Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-12-03
VoUDooIsM.
It's Votaries in Memphis AlarmRgIy on The
Increase.

For some time past the Second District
notice have been making chronic raids on
Rotten Row and its denizens, arrestlng
every man and woman in IL, who had no
visible means ofsuppOrt. Some daysthey
have secured as many as a dozen persons,
and after filming them turned them loose
az, tha Dromise that they wOnld lind work
and quit the life of vicious idleness then
led Nv them. Yesterday n of these
raids was made. and among the captures
was a darkv who gave his name as Bob
Tsvlor. When brought to the Second
District stationhcuse, among the effects
found on his person WAS a mall nag OF
leather. in which was neatly seWed some
thing which the police did not examine,
but which they were given to understand
was a " hOodo, charm, or amulet, to ward
OF from the wearer The evil Vaccinations
of the hOOdO-maD.' The creduious
darky stared with open-eyed wonder and
u~ndisguised contempt at the officer who
told him that Ga grown man, even If he
was a negro, ought to have better sense
than to believe in such stuff" and, when
the bag was about to be chucked
into the stove, begged that 1t
might be given back TO him, as it was
his only safeguard against the black arts
Of his eQemy.
It would surprise those who are not
thrown in contact with the negro pOpula-
ton to know 60 what extent this super
stitiOn has gained ground among them.
Before the war, owners Of slaves found It
70 their interest to cOunteract and put
down the teachings of the " Obi-men p
using. frequently, severe measures to ac-
cOmplish their nd-bu the removal
Of the masters restraint has been fol-
lowed by a relapse into a barbarism Of
superstition only exceeded by the tribes
of the Whidah and Loango rivers. This
writer, in pursIt Of his profession, has
had occasion to be present when descents
were being made by the police of New
Orleans and Mobile on " voudoO " dens-
twice surprising the sable +" circles in
the eliminating acts of their incanta-
tons. With the exception Of a human
body being required, On rare occa-
sions, as one of the accessories,
there IS nothing very horrible connected
with the ceremonies; only a broth of
snakes, toads, snails, poisonous weeds,
ETC., being ~cOncOcted, over which those
present, headed by the Fetish or obi
man." dance and howl, and cut antics
that would shame the lthest monkey
that ever wrapped prehensile tail round
limb Of tree. Long years 60, "HOodO-
town. situated near the shore of Lake
POntchartrsin. in the swamp between
Milneburg and Bayou ST. John, some five
or six miles from New Orleans, was Wis
tied by a party OF special officers, among
whom were Smith lizard, Mike Farrell,
Tom BOylan and Old Hays, instructed by
their chief (Steve O'Leary) for the pur-
pose of breaking up a kind of ''prOtracted
meeting then being held by the Hoo
docs, T" and at which, it had been said, two
human sacrifices were to be offered up TO
the Fetish. The officers arrived about
half-past eleven O'Clock, just in time to
save from the sacrifiCial knife an old
skinny wencb, whose hash was to rave
been effeetuaIly settled at midnight. A
dozen or fifteen Of the ringleaders were
taken in, and a large quantity Of "plun-
de-" necessary to the prosecution OF the
business captured. The only +" horror "
was a longitudinal half of the BODY of
what appeared to have been a negro boy
nearly grown. This relic" was well
preserved, and had very much the appear
nee of a well-jerked leg Of thin beef.
There being no law to punish idOlatry,
the negroes arrested were put on trial for
murder, or, rather, as accessories to a
murder, the split-aud-dried darkey being
the ground tor the charge. But the evil
dence of the surgeon called in by the
Court was to the effect that the " speci-
men " had ceased TO form part of q living
body at least ten years before, and the
trial resulted in nothing more tLan
" thirty-nine lashes. well laid on the bare
back" for each Of the darkies, as a pun
ishment for taking part in a d~isOrderly
~asssmblage. The law cannOt be made to
reach EOudOuism as long as the believers
abstain from human sacrifice, and so il
must 90 on increasing until every "cOon"
in the land viii nave a " hoOdO-bag "
strung around his neck, and VIII consult
his Obi-man " before undertaking even
the backing OF a pair Of boots.
.