Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-09-21

night children are brought in; their throats
are CIT by the priest; their bloo1 is handed
round am drunk warm, and their bodies
are then cut up and eaten. Before the
sacrifice takes place the priest orders as
many children as he requires They must
be OF pure African descent, and not over
| 10 years of age. These children are inva
riably forthcoming, either by being volun-
tarily given up or obtained by being stolen
by women who make profession OF it.
They are expert at their trade. Entering
house at night, naked and oiled, they
steal the child, and, by administering
narcotic poison, render it lnsensibic. II Is
then conveyed TO secret place TILL required
for sacrifice. when an an'ido;e brings it
TO; then its throat is cut. Children are
often voluntarily given up by their mothers
for the sacrifice.
"In order to be initiated into 'Voudou'
it is necessary to have killed some human
being; child is preferred. Another hor-
rible custom in Hsyti is the devouring of
corpses. So strong is the taste for human
flesh that niidwlves have been known to
devour the children they have just brought
into the world. The parts preferred are
the knuckles and hands. Lest 1t snOald be
imag. med that these are not facts, l Will
give one or two instances. In May, 1879,
two women were caught eating female
child. II was proved that the child had
been first drugged and rendered insensible.
The parents supposing 1t to be dead buried
il. These women Immediately disinteired
it, restored 1t to its senses by antidotes,
and then inserted reeds through its side
and sucked the blood from the heart.
This happened at Port au Prince. A Hay
tian of good position was also caught with
his family ea:Ing small boy. Another
was found tied to Il tree close by. The
man was pointed out TO me. These oiien-
ses were punished, in one case by month S
imprisonment, in the ether by six weeks
Imprisonment, the fear of Voudou not al
lowing greater punishment. In January
1881, eight people were fined for dIslnter
ring and eating corpses- In the same
month the neck and shoulders of a man
were exposed for sale in the market at Port
au Prince and were purchased and identi-
fed by an English medical man. In Feb
ruary, 1881, at st. Marks, cask of So
called pork was sold to ship. In 1t were
discovered the fingers and fnger-nails of a
human being. This pork was all identi-
fled as human flesh. A Haytian assured
me that the kidneys o. child were first
rate eating. On my asking how he knew
he informed me that he had eaten them.
He did not seem to think it strange or at
all out of the way. A, Cape Uaytien a
colored clergyman of the Church of Eng
land complained that 'Voudou' neutral
lied all the good he was doing, and de-
clared that he had had human flesh offered
him for sale, and that his wife nearly
bought ii, relieving that it was pork. In
February, 1881, four people were fined for
devouring corpses. At Jacmel two corpses
were recently disinterred and partly eaten.
Two men were IL prison for this, not being
able to pay the fine. A man caught eating
a child was arrested the day of my arrival.
At Christmas time 1900 people assembled
at the house of noted 'Voudou' priestes5
(po nted out to me) living in the country
and carried on Voudou rites IN the woods
close by during the week. At Aux Cages
the child of an Englishman was stolen from
its cradle on the 4th of March, 1879. The
thieves being hunted they threw the child
down a well-killing it-and escaped.