The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-09
THE LAND OF THE VOODOO
MYSTERIOUS HAITI, WHERE ITS
SIGNS RULE EVERYWHERE.
Strange Diseases Peculiar to the Mys-
terious Land-Cannibalism Ii
Said to BE Practfced.

Haiti, which may be annexed to the United
states 20 escape the grisly horrors Of VOC
doc rule and revolution, says the Chicago
tribune, ranks second only to the forbid
den lands Of the lamas in its mysterious
present. AS for past 1t is such that even
the Haitian patriot scarcely may find pride
In IL, and for the future the ominous throb-
Ding OF the voodoo drum is significant Of
that isle Of mystery. lying frog-shaped in
the blue OF southern seas.
Old Gen. Tiresias Simon Sam, who
reigned recently president of this 'black
republic, has had seventeen predecessors
In Office, none OF whom served out his
term Of Office. and some Of whom died at
the hands OF the open assassin, or imme-
diately after the deadly Mamaloi or Papa
loi, with their secret nostrums, had gained
entrance to the presidential kitchens.
Haiti has beautiful Constitution-on pa
per- She has code of laws based on the
code Napoleon-on paper. Everything In
Haiti Is typified by three institutions in
Fort au Prince-a great market hall, an ice
manufacturing plant. and an electric light
plant But the market is held, as of old,
outside and not inside the hall. the ice
plant does not work, and the electric light
plant does not work
If Haiti really were 1.-The black republic
her present condition would show either
that the black man is incapable of self
government. or that republics are failures.
put Halti is no more republic than jun
gle In state OF nature is republic. Black
man and mulatto, with all the grades be-
tween, are ruled as men are ruled in the
neart or Africa-by the force of primitive
and rerocious natures that revert to their
African ancestry. And the instrument of
6rttvyo
RULE OF THE VOODOO
There is not a night, year in, year out,
that the traveller in any part of the island
cannot hear the strange, awesome throb-
bling of this instrument, Its sounding makes
| one think with tremor of the tales of the
African explorers, and with reason, for the
voodoo drum is a direct importation from
the Gold coast and the Congo. When that
drum throbs Haiti knows and bows down
| to its real master. Not long ago a priestess
or voodoo boosted openly in Port au Prince
that IL she were to beat the drum in the
market square the most powerful persons
In the city would not dare to disobey her
summons.
1t always was a matter of common belief
mat Hippoiyte was votary of voodoo. and
| 1t was believed almost commonly that
| he belonged to the sect that sacrifices the
goat without horns" The goat without
a nSrns Tbs is young child and it is eaten
alterations Of voodoo are going on openly
! every night, in only technical secrecy, the
voodooism, combined with cannibalism. is
! carried on with real secrecy. Now and
then. when there is particularly scan
| dalous case, the government makes a few
| arrests, but the priests, the Mamaoi and
the Papaloi, never are arrested. The pris-
oners always are obscure persons. Some
times they are punished with death, but
| that is rare
Two creatures who were caught a few
| years ago were mounted on donkeys,
| driven through the town and beaten with
| cocoa-macaque clubs by the soldiers and
then told to get away. Yet these prisoners.
woman and her daughter, had confessed
| that they had helped to sacrifice the
daughters own child. and that they had
helped afterward to eat it. That was in
Jacmel and nothing would have been heard
of ii had not a foreigner witnessed the
clubbing and made a secret investigation.
women were imprisoned for a few days.
They had been caught in the act. But the
| voodoo priest and priestess appeared and
showed their influence by obtaining the re-
lease Of all the prisoners.
WITCHCRAFT IN POLITICS.
Voodooism holds its strength in the
islands not only because of the love of the
people for that form of worship, but be-
cause 1t is inextricably mixed with the po-
litical intrigue that is going on forever 1t
is said to be dying out.
But no man can tell. One may spend ten
years in Haiti. and the land still be mys-
terious to him. The newspapers of the
republic" dare not print anything about
voodoo: The better glasses dare not say
not say anything about it. The govern
ment fears the voodoo priests on account
papers fear the voodoo priests on account
of their influence with the government
And the better classes fear the voodoo
priests for both these reasons, and still
m a md moi
have a fearful and close connection in
Haiti The Mamaloi and the Papaloi are
past masters in the knowledge of strange
vegetable poisons. The island is singularly
rich in trees and plants from which drugs
may be extracted, and Mamaloi and Papa
loi know them ALL
There are strange diseases in Haiti. One
of them causes a person who goes to bed
feeling well and sound to wake up a raving
mailman. Another brings death after an
hour of agony, during whicf. the skin is
covered with huge yellow blotches. There
is a death that comes after one has put on
a shirt on which has been sprinkled a
liquid furnished by a Mamaloi or Papaloi
1t comes like fire that eats into the skin
wherever the garment has touched. Again,
some n OF the 6iss, fhab come to person
kill. One will waste the victim day after
day until death seems only a few hours off;
can cure. If the victim is wise he will pay
the priest whatever he asks; If he doesn't
the disease will end in death. There is an
other disease that causes sudden blindness.
That too, can be cured suddenly, swiftly
and mysteriously by voodoo priest after
the doctors have given ii up.
Thus inquisitiveness in Haiti is a danger
at all times. Your host may be a cultured
black gentleman fresh from visit to Paris
and speaking English and French with an
elegance that will Cypress you, and yet il
will be as we'll not to mention voodoo with
out having carefully and infinitely felt your
way, for he may be a worshiper of the SER
pent himself.
THE SIGN OF THE SNAKE
Certain 1t is that the sign of the snake is
everywhere, and If a man is not too much
afraid to venture into the streets after the
hour when martial law declares that he
shall be in doors at home he may witness
a voodoo rite in the heart Of the black capt.
tai itself. He will be challenged every few
hundred yards by a ragged and barefoot
sentinel, but little judicious bribery will
overcome the soldiers sense of duty and