Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-06-04
SOLD HIS SOUL.
An Old Negro who Claims to he In Leagu
with SATAN

with Satan,
RoLLA, Mo-, May ga question
which is a~gitating the colored people
living in the suburbs of this city Is
whether Henry Rice Is In league with
satan OIL not This Is a queer question,
but they are considering it with all
seriousness, and have reason to be.
lieve that the answer is in the affirm.
alive. Henry is an old negro who
lives In n house made from old dry
goods boxes and the bark Of trees
He has many mysterious ways, aud
tries In every way possible to make
the negroes think he is possessed of
supernatural powers, obtained by
selling his soul to the devil.
He openly says this Is n fact.
and says that no M On earth has any
power to do him harm, and that when
he d es the devil will get his soul The
old fellow keeps aloof from the other
negroes, but is not averse to talking to
whites about his bargain with satan.
To q correspondent he told the follow
lhk Il bhoNSd Nv thhk ho u
tiicted by something to corroborate his
tale.
81 am just q poor old niger, but I
have a power that many a white man
would like to have. | have no power
to harm the white man and he can't
hurt nj either, but when IL to
working the niggers l can do just as 1
please with them and all that belongs
to them. know hat you folks think
that am an old liar, but what l arg
telling you is the truth and nothing
but the truth. / have sold my soul to
the devil, and know that when l die
l will go down to the place where
there is always a fire, but while | an
on earth | am better off than anybody
else unless ne is in the same fix l am
in. You see it was this way. | a a
slave belonging to a very
bad man. was sold to him
with my wife and two chill
dren, and after he had got US he used
me so bad and killed my wife by his
harsh treatment, and then sent my
children away so that | was In a most
desperate condition. | vas terribly
worked up over what he had done, and
one night | just went down to the
place where the niggers said the devil
sometimes showed himself, and there
/ prayed for the old man to come buy
my soul. / had tried the Lord until
/ was sure he would not care for a
poor old niger like me-, and then |
went to the other place. | went down
there for seven nights, an then n
night | was almost scared TO death by
the old devil coming out of a hole in
the rocks and asking me why ! called
him so much. l was too scared to
talk at first, but he talked SO nice
to me that 1 felt more easy
in my mind, and told him that
/ wanted to have some way of getting
even with my master, who treated me
SO bad. Well, / sold myself. Then,
to make the bargain sure, the old man
said he would place his mark on me,
and then he would give me power to
work harm OF my master and on all
the niggers, but no other white man.
He put his mark on me and told me
the secret which has done me SO much
good since that day"
The DEVILS mark which the old fell
low showed has the appearance OF a
cloven foot which looked as If 1t had
been burned into the flesh right
over the heart. The negro said that
the devil had mado him taks OIL his
clothes and then placed his foot there,
and 1t burned in, leaving the mark
just as il Is now seen.