Witchcraft came out of a superstitious past today to touch lightly a 1937 court case and quickly vanish again as “Rocky Joe” Stanley, 83 - year - old patriarch, won dismissal of charges of calling 82 -year - old “Aunt” Jane Dutton a witch. Curious persons by the hundreds came eager for hair-tingling tales of eerie figures riding down the lonely coves and over the towering slopes of the Cumberland, but no witches danced, no caldrons simmered and only one of five witnesses testified that the keen-eyed mountaineer used unknown powers in doctoring cattle. “I haven no power, it’s all God’s,” said “Rocky Joe”, who did not take the stand, after striding from the courtroom with the words, “I knew if I got justice this is what would happen.” Submitted by Rachel and Louise Vanover Vore