The Washington times., 1905-03-25
CUBA IS EXCITED
BY VOODOO TRIAL
jtrong Evidence Against
Witch Doctor.
DEATH PENALTY CALLED FOR
Little Child Victim Was Murdered
Heart Cut Out While
Living.

HAVANA. March 25.-on November 10.
Iso4' Aolia Sanchez, child Of Francisco
Diaz Sanchez and Anna Peres de san
chez' twenty months old, disappeared
from her home on the outskirts of Guira
ue meiena, a town about thirty-fve
miles from Havana.
Inc mother had left the child in
banana patch while she went back to
the house about her work, for the San
chezes are poor white people. The par
ehts made a frantic search for the baby,
put were unsuccessful In tracing her.
Ihen 1t was recalled that few DAYS
cefore Virginia Perdomo. aged three
years. mad been enticed from her home
py a colored woman. but had been re-
covered. Shortly after the colored set
tement was watched, as it was we'll
known fact that several notorious witch
doctors were practicing their rites in the
community.
Nothing was discovered until Noyem-
Der rs, when the body of ZoiIa in a good
state of preservation was found in
thieket near the zuniga farm. An in
cision had been made between the ribs
and the heart removed, presuma bIy
while the child was still alive.
great cry went up from the people
to send Judge Gonzales Landa, famous
criminal expert, to the scene of the
crime to disentangle the mystery. Judge
Landa was appointed to investigate, and
went at once to Guira. The result was
the arrest Of twelve persons of both
sexes and the detention OF LIS witnesses
Voodoo Doctor Accused.
Domingo Boucourt, an old African col
ored man of powerful physique is the
chief witch doctor, and he is accused
of having planned the murder. The
chief witness for the prosecution Is
Luisa Leals a mulatto who testified that
she lived in the house Of a couple
named Tabares and had heard that Bou-
court ordered poultices prepared with
Tabares.
The reputed witches were brought to
trial on March 10. four months from
the date Of t..e crime. with Judge Landa
five judges. Senores Manuel Was Orcho-
teca, Jose Maria Aguirre. Eduardo
Azcarrate, Juan O'Farrill. and Manuel
Gomez. with Senior Gutierrez Quiros as
public prosecutor and Senior Mario Koh-
iy as private prosecutor.
Judge Landa ordered the clothes of
Victor Molina and hyperion Ponce, who
were accused of abducting the child,
sent to the national laboratory to be
chemically analyzed and the stains
thereon were found to be those of hu-
man blood. Two knives identified as
belonging to Molina and Julian Anaaro
were also stained. The court held sit
tings every day. The prosecution closed.
and the defense has began.
1t was proved by the prosecution that
Juana Tabares, who had given birth to
sig children. none of whom had lived.
being about to be confined again, sent
her husband, Pablo Taba-es, to consult
with Domingo Boucourt. A meeting Of
the witches was held in the house of
Adela Luis. at which it was declared
that Juana Tabares was enchanted from
the waist down, that her illness was the
result of white cruelty during slavery
DAYS and that she could only be cured
by the blood of white person.
An discriminating Letter.
A letter written by Boucouft makes
mysterious reference to a ''maInikin =
evidently the person of white infant
which he declares will cost s25. Molina
and Ponce were selected at this meeting
to procure child. They were afterward
seen in the vicinity of the Sanchez home.
Ana Perez de Sanchez, mother OF the
murdered infant, testified that she knew
the prisoners. and that Molina knew
Zoila was her eldest child Juana Ia
bares admits that Molina and Amaro
confessed to having killed child. but
that she thought the blood used in the
medicine Boucourt prescribed had come
from body recently inferred, and that
She knew nothing of the murder
Link by link the prosecution built UP
its case, and has uncovered a mass Of
superstition and ignorance fearful In it's
possibilities of crime. All Guira knew of
the witch doctors and of their secret
sessions, and had heard that Roucourt
had said that Juana Tabares could only
be cured by the blood of white person,
both taken internally and used in the
form of poultices The death penalty Is
asked for Boucourt, Juana and Pablo
Tabares, Adela Luis, Molina, Ponce and
Amaro, and seventeen years imprison-
ment for Jorge Cardenas, Damaso
Amaro, Laureano DiaZ, Martinez Pillar
Hernades, and Jacobo Arenal, as ac-
cessories before and after the deed.