Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 222, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1911 — Styrian Peasant Superstition. [ARTICLE]

Styrian Peasant Superstition.

A law suit for libel brought by an apothecary In Pollan, in Styria, against a young peasant reveals an extraordinary superstition prevalent among the country people. They believe that apothecaries and doctors have the right to kill at least one man and one woman ever year In order to make medicines out of their bodies. ' An accidental movement of the apothecary at Pollan, Herr Kobermauaer, when giving medicine to a boy named Puts led the latter to believe be was going to be killed. He ran away, but got such a fright that befell in. The inhabitants believed bls story and boycotted the a pot he cary, who was at length compelled to prosecute. Puts was sentenced to fourteen days* imprisonment, but his parents, who had spread the story were acquitted on the ground that they had acted In good faith.