The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-06-07
..:V' VI ] D SPELL
ON: STRINGENT
NEGRO WHO USED TO LIVE THERE
TELLS OF WITCH's
WORK.
SHE SOLD SUBTLE POISON
DIRE CALAMATIES. FOLLOWED CON-
~~~ FISCATION.
Four Hundred Lives Were Lost In
Hurricane of 1808-WOnderful
Twin Craters.

From the. Detroit Free Press:
IT allus tor 'em they be sure nuf
eoner If they tech that voodoo money
The old negro sat slowly spelling out
OF the evening paper the latest meager
news of the disaster on st. Vincent
Island, his old home. Scarce negro
in the West Indies but is saying the
same thing today, says a writer IN the
Washington Star.
Waxing ever fatter, uelier and ricner'
for many years there lived just outside
of Kingstown, on st. Vincent. the h1gn
priestess of the voodoo worsh1pers
Thither by stealth came negroes from
all over the West Indies-came, also,
they tell you, white planters seeking
charms and lucky spells. There were
still others who landed quietly by night
and bore away little phials OF slow
working poison, or, perhaps, merely in
nocent- looking splinters. whose slight
est scratch meant death; then, present.
", the papers would record the sudden
err" The hand Of the law never fell
upon her-it is not pleasant to execute
justice when you know that tomorrow
mornings coffee will be filled with
powdered glass-and in good time she
died, her spirit carried up Soufriere by
Zombi, so they say, and there dumped
in.
Cursed Voodoo Wealth.
= Much wealth she left, for her mag
ic" was always of the most expensive
kind. Many a poor devil ruined HIM
belf to meet 91er extortions. But,
strange. to say, no heirs appeared to
claim it. It was voodoo. and not an
African on earth would touch it.
So finally the government of st. VIM
cent stepped in where others feared to
tread and cenfiscated it. Now, voodoo
or no voodoo, it certainly is true that
from that day the already tottering
fortunes of St. Vincent FASTENED swift
" to their fall. The negroes emigrated
to Barbados, to the states, to any,
where from that island. Sugar fell In
price slowly, but surely, and sugar
was St. Vincent's mainstay. Arrow
root, the next crop Of Importance, fell
also. Desperate measures were taken
to remedy matters; whole estates were
condemned and cut up into little par
cells to be divided amongst the negroes.
The only result was to anger those
whose estates had been condemned.
=. 80. Ruin ON zRuin. =. .,.>.- :
Then came the awful hurricane of
4 lSxyoa in a nd
and every crop was totally ruined.
Those who fingered after that Mid so
merely because they had to. Such
was the state of things when the writer
Z aided at Kingstown a few weeks ago.
Most pleasant were his recollections
of St. Vincent, a dim remembrance
of visit many years past. Only fif-
teen miles long by eleven broad, the
little green islet was saved from in
significance by the rugged grandeur Of
Soufriere, the evil-named, evil reputa-
toned old volcano at the northern end.
Although but 5000 feet hight lost
1000 feet or SO in altitude in it's out
break Of 171s-yet it's ragged cone tow
cred with q certain mighty majesty, a
beauty ia diabole," against the clear
tropic sky
From Soufriere to Mount St. An
drews, near the southern end, a jagged
chain Of lesser peaks divides the west
ern from the eastern side. So riven by
chasms, so steep are their sides, that
a long rugged road round the shore
was the only practical connection be-
tween the pretty little village of Belaid
half way down the western side and
the larger village Of Georgetown just
across. At the southwestern end lay
so the writer remembered 1.-THE flour
ishing town OF Kingstown, bearing no
little resemblance to st. Pierre in it's
surroundings of green-robed hills of
cane; it's houses gayly frescoed in
bright blues and reds, with here and
there dash of yellow, reminding you
Of Norway villages. The heavy laden
sugar casks gruntling over the cobbed
roads, the quick clicking Of tiny dom
keys hoofs drawing enormous loads
Of green cane, the hum and clatter
Of the market place; all these he re-
membered we'll. The hills were but
naked skeletons Of those he remem-
bered; gaunt, gray ribs Of rock pro-
truding through. bare red soil: lying
naked and ashamed In the glare OF the
sunshine, stripped utterly Of their en-
erald robes. not so much as a palm
growing since the day OF the "big
wind"
Farther back the higher hills still
lay green and beautiful, but for miles
around the town the voodoo curse, in
deed, lay heavy on the land. And the
town itself! The .pitiless tropic rain
had washed the gay hued houses to
dingy gray-here and there patch
of color clinging like rouge upon a
corpse.
Gloomy Kingstown.
shutterless and empty many a house
stared as with the sightless eyes Of the
dead out on the deserted bay, green
fungus, like grave mold, spreading
over them.
The long pier tottered on its 'rottinR
piles, seeming scarce able to support
the weight of the handful Of listless
negroes that -flocked. out to see the
mail boat anchor-now grown to be an
event not to be missed. Ashore the
ruin was more apparent. Only the po-
lice station, which, next to the tail,
was always the finest building, main
tanned a certain smartness, covering
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