The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-25
ST. ViNCENT'S V00DO0.
WHEN THE OLD PRIEsTESS DIED.
NONE WOULD TOUCH HER MONEY.

Crops Failed Next-A Mighty Hur- |
rtcanc swept the Plnce-ktngstown
Lost Its Old Position and Became a |
Dead PIacc-The Wonderful Twin |
Craters OF La Soufriere-A Glorious
Journey Through n Land of Beau
ty.
IT allus toll 'em they be sure nuf
goner 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 a negro
in the West Indies but is saying the
same thing to-day.
Waxing ever fatter, uglier and rich
er, for many years there lived just
outside of Kingstown on St. Vincent
the high priestess of the Voodoo wor-
shippers. Thther by stealth came ne
groes from all over the West indies
came also, they tell you. white plant
ers seeking charms and lucky spells.
There were still others. who landed
quietly by night and bore away little
walls of slow working poison, or, per-
haps, merely innocent looking splint-
ers, whose slightest scratch meant
death; then, presently, the papers
would record the sudden end of some
harsh overseer from fever" 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 magic
was always of the most expensive
kind. Many a poor devil ruined him
self to meet her extortions. But,
strange to say, no heirs appeared to
claim it. 1t 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 confiscated it. Now, Woo
doc or no Voodoo, it certainly is true
that from that day the already totter-
ing fortunes of St. Vincent fastened
swiftly to their fall. The negroes en-
igrated to Barbados, to the states, to
anywhere away from that island. Su-
gar fell in price, slowly but surely,
and sugar was St. Vincent'S mainstay.
Arrowroot, the next crop of import
ance fell also. Desperate measures
We're taken to remedy matters; whole
estates were condemned and cut up in
to little parcels to be divided amongst
the negroes. The only result was to
anger those whose estates had been
condemned
Ruin on Ruin.
Then came the awful hurricane of
1895; 400 lives were lost in the island
and every crop was totally ruined.
Those who fingered after that did so
| merely because they had to. Such was
the state of things when the writer
landed at Kingstown a few weeks ago.
Most pleasant were his recollections of
St. Vincent, dim remembrance of a
visit many years past. Only fifteen
miles long by eleven broad, the little
green islet was saved from insignifi-
canoe by the rugged grandeur of Sou
friere, the evil-named, evil-reputation-
ed old volcano at the northern end.
Although but 1900 feet hight lost
1 1000 feet or so in altitude in its out
break of 171S-yet it's ragged cone tow
cred with a certain mighty majesty,
beauty ia diabole," against the clear
tropic sky.
From Soufriere to Mount ST. An
drews, near the southern end, a Jag
ged chain of lesser peaks divides the
western from the eastern side. So riV-
en- by chasms, so steep are their sides,
that a long road round the shore was
the only practical connection between
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
or so the writer remembered 1.-THE
fiourishing town of Kingstown, bear
ing 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 a dash of yellow, reminding you
of Norway villages. The heavy laden
sugar casks gruntling over the cobbled
streets, the quick clicking of tiny DON
keys hoofs drawing enormous loads of
green cane, the hum and chatter of the
market place; all these he remembered
well. The hills were but naked skele-
tons of those he remembered: gaunt
grey ribs of rock protruding through
bare red soil; lying naked
and ashamed in the glare
of their emerald robes, not so much
as a palm growing since the day of
the big wind"
Further 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 train
had washed the gay-hued houses to a
dingy gray-here and there a patch of
color clinging like rouge upon a corpse.
Gloomy I<ingstown.
Shutterless and empty, many a house
stared as with the sightless eyes of
the dead out on the deserted bay, green
fungus, like a grave mold, spreading
over them.
The long pier tottered on its rotting
piles, seeming scarce able to support
the weight of the handful of listless
negroes that fiocked 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 police sta
ton, which, next to the Jail, was al
ways the finest building. maintained a
certain smartness, covering its crum-
bling walls with whitewash, as the
proud old soldier carefully inks his rag
ged buttonholes.
In the streets, rutted and gulled by
many rainy season, the green grass
grew almost unchecked. Down Mid
die street, as the main thoroughfare is
called, the dust of years had gathered
on the narrow little shop windows
making their dim interiors gloomy be-
yond description.
The unusual sound of foosteps
brought each merchant eagerly to the
door, only to gaze gloomiiy at our re-
treating backs. A crowd of eager
darkey boys f1ocked around us, begging
shrilly for a penny. But, saddest sight
of all. was the old market place, the