News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-09-03
THE OBEAH MAN.
Horrible Superstitions of the Ignorant Ne
groes of the West Indies.
Jamaica Letter to Philadelphia Press.l

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Obeah, in the West Indies, is two
fold art-the art of poisoning combined
with the art of imposing upon the Gre
dulity of ignorant people by pretense
of witchcraft. The Obeah man or wo-
man is one of a great guild or fraternity
of crime Hardly criminal trial &C.
ours in the different colonies in which he
is not implicated in one way or another.
His influence is unbounded, the credu-
lous peasantry holding him as prophet,
priest and king of the district over
which he holds sway. If a negro
maiden wants charm to make her lover
''good to her." if man wishes to avenge
a wrong, or to know the secrets of the
future, the Obeah man is at hand to sup
ply the means and to proffer his assist
ance and advice.
Under the title of "bush doctor" he
wanders from place to place at the cost
of his dupes; supplied with food by one,
with money by another, denied nothing.
His pretensions are high; but he has
means at hand to enforce them. He de-
clares himself powerful to cure all dis
eases. He can protect man from the
consequences of crime; he can even
reanimate the dead.
His knowledge of poison is immense.
Every bush and tree furnishes weapons
for his armory. Unfortunately, in too
many instances, more effective agents
are not wanting to his hand. How many
planters have had poison administered
to them in their coffee; how many book
keepers have come to an untimely end
by the mixture of ground glass in their
food may be seen In the records of the
slave courts of the different colonies
Barbados and Jamaica especially. Next
to cholera and yellow fever, Obeah was
the greatest danger which every white
man connected with the administration
of a sugar estate had to encounter.
There is something indescribably sim
lister in the appearance of the Obeah
man, which is readily observed by per-
sons who have mixed much with the
negroes. Sometimes, as an outward and
visible sign of his trade or calling, he
carries about with him a staff or wand,
with serpents wreathed about it or the
rude likeness of a human face roughly
delineated on the handle. Lizards
bones, cats claws, ducks skulls, grave
dirt-that is, earth taken from the grave
of freshly buried corpse-hang in
bag at his side. He has his cabalistic
book albeit he can seldom read), full of
strange characters, crude figures and
roughly traced diagrams and devices,
which he pretends to consult in the ex-
ercise of his calling.
On one occasion l happened to be in a
courthouse during the trial of noto-
rious thief, when | noticed one of these
gentlemen enter the room; very dirty
was bound tightly around
his head, and from under his shaggy
brows l could see pair of small, cum
ming eyes which never took their gaze
from the face of the Judge. The pris-
oner was undefended and was finally
convicted, but l was afterward told that
instead of employing lawyer he had
for his defense this Obeah
man, and had actually paid him the sum
of three guineas for his services. The
wizard had undertaken to fix the eye"
of the Judge, and had persuaded the
miserable dupe that this would infalli-
bly, secure his acquittal.