The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-27
CHILD A VICTIM OF
 VOUDOO DOCTOR
ALL CUBA EXCITED OVER REvELA- TION OF REVOLVING vOUDOO-
 ISM IN THE ISLAND.
Little Oue's Heart Eaten--Nexxa sPriesf1 Accused of Inductiag . Patient" to Murder Waite
 Child to Regain Health.

Havana, Cuba Special to New York Herald.
 Nothing has so aroused Havana, ors in fact all of Cuba. as the trial of voudoo doctors for the murder of M 2o-months-old white child named zoila, whose body was found mutilated and with It's heart cut out
 It has been known, of course, that voudooism was still practised in the interior of the island, as it has been ever since the negroes were brought from Africa centuries ago. but 1t was supposed the practices now in vogue were comparatively harmless. Inves- ttgation of the death of the child zoila. however, has disclosed that practices Of most revolting character, going so far as canibalism. are still carried on in the more remote districts.
 King" Boucourt. negro of African birth, is accused of being the chief in an old negress, Is alleged to have gone to him to be cured of an illness of long standing, and he Is said to have told her that the only remedy that would do her any good was to eat the heart of a white person
 The woman's faith in the voudoo doc- tor was implicit, and she and her friends at once made plans to kidnap a white child. The first attempt was unsuccessful. A child was seized, but it's loss was discovered in time and 1t was recovered. In the case of little Zoila the warning was too late. Judge Landa hastened to Guira de Melena, the scene of the tragedy, and 1t is the result of the evidence he ob- tained that Boucourt IS now on trial About dozen other negroes have been arrested. charged with being accesso- ries to the crime. It Is not doubted that Boucourt will be punished by death, but extreme difficulty Is being found in making the witnesses tell anything about the voodoo practices. as they fear they will themselves become marks for vengeance.
 The voudoo doctors are known to be skillful poisoners. and more by fear than anything else they maintain an almost supreme control over their peo- pie. They are more frequently con- suited when the death of an enemy ia sought than to prescribe cures for ill~ ness. When a negro learns that wou- doc has been set on him he frequently dies of fright.
 Voudoo ceremonies are invariabiv held In the night, and consist of pray CTS to a snake which is exhibited dur ing hysterical manifestations by the priest and priestess. A dance is given which is marked by the widest de- bauchery, according. to the slight testi- mony on the subJeHt. and occasionally by the sacrifice of human child. Strange VOudOO Case i'm the South, Fol- lowed by Mysterious Death. In the Southern States, as well as in the West Indies. voudooism stilI has a strong. though a weakening. hold on the negroes. One of the remarkable trials In which voudooism figured was in South Carolina about twenty years ago. voudoo doctor was brought to trial on the charge of having brought about the death of man and at once marrying his victims not unwilling widow. On the jury were nine white men and three negroes. Before the tess timony was in two of the jurymen were taken violently Ill and others had to be substituted for them. and when the verdict of death was finally rendered the Sheriff who was to execute the sentence was stricken and died within a few hours.