The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-22
VOODISM AND ROMANCE.

The Powerful Mixture That an Adept
 Prepared for Her Rival.
 Outon Handwerkerker's hill, east of St. Peters Cemetery, dwell a settlement of negroes who apparently have not pro- fited by the advance of civilization. They are still disciples of the black art as practised largely in Africa. The superstition of the negro is well known, and on Handwerker's hill the negroes are of the most ignorant class The voodoo practitioners have reaped a rich harvest of shekels among them, and likewise have occasioned large num- Der of disordered imiginations. Many black art spell has been broken, 1t is said, and haunts and witches chased away.
 There lived on Handwerker's hill a rather strangely appearing negro wo- man of the name of Belle Ram, who practised the voodoo art and made lots of money thereby. This woman has been regarded as unusual by her neigh bors, and there was something about her that caused them to let her severely alone, unless 1t was to consult her about the mysteries of her profession. Many a spell this woman Is said to have brought about in love affairs, and if paid enough money the negroes be- iieved that she could enlist the services of the devil, witches and ghosts to make miserable the existence of any person she willed.
 There came a time, however, when Belle Ram had to resort to her myste- rious power to save her own peace of mind. She conjured with all her power and failed, and as a result is now in the county workhousa
 The dart of Cupid, 1t is said, is liable to strike a voodoo doctor as quickly as any other person, and Belle Ram, not proving an exception, fell wildly in love with negro named George Lee. On this blackamoor she lavished all of her powers, both natural and mysterious 1 in an endeavor to prevent him from 1 sharing his affections with other fe- | males. The charm, however, failed to work to perfection, and Lee, who was l something of a masher soon began to pay attention to others of the feminine l sex, notably one by the name of Flor
 ence Bledsoe. AS her voodoo artifices | failed to work upon the blunt percepti- biities of George Lee, the woman con- cluded that she would give her rival, | Florence Bledsoe, a round or two. | The intensity of Belle Rams love can only be measured by the careful prepa- ration she entered into to remove Flor | ence Bledsoe from the affections of her l lover, George Lee. Whether she in- | tended Florence Bledsoe to die or shriv- l el away and assume the form of a
 witch is not known. She tried to voo- | doc her, however, and evidently spared l neither time nor pains in preparing a
 mixture to do the evil work. The mix | ture was wrapped securely in two bags
 and placed under the front doorstep of
 Florence Bledsoe's home. The voodoo
 bag certainly contained sufficient ingre- i dients, if possessed with merit, to exert
 the desired spell, as in 1t Belle Ram
 had placed a lot of devils shoe-string
 root, snakeroot, a piece of petrified fish
 secretion, negro wool, bent hairpin, cowhage Ca powerful irritant), cock
 reaches, tobacco leaves, piece of alum l bds cL COlLEe SIOuuuS, pdS ol ieu tAl"
 line, lock of chestnut colored hair tied
 with grass, Jumps of white ginger, snail
 shells, piece of a match, an old screw sassafras root, crushed tablets of some | kind, watermelon seed, rind of pome-
 granate, pepper pods, powder of an in. definite mixture, cardamine seed and a
 piece of plug tobacco. In addition was a copper cent bearing date of 1890 and a large lump of dragons blood, which Is burned in India with incense to keer 1 witches away.
 One day when Florence Bledsoe was feeling bad she found the voodoo bag The horrible truth flashed over her, and in fear and trembling she went to ne- gro male voodoo doctor near her home and paid him to tell her how to break | the evil spell which she declared had al-
 ready taken possession of her. She was l told to take the bag to the Mississippi | river and dip it into south running wa
 ter and there would no longer be evil | influence in 1t. This the woman did and came back swinging the bag in one | hand. She made straight for the home of Belle Ram and confronted her with
 the accusation of trying to make a spir- it or witch of her. The Bledsoe woman in fact, appeared no longer to fear Belle | Ram, and abused her In such a man. ner that the Ram woman had her ar l rested and placed under peace bono by Squire Hudspeth. The quarrel
 however, caused the Bledsoe woman tt
 lose the affections of the negro George
 Lee and for time Belle Ram had hin all to herself.
 The desire for revenge, however, that
 ranked in the bosom of Florence dit
 not permit the course of true love tC
 run smooth very long. She had thu
 couple arrested for living together a:
 man and wife without being married Squire Coats, before whom the case wa!
 tried, fined Belle Ram and George Let
 fifteen dollars and costs each, and al
 they could not pay they are now in tht
 county workhouse.-Memphis Commer cia1 Appeal.