WITCHCRAFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 136, 11 June 1929, Page 7

WITCHCRAFT.

OLD WOMAN KILLED.

Two Remarkable Cases From Farm Districts. SOMERSET AIQ) HUNGARY. (Australian and >.Z. Press Association.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 10. How the belief in witchcraft still survives in some agricultural districts is shown bv two episodes occurring as far apart as Somersetshire and Hungary. In the Somerset case the farmer was bound over to keep the 'peace for threatening an ancient neighbour whom he accused of casting an evil eye. The Hungarian case haS a more tragic ending. A farmer became mysteriously ill and in a frenzy he prophesied that a witch, who had cast a spell over him, would appear in the sick room. At the exact moment an old_ hag hobbled into the room and the family beat her to death with sticks, and the farmer, named Pittlik, leapt from his bed completely cured. The assailants were arrested and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. They appealed to the Supreme Court, and "the sentences were reduced to three months, the Court holding that the family was justified' in the assumption that the woman was a witch.