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Show Just History By Albert F." Philips . Whorsrsr thara la a - union T church and atata thara is always a thaocracy. And this thaocracy rulss with an Iron hand. Tho clarf y art j all powsrful In temporal aa In spiritual spirit-ual affairs. Buoh was tha Puritan thaocracy that held sway In Maaaa-chusatts, Maaaa-chusatts, In Connecticut. In Vlrgtna, parhaps In Massachusetts mora than anywhere else and thoee who did not aires with this theocracy were In leacus with his Satanic majesty, and ware persecuted and tortured. - It la mora than "two hundred years; to be exact, it la Just 2-1 years ao today that atx persons desls-nated aa wltchsa were condemned con-demned to death In Salem, Maas. The Puritanical coram m ant went mad i thara was an - eptdemlo of frensy on tha sub jest of witchcraft, which seised tha people ot the then Important town In the old bay state. Tha superstitious believed that men and women mlffht obtain supernatural power to barm others by selling their souls to Satan, and laws most cruel were enacted to auppreaa the crime of witchcraft. Many horrible tragedies were com mltted by tha Puritanical people, who in that are of tha world wars Insane on the subject. It was In tha family of Samuel Parti a, a minister In Salem, that tha fransy broke out. A company or Iris suddenly began to do mysterious mysteri-ous things; they would baric like dogs and scream at unseen things It waa alleged that they had become bewitched and that aa witches they would Inflict bodily harm opon many. A special court wag held. In the year 1J. between July and September, nine Innocent men and women accused of being witches wsra hanged; ona aged man was Pressed to death, fiftv-ffve tMrami wsra moat cruelly tortured and when .the madneas subalded there were one hundred and firty persons In prison, sight of whom were condemned con-demned to die, the ethera awaiting trial. Today 1, the annlveraary of tha eentenolng to death of el parson, par-son, convicted of being witches. Witchcraft originated with tha magielane of Chaldae and Persls and from Chaldae It passed to Egypt, Ureses and Rome. Hypno-tlera Hypno-tlera playsd a strong part In It and tho custom wss to snake a waxen Image of a pereoa whom hatred had cauaed a dealre to Injure another, and thle Image when placed before a fire and the wax began to melt, a dual body of the person wsa believed be-lieved to melt away elmuttaneouely. In England In 1711 a Mra. Hicks and hsr dsughter, aged nine, were executed for being witches and as lata as 1HT, on Auguat SO of that year at Ban Jacoba. Mexico, five alleged al-leged wltcbea were burned alive. Witchcraft la atlll believed la many parte of the world. The Indiana In Utah believed In. and still do believe Io. witchcraft, tha Utes In particular. Tbey do not dletlnguleh Between ona clasa of benevolent and another malevolent practltlonera, but put ta death any medicine man who falls to curs his patient who la afflicted with witchcraft. |