Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-07-08

| doubted fact that human sacrifices arc
offered at Easter, Christmas eve, New
Years eve, and more particularly on
Twelfth night
The mother was induced to 90 to
POrt-au-Prince one afternoon, when
the child was kidnapped and hidden
under the altar Of Vaudoux temple.
and on New Years eve a select compa-
ny assembled at the house of Jeanne
to partake Of a savory feast. The
child was horribly butchered, carved
up, and the flesh placed in wooden
dishes. After various ceremonials,
the flesh was cooked with Congo
beans, and the head was put into a,
pot with yams to make some soup.
One of the women present, urged by
the fearful appetite of cannibal, cut
from the child's palm piece of flesh
and ate it raw. The night was passed
IN eating, drinking and debauchery.
The next morning the remains of the
flesh were warmed up for breakfast.
Fourteen persons were arrested, and
sufficient evidence was found against
eight, who were tried, condemned, and
executed. Sir Spenser asked the pub
lie prosecutor if he thought that the
mother had been really ignorant of the
fatereserved for her child. He replied:
eve havenot thought proper to press
the inquiry too closely, for fear that
we should discover that she partook
OF the feast; we required her testimo-
ny at the trial." After a pause, he
added; eff full justice were done there
would be fifty on those benches instead
OF eight" During the trial proofs were
renewed that the devotees Of Vau-
doux worship associate it with the
ceremonies of the Catholic religion.
Crosses and pictures of the Virgin are
strangely mingled on their affairs with
the objects of their superstition. In
1862 the delegates Of the pope left the
country in disgust on account of the
prevailing corruption, the dearth of
religion among the secretaries of the
Vaudoux, and the opposition which
he met with in what in Hayti is called
civilized society.
The Spanish minister reported to his
government the case of an unknown
youth of about 20 years found dead in
the streets of Port-au-Prince, his heart
pierced by aweapon attached to which
was thin, hollow cane. 1t was sup
posed that he was assassinated In
order to suck his blood. The power
of the Vaudoux priests, according to
the report made by the Spanish min
lister, Mr.. Alvarez, was something
tremendous in it's influence on the
people. '"They produce death-appar-
ent, slow, Observation-Disclosures,
paralysis, impotence, idiocy, riches,
or poverty according to their will.
If it be doubted that these in
dividuals, without even common sense,
can understand SO thoroughly the
properties of herbs and their combina-
tions so as to be able to apply them
to the injury of their fellow creatures,
I can only say that traditions great
book, and that they receive these in
structions as a sacred deposit from
one generation to another, with the
further advantage that in the hills
and mountains of this island grow in
abundance similar herbs to those
which in Africa they employ in their
lamentations.
Besides human sacrifices connected
with religion there is another phase
cannibalism practiced for the sake of
the food which the slaughtering of hui
man beings affords to a vile section of
the community. A lady, the widow
of missionary, forced to stay in the
interior on account of civil war in the
surrounding districts, related some
horrible incidents of her own knowl-
edge. She declared that human sacri-
fees were constant; that human flesh
was openly sold in the market. A
high government official told Sir Spen-
ser thefollowing: A man travelling with
his wife was obliged to seek shelter in
a cottage on account of storm. The
latter was i'll, and, becoming worse,
the man went to seek help, leaving
his wife with the occupants, two men
and woman. 1t was a long time be-
fore he could find anyone, and on his
return his wife was gone. They told
him she had followed him, becoming
uneasy at his long absence. He rode
away, and induced the police to follow
him. the three inmates were arrested,
and the body of the woman, already
dismembered, was found in a cask in
an clubhouse, covered with a thick lay
er of salt. The only punishment the
tered by the clubs of thepolice as they
were Gdkeu W pElSOu' Lie pIdCC1Ce VI
midwives Staying children to eat them
is an old one in Hayti. AS late as
1878 two women were arrested in a
hut near Port-au-Prince, caught eat
ing the raw flesh of a child. 1t was
found that all the blood had been
sucked from the body, and part of the
flesh had been sailed down for future
use. A woman arrested for cannibal-
ism was asked. by a priest: GLOW
could you eat the flesh of your own
children ?" She answered coolly,
"And who had better right ?"
There is in Hayti a class of human
monsters called loup garous, who
make it practice to prowl about
lonely houses at night to carry off the
children. They are employed by the
papalois to secure children for sacrifice
in case the neighborhood does not
furnish a suitable subject, and they
are naturally the bugbears of the
country. In closing this frightful rec
ord Sir Spenser says that, except dur