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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/Morella1989 on 2025-08-02 18:42:50+00:00.

Original Title: TIL that Dummy, a deaf-mute fortune teller from Sible Hedingham, was accused of cursing Emma Smith in 1863. A mob beat him and threw him in a brook as an “ordeal by water.” He died of pneumonia in a workhouse. Two men were convicted of assault and sentenced to six months’ hard labour.