New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1929-01-15
Girl Believed Pig Sat on
! Her Chest During Sleep
: Strange Cures for
Sickness and III Fortune.

whoever carries this book with
him il safe from all his enemies,
visible or invisible; and whoever
has this book with him cannot die,
nor be drowned In any water nor
burned up in any fire, nor can any
Unjust sentence be passed upon
hinr" This inscription. found inside
of a book said to have been written
hv John George Holman, Penn
Aylyania German in 1918, and known
s THE Long Lost Fried" is alleged
10 be the source Of that weird and
eredulous compendium Of ignorance.
uperstition and witchcraft lore,
from which the Hex" Of Pennsyl-
wanna Dutch pow WOW doctor re-
eeives the power which is said 20
have Inspired a murder in YORK.
Pa. Of which three men have been
convicted.
When one speaks Of the supersti-
Non Of the Southern negro in slave
fays. when the negro was chattel
Ind not a human being: Of the med
his various counterparts among the
hncient priests OF the Orient or the
deyil dancers OF the jungle. one
feels no sense OF surprise, since
hmonE the ignorant and untutored
bayaee, fear, instinct, ignorance and
kuperstition combine to make
hueer combination OF a sort OF
hath cure healing and worship OF
Unknown gods
Unbelievers Few
But In Pennsylvania, one OF the
kreatest states in an educated ma
Non. to find voodism, hoodoolsm,
bow WOW or hex doctors and belief
In witchcraft almost universal, SO
much so that those uncertain neigh
bors who frankly state an I'M
belief are classed with atheists by
heir friends and neighbors seems
Almost incredible.
Yet such Is the case. The writer,
native Of the Keystone state who
srew up in the atmosphere OF su-
herstition which rivals that of the
ttrangest fiction, like others who
kcoffed at these strange beliefs,
krew up to regard the pow WOW
koctor as a harmless sort Of crank
kr fanatic and his patients as plain
fools.
TIE killing Of Nelson D. Rehmeyer
h York, Pa, by John H. Blymyer.
William G.. Hess and John Curry.
kho confessed they did 1t to secure
lock of tn others hair, which
hey were &C z TO bury eight feet
Underground 10 break a spell of
sitchery they believed had been cast
upon Hess's father, has brought to
kartling realization the fact that the
belief in strange cults and black
magic is not as harmless as it ap-
bears.
Police Consult Pow Vows
The Pennsylvania murder has i'm
.elled the Houston (Texas) Post
Dispatch to state that there are
more than 10000 professional priests
md priestesses Of voodism in its
hilder forms, such as crystal gazers,
)ortune tellers, pow WOW doctors.
kc., in the United States. who num-
her among their patients or patrons
persons OF wealth, education. finan-
hal prominence and social standing.
This seems even stranger in Penn
glvania, when one recalls that right
IN the heart of the pow WOW doctors
home territory, where he is accepted
b one who belongs" fortune tell
hg il forbidden by statute.
=. The fortune telling gypsy cara
van or the professional crystal
kazer Is kept moving by the police.
Although the police themselves go
b the pow WOW doctor and under
b his lamentations for the cure
rheumatism or high blood pres
lure" or so-called "liver-grown
babies" or other aches and pains
khich science says are but symp-
pms Of some organic disturbance.
The pow WOW doctor of Pennsyl-
tania Is not an educated man. He
nay have gotten his knowledge, be-
Sef or whatever he calls his incan-
htions from book, but in most
ases he inherited his magical
Sowers' through being the seventh
:, pn OF a seventh son, or born when
he moon was just right. or on a
friday the 18th.
He generally works In the coal
hines, or on a farm or in steel
bill, making use of his weird powers
hly in his spare moments. His
blends and neighbors accept with
ht question his claims that he can
harm away their pains or drive out
} he evil spirits. Clyde Stephenson of
Mnenburg county. Virginia, con-
kssed that he killed Albert Green
because he believed Green was
hitch who had put a spell on him.
fe asserted that Green could as
hme all manner of shapes and once
has seen dancing in the middle of
he road without his head.
Witch Shot, Becomes Rabbit
]. A. Newcombe said he shot a
itch who was hanging around his
Ouse, and she changed into rab-
It and ran away. Stephenson said
aims he had been suffering in his
J.; disappeared when he shot Green
nd he believes he broke the spell
witchcraft
In York. Lancaster. Adams, Cum
erland, Berks, Schuyliill, Columbia
I'D Northumberland counties in
tnnsylvania, local newspapers claim
itchcraft rears its reptilian head
nd f1ourshes in the Ignorance
'miniscent Of medieval ages and is
rcepted with the same blind I'M
hestioning faith as it is in the most
wage interior of Congo jungles.
County Coroner J.. L. Zech in an
lterview In the New York Evening
forld said AT least half of the co.
10 residents of York believe in
itchcraft Residents in it's urban
spulation of 10000 to 100, 600 guide
ieir daily lives to the minutest de-