Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-03
BY WILLIAM A. WHITE. NJ. d.,

BY WILLIAM A. WHITE. M. D.,
Former President American Psychiatric As
ISOLATION. Director St. Elizabeth's Hospital,
Washington.
T UNLIKE the town of Dayton,
Tenn, which won publicity a
few years ago. the obscure city
~ of York. Pa, tried to remain
obscure rather than win ma
tional publicity as the place that be-
lieves in witches.
The recent witch murder" trial held
In It's little courthouse had the markings
of one of those court spectacleS, with
all the paraphernalia of special corre-
SpondentS, sob sisters, news photogra-
pliers and vaudeville contracts. that
have become, like the gladiatorial COM
bats of ancient Rome, one of the loved
diversions Of the American public. But
York cast aside this tenn alton to bask
on the front page; endeavored, as Tar
as possible, to keep newspaper reporters
away from the trial. and tried to give
the impression that the poor, Supersti-
tious people who were the principals of
the tragedy were an isolated phenome-
non not at all representative OF an
enlightened and forward-looking COM
munity
This was an improvement on the
stand taken by Dayton; but York and
the rest of us can do better still. We
can realize that the same processes OF
thinking which brought about the muir
der of Rehmeyer are found in every
State in the Union and among every
class of people, even the most intellec-
tual. We can also see this tragedy not
as an isolated thing but as sudden
spotlight on a social situation which is
full of evils and crying sor a remedy
II the tragedy helps to open our eyes
and stimulate us to action, its final
results will be good.
John Blymyer, the chief murderer,
was an ignorant countryman afflicted
with various physical ills and logged
by misfortune Seeking reason for
his troubles-he was raised in an at
mosphere of superstition-he consulted
several local "powwow" doctors, all of
whom told him that his visitations were
the work Of evil spirits, and at least
assured him that those evil spirits were
controlled by a neighbor, Nelson D.
Rehmeyer.
Suspicion seems to have fallen on
Rehmeyer not only because he was
himself believer in powwowism and
claimed to practice it, but because he
was the posSeSsor of a rare book, my
Long Lost Friend This pamphlet,
written years ago by one John George
Holman, contained lamentations and
formulas for the cure of all kinds of
diseaseS-incantation almost never put
in print, but passed on orally from one
person to the next. Blymyer believed
that Rehmeyer had "hexed" him, and
that the only way to break the spell
was either to get possession of the book
or to procure lock of the owners hair
and bury it eight feet In the ground.
He therefore did the logical thing
he enlisted the aid of two young men
who had similar imaginary grievances
against the neighboring farmer, and the
three went to Rehmeyer's home and
demanded the book When it was re-
fused they attacked the owner and killed
him in the fight that ensued. They
ransacked his house and carried off
what money they could find.
Though this murder was complicated
by robbery, there seems little doubt that
the chief forceA which instigated it were
ignorance and superstition.
Superstition is primitive method of
thinking. 1t is found chiefly among
primitive peoples, among backward peo-
pie in civilized communities, among chill