The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-27
MANY MOTHERS
 THINK WITCHES
 KILL. CHILDREN
Foreigners in State Hold Fast to Chimerical
 Ideas

That witches are working over time in causing the deaths of infants = 441171iiss ii state is the firm conviction of hundreds of Connecticut mothers, most of them foreigners, according to a statement lsSued today by the state child welfare commission Professor Henry F. F;airchild and his assistant, Iq. Herbert M. Diamond, have been surprised at the reports coming in from their field workers, particularly those from Waterbury, where women, having lost their children say that the ypung o1Res were taken away by witches One yoang woInan lost her child by death, and ssgore that it had been 7aewitched- Tine death certificate showed capillary bronchitis
 Miss Mabel F. Thompson, special field agent for the commission, said today that hundreds of infants die in Connecticut every year, who might have been saved, if there had been DroDer treatment of their ailments, and if the mothers only realized the seriousness of the illness in time to call a. physician The inEestigatioa as fy Miss Thompson and other field won kers have brought to light the fact that many we5rd superstitions of Italian origin were f1ourishIng with old world v1gor in the very heart of Waterbury, Hartfo.d. Bridgeport New Haven, Stamford. and other places, more particularly in Water bury
 The investigators Of the child wei fare commission find ample support for the report of the Federal Cail- dren's Bureau in its study of condi- tions in Waterbury The report reads-
 417vz,,, =,,r,7,7,-v-z z7,s-r.g9e-T,F fo TI~Ft inc fact that many weird superstitions of Italian origin were Gour1shing with the Old-1YoT7d vigor- E-CharnS'' to ward off the glances from the evil eye'' and @'ct1arn soreakers' for those who had been ~@oewitched'' were, in the opinion of many Italian mothers important factors in the reduction oi infant mortality. That there was suf- fciant popular opinion to this effect to make ~chaEm breaking profitable was evidenced by two Italian woner who supported themselves entirely by this peculiar occupation
 .sOne mother described, with great emotion, their home in Italy. on the outskirts of Naples. The father 1ef them to go to the United States anG three years later sent for his wife ani children Then she said: Food an6 beauty-they are not so. plentiful 1T this country; but there are not st many witches, and that is better A hen questioned about witches sht
 i'd that both of her children wht <ed in infancy were perfectly well and beautiful until sud
 they grew thin to skin ant 1ooneS 3a1ld died within two weeks No doctor could discover the cause Finally one of the family remember ed that the mother had changed mid wives, and immediately they knev that the midwife who had been sup planted was the witch who caused the death of the babies.
 "An 1s-year-oId neighbor of tht Ttartan mother came in at this poin in the story. She was born in tn Tinted States and had been educate' in the public schools, but she stil held firmly to the traditions of he neopIe When asked if she believe in witches she said: Yes, indeed o course to be a. witch a. girl baby mus he born at midnight at Christmas. : boy baby born at that time a1way has some mark of an animal, such @ claws or a patch of fur someWEer an his body. He is never quite righ and has not a witch's powers WAS the same girl who told of tn two women who sold love potions an charms to ward off the evil eye, an also treated the babies who had bee bewite1led.