The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-29

Briefly. he rode up one Saturday to old
'Lishe, who greeted him I'm this manner:
Light n come in. This Is the place,
as your horse might have told you ef he'd
ben in the notion. Cussed you Wuss than
ever this trip, didn't he? That there devil
in his mouth knowed old 'Lishe'd be too
one can hardly imagine Timmons' as
constituent.
Yes, It's the old Niger N his wife
that's put the spell on YOU. But it's easy
to take off. Ride back home, exactly as
you come, N you'll find hoe standin'
horse, open the gate, lettin' 1t stay open.
m dig from there to the doorstep What
ever you find, throw over your left Shout
der inter the highest pond. But you
mustn't look back ner speak a word from
the minute you start back tel you've
throwed the last inter the pond"
OF course TimnOns did II. ridiculous as
II sounds. Bob Ingersoll would have done
Il under the same circumstances. Obey
ing his Instructions to the letter, he UNI
that laid In a neat, compact row from
gate to doorstep and threw them into the
pond without feeling any inclination to
initiate Lots wife.
No resident within miles of MaxvilIe
would have the temerity to steal, as Old
Lishe can point out thief and hiding place
unerringly. He is also a fortune-teller,
seeing the future in black coffee grounds
as plainly as we read a printed page.
OF the origin of his singular gifts he
Is entirely ignorant, but he often relates
the manner in which they came to him.
"Dr. Jones come home with us from
church n tuck dinner with u.s., / was Jest
a Had of a boy, n l thought he was the
greatest man in the world. ! admired him
so / wouldn't go N play. N while he
was tslkin with the grown uns, he was
watching me. Finally he says. Sonny, go
| hide your knife n see Whether KIN
| find IT,
Il hid It where ] knowed no common
man'd couldn't even guess where 1t was;
but he told me right away.
- Now, he says, I'm hide it m you see
| ef you kin find it,
Gle hid II. m then putin his hand on
my head, said, Con End it,. / knowed
| that minute where II was, n ever sence
| / kin do things"
| Afro-Americans, devout and unquestion-
| ing believers in the incredible and the dia-
bolical. If he chose he might gather BUSH
els of quarters and half dollars supply
| ing the demand for love potions, bottled
confusion for rivals, taliSman for person.
| al safety and evil spells for the undoing
OF their enemies. But he Is too snrewd
/ for anything Of the kind. Given Cagii-
| ostro's education and opportunities, he
would have thrown that noted wizard
| far into the shade. AS it Is, his receipts
| from the grateful patients are very large,
/ and he must have thousands buried on
his farm or sunk in one OF the ponds
near 1t. For he has the ravens pro
| pensity to hoard and hide He distrusts
an banks His family know nothing OF
/ the location of his fortune. So secret Is
he, indeed, that 1t may even be invested
\ I'M a distant state and no one suspect it.
\ To one cousin only has he ever disclosed
\ its whereabouts, and though this man
has since died, It Is improbable that Old
| questioned about a successor IN the occult
/ art he replies that he has never found
| the person capable of inheriting his Pc
Since writing the above. "Old 'Lishe
/ Wilkerson" has passed away, and his son
/ has already assumed his fathers man
/ lie. whether as an adept or an impostor
] the future must decide.