Show 3 RIVAL VOODOOISTS A Novel Contest Between Two Louisiana Witches WEIRD USES OF THE BLACK ART Two Aged Negroes Claiming Supernatural Powers Are Induced by Their Followers to Exhibit a Test of Their Magic A novel contest is at present agitating the community about Lockport La writes a correspondent of the Phildelpia Times from that place and puzzling not ouly tho negroes but the intelligent whites of tho neighborhood The contest is one for tho championship between two voodoos or witch doctors They are called respectively respect-ively Pap Ruder and Uncle Ho presumably presum-ably Hosea French Both are old men nearing fast tho century mark though both claim to be far past it and have each his following of darkies whose zeal and L admiration have brought about this test of skill in the black art Pap Kilder is a little old darky with long hair wnich he wears in innumerable little plaits standing stiffly out all over his head He is an African by birth and claims to have descended from a long line of royal magicians in Mozambique and from whom ho received his magic knowledge The negroes confirm him in his statement and pay him almost servile homage bringing him as tribute the choicest products o f their gardens and every delicacy their means will permit of their offering He is as black as the ace of spades antS d an-tS dresses invariably in a white cotton robe not unlike a Roman toga with leather san dals on his feet and about his waist neck wrists and ankles bands of leather to WUlCIl are nung a number of curious Bnd horrible articles such as the skulls of rats mice and cats the teeth of other animals the rattles of several rattlesnakes and a certain dark dried up looking object commonly com-monly reported to be the heart of a new born infant The curse of Pap Kilder is said to be as fatal and unerring as the fangs of a cobra VISITS HADES FOR HIS ELIxIR His rival Uncle Ho French has the peculiarity pe-culiarity of being a nyctalops which causes him to be regarded in a supernatural light by his followers He was quite vig orous or was before the beginning of this contest with his rival and claims to have 4 discovered an elixir giving him perpetual youth whioh elucircosts > costs him he alleges a visit 10 the infernal regions to procure Owing probably to his peculiar eyesight Uncle Ho is never to be seen during the day when he takes his rest though he declares de-clares that he has never been asleep since his initiation into the mysteries of voodoo ism He is possessed of come education having been a favorite slave of his former master who taught him something of chem istry and natural philosophy His wife seems to share the other negroes awe of + him and serves him with every appearance of a devotee to its godLike god-Like Pap Kilder Uncle Ho does no work but lives on the votive offerings of his disciples dis-ciples who fear him to almost an unnatural degree He is said be to able to blight or kill an enemy by a single glance of his peculiar pe-culiar eyes which he wears bandaged for fear he claims that he will scorch those about him without intention TEIAIi OF STRENGTH The followers of the two witch doctors by their representations and claims as to the powers of their respective idols brought about this trial of strength which has astonished and thoroughly puzzled those whom education and intelligence remove re-move from all suspicion of ignorant credul ity and superstition Pap Ruder accompanying the message by a challenge to his rival to do as much sent word to Uncle Ho that upon the third from the day on which ho spoke ho would be smitten with a disease which would turn him as white as any man in the parish Uncle Ho laughed at this threat but remarkable as it may appear upon the day designated he was taken with violent pains in the stomach accompanied by deafness deaf-ness and total blindness while his skin took on a ghastly bluish white tint most horrible to face He was thoroughly frightened and sent for a physician who expressed himself at a loss to diagnose the singular affection and finally telegraphed a prominent col league in New Orleans to come aud view the case with him but the latter was u equally puzzled end the only conclusion the two were able to arrive at was that Pap Kilder had managed to administer to his rival some powerful unknown drug operating oper-ating on the coloring pigment of the skin though how this was done is a mystery also as the witch doctors reside some eigh miles apart and Uncle Ho declared that hi e had eaten nothing except as prepared by his wife FIRE FOLLOWED HIS RIVAL He recovored in aday or two and breath ing vengeance against his opponent dis patched a messenger to him saying that fire would follow him for seven days and nights Pap Kilder acted on this prediction by pro viding himself with a shot gun armed with which ho seated himself on the roof of his cabin avowing his intention of shooting the man woman or child that dared ap proach it No one did dare but in the course of an hour the cabin was discovere L to be on fire and Pap Kilder was obliged ti o leave his lofty perch in all haste to proven its becoming his funeral pyre He had just sufficient time to collest his Implements of magic and in a few hour was installed In another hut provided am d furnished by his devotees xvbp constitute themselves into a guard over him But in spite of this precaution during the nigh fire again broke out in Paps domicile giv ing the old fellow only time to escape with his life He was accommodated with a bed in a neighbors house where he remained until next day when it was found that the room occupied by him was on lire and h e was reauested to leave at once The flames were extinguished however b ly a heavy fall of rain which came up cry suddenly and which was immediately claimed by Pap Ruder to have been the result of his magical arts This restored the wavering faith of his followers al hough the old man thought it the wiser plan to take to the woods for the remainder of the seven days and nights CURSED HIS EXEMT WITH VEBMIK At the end of that time he returned announcing an-nouncing that he had laid a curse on Uncle Ho whereby his rival was to be plagued with vermin of every sort for a week During that period Uncle Ho was visited by crowds from all over the parish and adjacentones who found the old man seated before his fire enveloped in mosquito netting net-ting and surrounded by a lino of hot ashes which he kept constantly replenished while his cabin swarmed with snakes iJ sects bats and lizards These ran around and around the boundary of ashes hissing and buzzing as if in battled rage The snakes would advance with uplifted heads essaying repeatedly to cross the line and baffled would then turn to menace any person attempting to enter the cabin Even Aunt Rosa Uncle Hos spouse had been driven away but managed man-aged by an Ingenious contrivance to supply her priestly husband with food and what was even more essential fuel to feed his fire that supplied tho necessary ashes Thus intrenched Uncle Ho defied the plague Pap Kilder sent upon him though he suffered great inconvenience from fleas and other insects the diminutive size of which permitted of their reaching him through the intersties of his covering of netting BRISTLES GREW ALL OVER HIM Learning that his enemy laughed at him r Pap Kilder bestirred himself and swore b y this and that a mighty oath to afflict Uncle Ho so grievously as to make him curse the day of his birth The snakes and vermin disappeared as rapidly and suddenly as they had come but during the night Uncle Ho awoke declaring himself in agony from an itching burning sensation all over his body A light was brought when it was found that his skin was of a deep brickdust red as if inflamed and literally covered with a growth of coarse white hair like the bristles bris-tles of a pig though not so quilllike This singular growth caused him to present pre-sent a most horrible iinfiiirthlv nnnonranre and was accompained by an inexpressbly annoying sensation which the afflicted old man described as that of lying in an ant bed His bristling covering continued to grow until the hairs were nearly three inches long and the old scamp resembled a monstrous porcupine He was scared out of his wits but between his groans made dire threats of vengeance against Pap Kidder who was gloating in trumph over the success of his spells It was some days before Uncle Hos hirsute ornament dissapeared but when it flualy commenced to go it vanished in lees than an hour He is said to be now occupied in preparing a plague of unheardof malignity which will settle Pap Kidders claim to be the greatest magician of these parts once and for all These stories of what the two have brought about may seem incredible but are vouched for by citizens whose integ rity and claims to be intelligent are not to be aspersed The singular part of these mysterious performances is that all through the contest Undo Ho and Pap Kilder have never laid eyes on each other It is believed by the skeptical that the two are in collusion and arranged these marvels for the purpose of impressing their followers who have of late shown signs of throwing off the religion of voo dooism for that of the Christian through the efforts of a circuit rider who has recently re-cently accomplished an evangelistic tour through this section But the means by which the witch doctors performed their marvels remains a profound mystery |