Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-04-25
BLAMED
FOR TOTS ATTACK
ON BABY
Weird Superstition of Pennsyl.
vania Community Bobs
Up Again.

Wllliamsport, Pa.-John Fritz. Jr.,
five years old, slashed his eight
months-old brother. James. with a pen
knife at Salladasburg, near here.
ats the hexerel," mumbled Johns
parents
To the Fritzes there was only n ex-
PLANTATION why one of their sons should
so attack another. 1t was a spell.
Some unfriendly neighbor. to avenge
some real or fancied grievance, had In
voked a wicked spell over little John.
There was only one way to counter
act the hex" that was with a pow
wower, or witch doctor. Accordingly
the Fritzes summoned a woman pow
wower, asked her to remove the evil
spell by means Of white magic. Prompt
ly the powwower hurried to the Fritz
home, went through some mystic ritual.
said a few prayers-everything, by the
way. In threes. In twos the "cure OF
faith" could not work. Eventually she
left, said the evil spell had been routed.
Fritz and his wife smiled happily In
relief. A great worry had been re-
moved from their minds. 1t would be
safe now to leave ~five-year-old John
and eight-months'-old James together
again. This they did, but five minutes
later they heard a cry. In the kitchen
they found the baby lying on the floor,
his head badly slashed. Near him lay
a blood-stained knife. Behind the stove
crouched John. The hexerei had not
worked; the powwower had failed, the
evil spell cast by some unknown neigh
Dor had not been removed.
Many Similar Stories.
Out of Pennsylvania every now and
then comes some such tale about the
''hex." Among the Pennsylvania Dutch,
who are really Of German-not Meth
erlandish-blood, the "hex" Is some
thing real, something to be feared.
Quite often 1t is associated with crime.
The Pennsylvania Dutch brought the
"hex' tradition with them from their
native land.
How %inescapably held in the power
of the "hex" are the people of those
counties was revealed with the murder
OF Nelson Rehmeyer, a farmer pow
wower, or witch doctor. A ~neighbor of
Rehmeyer's was John Blymyer. thirty
three, a cigar maker. In the latter part
of 1928 Blymyer. becoming III. con-.
WINGED himself that he had been be-
witched. that somebody had put a
'hex" on him. He went TO Mother
Noll, a powwower. learned from her
that Rehmyer had bewitched him.
Breaking the Spell.
There were only two ways, she al
legedly told Blymyer, to break the spell
get a lock of hair from Rehmeyer's
head and bury the hair eight feet I'M
d%erground, or take away Rehmeyer's
powwow book. This book reputedly
contained the various formulas for
making or breaking spells. Blymyer
hired two boys, John Curry. Wilbert
Hess, to aid him In this undertaking.
But they became panicky and young
Curry killed Rehmeyer. Result was
that he and Blymyer were sentenced
to prison for life. young Hess to prison
for twenty years.
This interference with "hex" on the
part of the law did nothing to lessen
the prevalent belief In 1t. Outwardly,
thousands of Pennsylvanians deplore
the 'hex." but inwardly believe in 1t.
Hex" by the way, gets Its name from
the German 'hexe,' meaning "hag.' or
witch, Is associated with. the German
word "hexenbesen," which means
witch's broom-seen on magazine Gov
ers every Halloween.