New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-14
"A CASE OF VOODOO.

Baptiste Moran was never credited with hav-
Ing more than enough to hoe his cane
row and eat his meals in the hours when
the plantation bell warned him to do one or the
other, but he had sense enough to know when
he voodooed.
Hadn't he come In from the field one day. In
the dull hot weeks in Southern Louisiana when
the cane had been laid by to find that "yaller
city coon," Dick talking sweet to his wife and
eating a good dinner out OF his own tinplate?
And when he had expressed what mind there
was in hm-and more than he was thought to
possess-to Dick, didn't that scoundrel sprinkle
a hoodoo around his house that night to bring
destruction on his whole family; and mark a
bloody circle on his doorstep that he had to
climb out of his window and pay white man
TO wash the stain away?
All things considered. the men in Orange
Grove plantation quarters felt that Baptiste
Moran was a terribly injured man. and as no
one knew on whom the voodoo would next fan
they thought "Yaller Dick would be better out
Of this world than in 1t; and convinced Baptiste
that such the case.
A voodooed man is nerved to any deed ana III
the inevitable quarrel that followed the next
evening "Yaller Dick" eXpiated crime the
encrnity Of WITHHOLDING a city-bred darky-
he never knew, and It was Baptistes razor that
lay by the gashed throat Of his victim.
In q few moments the white people on the
place learned OF the accident, and formed a
posse to scour the plantation for Baptiste ana
watch the roads and river escapes. Al the same
time tbe regular dip OF oars rose and fell in the
plantation draining canal. and the gurs'e oI
wafer falling away from the Prov Of skif
made A cool sound in the warm night. NO"
and then there was a soft. rushing noise as
no Ia
the skif. or an alligator stirred out of his lair
In tho skiG's stern q black figure crouched at
the rudder: large black figure alternately
,oved and poled the skin down the narrow
stream. Behind them a slim. dark object hoa'ed.
From recd-gronn shores they plunged into
the inky blackness OF a Louisiana chehlere'
Ancient oaks swished long moss pendants ih'o
the water These gave place to the dead S'e"oe
of the cypress swamp. Ones own voice III
cvpress swamp sounds uncanny. Baptste re"'-
blod when his father-in-law spoke
.IIi,.s luckv To- YOU Baptste," he said. 'that
, IA die bvar skiff all pervisoned TO ishin TO-
NIGHT. On'y I'm startin' 1t dark 'std peio
dawn. Hit'n be darker yit to go home becase
he rnoon'u be set. I'm gwine put dS bTuO III
dat perogu, O yourn behine u.s. an SET YOU va
dc shell bank o Lake Lore. you am nv
,.oor dis-a-wavs: hits de white folks bestes
Gchin' ulace 70 redll5H i'u' '~''" - 80
do,.t Won stop 10 think o no hshin hltH DC
Too MITCH dark for you to strike dat bayou
o,,,inc set YOU to- arter de moon sets; bu' jos
=. coon as yoI see de "Ship's Yardarms dIp 10
. ,clock YOU git in you perOgue an strlke ciost
10. ial,e and lay roun de wes' side tel DC lu3
1, y, day Den yOu'll see three OAK stuHpS
"a, do roouf Of a bayou back On EN- You jest
It'll, do,yn dat bayou TO- all yOu's wuff' an Jes
,,eao a.goin' long as you an your gruD hoidS
~, you,u drap in on some cheniere settle
,,,or,s down wonder whar nobody amt gwine ak
90, no questions. Dat yaller coon'll be clar iof-
got befo' we knows hit.
Tbev were out in the open prairie now Hoa'-
,rf, between the long, rank grasses.
"Prn ,,wine make de hoodoo doctor take uat
.,,ou of,n my dartcr an de chillun, fus' ting
- horoo" went on the old man. as he shot the
sLi0 forward into "a sheet OF open water ana
presently drove her against smell pahk'
"C,van't no hoodOo doctor come an take oe
,ou on'n me" groaned Baptste, despairingy
"GUine be mighty dark gittin' nome re-
,,orked the old man, pushing off. "DeyH be
.,are huff To- de Yardsticks. dough. an mihds
20, don.t YOU forgit dat eff you don want 10 Dc
cotched in de mornin'.
rho moon was half below the horizon ana
sS,o,ved vast level OF darkness on every hand'
The stiffness was profound. .
ponuste lay PROSTATE with fear ana iohe"-
&c perbaps he slept. Later on. hunger anu
:. sansa of danger stirred him to an upright posi-