Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1912 — Syrian Peasant Superstition. [ARTICLE]

Syrian Peasant Superstition.

A law suit for libel brought by an apothecary in Pollau, in Syria, against a young peasant reveals an extraor dinary superstition prevalent among the country people. The believe that apothecaries and doctors have the right to kill at jeast one man and one woman every year in order to make medicines out of their bodies. ,»An accidental movement of the apothecary at Pollan. Herr Kobermauser, when giving medicine to a boy named Putz led the latter to believe he was going to be killed. He ran away but got such a fright that he fell 111. The inhabitants believed Ms story and boycotted the apothecary, who was at length compelled to prosecute. Putz 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.