1900–1939
Ritual murder accusation
Sept. 1928·Massena
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
the community questioned by police after the disappearance of a girl, found alive; the mayor and police chief are forced to apologize
In September 1928, on the eve of Yom Kippur, the disappearance of a four-year-old girl in the small town of Massena, in the state of New York, led the police to summon the rabbi and question him about the supposed practice of ritual human sacrifice in his religion. The town's mayor joined in the interrogation; the small community spent a night in fear of a riot.
The child was found alive the following day, having wandered into a nearby wood. The affair caused national outrage: the state governor intervened, and the mayor and chief of police were required to offer public apologies. This is the only case of a ritual murder accusation formally pursued by an American authority.
- Period :
- 1900–1939
- Type :
- Trials and executions
- Region :
- Americas
- Country :
- États-Unis
Presse américaine contemporaine ; archives de l'American Jewish Committee sur l'affaire.