Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-02-27
voUooo DOCTORS METHODS.
me Rigmarole by Which Scamps Get
Money from Southern Negroes.

money from Southern Negroes.
A white man who claims to be n
hoodoo doctor of unlimited ability. and
calls himself DIR" johnson. and sails
under the alias Sam De Leon" has
been swindling the supersttious ne
groes who live on the Waters road.
near Delter's store. for long time.
The eminent professor of hoodooism
got into trouble recently on account of
Robert Fletcher one of his negro pa
uents. on account of the strange and
weird manner 10 which he cures all the
ills that flesh is heir to.
johnson. alias DeLeon. has a big
clientele among the negroes on Waters
road. and his remedies, which were
guaranteed to cure anything and ev-
erything. were bought up by the whole
sale. johnson gave glowing ac-
count of the wonderful curative pow
ers of his hoodoo physic, and his uu-
suspecting patients were charmed, as
1t were. by the graceful eulogizing of
his remedies. which he usually sold at
80 cents and rs cents.
The hoodoo doctor met his Waterloo
when he succeeded in inducing Robert
Fletcher to hand over rs cents for a
small dried-up herb. enveloped in a
strip of fiery red flannel. johnson
met Fletcher in his house and talked
root medicine" and hoodooism so
glibly to him that Fletcher finally
agreed to buy one of the charms. The
doctor told Fletcher that before his
charm would act it was necessary for
him to hand him over the price of it.
This done. the doctor" proceeded to
business.
He made number of hideous gyra-
tons. walked around the room, and,
standing up in an erect position he
lifted his right hand in the direction of
the sky and commenced to revolve on
his feet, pointing with his index finger
as he revolved to the north. south,
west, and east. He then rolled his
eyes around, looked out of the door.
and said:
"Gim'me piece of red flannel"
Fletcher produced the flannel and
the doctor took from his pocket a
small rule and measured off six inches
of it. He then placed his hands in the
shape of an arch over his head. allow.
ed them to slowly descend, and as they
reached the red flannel he cut and
measured another piece. but this time
only took four inches.
The negro was somewhat awestrick-
en- ut the strange spectacle, and he
regarded the doctor" as a sort of
semidevil. That was just what the
doctor" wanted. The doctor" then
took two small pieces of some hard
substance having the appearance of
dried herbs and. wrapping them up in
the two pieces of red flannel, gave
them to the negro.
johnson called it the King of the
World" and said that the hard sub.
stance enclosed in the red flannel was
load CD stone, but that it was 800
times stronger than anything" An
other remedy he called the Queen of
the World" and the two combined. he
said, would exert a powerful influence
over everything, and effected marvel
ious cures.
The hoodoo gave the negroes
lengthy statement concerning himself,
and told them that his ability was such
that the doctors in Savannah had COM
PEELED him to leave the city. and, con-
sequently he had to practise among
the colored people.
Fletcher waited patiently for the
remedies to assert their powers, but
they didn't work. The b;.mboozled
negro came to town and swore out
warrant in Justice Russell's court for
Johnson's apprehension on the charge
of cheating. Fletcher was SO excited
in making his statement that the magis-
trate made him kiss the Bible twice
to be sure that his statement was
true.
Johnson was brought to Justice Rus
sells office by Constable Robertson,
and he made an earnest appeal to the
prosecutor to drop the case. He was
very nervous. and talked about
pistol and a lot of other things His
face was sun tanned. and he was dress
ed well for man who travels on foot
in the country. He said he was from
New York. but with all his pleadings
Fletcher was not inclined to drop tho
case. DR." johnson went to Jail.
He showed Justice Russell his stock
of medicine and hoodoo charms, and
the sight of them nearly took the
magistrates breath away Savannah
NeUS.