Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-02-03
MANY PERSONS
STILL BELIEVERS
IN WITCHCRAFT
Superstition Demonstrated in
Modern Court, With Baby
Under Curse.
MOST VICTIMS WOMEN

NEW YORK-"She's a witchr' yelled
a woman in a New York courtroom not
long ago, and, to the surprise Of the
Judge and some of the spectators other
women took up the cry. The fact was
suddenly revealed that numbers of per-
sons in the most civilized city in Amer
lea firmly believed in the power of the
evil eye, and that a baby had lost the
use Of its legs because it had been cursed
by woman supposed to have that
power
The belief in witchcraft is supposed
to have persisted in this enlightened
country little over 200 years ago
Shortly after the witchcraft prosecutions
which took place in Salem in the Seven
teenth century a whole literature against
the belief in witches sprang into being
1t began with books which admitted that
the devil was dangerous fellow and apt
to tamper with human destiny, but
which denied that he could do it through
the medium of witches. Such arguments
as this were followed by others more and
more radical IN tone until finally the
most intelligent came out fatty for the
bold idea that there was nothing In any
OF these supernatural ideas
These bold intellectuals were at first
regarded askance, but they gradually
prevailed. People who believed in witches
became ashamed to acknowledge the
fact Most important of all, the church
and the law no longer took official cog
niZance Of witches, as both had done be-
fore the wear 1909 Witchcraft as a
crime recognized by the statutes ceased
to exist.
BELIEF IN WITCHES
STILL ALIVE.
But the belief in wItchcraft by no
means ceased, as the New York ladies
demonstrated. Literal belief in witches
who commune with the devil and cast
supernatural spells in still common 10
a large part Of the human race. 1t is
widely scattered among the lower peas
antry OF Europe, and by them is import
ed into the United States with every
boat.oad Of immigrants. Furthermore,
IL still 1ourishes as an indigenous prod
uct in many sections of this country.
Down In the Southwest, for example,
Mexieans and Indians still believe In it
implicitly, and to some extent openly. A
Mexican woman In a Southwestern town
has been known TO spit in the eye Of a
baby in public and explain that she did
1t to protect the child from the curse OF
a witch who was looking at it.
Belief In wltchcraft as literal and
crude as is indicated by this incident
and that Of the New York courtroom may
be comparatively rare, or at least limit
ed TO few very ignorant classes Of the
population, but the essentials Of witch
craft are still widely prevalent These
essentials are ignorance and the cerduI-
ity that always goes with It, and per-
sons who are anxious to turn both TO
their own advantage.
BY his belief in witchcraft as in fair
les, ghosts and other supernatural phe-
nomena, the ignorant man is primarily
expressing q feeling that there are forces
in the universe beyond his ken. This is
a sound feeling. When you come right
down 10 II no one can with certainty
deny the existence Of supernatural forces
The universe is indefinite and mysterious
The dogmatic scientist who asserts that
there is nothing beyond what he can
prove by experiment has no way of PROV
Ing that he Is right.
The sophisticated and educated man
may admit this, but he also realizes that
If there are supernatural forces, in the
nature Of the case IL is impossible to
understand them. He therefore confines
his mental operations to the world that
he Is able to apprehend with his mind
and his senses, and refuses to concern
himself about the supernatural on the
ground that it is essentially unknow-
able