The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-19

youdooism in the South-Mutilatins;
Corpses and Playing Cards Over the Ri.
fed Graves to Get q "Charm'-Ghastly
superstitions.
On Sunday morning, July 16, about
1.SO o'clock, Sheriff Lacy was called up
BY armed men, who demanded the keys
Of the Jail. When positively refused,
they placed a guard at his door and told
him not to come out, as they did not
wish to hurt him. They then proceeded
to the Jail, broke open the doors, and.
after hammering the cage awhile, vert
heard calling: "Come out of there !
come out ofthere = several times. Then
ten or twelve shots were heard, Thoughts
mostly pistols, and the men, thought
to be about thirty in number, marched.
away. When they were gone Lindsey
Portwood, Dudley Brothers and Wesley
Richardson were found dead in the cage
aud the door of the cage broken open.
They had been committed ten days ago
for violating graves.
Coroner w. 7. Marler summoned a
Jury and held an inquest. DR.. William A.
Brown examined the bodies in the ryes-
ence of the jury, and made out stale
ment, in writing, of the nature and UNI
Der of the wounds, and stated that they
all came to their death by shot wounds.
Thomas B. Nesmith, solicitor, summoned
and examined before the jury every per-
son from whom it was supposed that
any testimony could be obtained, but
no discovery was made as to who COM
mitted the crime. The citizens of Yer
non met and prepared good, plain cofins,
and dressed the dead in neat suits and
gave them decent burial. The colored
people refused to aid and seemed tc have
q superstitious fear of coming near the
dead.
The crime committed by these unfor-
tunate men, and the facts and manner Of
its discovery, are about as follows: One
day last month q negro named Dock
Poe, being sick and thinking be was
about to die, unburthened his conscience
to his nurse, an old negro Woman
named Jude Dobbins, and named the
above three as engaged in the crime, and
told her that some of the human bones
they had been operating with were about
the house. Aunt Jude thinking that
Poe would die, and being superstitiously
alarmed, communicated her information
to white woman. The white people,
finding that several graves had been dug
into, became excited and were threaten
ing summary vengeance. Some prudent
citizen obtained warrant aud succeeded
in arresting the three named above 70.
violating graves. Poe being sick, they
did not disturb him. The prisoners
when arrested separately confessed the
crime, and each told about the same
story. Each was taken to the graves
separately, and each pointed out the
graves they had opened. The prisoners
we're then taken before magistrate,
who, upon their full confession, COM
mitted them to Jail.
The citizens who had the matter in
hand had great difficulty in protecting
the prisoners till they were lodged in
iail, and for several days afterward the
Sheriff and citizens of Vernon feared
something like what has now happened,
but all seemed to have become quiet
The people afterward opened and exam.
ined the graves. One in which a mau
had been buried about thirty-fve years
had been dug out to the bottom and the
decayed bones were mixed with the dirt
to the top and some of them were found
out of the grave. The negroes said they
did not take any of them because they
were too much decayed. The other was
that of Mrs. Tom Poe, who had been
buried about two years. The LETT hand
of the corpse had been pulled off at the
wrist and was missing; the right arm
had been pulled off at the shoulder and
was missing, and the corpse was mangled
and turned about in the coffin. Nhe lid
had been merely laid back and the grave
filled. The negroes said they had taken
away the hands. They all had bones
about their persons, which they said were
froms Mrs. Poe's hands. These bones
are now in possession of Sheriff Lacy,
and are said not to belong to the same
human hand. They said they had sold
some of them. 1t is believed that sever
81 other graves had been dug into. The
graveyard where most of the digging
had been done is at or near Poplar
Spring Church, in the Southwest corner
of this County, and all the graves molest-
ed were the graves of white people.
The cause of this strange conduct, as
related by the negroes themselves is as
follows:
During November and December last,
a negro by the name of Jerry Vaughn,
from Mississippi, stayed among them,
and sold them rights and receipts for
working charms and performing mira.
cles. 70 acquire the "card charm" "
three or more go to grave; one knells
at the foot and curse; the balance dig
down and get the bones and fill up the
grave again, the praying and cursing
going on all the while. Then all join in
game of cards on the grave, and all
have acquired the "charm." They put
the bones in poke or string them, and
wear them about the body, and as they
expressed it, awe have good luck.
They lick dust of human bones, and wet
the tips of their fingers while they han,
die or play cards, and have "good luck. !"
They rub the cards against the bones
about their body for "luck." And they
swallow the dust for "good luck" in any