Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-02-01
Curious Superstition Among the Wash.
ingtOn Negroes.

| up ASeahVh AIMING Tie w aSn-
ingtOn Negroes.
From the Washington Evening Star Jan. II.
A singular superstition among the
more Ignorant of our colored popula-
ton is the firm belief in the existence
OF what they commonly term night
DOCTORS" According to popular report
among the class referred to. thes e
might doctors " perambulate the
streets IN pairs about midnight, and be.
tween that time and daybreak, search.
ing for victims for the dis
secting room. Armed with adhesive
| plasters, they are believed 10 lie in wait
for subjects" in dark alleys, from
which they stealthily but quickly
emerge whenever a colored person of
suitable proportions passes. ADVANCING
with muffied step behind the unsus.
| pecting victim, one of these terrible
might doctors " reaches his hand over
the shoulder of the colored man or
woman, and dexterously claps the adj
hesive plaster over his or her mouth. in
order to prevent any cutlery, while his
confederate quickly ties the arms with
cord, with which he is prepared.
Unable to give an alarm or make any
thing like successful resistance, the
poor victim is placed in a covered car
rage In waiting near by, and carried to
the dlssecting room, where he or she is
chloroformed into insensibility, and
then bled to death by the heartless
students. The dissection of the BODY
then follows, after which the fatty parts
OF the body are tryed in cauldrons,
for the purpose of obtaining the oil.
which, according to popular belief
among the colored people, afterward
appears at the drug stores in the form |
OF castor-oil. So firmly are many of the |
colored people impressed with this be- |
lief that they venture on the streets |
after nightfall with fear and trembling.
and take to their heels whenever they |
notice anything suspicious in the move
ments of the passers-by. OF late they |
assert that the number Of colored PEG |
pc who have disappeared is much
larger than usual, and they are con
ylnced that the doctors of Washington
are not only supplying the dissecting
room OF he city with subjects, but are
furnishing "castor OIL" manufactured
from colored adipose matter, to the
large cities throughout the country. A
few nights since, an aged colored woman
went to one of the police stations to in
qulre after her grandson, fat boy, 9
years of age. She remained at the
station for several hours bewailing the
sad fate of ''Toney." whom she was
certain was victim of the nasty night
doctors" and was probably at that mo-
ment being boiled down to oil. The
officers tried in vain to comfort her. and
It was only on the appearance of the
little fellow at the station that she was
paclfied. Night before last, between IL
and II o'clock, g solitary horseman "
was seen on the island by some colored |
people, with body thrown across the
horse IN front of him, and some colored
persons who saw him imagined, from
me limberness of the corpse, that it was
;ome poor fellow with his mouth effect
laily sealed with sticking plaster, on
1ls way to the dissecting room, there to |
De hacked into mince meat, or to be
ooxed for export to some other city.
those who saw him were afraid TO
ackle the man, but notified the police.
There being no law against BODY $
matching in force, and no way to reach !
ne offender, no action could be taken.
those who indulge this singular su-
'erstition relative to "night DOCTORS I
imagine that young and obese subjects !
re preferred on account of the oil I
Vhlch they yield, ana that hump backs !
re also especially desirable, on account
i their peculiar physical conformation, |
Fhlch renders their dissection of partic-
Ilar interest to medical students. In !
Iced, It is reported that as high as $3.50 |
ach Tor frst-class hump backed sub l l
ects is offered by the night doctors" !
We know not how this strange hallu- I
nation originated, but imagine it must
ave come down by tradition from 1.-THE a
God old times /" before the war. 0