The Washington times., 1929-01-04
PRACTICE IS
COMMON
MANY
CITIES
By JAMES L. KILGALLEN


finitely more prevalent in the rural
districts of this country than most
people imagine" w. B. Seabrook.
author and adventurer, said today
in commenting on the witch muir.
DER trial which opens next Mon.
day in York, Pa.
Seabrook is an authority on witch
craft His new book, 1.-THE Magic
Island" reveals the secret voodoo
rites Of Haiti and holds the dis
tinction of being the Literary Guild
of Americas January volume.
"The trial at York should afford
the public an accidental glimpse of
what is transpiring in many rural
sections of the United States said
Seabrook when interviewed in his
studio apartment in Greenwich
Village.
Like Dayton Case
Il say accidental because had no
murder resulted there would have
been no publicity. The trial may
tend to educate the general public
to what witchcraft is, just as the
trial at Dayton, Tenn, brought
about wide discussion of evolution,
'Voodooism of the real, old-fasEl-
ioned South Africa type still is prac-
ticed in parts of the South. You
can find plenty of superstition even
in such enlightened cities as New.
York, Charleston, S. c., and New
Orleans
Right now voodoo and magic
charms are being sold in New
York's Harlem district, in Hoboken,
n. T., and in Jersey City. I am
told there is plenty of superstition
in the rural sections of New Eng
land. The York murder discloses
the situation in Pennsylvania.
Witch Trial Near
Preparations are under way for
the witch trial at York There are
three defendants-John Blymyer, rs:
Wilbert Hess, Is, and. John Curry,
14-aH of them ridden by supersti-
ton and black magic. They have
confessed killing Nelson D. Reh-
meyer, a hermit-like farmer, to ge.
lock OF his hair and break q
spell" which they thought Reh.
lieved Rehmeyer to be a witch
IF / were Blymyer and believed
my own magic / would make .
straight plea of self-defense on the
ground that Reymeyer had been
trying to kill me by magic" de-
clared Seabrook. IT would contend
that only after he sought to kill
me / went to get the lock of hair
as measure of retaliation and that,
the brutal murder took place ins
the accident that followed.
eff / were Blymyer I would get
psychologists and psychiatrists to
testify that when people believe
this thing they call witchcraft it
is just as deadly as poison, a pistol
or knife.
Fought For His Life
"Any psychiatrist will tell you .
person can grow i'll and die from
the terror induced by auto-sugges-
ton. Among those in Pennsylvania
who cling to medieval traditions,
primitive emotions are much stronger
than those of rational people. :"
Farmer Rehmeyer knew, in Sea.
brooks opinion, that his foes were
planning to cut off the lock Of hair
not only to break the curse he
Rehmeyer) was said to have placed
on the family OF Hess, but to put
a death spell on Rehrneyer hinas
self.
IF I myself were on the jury
and / became convinced that Bly,
myer and Rehmeyer were not char
iatans-that they believed in magic
~ never would vote for conviction
- =. Ea1s. q.
though /, of course, do not approve
stances" said Seabrook.
If it Is brought out in the trial
that whatever power a sorcerer
may have does not come from God,
the devil or from any supernatural
force, but only from things that
can be explained by rational psy-
chology, then you win have de-
livered the countryside from super
stition and fear.
OF Great Value
"The trial, properly conducted
and given, wide publicity, might
prove of real educational value
seabroolx said he has seen black
magic work not only in ths
Haitian jungle, but in Dervisi1
monasteries, in Arabian desert
tents, among the Yezidee devil
worshipers in the mountains y
Kurdistan, and among the wor,
shippers of the golden calf today IN
the mountain of the Druses.
He has seen ii in recent years
in the south Of France and knows
that it is practiced to some extent
in this country. Yet. he hastened
to explain, he does not believe in
the supernatural and he is not
superstitious.
He is resting in New York at
present but in few months he
and his wife and co-adventurer.
Katie Seabrook, are going off to
some new primitive civilization.
"I'd like to find time to take in
that witch trial, but I'm afraid !
won't be able to make it, he added.