The sun., 1873-03-11
JAMAICA'S ROLLING CALF.
now THE sM MUG0LERs oOVER UP
THEIR OPERATIONS.

A Moving Circle Of Flame. with Lurins
Creature Inside ". Bnif Man and Hail
Calf aud Bound with Chains-One Of th.
Mysteries Of African Rctishism.
Correspondence OF Tue sun.
KINGSTON, jamaica, w. l., Feb. ia
residence of twelve years in this island has mad.
me acquainted with many OF the superstitions OF
the colored population.
In 1863, was residing In the Port Royal Mum
tains. A negro OF excellent character, the dea-
con of Baptist Church. and respc Ted by tho
white residents as. a SOBER, industrious man
came to me one Sunday morning greatly er
cited, and said that he had seen dnppy."
that Ia. supernatural manifestation tb.
previous night while returning from the CITY
About four miles out OF kinlstun Is a fnItia.
cation known as Rock Fort. IL stands AZ tha
junction with the main land of narrow nenin-
miles in west rly direction On ia eTtPcmisuu ieu
which approaches the island within about a
mile and a half. stands the old town Of Port
Royal, famous In the history Of the buccaneers.
The water enclosed within this peninsula forms
the horbor of kingston; The great windward
passes through AN irchwaY in Rock Fort. Theirs
Is only one habltation near the for, and II Ia not
often that any one Is found there Of night.
The forti1csiion runs up the hill side, which Is
auarried daily by gangs Of prisoners from the
WHAT THE NEGRO SAW.
My Informant told me that ON the night In
question, about lOo,clock, IA he was approaching
the archway IN the fort, he heard the rattlingof
chains lie looked toward the house near the
fort, but no lisht was visible. His mule
up Ts" to " one go side, Under r" the shadow iow
q a large boulder which had rolled from
cessiblo hill, and on his right were the waters OF
the harbor. Tho NOISE rapidly Increased, and,
the whole OF the archway under the fort brightly
Illuminated bv a circle Of tre, which rolled IKE
a ,S,i wheel toward him. The mule was ter;
and quickly tied his handkerchief over
the animals eyes. The beast stood trem,,
through the arch way, and came down tho hill at
a fearful rate. accompanied by the sound ~ rat
tlng chains As IL passed my informant he says
that he saw inside the wheel Uf nre the figure
ot a man bound with chains: On the body VI
partition passed rapidly down the road and dis
appeared at an angle Of the road lcss than
Tspoke TO many Intelligent and pious negroes
on the subject and they all seemed to credit the
story OF my informant, accepting II as matter
Of fact' ana simply saying
WAS THE ROLLING CALF.
Two years later, when residing In Kingston,
was Informed that rolling calf was To be seen
nightly on Queen street, the beginning Of tho
windward road. party Of US agreed 20 go and
observe the phe nonienon. We occupied an up
stairs room in house close by the place where
the spectre was to appear About II O'Clock the
first night OF our watch when the town was
quiet and few persons ia thai suburb were astir,
we heard coming from the lower part of "a gully,
known as as sandy gully which runs across s,, sns
down stairs and went toward the gully One Of the
party had provided himself with pistol load:
rapidly, and soon we saw the bushes which ale
most choked tbs gully Illuminated with a bright
light. The light drew nearer, and in few sec
onds wheel uf FIRE, almost precisely similar to
that described in the former case, came rolling
out Of the gully across the road, aud shot into
the gully ON the opposite side. The flames Jared
and licked the ground, and In the centre of tho
hery wheel was
A FIGURE. HALF MAN. HALF CALF,
bound with chains. We rushed after IL up tho
gully, and my friend discharged his pistol. The
spectre disappeared a hundred yards away amid
the bushes, aud alter wandering through the
rough bed of the gully beyond where the "duppy'
had vanished, we turned up one OF the Streets
/ A short distance up we met a coorcd policeman
and told him our adventure. lie expressed no
! surprise, only remarlslng In a mattcr-Of-facb
way, "It's the Rolling Calf"
| made inquiries as & 70 the orsT Of thi,
! t1d Time a1,erward receive any other "xnlanstIoS
than this, which is perfectly satisfactory 70 the
eolored people; his is the way the olsen;
| bodied souls Of those butchers are punished
who in their lifetime took away the Young calf
| from its mother and slowly tortured IL to death
! aIn not going to seek to explain absolutely
tins mystery. IL is notorious, however, that
| valuable smugglcd goods are landed at night At
| Rock Fort, carried TO the city along the wind
ward road and taken down the very gully already
! that this Roll ing Calf appeared periodically at
Rock, Fort and generally SOC n after the arrival of
/ certain steamers at the gully, aud whenever lt
did 80 people summed the vicinity Of It's opera
tions.
Three YEARS AFTER
i witnessed the manifestation, | was telling the
! story to u number of travellers, all whites, met
! by chance in planters house in St. DTylds
parish, nineteen miles from Kingston, on the
windward rad. The planter was the only man
| who laughed at the story
g I've got u man here said he, who can do
the spectre for you whenever YOU wish To SEQ H..
IL was thereuuun arranged that our hosts
fakir should exhibit that night. As soon IA II
was dark, We assembled outside and were told
To look for the apparition in the direction Of the
sugar house. soon afterward we heard the
rafting of chains, and sure enough tho circle of
hre with man inside IT,. but with NO RESENT
| blance to a calf, passed right before us. Ii
| moved more slowly than the other spcctres, and
! did not emit So much dame or light. but the
1 phenomenon was there, without doubt, talked
with the man aiterward, but l could not prevail
on him to explain the operation. The man,
| found, had a reputation as an Obaah man, and
| had been imprisoned and whipped for practising
| fetishism.