Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-07-10
REVOLVING VoUooolsM.
Children Sacrificed by Religious Fanatics
in Hayti.

In Hayti.
NEW YORK, July 10.-In the inter-
view with a Haytian refugee, published
on July 7, mention was made of the
voudoo alteration and of human sicri-
fees in Hayti, not far from Port-au-
Prince. The reference has since then
been verified. Mr.. Maurice Feldmann,
a Hungarian mechanic, employed in the
machine shops at German, eight miles
from Port-au- Prince, learned some time
ago that there was to be human sacri-
fee not far from where he lived at $3.50
o'clock in the afternoon. 1t was to be
conducted by the Papaloi or voudoo
priest of Gorman.
Accompanied by his assistant, named
Schmidt, Feldmann made off in the di-
rection in which he had heard that the
sacrifice was to be performed. The ex-
pedition was not devoid of danger, for
the negroes, feeling undoubtedly that
their butchery of children would arouse
the wrath and opposition of the white
inhabitants of the island, were exceed
ingly careful to carry out their atrocities
in the seclusion of unfrequented groves.
The two men were armed with heavy
revolvers and were careful in the selec-
ton of their route. When they reached
their destination they climbed into the
branches of tall tree, from which they
could plainly see all that was going on
below without being seen. From their
position they witnessed the Voudoo sac
rifice.
The ceremony was begun by the burn,
ing of aromatic plants around sleeping
child two or three years old, which had
been put to sleep by herbs. The Papaloi
stepped up to the infant and severed the
head from the body with one stroke of a
sharp knife, and passed it to all present.
While the head was being passed the
Papaloi cut mp the body, which was
thrown into a large iron pot with some
red peas rice and other native vegetables.
During the cooking the negroes danced
round the fire. This Bamatula dance is
a native negro dance of the most revolt
ing sort, consisting mostly of contortiOns
of the hips and the abdomen. The end
is reached when the participants become
so excited and exhausted that they throw
themselves in a heap on the ground,
where they roll over each other and
howl.
When the dancers recovered they
gathered for the feast and devoured
every particle of the child. Having
finished they gathered the bones in a
hole in the ground, buried them and
erected wooden cross over the grave.
After the two observers had given tho
cannibals time enough to reach their
homes, they climbed down and went
back to German.
The Haytian negroes do not always
seek seclusion for their cannabalism, as
they did on this occasion. On March IL,
1890, Mr.. Emile Huttinot, acting consul
of France at San Domingo, stopped in
small restaurant on the north road,
only half mile from Port-au-P Prince.
AT this resort every Sunday the negroes
hold a voudoo dance. Mr.. Huttinot
called for soup, but when it was served
he found in the bottom of his plate the
hand of child.
He Immediately rode into town and
notified the police, who searched the
restaurant and found the child's entire
body in the cooking pot. The woman
who kept the place was arrested, but
suffered only three days Imprisonment
for her offense The gentleman from
Hayti, who gave the information in the
interview of July 7, said that he knew
personally a woman named Uiysse, liv-
ing at La Croix des Bouquets, ten miles
from Port-auP Prince, whose seven chill
dren were eaten at voudoo dances during
her absence by their own grandmother
and the neighbors.