The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-15


| and sometimes amusing was strollinp up
| that classic thoroughfare the other afternoon,
when | CHANGED to notice a queerly- written sign
on the door of q most unromantic-looking brick
tenement
Mrs Bonsoon
Voodoo woman
from Afrka,
Fortunes told, % cents.
Whitewashing,
Second floor. front.
Here was a chance to have my fortune told
for Is cents, and to possibly get whitewashed
| in the bargain by a genuine Voodoo priestess
| from "Afrika" was temptation / could not
resist. / climbed the stairs to the second floor
and raped at the door of the front room. 1t
was opened by fat, middle aged negress with
one eye and bright d-and yellow turban on
her head. She looked at me suspiciously and
said:
de whitewasner am out"
II am not a Doodle Alderman" responded
with dignity. II don't want to get whitewashed.
want to have my fortune told"
"Humph!" she nuttered. looking me up and
down rather contemptuouslv. Pears like you
doan look s'ef yer he'd much faith"
protested that had dead loads of faith. and
what was much mora to the purpose-a quar-
ter
She finally consented, and was ushered into
the i'll smelling room where the fates were
veeled. She had hardly begun. however when
breathless darby rushed into the room and ex-
citedly exclaimed:
20 Miss Bonsoon Jest now when was a-eatin'
supper black cat wiz two white front paws and
white neck jest Jumped inter de winder an
round de table an jumped out again
What'll playW
Ibid de cat run from left to right" inquired
the prophecies, solemnly.
'''Pears like she did. Leastways don't zact-
lv member"
."An,r and the prophecies turned toward the
corner of the room and began to mutter to her
oaiG rAn43 - otlA
expectation. At last she turned and handed
him piece of paper which were scrawled
some figures He handed her a half dollar, and,
clutching the paper, hurriedy withdrew. The
prophecies then turned her attention to me
again. She used the old. old method, with
pack of cards. and married me to a light lady
with diamonds. The dark enemy, with clubs;
there important letter and the journeyETere all
then SO orthodox thas almost regretted my
quarter L determined to speculate little,
however, and EXPRESSED my satisfaction in
the shape of dollar. This had the desired
effect She evidently thought she had caught
greenhorn. and offered various charms and anu
let's for sale at ridiculously low figures: vial
containing the magic needles was an especially
fascinating engine of destruction. All had to
do was to put in it a lock of my enemy's hair,
and throw the whole concern away. and the
needles would straightway enter the body or my
enemy, and would naturally make him extremely
uncomfortable | bought it for a quarter, and
am now waiting for an opportunity to get a lock
of his hair.
When l left the fortune teller's determined
to do the negro quarter more thoroughly than
had previously done In many desultory excur-
sions It was evening and the dance halls were
all open. A negro dance ball is unique specta-
Gle. l remember very well when Mr. lrvings
company first came to America. Wallace Mack
kaye, of Punch, and Frank Marshall, of Figaro,
were with them. One evening organized
party to show them 'the elephant" and accor-
dinghy Marshall, Mackaye, Will Terriss and
l. l. - ~
the slums, under the guidance of Horace John
son. of the Daily News, and the writer. We
went from Sixth avenue to Water street. and as
we emerged from each new dive" we ex-
asperated by Mackaye's calm drawl: This is
is all very we'll. ye know. but we have the same
thing in London don't chew know|
Suddenly johnson was struck with an inspira-
ton. We crossed Broadway and turned into
Mercer street, just off of Blocker. Up a mar
row stairway and we found ourselves in long
room, about thirty by 100 feet in area. At one
end was a broken down piano. upon which
burly German was industriously humping
small bar at one side was doing lively business
and about one hundred negro men and women
dancing with such vigor that the floor swayed
under their feet made picture not easily for
gotten. Mackayes ey es bulged out
This is all very well, ye know. but where do
We get all the niggers9' he gasped, in amaze.
ment. His exclamation was not unnatural. and
l was half tempted to echo it that evening as
turned into that great dance hall and bar-room
on Blocker street. euphonious known as the
Black -and-Tan. The Black-and-Tan is the
toughest" taking it all in ALL dive in Little
Africa. 1t is frequented by hard characters of
both sexes and all colors. Negro men and white
girls aud white men and negro wenches are
drinking, dancing, quarreling. No where in
this broad land is the color line so loosely
drawn in the Black and Tan. Yet, on the
whole, the darker element predominates, and the
genius of order is represented by well-known
colored pugiijst, who keeps the motley crowd il
comparative order; that is to say, murders are
not frequent. There is piano and and fiddle
to furnish music, and ample space for dancing.
AS the night goes the room gets hotter and
and the air is thicker with smoke; the music is
the beer is served in smaller glasses,
the crowd becomes drunken and more
quarresome. Now is good time to slip out, for
one can never tell what a drunken darky will
do tits not an infrequent thing for a drunken
woman to whip out razor and run amuck,
siashing right and left. neither knowing nor car
ing who is wounded. There arc half dozen
some little better, and only cue other worth
visiting. 1t is in the basement of lov-stoop
house on Thompson street, and its principal at
traction is that it is frequented by genuine ne
groes A white man is rarely sS9p in there, and
a mulatto never. For. bless you, there is as
strong caste feeling in South Fifth avenue as in
its more fashionable namesake up town.
The genuine full-blooded negro looks with
scorn upon his lighter brother. 'Saddle-colored
moka." ''salmon-colored Niger" "bleached
darby" are some OF the epthets have heard
applied to the lighter colored denizens OF Little
Africa by this coal-black aristocraoy. Here
banjo-player 10 the producer of music, and he
does 1t right we'll too, and genuine negro dances,