St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-01
VOoDOOISM.
John Lindley Tells a Few Short
Stories About II.

| IHere are rev people III THIS SWOfHt
who are not superstitious to certain
degree. 1t is from this same trait 10 all
our natures that prompts man to seeE
out a fortune teller to ascertain wllaE
his future will be; the broker to find out
whether stocks are going to be up or
down tomorrow; the young Lothario to-
| know whether his girl love will accept
him or not, and any number of silfYJ
things which occur every day. No mat
ter how educated the mind may becones
there will always lnger In mans make
up certain trait OF character from
which superstition springs.
John j. 1.inlley, til, business mana.
ger of Frank w. Sanger and Gus Both
ner's 1.-The Voodoo." or "A Luck Y
Charm" company. was seated among
| party of friends the other evening at the
! Windsor hotel, discussing theatrical
affairs and topics of general Interest,"
Llndley is we'll posted OH "Vo9doois m, :"
an eccentric form OF superstition which
finds its followers in .thSMes Indies
and certain sections Of the S1dth'! aid
Lindley: $50 many. psgples have aske d
me in every place wed play. tn.Wha, Cd
earth is a "Voodoo?"' The word is
little known through the North ern
states. but through the South it is
| familiar te everyoJls VoodooisIp'
originally came from Africa with the
first Importation of negro slaves TO this
country. 1t includes hundreds of SUI
| per5titionS, such rs the rabbits foot.
piece of bacon rim with Il hlir through
it, the sharks tooth. and like char ms.
A voo too may exist in. the shape of
charm of any kind. To the
followers of this peculiar superSti-
ton ii vOOdOo is a sacred object, SYM
| bolic OF their faith and of good fortune
10 its possessor. Then there are the
voodoO tales. including sumo of the
weirdest and most prOpoSterOus tancies.
| In the South you can go lmost any
evening to the plantations, and in the
log cabins find the old cOlored folks
| seated around enjoying their vOOdOO
tales. 'Old granny generally starts the
ball rolling. then ii goes round the cir
Gle until every one has had chance.
| 1t Is surprising how much faith they
have III their petty tales. and they tell
| them with such earnestncss, too. In
certain parts of Louisiana ana the
West Indies they make it a practice 10
meet III some lonely spot at night 10 EN-
joy their voohoo stories and dances.
They generally build a huge bonfire
then form Il circle round it. These
dances are accompanied by wild yel!s
and weird Kind OF music, which it has
| been said by those who have heard
them sounds more like the roar OF
beasts of the forest than voices of
human beings. If white person is
caught watching them OIL these Occa-
siOnS, he is liable to be roughly handled.
''Voodooisin is as old as the hills. anu
its followers are constantly increasing
in this country through the Southern
states. When man tells You that he
is not superstitiouS. set 1t down that he
| Is. Now, have Il little card made in
| the shape of vOodOO chLrm,' said
Lindley. 1T consists of seven RED hairs,
being held iii position by means of ii reds
seal. There Is an Inscription across the
tace of the card which reads THIS is
Voodoo. or lucy charm-good luck
| will be with you while this is in your
possession You have no ide Il how
many laughable incidents l have en-
cOunterrd OH my travels with this little.
| card. For instance, | met travelingo
man in Ohio recently, who hunted ME
up. and came to the hotel where | was
stopping to get tone of these little
charms. He told me that he had a
friend OH the road who had worked
|
| worth of goods. He secured possession
of one of these little charms. and mkt
day went out and sold $1,000 worth Of
| goods before noon. q
''All the arguments in the world cOuldi'
never persuade him that the little
charm had not been responsible for his
good luck. Not loug ago gave one of e
these little charms 10 Frank keenan,,
a member of the Boston Grand Opera
House Stock company. Keenan, told
he that he had been overtaken with a
train of misfortGnes, anh if the little
vOodoo charm would change his luck.
he would gladly carry it. i saw him
a few weeks after, and he swOre upon
all that was black and white that the
little charm had changed his luck tor
the better. These are only a few of
the many instances L encounter every
day. Yes, we are SuperstitiOuS TO a
degree" said Llndley, land l don't
| believe the time will ever come when
this peculiar phase of mans composition
will be completely eradicated.
Il am not SuperStltious myself, but
strange thing occurred to me IN Illinois
about three weeks ago. l had boarded
the train to go from Pekin to Spring
field, about five miles out of my desti
natiol. We side-tracked to let a freight
train pass. After the freight had
| Gu tlIC way Tic ClISilCCl otdI tCO
the train on our Journey. The engine
and baggage car cleared the switch
| safely, but as the forward truck OF Tie
smoking car went over the switch. t e
rail broke i'll seven places. Of course,
| the accident threw the smoking car off
the track, and the passenger coach. The
! women began to scream anu yell, and
Tor few moments it loOkeu as If We
were doomed. At the right side of the
| track was huge embankment, and Il
the train had ever rolled over it, it
would have been 'all day with US, but
fortunately the engineer felt the jerk
| ing sensation of the cars, and reversed
his engine and put on the air brakes
The train was stopped! before any great
damage was done. After the excite
| ment had quoted down amOlg the pas
sengers, the women folks were so glad
that they escaped uninj ured that they
began to cry. We started ON our jour
hey about live hours after. and during
the run to Springfield 1 took OCCASION
to show some of the passengers seated
| near me some of the 'vOod0o" charms.
An old woman who sat opposite saw the
charm, and vowed by ali that WAS high
and holy that had it not been for some
| Ole on the train having "luck CHARM"
We would all have certainly been Killed,
| l explained to her the mysteries of YOU
dOoism and found that she was firm
believer in several charms which are
included among those of the voodoos."
| Different Then. /
| CIara-Did YOU notice Mr.. SDOoner's /