The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-04-15
WITCH KILLING In TEXAS
The Educated ChOctaws Acquitted
by a jury
The End of a Remarkable TRIaI-The
Verdict Based on the Fheory OF In
sauity-The story of the Tragedy
in Which Ecrcdity Played q Part.

Verdict Based on the Theory OF IN
sanIty-The story of the Tragedy
in Which Hcrcdity Played q Part.
PARIS. Tex, April I5.-After a tria.
| lasting over a week the jury on Saturday
returned . verdict in the witCh-killtng
| case, finding the DEFENDANTS. HOteTna and
| Frye not guilty The verdict was based
| on the theory of insanity
| The crime for which the prisoners were
| arraigHed is attributable to a belief in
| witchcraft which has possession Of the
| more superstitious fulI-blood ChoCtaws
/ as completely today as it had a hundred
| years ago The tragedy occurred near
| Cold Spring Church. six miles northwest
| of Grant. There had been. number of
] sudden deaths in the community of spinal
meningitis. 4 little son of Solomon Ho-
| tema was among the number Hotena
! was the pastor of the church and was
| the head man and leader among his PEG
/ pie, as well as their spiritual adviser
| The Choctaws We're greatly disturbed
| by the sudden deaths for which they
were unable to account The manner In
| which the disease worked upon the VIC
! tins caused them to attribute the maiady
/ to the evil charms of witches Meetings
/ were held at the church 10 discuss the
/ matter and to devise means Of staying
! the plague. Sam Tarnatubby, who lived
fifteen miles east of Grant, had fame
| among the fuil-bloods of being great
witch doctor He was sent for His
| diagnosis of the patients confirmed the
! suspicion that they had been bewitChed.
| BY the occult methods of the witch doc
/ tor he found the witches and declared
/ that the only way that the plague could
! be stopped and the patients relieved was
| to kill them. Some of the supposed
witches were relatives of the defendants
/ and had sat up with the sick members of
/ their families.
| Tarnatubby having declared that the
witches must be killed to stop the plague,
! Hotema, as the chief man in the com
/ nunity, summoned Tobias Williams and
| Sam Frye young fuIl-bloods, to his as
| sistance. They got in Hotema's buggy
armed with a rife and a shotgun, and
! started on their daath-deaIng mission
| They first called at the house Of Vina
! Coleman. the sister-in-law Of Hotema,
/ and shot her down without compunctlon
/ while she was holding a little child In
! her arms The babe was wounded bat
/ not killed An older child attempted 10
! run away when the shooting began, and
| was shot in the back
| They next went to the home Of Hall
! Greenwood who came out to meet them
/ I
! forming him that she was a witch, and
/ that they had come to Kill her. Green
: Woo. began to plead for her life Hotema
babe him be still or they would kill him
! but that if he would keep quiet they would
not Kill him until the next day
After he got his wife buried. he said
they would XIII him. and for him to be
sure to be on hand. They then killed his
I wife before his eyes. The last victim was
Alfred Morris. who was deliberately shot
! down without warning. From the mouse
/ of Alfred Morris they drove TO the nome
/ OF Eastman Mississippi. who was away
A little boy living with him saw them
/ coming and fed. As he ran away several
/ shots were fired at him
/ The defendants were arrested and
/ lodged in Jail at Antlers. and from there
were taken to Otolla, the holdoveT Jail for
/ the Antler Court While incafcerated
( there Tobias Williams died. Hotema,
Frye and Taraarubby secured a change Of
venue to the Paris Federal Court, and
were transferred to jail here pending
! trial They made application through
! habeas corpus proceedings to Judge D. Z
/ Bryant for bail. Hotema and Frye failed
I to get bail. while the offence Of Tarnatub-
/ BY, the witch doctor, was held to be bail
/ able. having advised the killing, but not
.
I Cured He was admitted to bail in s.
/ 600 as an accessory before the fat
| The wholesale killing Of the supposed
witches by Hotema and his coHfederates
I Is only one Of many killings which have
I occurred among the ChOctaWs in years
: past One of the most striking Of these
/ witch killings took place several years
ago in Blue County on the BOggy. Ste
I pheu Belvin, who has since that time
been sheriff of the county, a member of
the National Council. who has held other
( responsible places and who is still living,
( had pneumonia and was being treated by
/ a white physician. Being a fuII-bIood, un-
+ able to speak English, Mary Folsom, a
beautiful young half-breed girl living in
the community, was employed as nurse
and Interpreter to see that the medicine
/ was administered according to directions
The patient did not improve under the
/ white doctors treatment His neighbors
and friends becoming dissatisfied, insist
ed that a ChocJaw doctor be sent for
There was one in the community known
as blind IsOm. famous as a witch doe
| tor. He was sent for As soon as he ex-
. amined the patient he declared that he
had been shot with a witch ball, and
that the girl VINO was nursing him was
the witch who had placed him under the
I evil spell. Blind IsOm declared that the
only way Belvin could recover was with
his own hands to kill the witch. He must
take a knife and hack her to pieces After
consultation with his friends BelVin con
scented to carry out the suggestion.
| A keen-bladed knife. which he concealed
( under the bed cover. was given to MIN.
! While the girl was administering his
/ medicine and was leaning over the bed
/ Blind IsoTa seized and pressed her down
/ until the patient who had supposedly
/ been bewitched could stab her to death
She was literally hacked to pieces No
! legal punishment was ever inflicted for
the crime.
According to the fulI-bood believers in
! WitchcTaft the witches shoot their balls
| In an invisible manner The victim does
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