The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-09-13
HIDEOUs WITCHCRAFT.
Barbarous Rites Observed by West
Indian Natives.
Blacks Who Believe in the Potency
of Charms and Hoodoos to Bring
Destruction Upon Their
Enemies.

negro brought with him from his ma
tive land, says writer in the Brook
1yn Citizen. There are obeahmen and
obeahwomen, but the former are the
most common. They are generally
well known to their neighbors, none
of whom, however, would dare to give
the obeahmen away to the authorities.
The rites of obeah differ according to
the tribe from which the person who
practices it comes. A common enchant-
ment is to gather herbs and boil them
and scatter the herbs and sprinkle the
water near or On the dwelling of the
person to be obeched. Another prac
tice is to bury certain things in the
earth or lay sticks in particular po-
sition, mastering incantations over
them. 1 know it is a fact that an
obeahman, if properly paid for it, will
not only clay obeah" to destroy per-
son, but poison the person if necessary
to carry out his contract with the party
who employs him. For it is to be un-
derstood that the obeahman works for
fee and reward, and will not exercise
his art without it. Not far from my
residence, in beautiful valley, was
thrown up sugar estate. Three Eng
lishmen in succession hired the place
and died very soon afterward. When
the property was abandoned after the
abolition of slavery the former slaves
squatted upon it and finally came to
look upon it as their own. They want
ed no one to interfere, and when the
white man leased the place and went
to live in the great house and began to
exercise the rights of tenant and to
prevent the negro from encroaching it
was resolved to remove him. The
obeahman was consulted. He pre-
pared a slow but sure poison to remove
the white man. The negroes ap-
peared to submit to the tenants de-
mands, and he flattered himself that
everything was going to be pleasant.
But the black cook, who so cheerfully
and ably prepared his food, and the
servants who laughed at his jokes and
were so watchful for a chance to serve
him, were in league with the obeahman.
When the tenant was taken sick the
negro came to the house with stealthy
step and subdued voice and asked after
Buckra's health with many exclama-
tions of sorrow at the answer that he
was no better. The negress came and
offered her aid around the house, and
sympathized with Buckra's wife and
mixed with strangely garbled verses of
hymns and of Scripture. When death
came the negroes and negresses at
tended the funeral in body and mani
tested every sign of sorrow. If the
family didn't speedily remove the next
thing was the sudden sickness of a
child. That invariably induced the oc-
cupants of the pesthouse to move away
as soon as possible. A negro of wealth
and influence, and one of the best men,
white or black, L ever met, told me the
facts above narrated, adding that the
authorities might sweep the valley of
all the negroes in it, but they never
could get at the guilty parties to pun
ish them.
A negro who was very industrious
amassed some wealth and put up for
himself a pretty cottage on the side of
gully, down which a pure mountain
stream ran. 1t was as sweet little
spot as ever saw. The foundations
were good and the house stood upon
pillars formed of the trunks of huge
trees This man offended one of his
neighbors and he employed an obeah-
man to destroy him. One night in
storm the house with verything in it
become roaring torrent. Every black
man, woman and child stood aghast,
and whispered: ''Obeah." This one and
that said how they had seen man
''laying obeah" near the house. Sure
enough, hole was found containing
ring, some human hair and few bones,
and the neighbors all said that was
what had done it. Some time after
ward when the place was examined
there were undoubted signs that the
posts on which the house had stood had
been sawn almost through, so that the
first whirling rainstorm from the
mountains might drive it into the gully.
1 rode with the colored man already
mentioned to see the wreck. AS we
walked our horses through a glade
near the stream, a tall, fine-looking,
well-dressed negro crossed the path.
His face was positively handsome, and
a pleasant smile spread over it as he
bowed and said: ''Good morning" I
returned the salute, but my colored
companion impatiently jerked aside
his horse and said: ''Chut." This is a
term among the negroes of contempt
and adherence.
who is that?" 1 asked.
GA priest of the devil" my friend
answered.
''A Mohammedan?" I asked, for there
had been slaves who were Mohamme-
dams, whose descendants professed to
follow that faith in an ignorant fashion.
''No, oh no!' my friend said, ''Mo-
hammedan negroes don't set obeah.''
The inference L drew was that the
serene gentleman whom had just
seen was an obeahman, and the sus-
pected cause of the wrecked dwelling
By the way, 1 omitted to say that it so
happened that on the night when the
house was borne away into the gully
no living soul was within it's walls, the
owner and his wife having the previous
day gone up the mountains to visit a