Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-05-11
WEST INDIES "oBEAH MEN,
A Superstition Which Was Once a DAN
gerous Thing-Juggiing and Poisoning.


gerous Thing-Juggiing and Poisoning.
must say that in travelling nearly all
over the West Indies have never come
across single instance of any person
being poisoned or injured by an "Obeah
man." but | have read and heard OF
great many such instances, for Obeah
works by frightening the ignorant and
poisoning those who are in his way.
had seen good deal of the superstition
and witchcraft among the negroes III our
southern states. Two years ago l came
across a curious case of it on the Ohio
river A young mulatto "hoodooed' a
steamboat, greatly to the terror
of all the colored people on board.
and within six hours the steamboat
struck rock and sank. OF course if
had heard this story should not have
believed it. But | saw the hoodooing
sank. Every colored man on the boat
believed in it and was satisfied that the
boat sank because she had been be-
witched. Afterward | told Of the occur
renee 10 colored acquaintance in the
southern states, and many of them in re-
turn told me stories of still more curious
cases of witchcraft. They all believed in
il and dreaded it.
Wherever there are eolored people
there is superstition. and there was a
time in the West Indies when "Obeah
worship" was a very serious and danger
Gus thing. But that was long ago when
the negroes were enslaved and oppressed
and naturally looked for some safe mode
of retaliation. Now they are free they
no longer have this incentive, and
"Obeah' is a comparatively harmless su-
perstition. This probably is why never
have come upon any serious case of ~be-
witching;" they use now only foolish lit
tie charms, where formerly they used
dangerous poisons. 1t was an Cypress
lively hot morning in October when !
visited the gentleman in Trinidad who
was to tell me about Obeah worship, and
was glad when the roof of his piazza
sheltered me from the burning Trinidad
sun.
@Obeah is the dread of nine negroes
out of every ten in the West Indies,
said the Trinidad gentleman, whom for
the sake of convenience ! shall call Mr..
Smith. 1T is nuisance to them and TO
the whites, but all the efforts of the va
rious governments to crush it out have
been unavailing. 1t has as many be-
levers now as ever, notwithstanding
the education of many of the blacks. and
wherever there is any conflict between
the two races it is still dangerous.
can not tell you the derivation of the
word. Obeah, (which, as you must have
noticed, is always pronounced obey is
not an imaginary being or any tangible
thing. but simply the name of the
wretched system of juggling and poison
ing.
Certain men among the negroes set
up for 'Obeah men, and profess to be
able to do marvellous things. suppose
there are 500 'Obeah men on this island,
to whom the other colored people go for
assistance and advice. They have to
pay for this assistance, so the conclusion
is inevitable that the Obeah men go into
it as matter of business, seeing way
to make an easy living out of the super
stition Of their comrades. They are
naturally shrewd fellows, who know how
to give some impressiveness and plausi-
bility to their nonsense. There is some
thing like system in the 'Obeah wor-
ship, but it has so many variations that
it is difficult to trace. II is substantially
the same in all the islands. with such
differences as each performer chooses to
invent. In every island, for instance,
three white cocks heads are used to
bring trouble TO the enemy. There is no
variation in that. Though there is a
great deal of the Obeah business in
Trinidad this island is by no means one
of the worst. 1t flourishes more in Hayti
than anywhere else. In Jamaica 1t is
very much on the increase.
"There is no doubt that il came orig
inally from Africa. Nearly every Afri-
can negro in the West Indies is firm
believer in it. There is great deal of it
in Sierra Leone, and there it fiourishes in
its worst form, that Of poisoning. Its
home in the West Indies is st. Vincent.
There it is carried TO greater extent
than anywhere else, and old Obeah men
for consideration teach the secrets of
the trade to beginners and make them
accomplished prisoners and jugglers.
Pupils of these humbugs have spread
through the other islands and "St.
Vincent Obeah man" is considered an
expert. There is very little poisoning
done by them in the West Indies now,
unless it may be in Hayti,) because there
is no occasion for it. In the slave times
it always had to be guarded against. ~
New York Times.