The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-10-20
WITCHES AND DEMONS
Some Curious Superstitions in Vogue
Among Negroes.


IN Hur per = DaZhE. VI SohASS 'hN
will escape, but rs even witch must oe
unoon Portable sitting about in her bones
she will return 10 reInvest herself Win
her skin. In the meantime the skin Is 10
be we'll saited and peppered, SO that,
upon her reinvestment with II, she VIII OF
course, suffer greyious torment, and 1t
is in this agony that she dances with the
famous switch step"
Old negro nurses teach their charges
that the tangles that after nigkts' sleep
are apt TO appear in the hair, are knoss
tied by witches, and everybody Ill the
southern states Is familiar with the darky
belief that witches ride horses and mules
in the dead of night, exhausting their
strength. Tante Peagie this morning,
shaking her wise old head, declared &c
me: "'Tain' no use, mistis, ter. hitch up
dem hosses, all kivered wild knots an
kinks, lax dey is, cause witches duu ride
'em endurin' ob de night. Dey won go
fur dis day, sho!"
To ward off the approach OF any of the
fond sisterhood, silver dimes and scent
pieces with a hole in them, strung on
cord and suspended from the neck are
unrivaled. Odds and ends of bones strung
together, and blessed by Nodoo priest
ess, constitute Grigri, which is mar
velous foil against the evil one. In
southern Louisiana there are large num-
bers OF negroes who believe that certain
other negroes have conversed with satan
receiving from him liberal en-
dowment OF his diabolic powers.
These are known as "coniur niggers," who
can "hoodoo" You. TO incur the
ill-will OF one of them Is n grievous mis-
fortune. BY glance OF the eye he can
cast spell upon you which will make
you pine away. BY hiding a DEVILS pow
der under your threshold he can send
small devils into your body, which vii!
make you vomis needles, pins, wads of
hair, knives or peddlea. Your legs can
be made the lurking place o: lizards and
scorpions, your feet swarm with spiders,
and your hands with worms. IF he
makes waxen figure aud calls it by
your name, by melting il ne cen give you
"A pain wherever he likes. If he chooses
To stiok pins into the manikin, you will
suffer pain in the CORES pouding portion
of your body. Certain arrangements Of
pulled grass before your door, or of sticks,
or OF pebbles or feathers, aie traps set by
the "cunjnr" man tor your downfall. To
step over them or TO disturb them is to
bring down your evil fate upon you. A
COM pact bail of feathers in your pillow is
q sure sign you are "ho iooed," as snch
q result can only come about by super
natural agencies. No disciple of You
dooism can be convinced that this is the
tendency of feathers i'll every pillow.
Fortunately the "co2iur man" has his
price, and may be induced to withhold
his hand for consideration, and to turn
his d:abolical battery against any enemy
You may name. Many "houdooed' which
times enjoy the superiority with which
this temporary unpleasantness invests
the m. They have become objects of re-
mark and the solicitude of their neigh.
bors, and not urfrequently take 10 their
beds, which conters upon them enviable
distinction. In the days Of slavery many
a protrocted case of "houdooism" had at
last go be cured with heroic measures, as
one case was as infectious Is small -pox,
and in n short time every negro in the
quarters" would have believed himself
a victim. Many a negro is kept in the
right path by cunning and more strong
minded neighbor, who knows the weak
ness of his people and iuggles with it..
For money the ''coBiur man" will always
brew a philter warranted 90 cast any
spell desired. Toe. nails and purslane if
boiled together make a poison against
which naught may prevail, bnt taken
separately they are harmless.
IS every negro, even the most debased,
is sure Of salvation, and speaks with con-
fidence OF his place in heaven, where he
will ''set at de same table ez do white
- = - L. L..
signs portending death.
His heaven, like the Mussulman's, ia
one of sensual delights, and corpses and
funerals are TO him great Joy. To put
a black pin into a child's dress, TO try on
any ones mourning garments, to open an
umbrella in the house, to break a look
ing glass, to carry a spade through the
house, are all signs OF death. To drive a
nail after dark, except in making a coffin,
will bring death; and any man 80 unfor-
tunate as TO bury three wives will bury
six. A spider seen in the morning will
bring good luck; et noon, disappoint-
meut, and III the evening, bad luck.
If accidentally garment be put on
wrong side out and il it be worn that way
until noon, and then turned, the wearer
will have good luck. To give a knife or
scissors 10 friend is TO sever friendship,
except, indeed, bent pin may be given
in return, which averts the impending
rupture. The Roman Catholic negroes
of Southern Louisiana will not cut a
banana crosswise, because through its
center runs a dark streak, which, If cut
present the appearance Of
a cross. II avoid this sacrilege the fruit
must be broker.
They accept Bible literally, and, as
they receive it in most grotesqRe form
from their preachers" il is little won
der that their conceptions of things spir-
itval is distorted. Without pang uf
conscience they will eat the chickens from
a neighbours henroost, the pigs from
his pen, the melons from his patch"
but cannot be indaced To commit the IN
pardonable sin of eating q dove. One
old darkey, when asked the reason, re-
piled: "Wha' fur don eat the dove 7
Case nc de fus one in Noah's ark wha'
got spunk 'nuff 10 gi5 outen dar, an
come or ilyin' back 10 old Noah wild de
teehchy weenchy olo branch IN he mouf
After dat de Lord he bless de dove, an
pint i'm ter MON fur de peoples sins,
he mon so mo'nful. Co'se hits a sin
ter sat e. dove! De Bible seq so 'p'inted