The sun., 1899-11-28
vooDoo poIsoSs AND porsoNERs
Work OF tho Medicine Men Of Porto Rico,
Hayti, Jamaica and Trinidad.

| work or tho Medicine Men OF Porto Rico,
| "S"' 's""'e" n"o ir"'oh"'
| WASHINGTON, Nov. 26.--In Jamaica, Porto
| Rico, Trinidad, and more especially in the so
| called Republic Of Hayti whero black domination
excludes white citizenship the reign Of the Obcah
| priest or medicine man Is still a mighty factor
| In shaping the des,inies Of individuals and even
! OF the State, In some instances says Dr. Eugene
| Murray Aaron. "in Iiayt, whero three Prosi-
| dents during this generation have gone out Of
| their way TO publicly show their allegiance or
submission to this mystic cult, and where one
| Of their most successful rulers based his popu.
larity on his success In modifying the laws against
Obeah prisoners and Obeah caun!bals, the study
| and adaptation Of tropical iature's lavish pro.
| vision Of vegetable poisons may now be said
10 be at the his hest state OF perfection anywhere
| within tho Western World. In the sub-tropicLl
wderncsscs which abound on every hand in those
islands there IL many an herb some principles
| Of which may well be said TO hold such an en-.
nifty with the blood of man that swift AZ ouick.
| silver they course through the natural yates
| and nllevs Of Tho holy and WITH =, .,dd.n r;go,
| doth posset and c,,rd like e,pe, DRAWINGS into
| milk the thin and vholesome blood Al eyery
| turn the botanist sees growing some delicate
| .unglo beauty Of which he NAV e.cIaim again
| with Shakespeare.
| within IN. ,,,a n, ht, .n.u co,
| Poison hath re,id.nc. m.aicIn, now.r
| ~r,l. to, .,.unl. ,,o ,.u,,. .S.,,.,.
weed of ,Jnm,ic, and sdi.c.n, is,,nd. m.
| ....,,,.. :, a. C. -
Rov,v ~ s,,n. y.,,s ,oo, .har.d ,,,, a.. s.,,a
extract f,on IN. s.cd nods -, ,hi. ,,t.., . =, -,
| ,o,ent . ,atu,. I'D a., .,,,,,. a., a.. -,
-. ', =. '' ~ "o"'' '"at "e 'o'o''
| phch oi ~ only so much as could be lifted on
| the tip Of a pocket knue blade mixed with coffee
! or chocolate and given with ,ecuI., ,,,, d., to-
| -, -, soI Wv" ..eua'.'' io' N"
Weeks "ouid 80 permta'e The system that It's
| sudden dls,ise would produce immediate death
| and A form of death moi It.Iv 10 .,,oc, III. ,,
anu .,e 'o'" % ., uea'. NOV ,keN 70 a,tae' inc al
'enuon oi The most suspicious To the poisoner
| Suychninc deadly nightshadc several of
the poisonou, lol.li,s and :, w.,I,, =, n,,r,,
WV pooo.o"' 'ooe'a'' anu Neanh OF piants
| unknown 10 our northern Climes and yet barely
classified by botanists are TO be seen a, every
yum u VIC pau. n'"nohioheai' uee OF some
| beauty affords them an essence which like the
savannah ., .I, weed acts as cumulative poison
danger.
their mos, insidious an, ro,on, ,.,,so,, ~. :.
,..,.I ,,,. 'SrN,,,,-' anu po"n' p'sohs arc eA
both the tarantula and the scorpion are well known
to them as especially valuable for use on the tins
OF daggers or sheath knites. or on the little pro-
iecuons on bone rings which are whitfield ont
by the obeah man and specially poisoned 50 tina,
a mere seia'eh from one oil Them usually means
death, The expressed juices OF one species Of
.-S '' N''A -,.S , "u'' Nnu"'a' ~ Aho"h 10 'hem
Hs powerful ingredient ior poisoned coffee or
cocoa
"Op me frs, ,,in 60 u,,., >,,, ool,.,,, l..
HiS' ~ w '"'"' NY '0''e'uns IN
entomology IN the interior where white man
| was almost unknown and nv fearless h,pdlin,,
| Of insects and no N H,isonous reptiles ths dnnS
gers Of which the natives had aSays rersSGed un
! as only for the superior knowledge III The Obesh
doctor 10 overcome gave ME a re mutation 10, orrit
wisdom and medical power that stood NE in ex'
I A
naturalist or hunter has gone into the inter,or
| and never been heard from So too IL enabled
me 10 get TO the threshold Of condolences regard
| the Pdpalof the Obeah priest Which otherwise
| | should never have been able 10 approech /
| say threshold, advsedly: no white man rerhaps
no uninitiated black can ever hone trulv ,n @ an
| the confidence of the Nnudotlx nIiSrn n,ycr
| The whole system whereby thess, chsrIstsns
| hold their sway over their dunes Ia vinn, tSc,,
secrecy obscurity and every possible method
| of appearing not 10 do that which must bc dnnc
| For example. a negro In Jamaica who WAS Well.
nigh Impoverished by the depIcdauons OF field
| This dressing consisted OF hanging on the trees
at certain times of the moon beer battles nIi ~
Aia sen s S sns q
wing cases Of huge beetles and like no,rnt cbs,n,
producers IL is quite conceivable that these
would have but little effect on the rats sea mper
| ing over the ground some six or more feet below
But. the bottles hung IN place with ali the mystI,
| rites, solemn incanta,ons and unmcanipy viii.
| bersh dear To these impus,ors were only thrir
bluff II may use such slang al The wor, thev
had accepted pay TO produce The real raj cN
| termination. as the bodies Of many Of their dead
! attesied was produced by some form Of very iTri
tant poison spInkled on suitable bait Tie cx.
act nature Of which did not succeed in discover
| ing. although the effects seemed allied 10 those
| OF prussc acid This bait, however, was nut in
| unobserved spots when there was no one nv a.
| Waf he IarfnV