Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1891-04-04


eight chillen, EN- dey's all dead. My
God, eight little ones en- not one LEI
to me. Dey died. my babies, frs one
en- den anuder, EN- Francois he live to
be grown, so tall, SO straight, so
strong, EN- one day dey bringhim home
from de river, dead like deres Look,
she would exclaim passionately, 1T
was not de little ones dat died, it was
me; my body, my heart, my soul 1t
was so long ago, she walled, 'ev'ry-
body forget. But me- am a mother;
do nothin' but remember
I'm the years in which we dwelt un-
der the some roof a strange intimacy
and friendship grew up between the
old slave and myself. | knew her
griefs and shared her SORROWS, but
| above all knew theperpetual warfare
her soul waged with superstition and
fears that We're as much a part of her
existence as her dusky skin. Like
most negroes belonging to Creole fami-
| lies shewas aCatholic. but her religion,
like the white blood within her veins
II believe told you she was quad
roon-did not break the bonds OF
| slavery or superstition, and there
were times when, impelled by some
blind instinct she was powerless to
resist, she would slip away and join
the voudoo worshipers in their horri-
BILE and mysterious rites. After such
backsliding there would be such pas
| sionate repentance followed by such
| penance as only a strong soul can in
dict ON itself She would scourge her
self until the knotted cord was stained
with blood, and kneel PROSTATE
| through the whole night before Our
Lady of Perpetual Mercy.
But days, perhaps, weeks or months
| afterward the old restlessness would
begin to stir within her, the mysteri-
Gus barbaric inheritance OF nature
to which the Christian religion appeal
ed but family, and then some morn
ing she would slip stealthily into the
| courtyard worn, haggard, wild-eyed,
/ with her gown half torn from her and
stained with the dark, dank mud OF
/ the swamp. | knew only too well
that she had yielded to the old resist
less impulse and had found her way to
the hidden recess of the swamp, where
the voudoo fire cleaned amid horrid
vapors for its yotaries, where the
| deathly breath of the marsh embodied
4 them and loathsome reptiles glided
away, fold upon fold, from the little
band OF half-naked men and women
| dancing before the fire in horrible
abandon. | knew that Loyette's lips
had been smeared with human blood,
that she had sworn an oath to do the
behests of her religion, so terrible the
very memory of it blanched her cheek,
and that did she but repeat one word
the voudoo queen uttered as she stood
upon the boy in which the sacred SER
pent writhed, her life must pay the
penalty.
"What alterations ofhorror and at
traction, what hopes and fears the
Christian religion and this dark faith
held for the poor creature none might
know. Her soul was like an angel
standing by the gates OF paradise
Sometimes it yearned with unutter-
able longing for the light, and agaai,
like a thing OF night, it sounded the
abyssess OF darkness.
FINALLY there came q time when,
after one OF these orgies, Loyette APP
peared the next morning so haggard
and with such wild, hunted look in
her eyes that even her dull mistress
noticed it.
"'But it was nothing Loyette pro-
tested. "She was not we'll. She had
an ague. A tisane of orange leaves
would cure her, but she would not lie
down."
The doctor paused in his story. The
night seemed to have grown suddenly
dark and chilly, and we drew more
closely together as the narrator re-
sumed
''The day passed, but the next morn
ing the city rang with the report of a
terrible murder. A man, slave, had
been found murdered near the Old
basin-murdered and horrible mutt
lated. The lips were cut off and the
heart torn from out OF the body. The
community was aghast.
"'Tiens, it said, holdingup it's hands
in horror, but he was a fiend-the as
sassin.'
mo clew could be found, no motive
assigned for the deed. Robbery? A
slave? it was absurd to suggest it, but
there was something tigerish in the
hate that not only slew but tore the
heart out of the victim, there was
something so dramatic even in the
cutting off the lips that they might
frame no accusing speech, that the
murder was the one topic OF specula-
ton. Tired at last OF the grtlesome
subject climbed the stairs that led to
Loyette's room. She was very i'll.
Her eyes burned with a strange fire,
and it needed not my professional
knowledge to see that she was sick I'M
to death.
"You have heard'-she began, ca
gerly. as entered the room.
! They should not have brought
, such horrors here l answered, but
she Interrupted me-
Hush, she commanded, who
knows about it if not me? Look,
am dying. 1t killed me, too. He was
a traitor en- must die, en- de lot fell on
, me. killed him, there by de oil basin
, My God, he come along singin', singn'
! | stan in de dark, it was only min.
ute, 80. His blood run down on my
| h1E