The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-06
Beal Street Negroes
Plan A Treasure Hum
MEMPHIS, Tenn,

MEMPHIS, Tenn, -
P-Every now and then a figure
slips quietly into a living Beale
Street night spot or a smoke
choked billiard emporium, taps a
shoulder and Whispers:
The old man has had a vision.
We're going after gold tonight"
Other selected contacts are
made here and there. Then a
small knot OF men - seldom are
woman included - steals into the
darkness to launch another treas
ure hunt"
That's the way they start-these
weird flirtations with Voodoo,
these rendezvous with the occult
that hold such fascination for GER
tain habitues of Memphis famed
Negro thoroughfare.
The quests for buried treasure
have been going on guardedly-
for years, say authorities of mid
south Negro lore. There have been
vague reports of treasure found,
none OF treasure seen.
Its almost like a religion with
these followers who have become
known as the gold hunters cult u
says 1t. George w. Lee, Negro
Insurance executive, civic leader
and author, who once slipped into
one of the ceremonial dirt-digging
parties himself.
"They take it very seriously. 1t S
hard to get into n of these cults
and I understand there are four
or five here. It's even harder to
get the gold hunters to talk about
their ventures"
One former treasure seeker,
who q1it when "evil spirits start.
ed getting too risky" let down
the bars under guaranteed anony.
nifty, however, to tell of forays
into the night with prayer-saying
Voodoo doctors. Jacobs divining
rods and. foul-smelling devel oil
that ''came close" to - but not
quite-to producing chests of gold.
"Just when we got Close. evil
spirits come and run us away"
he related.
He gave these details:
Each cult has its own leader
one possessed of Supernatural
mower. who is referred to as ttthe
old man."
It's to this high priest Of the
cult that come visions Of buried
gold. An ancestor slave. long
dead, appears to point out a load
ed chest which ga certain colonel"
mid away during the civil war.
Every southern colonel, it
seems, buried a treasure then
the trick is finding it.
Then If the moon Is right-a
haze over a full moon is best
and the spirits willing, the word
goes out and the hunt is on.
The faithful, half a dozen or so,
gather at a designated spot and
proceed solemnly according to di-
rections Of 1.-The old man"-gener-
ally 10 some Arkansas river bot
tom or remote hill section in west
Tennessee.
keep them mouths closed" the
wizened leader warns. "You might
make the spirits mad"
With the party goes a peculiar
two-pronged instrument with a
chemical-loaded point. This is the
Jacobs rod. 1t finds gold in the
ground.
Also along 60 an auger, a long
poker. several "sharpshooter"
shovels and frequently such
charms as a ~serpent's tail, dead
frogs or a live black hen.
When they reach the. layout de-
scribed in 1.-The vision" the old
nan leads the way and, the others
follow silently single-file.
Now take off your shoes and
cit on the ground in a circle" the
leader instructs. There Is strict,
quiet obedience.
The old man then begins prob
ing with the Jacobs rod, walking
slowly about the area and mum
bling prayers to himself.
Got contact" he says as the
thin point of the Jacobs rod sud-
denly points sharply to the ground.
The gold diggers are called into
. circle for pre-digging cere-
monies.
The old man gets in the center
squad position-and, rocking on
his launches, begins to say a
strange prayer.
Lee, an authority on Negro lore