The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-23
HoODoO ON 4 HANGING.
Attempted 10 Cast a Spell About the
GaIlows, But Failed.

Grief set all the skill of an old negro
hoodoo doctor at naught, and the
charms thai were to have placed the
Governor of Missouri and the sheriff of
St Louis county under their spell and
save the andson of the old doctor from
the saows, failed
At Least that is the opinion Of the rela-
tivts of Reub II Dixon, an old man-some
say he was over 100 years o.d-who died
a Webs er Groves a year or more ago,
and over the division of whose es ate the
aforesaid relatives are now lighting in
court. Those who knew that the old man
tried to hoodoo the Governor and the
sheriff kept the fact secret until the
other day. when, in the probate court at
Clayton, one of the witnesses in the suit
over the estate inadvertently mentioned
it.
Reuben was an old Virginia slave, be-
longing to family named Dixon. This
family moved to Galloway county, Mis-
souri,, some years before the Civil War,
and it was then that the hoodoo power
was given to Reuben by an old Indian.
After the war had ended Reuben and his
family moved TO Webster Groves. There
he parcticed his weird art of casting
spells" and grew wealthy-wealthy as
compared with his ne ghbors. at least. His
children married, and to one OF them
Hester, who married a man named FoS-
ter was born son whom she named
Sam. A few years ago Sam, grown to
manhood, was convicted of the murder
of Bertram Atwater. the Chicago news
paper artist, who was killed in the coun-
ty one night while he was on his way
to visit his sweetheart
The old hoodoo doctor was an invalid
then. In the me of the Civil War he had
contracted a disease which had rendered
useless his lower limbs and which crept
by slow degrees along his body. But his
mind had not been affected and his skill
as hoodoo doctor-a skill which no ne
gro had ever queStioned-had not desert
ed him. Lawyers had failed to clear his
grandson, but the old man was not hope
less. He declared that he would save him
when the time came. In the opinion Of
the believers in his powers the fact that
he had to wait long for the proper time
was'1he cause of the failure of his plans.
For in waiting the old man brooded over
the peril of his grandson and with brood
ing he became grief-stricken. His sorrow
weakened his mind and his memory lost
some Of its strength.
But the old man did not know this.
When the time had come. and his grand
son stood in the shadow of the gallows, the
old man had his daughter gather wild
roots and strange herbs, the crop OF a
chicken killed at certain period OF the
moon, old bones of man, beast, and wild
fowl. dewdrops that were shaken from
the leaves of certain plants. and water
from certain spring These he COM
pounded in proportions that ne kept Sc
cret, and he heated and stewed them over
a certain kind Of FIRE, in certain kind of
pot, at a certain hour OF the night. the
while he mumbled strange words in a
voice so low and tongue 80 thick that
none but the spiris which he invoked
might catch their sound.
Al last the brew had reached the proper
state, and the final incarnation was be-
gun. The old man was half through
with ii when he halted. A troubled look
came into his face. He had forgotten
some of the mystic words. He began
again. nervously. But memory would
not be moved
The crisis was passing. The pot on the
fire was giving forth steam of the prop r
volume and odorto carry the hoodoo pray
er to the hoodoo spirits But the cid man
could not remember the proper words, His
mind sought them in vain, and then. des-
perately. he substituted others that be-
longed 10 other prayers,
The old hoodoo was trembling. His voice
was weak, and when the ceremony had
ended, means of doubt and despair fell
from his lips. Then he began to pray 10
the sririts-to plead with them-to iatter
them TO move them to pity. And he
made sacrifices and humbled himself.
But the omission of the words from the
incarnation was fatal TO the charm 1t
failed TO cast a spell over the Governor
and the sheriff. and on the appointed day
the old mans grandson was hanged.
1t was the only time Reuben had failed
the only time since that day in the
woods sixty years before, when the old
Indian had told him the secret of the
mighty charm and babe him reveal 1t TO
no one For three-score years the old man
had been casting spells. He had warded
of death from himself and from others;
he had rewarded friends and punished en-
emies; he had brought estranged lovers
TO the marriage altar; he had saved babos
from the grasp OF death; he had told where
lost or stolen property might be found
he ahd dismissed the evil spirit OF muir
rain and epizootic from cattle and hogs
and horses he had kept life in his body
for the more than thirty years which had
passed since he was attacked by that
strange disease which would have killed
any mon not possessing the power OF cali
ing 70 his protection the strange spirits.
All this he had done. But whet was II
all compared to this final call upon the
spirits? Nothing. And in the hour Of his
greatest need the spirits had failed him
the charm had not worked. True, the in
cantation was not complete. But the spirits
might have heard him anyhow and sup
piled the few links that were missing from
the witches chain.
Never afterward did the old man call
upon the spirits. He sat day In and day
out, In the big old easy chair that had
been his home for thirty years, and Groom
I'd old hymns as professional for APP
preaching death. His body grew weaker.
his pains more acute. And at last the end
came
Many sought to gain from the dying
hoodoo doctor the secret that the Indian
had impaired to him In the woods. But
he drove them from him. To no mortal