The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1912-08-02
,gro before in Englewood, and

thought tudt SuG Idu oCCAA AlAl Ou q
wagon loaded with garden truck 60
| ing toward New York about two
weeks before. Upon this information
T made a tour all through the country
to get a trace of a missing negro and
wasted lot of time in following the
| wanderings of a colored man who had
worked for several days with farm.
er near Lodi. l found him, but there
were no wounds on his body, and this
left him out Of the game.
when | returned to New York,
had a complete list of all the stolen
goods, and made tour of all the
fences which were likely to give up
information to the police, but learned
nothing that would do me any good.
A friend of mine who kept liquor
store in Greenwich street told me OF
watch which he had bought from a
fellow who looked like tramp about
a week before, and it had all the
marks of one of the watches which
had been stolen. took the watch to
Mr.. Baldwin, and he said that it was
his property.
II made up my mind that the tramp
did not have any hand in the rob
berry, and had got possession of the
watch in some other way. l hunted
high and low for this fellow, in the
cheap dives, and finally landed fel.
low answering to his description.
took him to the liquor dealer, and he
was fully identified. l locked him up
and squeezed him very hard for in.
formation. He persisted that he had
found the watch in the street, but
after he was put through the mill,
and charged with killing man to
get the time piece, he admitted that
he stole it from a man who was ly.
ing drunk in a hallway in Greenwich
street.
From the description that he gave
me and the knowledge Of crooks
which had, I concluded that it was
probably Danny Mcbride. I dropped
downtown, and, after hanging around
for few days, l felt satisfied that
Danny was in hiding for something.
could not find him in any Of his
haunts, and l knew from his friends
telling me that they had not seen him
that he was keeping out of sight for
something. l had never known that
Danny was in the house-cracking bust.
ness, as he had always figured as a
river pirate, and a bad one at that.
Zone evening, while going through
Blocker street, l met Frank Carroll,
and he told me an amusing story
about voodoo woman, who sold
charms to the superstitious negroes.
She was from Cuba, spoke Spanish
and had wonderful powers. She could
destroy witches who followed ne
groes, and could cure diseases by the
laying on of her hands. Carroll said
that there was report going around
among the negroes that she had
healed the wounds and destroyed the
evil spirit which was bothering ne.
gro at a single sitting, for which ser
vice she had received fabulous sum.
Ordinarily, l wouldn't have listened
to this story, but by some strange
influence I associated this negro with
the one who had been bitten by the
dog at Baldwin's house..
"a good detective always run. down
every idea, no matter how foolish ii
may seem, and l decided to have s
chat with the voodoo doctreGs. She
lived in rear building, in Wooster
street, on the top floor, and received
me with a great show Of suspicion.
l told her that believed in her pow.
er to kill my enemies, and l offered
to pay her literally for one of her
enemy.destroying charms.
"In a few moments she limbered
up a little and made a statement that
fairly caused me to Jump for joy. She
said that the voodoo which had this
man in his power had bitten him all
over the body, and his flesh was filled
with deep indentations from the
teeth. That was all she would say
then, and she would not tell who he
was or anything about him except
that he had gone to Cuba. I got q
detective from the Mercer street sta
ton to watch the house and in the
evening I got AL Pender, a colored
man who could be depended on tc
play part.
HE called upon the voodoo woman
and the first thing he did was to pull
out a big knife and sharpen It. He
said nothing while doing this and the
woman became very uneasy. When
ne got through the pantomime he
told ner in very solemn tones that
the object of his visit was to kill her
lie gave her one alternative. If sht
would tell him who the. man was
who called on her with the tcetl
marks in his body, her life would be
spared and she would get $1,000 II
gold. Fender shook bag full O
metal and gave her three minutes Il
answer. She whispered the name q
spanish Forbes. Fender knew tha
ne mad the woman in his power. ani
pressed the question, under the sam,
conditions, as to where Forbes was
she told him he was in certain eel
lar in Wooster street.
:! mad heard all she said from tn,
nan, and at this point opened tn.