The Washington times., 1928-12-14

Since the beginning OJ IHc pTeo-
ent century the World has a0it-
ne8sed b Renaissance of the black
arts. testified to IL dispatches
from almost every corner Vt the
globe. !,
TODAY, IN Pennsylvania, the
courts are concerned 10ith q brttdt
murder committed By a "potc-
tcO4C" doctor of the hills, avho
sIew a yiOal. Bound up nth the
sordid circumstances of the crime
are fearsome stories of "spetls"
alleged to haze been cast by the
dead man.
Officials Of York County, Pa,
hare admitted that tCitchcrdft
plays great part in the Ices of
rural folk in that district.
As a result of this situation
The Washington Times has made
an exhaustive investigation, not
onlv of modern 4citchcraft, but of
the history of the black arts, and
especially of the origins of the
sOrcery prdcticed among that
strange people knOaUn as the
| 4 ECUHSUtUuHtM DWbChs --
| The first of a series of articles
dealing Uith this astonishing aud
| ittIe-EnOeon subject f0tlOaOs:
| The historian of some enlightened
future civilization, looking back at
our time. may tell the same stories
of witchcraft punished by death and
torture, of superstition rampant and
| ignorance deluded, which we, in our
history books attribute to the dark
! ages.
| The store of authentic incident
upon which he may draw for mate
rial will be quite as large and be-
| lief-compelling as our own reservoir
| of fact regarding medieval Europe or
| Seventeenth century New England.
Witches are riding again in this
| twentieth century; to and fro in the
| four corners of the world they go,
bearing with them broomstick and
| black cat, evil charms and magic
lore, health for sick followers and
death for their enemies.
Absurd? Perhaps. But it is true.
WitchcraTt Cases Cited
In proof. and ignoring the present
the legal investigation OF witchcraft
murder now going forward in Penn
sylvania. consider, briefly. just a
few of the many score OF witchcraft
cases chronicled In newspaper dis.
patches since the dawn of this cen.
tury.
It Is hard to select-to decide
where to begin. There are so many
instances, some reported at great
length, others allotted few para
graphs. At random, however:
In May. 1911, an 11.year-old In
dian girl of a civilized" tribe was
tortured because she was alleged
to-~have bewitched an old woman,
according to press dispatches from
Vancouver, British Columbia. In
the same year. a Chicago woman
was freed after she had been hailed
into court on a charge of sorcery
preferred by a woman who claimed
she had been bewitched.
AS late as 1888 a witch was con-
demned to death and burned at the
stake, by legal processes. in Peru,
while during the first ten years
of this century news dispatches
from Colorado. North Carolina,
Michigan, IeHhsylNailAeb anu NeN
York told of public threats Of ven.
geance against witches or OF trials
in which witchcraft played q
prominent part.
Carry bly, Recalled
The early l90O's produced Carrie
Peabody Bly,, admitted witch, in
Salem, Mass, home of witches,
where many OF her alleged prede-
cessors were hanged or squeezed
to death beneath piles of stone.
In 1921. Magistrate Levine, In
jefferson Market Court, sentenced
to the reformatery a girl alleged
to have bewitched a companion
into evil deeds. and in the same