Evening star., 1928-12-14

A violent murder IN connection with
the practice of witchcraft or voodooism
among a little group Of ignorant people
in York County, Pa, serves as grim
reminder that ancient superstitions still
are widely current and sometimes are
not so harmless as may be supposed.
The tragedy, declares the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette. "haS brought sharply to
public attention an evil which has been
too long tolerated as joke rather than
the menace it is" and that paper
demands "a constructive educational
effort" to stamp the thing out.
Referring to corrective measures
adopted In York County, the Cleveland
News states that evidently education s
power will get a crucial test, and tnat
"the powwow doctors. said to collect
fees comparable to those charged Dy
eminent surgeons, will not lose their
graft without struggle" The Altoona
Mirror is convinced that "the churches
and the schools need to give adults and
children who come under their infiu-
ehce definite and emphatic instruction,
emphasizing the Stiffness OF the bele1
in witches and. wizards or any similar
delusion." The WilliamSport Sun be-
lives that, generally speaking, although
there are surprising exceptions, such
beliefs are found among those OF little
education or low mentality.
4 y y
How many of the human race" asks
the Baltimore Evening Sun. however,
.are free from host of SuperStitions
removed from a belief in witch doctors
only little way? We smile and tap
our heads In knowing fashion when
we discuss the peculiar rites exposed In
Pennsylvania-and then We refuse 10
light three cigarettes from one match.
We dodge walking under ladders. We
carry lucky pieces; we knock on wooo'
detour from haunted houses at night,
we see pin and pick 1t up; and some
OF us, indeed, cure disease with DUCK
skin thongs, horSehair rings ana rheu-
matism strings
For persons of modern, education,
remarks the Kansas City Journal-P Post
this story is almost Impossible 10
accept. Yet the superstition shown ny
the Pennsylvanians differs only IN
degree from the medieval notions nelo
by many persons who use automoolles,
electric lights ana other products. OF
scientific research. 1t would not require
much effort to find 100 persons IN
Kansas City who believe that howling
dog is an omen of death, that to open
an umbrella in the house, pass anything
through a window or carry shovel In
doors brings bad luck. Witches, accord
ing to tradition, were companioned Dy
black cats. Very few persons nowadays
are afraid of witches, but many shiVer
involuntarily when a black cat crosses
their path"
The influence "of old wives tales on
;rtN Ao'B Se hal hu fha Fort
Worth Recofd-Telegram to be ''propor-
tionate to the weight given them by the
tale bearers" and that paper contends
that 80 long as We refuse to discard
numerous influences on our fates we are
not privileged to be unduly critical. OI
course" continues the Record Telegram,
when 1t oyerfiows into the realm OF
murder we must snap back instantly
to enlightenment and law enforcement"
With similar condemnation of some
modern beliefs, the st. Louis Post
Dispatch suggests: Among those who
marvel that such q thing could happen
in the twentieth century are many who
believe that seven years bad luck fol-
lows the breaking of mirror; that
numbers like 'l3' and q have an extraor-
dinary effect on human destiny: that
breaking q chicken bone has soms Ming
to do with fulfillment of wishes; and
that hairs from horses tail. planted in
the rain barrel, will develop into tad
poles or. mayhap. snakes. And. after all,
the weird beliefs Of the Shrewsbury
witchcraft colony are not much more
nonsensical than these"
THE world Is still q perplexing, be-
wildering place." comedies the Roanoke
Times. with the statement, THE belief
in witchcraft was born centuries ago
when the race was young. and 1t has
never been entirely stamped out Like
an unheaittK taint In the blood. II has
fingered onto the present day. SO
deeply grounded Is 1t In human nature