The Tumbling Run Hex

 

Artist's depiction of the Tumbling Run "Hex Cat"

In 1911, witchcraft hysteria spread across central Pennsylvania, with dozens of superstitious citizens swearing out complaints against men and women accused of being hex or "pow-wow" doctors. In February, infamous hex doctor Elmer Palm was arrested in Berks County and charged with "causing the nervous breakdown" of a woman named Mrs. Maddiman after he claimed that he could break every bone in the human body just by casting a spell. In December, the well-known witch of Nuremburg, Lena Fogel (who was no stranger to jail cells herself) was found dead in her hut on the Schuylkill-Luzerne county line with a bottle of laudanum by her side. Between these local newsworthy events, however, was a bizarre story of witchcraft from Schuylkill County which made newspaper headlines across the commonwealth.

Alleging that her father, 61-year-old Howell Thomas of Tumbling Run, died as the result of a hex placed upon him by a family from Orwigsburg, Mary Isabelle Thomas went to the press with a long list of peculiar incidents which she believed would prove that her father succumbed to the effects of black magic. Mary claimed that the evil spell had the power to prevent Thomas' guns from shooting, thereby leaving him vulnerable and unprotected, and that several cows had died under mysterious circumstances. While there might have been a perfectly reasonable explanation for these misfortunes, the item that caught people's attention was the daughter's claim that these mishaps began immediately after a black cat showed up on the Thomas farm-- a cat that assumed monstrous proportions, growing to four feet in height before magically returning to its previous form.

After these misfortunes began, the Thomas family called a witch doctor, who claimed that a well-respected Orwigsburg family, the Potts, was conspiring to steal their wealth through supernatural means, warning them to be prepared for a visit from the spell-caster in the near future. Adding a new level of drama to the affair was the fact that one of Howell's daughters, Elizabeth, had married into the Potts family.

Sure enough, the alleged witch from Orwigsburg, Elizabeth Howell Potts, soon came calling-- armed with a black cat. It wasn't long before Howell Thomas suffered a massive stroke. Within five months, he would be dead. Howell's death came as a shock to many; he was a man who always enjoyed excellent health. Though he was a veteran of the Civil War, he refused to accept a soldier's pension. Perhaps it was because of this heartiness that Howell's family, especially brother William and daughter Mary Isabelle, refused to believe that he had died of natural causes.

According to William, his niece had also fallen gravely ill around the same time as Howell Thomas. Two prominent physicians examined the girl, but held little hope for her recovery. Gradually she grew weaker, until death seemed to be sitting at the foot of her bed. This deathwatch continued for eight weeks, until the "spell" suddenly broke. "The Demon has evidently determined to get the remainder of the family," declared William, "and in this he may succeed."

Panic At The Funeral

Howell Thomas, a native of Pottsville, was a former miner who had taken up farming later in life. From his deathbed he insisted upon having his funeral at his old house in Pottsville, and this final request was carried out by his brother William, who lived at the farm, his wife Lenore, and his daughters, Mary Isabelle and Elizabeth. On the morning of September 26, Howell's remains were taken from the undertaking parlor of T.D. Bergen to the old home at 301 North Third Street. About two dozen guests and relatives attended what was intended to be a simple affair; there were no flowers, and mourners paid their last respects before the open casket, where Howell lay atop a lining of white silk, attired in a black suit and white shirt. But then, all hell broke loose.

It was Mary Isabelle who, just before the service began at three o'clock, refused to allow her sister Elizabeth into the house when she arrived with her husband, Albert, and their three children, claiming that she had been the one responsible for the hex. As soon as Elizabeth entered the house, Mary Isabelle had come running downstairs, ordering her sister out of the building before swooning and falling into a dead faint. Friends were eventually resuscitate her with smelling salts, though Elizabeth chose to wait outside while the services continued. 

Afterwards, they all went to the Odd Fellows Cemetery, where another dramatic scene unfolded. Elizabeth dropped her knees at the side of the casket and wept. "My God, father!" she cried. "I did not know I was accused of anything until I saw it in the papers, and they wouldn't let me see you while you were alive." Mary Isabelle loudly remarked that this was a lie.

 

 

Killing A Hex Cat

After the funeral, those who believed William and Mary Isabelle's claim about the giant hex cat determined to find it and kill it with a golden bullet. Early before sunrise on Wednesday morning, September 27, neighbors descended upon the Thomas farm at Mary Isabelle's request. According to Mary, the witch doctor had instructed her to melt a $5 gold coin and make bullets with it, as this was the only way the evil cat could be killed. The neighbors were eager to participate in this strange hunt, as many of them claimed to have seen the giant beast with their own eyes, prowling around the farm before sunrise. 

The "hex cat", of course, failed to make its customary pre-dawn appearance that day, but the local farmers blamed themselves for this failure. Some had carried Bibles with them and others had brought along crucifixes, and they fervently believed that they had unintentionally frightened the evil spirit away. Mary Isabelle pledged to try again on her own, and her gun, loaded with a golden bullet, never left her side.

On September 30, it was reported that the infamous hex cat had been captured and was in the possession of a Pottsville furniture store manager named Kelliher. When the Republican sent a reporter to the store, Kelliher stated that it was one of his salesman, Charles Lawless, who had heard the wailing of a small child in distress while passing through Tumbling Run. Lawless traced the cries to a hollow tree trunk and found a cat he believed to be the diabolical feline, which he trapped in a box and brought back to the store. The following morning, workers entered the store and found everything a shambles. According to Kelliher, the horses for the wagons refused to eat and the telephone refused to work. The crate in which the hex cat had been placed was empty, but one of the workers located it on a store room shelf. Fearing a bite from the magical beast, nobody had the courage to touch it, and one worker was so frightened that he resigned his job on the spot. After catching the cat, Kelliher decided to have it displayed inside his shop, and offered a gun loaded with a gold bullet to anyone who had the courage to shoot it. Witnesses who came to view the animal remarked that it was a "medium size" back cat and weighed around "two or three pounds". While the publicity stunt worked, papers neglected to mention just how many of these curiosity-seekers purchased furniture during their visit. 

Sightings of the hex cat continued for months, though the fantastical feline always managed to escape with all nine of its lives intact. In January of 1912 it was reported that witchdoctors had devised a novel plan to negate the evil spell of the hex cat by obtaining a magical cat of their own; In nearby Schuylkill Haven, local pow-wow doctors found themselves a "hexahemeron" cat, so named because it had been born on the sixth day of the sixth month of 1906, and was the sixth kitten of the litter. The theory behind this cat's magical powers was that the official Bible contained five books of Moses (the Pentateuch), even though a sixth book was written but never "made the cut". This missing book of Moses features the Witch of Endor, who supposedly bestows cats with the power of warding off evil spirits. 

Despite their use of an "anti-hex" hexahemeron cat, strange things continued to happen at the Thomas farm to the bafflement of local witch doctors, and each tragedy-- whether caused by nature or caused by witchcraft-- was reported by local papers, whose curious readers thirsted for more information. Most journalists, however, scoffed at the idea of a hex; a newspaperman from the Pottsville Republican had visited the farm after Howell Thomas' stroke and reported that "conditions may be described as pitiful", that the house was "badly in need of repairs", while the animals and cattle were "half-starved looking". A fine apple orchard situated on the property was untended, and the reporter noted bushels of fruit decaying on the ground for lack of a harvester. When asked why they hadn't sold the fruit to earn money for the basic necessities of life, the Thomas family claimed that the apples had been poisoned by the hex.

The will of Howell Thomas was probated by Register of Wills H.H. Seltzer in March of the following year. It was one of the shortest wills ever probated in Schuylkill County. Containing twenty words and written on a ragged scrap of paper, the document, dated May 17, 1910, declares: To my brother, William Thomas, and my daughter, Mary Thomas, all that is mine is thine."

The Aftermath

Had the Thomas family, and some of their superstitious neighbors, been laboring under a delusion that Elizabeth Potts had cast a magical spell? Or was there some dark family secret which inspired Mary Isabelle to make such spectacular accusations against her own sister? It seems that Mary must have believed the delusion wholeheartedly, as she never recovered from the experience. Armed with her golden bullet, she remained unmarried for the remainder of her life, eventually dying in poverty at the county almshouse on May 13, 1944 at the age of 67.

Strangely, Elizabeth Howell Potts-- the accused witch-- died 25 days later at the age of 64, preceding her husband in death by two years. Ironically, both sisters are buried alongside each other at Salem Evangelical Cemetery in Orwigsburg. It was reported after her death that Elizabeth was the last surviving member of the Thomas family. One of Elizabeth's sons, Howell Franklin Potts, later became a judge of elections, a position he held for fifteen years until his premature death in 1955 at the age of 48. Like his grandfather, his death was caused by a stroke.




Sources:
Allentown Leader, Feb. 21, 1911.
Pottsville Republican, Sept. 23, 1911.
Pottsville Republican, Sept. 26, 1911.
Mount Carmel Item, Sept. 28, 1911.
Pottsville Republican, Sept. 30, 1911.
Pike County Dispatch, Jan. 18, 1912.
Philadelphia Inquirer, March 16, 1912.