A Slander Refuted.

Evening Star, Issue 7787, 7 December 1888, Page 4

A Slander Refuted.

The contradiction to the astounding story told by the Vienna correspondent of' The Times' of a superstition that if a Jew be intimate with a Christian woman he can atone for his offence by her mutilation, is most emphatic. Mr Hermann A'ller, writing from the office of the Chief Rabbi, exclaims: —"' Woe unto the ears that hear this; woe unto the eyes that see this !' I can assert, without hesitation, that in no Jewish book is such a barbarity even hinted at. Nor is there any record in the criminal annals of any country of a Jew having been convicted of such a terrible atrocity. These facts were conclusively proved by Professor Dclitzsch, of Leipzio, and Dr Bloch, a member of the Austrian Imperial Diet, on the occasion of the trial of Ritter, who, living in an atmosphere surcharged with anti-Semitism, had been accused of this crime, but who was ultimately acquitted, there being as your correspondent admits no doubt as to his innocence." A second letter, signed M. Gaster, Ph.D., Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' congregations of England, contains the following:— "I cannot find expressions strong enough to condemn these atrocious crimes, but it makes man still more despair of the progress of mankind when one sees this revival of absurd legends disposed of long ago. Baseless and without foundation as these legends are, they are dangerous even in normal times ; how much more in abnormal ? Who can foresee to what terrible consequences such a superstition might lead when the people, frantic with rage and terror, get hold 01 it and wreak their vengeance on innocent men ? . . , Elsewhere we have to look for the perpetrator of these horrible crimes, which cast a gloom over the most civilieed town in Europe."