The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1889-08-07
The QUEEN OF SHEBA.
ThE LATEST LEADER or TIE LisEBTy
COUNTY cRAEKS,

--The Condition Of fire People.
One white Christ, one black
Christ, one King Solomon and one
queen.
That's the Liberty county record
up to date,
The white Christ is in Milledge>
vile. The black Christ and King
Solomon are in cells in the
county Jail at Hinesville, and the
queen is holding her court tonight
In a moonliU cornfeld, six miles
from here.
KING sOLoMoN's REIGN
terminated very abruptly Monday
forenoon. He announced to his
followers that he was going to
Hinesville, nearly ten miles distant,
and liberate all the prisoners contin-
ed there on charges of lunacy.-
He asked that fifteen of the faith
full be appointed 10 accompany him
and witness the miracle. With
great pomp and ceremony, and
amidst the widest excitement,
King Solomon and the chosen
started QUITO HinesvilIe. One by
one the faithful tell away by the
wayside, and when the king reach-
ed Hinesville only FIVE or six fol>
lowers were lett. The msrshal
ARRESTED THE WHOLE CROWD,
ard locked them up. In two or
three hours the news of the igno>
minous capture Of the king reached
camp, and one of the sisters forth
with announced that she was the
queen of Shcba, and also God
Her assertion was accepted without
question and she is honored accoro
dinghy. The camp where the negro
eS are collected is seven miles north
east Of WalthourviIIe station, on
what is known as the old Walthour
homestead place. The palatial
residence of the old master was
burned during the 1gar and was
never rebuilt. About the site,
however, some eight or ten small
cabins have been built. There are
none but negroes on the place.
The property has passed into the
hands Of non-residents, and of late
years has been sadly neglected.
Its present poverty and abandon
mel are a mockcry OF the old
plantation. The part now under
cultivation il peculiarly isolated and
well calculated to nurse and CIR
courage the
NATURAL SUPERSTITION OF THEME
GROEs,
and Dupont Bell needed no remark
able powers of mind or body to
maintain successfully the role he
assumed. TIE fact that he was
insane aided rather than embarrass-
ed him. TLen james, an ignorant
negro justice of the peace, was
equally successful in the same
character. Shedrick Walthour,
another negro, made an excellent
King Solomon, and finally black
negress, twenty>eieht years Of age,
and the mother of eight children,
is queen of Sheba and also god
The negroes have crowded into
these little cabins until the cabins
will hold no more. Many others
have built up fires and are 8leeping
by them in the open air. Not less
than two hundred and fifty are
SLEEPING THERE TONIGHT.
men, women and children. Be-
81 les this number, fully as many
more followers live near enough to
90 home and divide their time
sleeping at home. Others content
themselves with an occasional visit
to the queen. rs they did the two
Christs and King Solomon before
her, and refuse TO altogether quit
work. About one hundred yards
from the row of cabins are two
immense live oak trees, the spread
ing branches of which meet and
form a sort ofarchway. Under
this is still standing small table,
ami arranged around the table
making a circle some forty feet in
diameter, are numbers of rude
benches. A scat is made by driv-
ing four stakes into the ground
at convenient distances apart, and
placing loosely upon them o
flat plank. That circle, under the
live oak branches, was
THE HOLY GROUND.
! The two Cbrilts and King Solo.
mon have all held meetings there,
and there it was that the human
sacrifice was offered. The picanin-
MES quit laughing as they pass near
the holy place. An lrrererent act
in this place, whether by old or
young, is severely punished. 1t
will be noticed that the two trees
are covered with Spanish moss, ex-
cept on one limb that stretches
across the entire width Of the ring
some fifteen feet above it. There
is no moss on this, and the leaves
have been picked off to>make its
appearance tae more bare and
black. On that limb
THE DEVIL SAT
during all the services. Satan was
Uncle Simon Walthour, a Negro
man about sixty-fi~e years of age.
J The meetings are stopped now BY
Il peremptory order from the sheriff