The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-02-21
SURGEON STOPS
A BABY SACRIFICE
Ships Doctor DiSpGTS0S Hal
tian VOOdOOiStS.
STUMBLES INTO CEREMONY.

Baron Hendrix van Renken Siam While
Hunting For Flowers Bursts Upon
Wild Scene of Blacks at Barbario
Worship-Ready to Kill lnfant--t1e
Knocks Medicine Man Down.
That voodooism in all its horrors Is
practiced in the interior of Haiti by
the superstitious natives has long been
known or suspected by residents and
visitors to the tumultuous island. The
white men who have ever had the exs
perience Of seeing the voodoo worship
ers in the midst of their fearsome
orgies might well be enumerated on
the eight fingers. One of the few who
have had the ghastly experience arriv.
ed in New York recently. He is Baron
Hendrix van Renken STAN. the ships
surgeon.
Dr. STAN has had many thrilling ex-
periences, but it remained for the voo-
doc worshipers of Haiti to give him
the thrill of thrills.
Talk about the spinal shivers," said
the surgeon in discussing his expert
ence, well, l had them for fair. |
had the experience about two weeks
frightful Nightmares yet.
Hobby Leads lin Ashore.
MY hobby since my college days has
been botany, and in my rambles about
the world have always taken the OPP
portunity to explore the out of the way
places for botanical specimens. 1t was
this hobby that made me witness of
the voodOoistic ceremony. The ship
was lying in the harbor of Port au
Prince, and 1 took the opportunity to
go ashore with my collecting case to
seek rare flowers in the hills back of
the Haitian capital.
II started early in the morning. and
midafternoon found me wandering
about through the hills. | started back
blindly, and in few minutes the real
ization came over me that was lost.
"As 1 marched blindly through the
wooded hills l heard the sound of
drums reverberating. At first the drum
b'olo anu lutn luGy
came nearer and nearer. l thought
that I must be approaching some set
tlement, and at the thought l quick
ened my footsteps. Then discerned a
faint light and felt certain that vii
lage was near.
StumbIes on Worshipers.
"As l neared the light the sound of
the drumming became more and more
Intense, and then distinguished voices
raised In a wild chant. Like a flash
the realization swept over me that I
was coming upon voodoo worshipers
in the midst of their weird rites.
had heard the story of the voodoo wor-
shippers for years, and at the thought
of seeing the natives in the midst of
their ceremony 1 forgot danger and de-
cided to see for myself what voodoo
worship was
'The nearer l came to the light,
which l soon saw to be big fire, the
more cautious 1 became in my move
ments. l soon found it necessary to
get down on my hands and knees and
crawl through the underbrush. The
beating of the drums was awful, but
the noise served to cover my not alto
gether silent approach through the
brush.
Crawls Through Underbrush.
Nearer and nearer crawled toward
the fire, and then l found myself in a
clump of bushes from which l could
see the natives in their orgy, not two
score feet away. About thirty blacks
were in the party, and they stood or
sat about the fire, the half dozen drum
mers pounding their instruments for
dear life, while the others raised their
voices in the awful chant. During all
this n native, with face besmeared with
vermilion streaks and with trinkets
hanging about his neck and waist that
ratified as he moved, strobe up and
down before the fire, chanting some
wild incarnation. Suddenly he APP
preached a native holding a bundle in
his arms. The chant grew wilder and
the drums beat the louder.
"The bundle which the medicine man
or voodoo chief seized was a living in
! FAINT Above the sound of the voices
and drums l caught the infants wall.
l saw the voodoo man raise a knife
above the child, and, blind with rage
and forgetful of my own safety,
sprang to my feet and dashed from my
place of concealment toward the
heather. If the devil himself had sud
denly popped into their midst those
voodooists could not have been more
astOnished. The chant broke off sud
denly, the drums ceased their thun-
dering, and half of the worshipers
took to their heels into the forest.
Fells Medicine Man.
"The voodoo medicine man stood with