The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-03-20
VOODOOIsM OF TODAY.
The Mysterious Power Exercised
by Kentucky Negro.
In the Eyes OF His ignorant Fellows He
Is Possessed of Divine Attributes and
Understands the Mystery
of Life.

Understands the Mystery
of Life.
About the close Of the war a power
tully-built negro calling himself Elish:
Broadeaux made his appearance in th,
vicinity Of Russellville, KY At tha'
time, says the st. Louis Globe Demo
crat, he appeared to be about seventy
years old, though vigorous asa mule
He established himself in the small
log hut which he has occupied contin
uously since. The new arrival imme
diately became man of prominence in
q peculiar way among the negroes oi
this entire section of the country.
They were unable to pronounce the
old negro's name, and it was corrupted
into "'Lige Broad Ak" Before the
old man had resided in the vicinity a
year miraculous powers were attrib.
uted to him by the ignorant negroes.
A few OF the colored people were too
intelligent to be deceived, but his in
tuence with the majority was so
great that those better informed were
not anxious to assert their skepticism.
To some 'Lige Broad AK was a voodoo
doctor and controlled life and death;
to others he was the high priest of
black magic and in league with the
devil, communing at will with demons
and departed spirits To all his race.
with few exceptions, he was the en-
bodiment of good and evil as he pre-
ferred to exercise his influence, and a
terror generally. Even to the white
population "Unclc 'Lige," as he was
commonly known, was always an
enigma. In their presence he was
universally polite and humble, though
among his colored acquaintances ar
rogant and commanding. To the white
children the aged negro was never
known to be otherwise than kind,
though the fear he inspired among the
negroes by his reputation as voodoo
doctor was shared in an exaggerated
form by them. He was known to do a
heavy traffic in charms, amulets, ETC.,
among the negroes. The purchase was
supposed to carry good luck or impart
misfortune, as the old voodoo priest
dictated. They did not doubt his power
to trick" anyone who had incurred
his displeasure, though when ques-
toned by white person as to the
miraculous powers attributed to him
by the negroes the old negro always
hastily denied such claims and vehe-
mently protested that they were merely
the inventions of his enemies To the
negroes, however, old 'Lige would de-
ny that he had over told the white
folks" that he was not high priest of
voodooism, possessed of divine attri-
butes and familiar with the mystery
of human existence
For the past quarter of century the
locality has been disturbed periodically
by accusations against the old wizard
by members of his race who believed
that they had been placed under 8
spell" for some fancied slight or be-
cause he was paid to do so BY their
enemy. These complaints were of
various forms. n one case the victim
of the old negro's pretensions alleged
that he had forced him to swallow q
piece of corn knife in his sleep. He
could feel the point cutting its way
through his flesh. He was examined
by physicians and appeared to be suf-
fering all the torments incident to the
introduction Of a metallic substance in
the human stomach After lingering
several days in awful delirium, in
which he repeatedly claimed that he
had been ''tricl.ed" by old 'Lige Broad
AK, the victim died. A post-mortem
investigation was made. The stomach
was frightfully swollen and infamed,
but if, as was believed, the negro had
been poisoned, the drug used was so
subtle as to defy surgical skill to de-
tect its presence. This only served to
convince the negroes more thoroughly
of the voodoo doctors knowledge of
thc black art.
The old voodoo doctors influence
among the negroes of southern Ken
tuclIy has increased of late years. This
is partially attributed to the fact that
though he has resided here more than
quarter of century, he has not per-
ceptibly aged since that time. He is
almost as vigorous now as when he
made his appearance in this locality.
The best authorities agree that the
old negro is more than one hundred
years old. He is not positive as to his
age. Familiarity with events early in
the present century indicates that he
was probably born in the last decade
of the eighteenth century. He was
brought to New Orleans in 1909 by a
French planter who left Cuba at the
outbreak of the war between France
and Spain. The old voodoo priest pre-
fers to be silent on this subject, as he
desires to impress his race with the
fact of his great age. He declares
that he is one hundred and forty years
OF age, and that he will never die, hav-
ing discovered the elixir of immortal
ity. Many of these negroes assert
that the secret of his longevity is that
he occasionally takes the form of q
vampire Gnd repairs his shattered
constitution with the blood Of his
younger victims. The power Of old
'Ligc to inhabit the body Of animals st
will is not questioned by many OF
those under his influence.
- - - -
Slightly Different.
An English lawyer, Mr.. William vii.
lie Hyoc o,na v0k1n,, -