Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/301

 Folk- Lore Scrap-Book. 289

" My mother was instructed that the chills were put on me by the hand of the wicked, and she, being anxious about my welfare, employed a con- jurer to take them off me. When he came he demanded part pay before entering in business, and, that part being settled, he went to work. The first thing he did was to take out of his pocket the ' walking boy ' which was to assist him in finding the direction of enemies or friends, — in this case, the one who put the chills on me. The ' walking boy ' is a bottle with a string tied to its neck, deeply colored, that you may not see what the doctor puts in it — something alive, you may know, which enables it to move or even flutter briskly, and this makes you certain of whatever fact the doctor is trying to impress.

" The treatment for my chills was a tea, and an ointment of his own preparation. The tea was made of roots, which looked like potatoes, and silver money. The ointment was made out of herbs fried in hog's lard.

" After being thus treated, as I had good faith in the ' doctor ' the chills vanished.

"An old man once was ill with palsy, as they thought, and, after spend- ing much money employing medical doctors and getting no relief, he was advised to change treatment. He employed a conjurer, who came with his ' walking boy.' The doctor, with 'boy' in hand, ordered a man to bring a hoe and dig where he would order him to, that he might earth up the thing that caused the man's illness.

" After he had walked over and around the yard several times with the ' boy ' suspended, it was thought by many that he would not be able to find the buried poison ; but as they were about to give up their pursuit, the ' boy ' fluttered and kicked as though he would come out of the bottle. Then the doctor ordered the man to dig quickly, for the ' trick-bag ' was there. On the order being obeyed, the poison was found. It was rusty nails, finger and toe nails, hair and pins sewed up in a piece of red flannel.

"The 'doctor' carried this to the patient, and convinced him that he had found the cause of his illness, and that he would surely get well. Not many days elapsed before he was walking as well as ever."

Modern Conjuring in Washington. — It is to be expected that the advance of scientific knowledge should affect the practice of " voodoo." A curious example of such progress is given by the " Washington Post," March 7, 1899, in an account of a case tried in the police court of that city : —

" Mrs. Sarah Smith, a colored woman, who has been employed as cook in some of the most exclusive homes of Washington, is the complainant against Johnson. She told a story of deceit in the police court yesterday, which accuses Johnson of working first upon her hopes and then upon her fears, with the net result of the transfer of six hundred dollars from Mrs. Smith's possession to Johnson's. Larceny by trick on six different occa- sions, and the possession of a revolver when arrested by Policeman Duvall, are the specific charges against Johnson.

" Mrs. Smith said yesterday that, several months ago, Johnson called

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