Browse:Doctor Wilson (Volume 1, entries 3109)
Doctor Wilson
Volume 1, entries 3109. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → MORE DOCTORS DESCRIBED BY LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 3109
Well, mah fathah back in 1904 - dat's been a long time ago, yo' know, 1904. Fo' me d'rectly ah have nevah had a thing like dat workin' fo' me, but mah fathah hired a man like dat when ah was a boy - ah's 48 yeahs old now. An in dose days, along 1904, mah fathah was - we had bought a track [tract] of land but it wasn't zactly in cultivation, so he had to rent some land from a nearby neighbor. An' so de man dat he rent de land from didn't have sufficient fence around de land. Ah goin' tell yo' about dis hoodoo business. So dis man didn't have sufficient fence aroun' de lan' fo' tuh keep de stock outa de property, yo' know, which he had corn crop in dere. See, de cows an' all went in an' destroyed de crop. Well, after de crop was destroyed den he wanted mah fathah still tuh pay rent for de land, see. So he wanted him tuh pay rent on de land. Well, ah didn't know - ah was at dat time 'bout thirteen or fo'teen yeahs ole - ah didn't know anything, such a thing as a hoodoo man until den. Well, all right, mah fathah didn't pay it an so he offered tuh put him in lawsuit 'bout de land - 'bout de crop, paying de rent on de land. But dey couldn't win because dey wasn't no law on de land, on de stock eatin' up a man crop an' make him pay rent - in dem days it wasn't, see. Well, all right, den de ole man - we had our fence couple up to him like dis, see. An' dis ole man, then he divided de fence away from our fathah's, from mah fathah's crop and dat jes' put 'im in de same - he have [to] run de fence line in dere. In de meantime befo' all dis harmness [harm] was ovah, to keep de stock from eatin' up whut crops he had on his new land - we had jes' recently bought 80 acres of land, an' den ah found out dat mah fathah was dealin' with a hoodoo man. Ah was comin' from in de direction dis farm was an' ah met a man comin' crost over de hill wit a stick in his hand - see, a little stick in his hand. Had on a vest - it long about - an' ah guess it was a mocassin flowah on it. It was Octobah - guess it was - an' he asked me whah did dis man live. So ah tole 'im whar he lived. Well, ah didn't know who de man was.
(He asked where your father lived?)
No sir, he had been to mah fathah's house an' passin' on dere an' asked me whah did dis man live. An' so ah wasn't yery fur from whar he lived at an' ah tole 'im 'bout whar he lived. Dis ole man [not the hoodoo, but landlord] had a gray horse - but ah'm 'head of de story. So ah went on back home and ah tell 'em ah met a ole man on de hill that asked me whar mah fathah [father's landlord] lived, an' mah mothah tole me den, she said, "Well, dat's de ole man ole man [somebody], '' she say, "he's been workin' fo' yo' daddy a long time." She say, "He's gone tuh see 'bout all dis foolish- ness. He's been workin' fo' yore fathah fo' years - he got him hired by de yeah." An' he went up dere an' - ah must tell yo de truth - in 'bout three months from dat, dat ole man lost de horse an' dey leave. Dey jes' moved away from de place. An' his son move in on dis place. Den de son stayed awhile an he had to move away, an' no one evah lives on dat place. It absolutely was know it was done through Doctor Wilson, a hoodoo man. Well, any trouble or disaster mah fathah got in, he come tuh his rescue.