The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-30
CURSE DID NOT WORK
 AT ALL 0N JUDGE Ab|
Prophecies Comes to Grief
 at Hands of Court
DIGGING FOR MONEY
"Conjure" Negro Men Into Digging Big Hole at East Birmingham in Hopes of Finding Treasure.
 Going to Flat Top
Ky RICHARD F. LussIER

Fly RICHARD K. tSSlEA
 Five days in the dog house. and when you get out of there I'll fine you sso
 and six months in the mines
 This was the sentence imposed by Judge
 H. B. Abernethy. in the court of com
 mon pleas yesterday afternoon to the
 "Prophetess Elizabeth White. and her
 three ladies in waiting" Laura West.
 Malaria Avery and Anna Mary. when
 they appeared before him on a charge of
 vagrancy
 Waving magic. roc frantioally at
 Judge Abernethy. Prophetess Elizabeth,
 who is a tall, slim middle aged negro
 woman, dressed in loose black robes. said:
 "Jedge, ma curse is on yu; yo Is sho to die tonight.
 ''To the dog house with that was the terse answer of Judge Abernethy. and
 then he proceeded to query Detective Jim
 Daly about the apparently deranged ne-
 gro women
 Judge, It's like this" said Officer Daly, "Offcers Euhanks, Ellard and myself were sent out about II o'clock this morn ing to investigate a complaint at Van
 derbilt furnace that some crazy niggers
 were dynamiting a big hole out there We started out in the automobile, and in a few minutes we were at Forty fifth
 street and sixteenth avenue, East Br-
 mingham. There we found two negroes, perspiring profusely, and digging fran tically in hole about 20 feet in depth and about 20 feet square. You'll realize the
 difficulty of digging that hole. judge when I tell you that it was dynamited
 out of solid limestone. We asked those sweating niggers what
 they were digging for and they answered for buried treasure. They asserted that | Elizabeth White and the red. white and blue trio she has with her had threatened to put a curse on them unless they dug. All the niggers in East Birmingham are scared to death at Elizabeth and her l little magic rod and she has forced
 many a poor nigger 10 work his back off
 digging holes all over that suburb. We
 told the negroes to get out of that hole
 and stay out and then went to the house 1 to see Elizabeth.
 Prophecies Elizabeth, was holding a | iamboree' of some Kind. She and Laura West. Anna Mary and Malaria Avery were walking solemnly up and down the l front porch of their shanty. As we ap- preached she waved her rod at us and l said:
 '" By the power. O Gawd Ise hope yo all drap ded. And l just replied: By the power of gasoline I'm going to ride you l to jail And there was trouble. The women snapped their fingers in the air
 and called upon all the elements of na- ture to destroy us. but we finally man apad In thpn he and larl< cd them up in jail As they scared all the niggers in the city jail we brought them to you, you would be sure to give | them justice"
 And while Detective Daly was telling Judge Abernethy of what 1t was all about Elizabeth was busily scribbling on
 piece of paper which she forthwith handed
 to the presiding head of the lower courts:
 What's this?' Judge Abernethy in quired.
 Oats a message, in the unspeakable tongue" was the reply of Elizabeth. waving her rod. and tonight that mes sage will destroy you" Say, what's the matter with you nig-
 gers; are you all crazy, or what?" aueried
 Judge Alb.
 Cropping dramatically in the air Prophe- tess Elizabeth saio one word: Thunder"
 Lightning promptly responded Laura west, Anna Mary repeating the motions of her leader sighed: o Gawd,' and was answered by Malaria Avery with "Amenn Then the quartet together chanted
 Thunder and lightning strike i'm dead" This was repeated several times
 until bailiff hastily summoned by Judge Ab removed the franatic women to the county jail where they will remain for
 nearly two years to atone for their wild belief that there is buried treasure in the limestone cliffs about East Birming- ham.
 Prophecies Elizabeth and her ''can" have been giving the local police consid- erable trouble for the past six months. She has several times "conJured' brawny simple minded negroes into unusual exer- tions in digging extensive excavations throughout the northern part of the city and has been arrested and convicted three separate times in police court for the offense. However. 1t is now expected that under the severe sentence of Judge Abernethy, Elizabeth will have her semi religious fanaticism curbed when she emerges from Flat Top in year two hence.