Browse:Hand Maker (Volume 1, entries 1959–1966)
Hand Maker
Volume 1, entries 1959–1966. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1959
I've often heard that they have had a hand that they could use and that only certain people could git that hand. It was one or two in my neighborhood used to claim that they could give those hands. They're gone now. They were very successful in business. People flocked to them. Some might have had the luck anyhow. They believed very true that she could do something out of the ordinary for the people who applied to her. Her name was Vivian Washington.
Entry 1960
We have a man over in Northhampton [County] now that will give you a hand to play numbers and he will give you two or three numbers. Well, they hit once in awhile. As much as a hundred people twice a week get these hands. They are just numbers. He don't charge them anything. They give him a percentage when they hit. He's a preacher, Rev. B., he has followers like holy people. [Note well - numbers are called hands. See also Money - Prices For Hands, later.]
Entry 1961
Well, 'twas two round here, root doctors, and they made stuff up. And we boys would all go to 'em and give 'em fifty cents and they'd give us a hand, they call it, to gamble with. And they tell us for three weeks to not use it inside of three weeks. And we found out when they was goin' away. They was goin' away about in two weeks and they told us not to use the hand inside of three weeks. And so in about two weeks we went and used it. And the more we'd gamble off it, you see, it looked like the worse luck we got. So we opened it and found it full of rocks. And we went back to 'em and give 'em the rocks back. So then they give us the fifty cents back.
Entry 1962
I was away in Baltimore [Maryland] one time and so a friend of mine - we wag workin' on a job, de foreman he fired us - and he said to me, 'Let's go down in Spring Street." I said, "What for?" He said, "Let's go down 'ere to a woman." I said, "What a you goin' down 'ere for?" He said, "Man," he said, "we can go down 'ere and git us somepin," he says, "you can git work agin." I said, "Man, no!" 'Yes you kin, too." So I went down 'ere with him on a Friday night. We walked in. She says, "You don't live here," she says, "You come across de Waters [Cheasapeake Bay], didn't chah?" Says, "You got but very little money. She told us what happened the day before, gettin' fired. So she says, "Well, I'll give you somepin now jis' fer a dollar, jis' because you're fired," she say, "and you ain't got no money but very little." And she gave him somepin look like a dust. She told him to sprinkle that in his shoes of mornings before he touched a drop of water. Told him three words to say.
(What were those?)
"Father and Son and Holy Ghost." I believe that's what he was supposed to say when he sprinklin' that. And even so, after he did that [next] mornin', it was re'lly a surprise to me. We both went back, we goes right back de next mornin', and before we got about a hundred yards of de job the man come oudt, commence to wavin' fer us. I said to him, I said, "Johnnie," I says, "he don't want us, because we got fired here yes- terday." And we keep on walkin' up to him and he walked up to us and said, "Does you want to go to work?" We told him, "Yes." So we went to work dere and stayed on de job until de job was complete.
Entry 1963
I got in trouble one time about some liquor and I went to de devil, Suppose to be - not persal [personal], you know what I mean [not the devil him- self]. I went to him. He said, "I can't do nuthin fer you until you pay me." He said, "I can do anything to clear you." And I already had 18 months out de 'corder's [recorders?] court. Went to de big court and I didn't have no lawyer atall and I went to dis man suppose to be workin' wid de devil. And he give me somepin and I got jes' as clear as you rockin' in dat chair [see later]. He give me a red bag. In dat bag was a piece of Juicy Fruit chewing gum and some onions and this powder dat was in it I don't know de name of it. I was supposed to chew the chewing. gum and hold it [the bag] in my left hand [during the trial]. [Between boyhood and present day this is the only time I was ever in a rocking chair and despite his words I was not rocking. It happened to be the only armed chair in the house, a necessity when sitting hour after hour at a small machine- laden table upon which I could not lean. The man's bag or hand cost $15.00.]
Entry 1964
He had that wropped in a tape, some kinda tape-lak, an' he wrops it in a square and it would be a square de size of a half a dollah, ah guess. It was, you know round, an' he tells me tuh carry dat wit me in mah wallet - carry it wit me all de time. Carry it with me an' 'noint it wit whiskey 'bout ever' fo' or five days. An' den he takes me roun' an' git anothah one. He wrops me a larger one an' tells me tuh keep dat one in de house, an' 'noint hit wit whiskey 'bout time ah think it's dry. Any time ah think it's dry, put sulphur on it an' 'noint lt wit whiskey. An' then he give me some spirits. Ah thought it wus spirits yo' know whut dey dig up out de ground [graveyard dirt?]. So den he gives me somepin, somepin like a pickel jar. He puts de whiskey in de jar an' he put de little herbs in de jar an' [told me to] keep 'em roun' mah place, an' jes' hide it where nobody can't take it - which ah did an' ah got it [now]. An' ah taken it on to de shop. Ah wouldn't take it to de house. De nex' mawnin' ah go to it an' 'noint it wit whiskey, right in de jar, an' ah have de jar right now down at de shop, an' ah jes' put whiskey ovah dat.
Entry 1965
De onliest time when ah used to be gamblin' ah went to a fellah an' he sold me a hand, an' in that hand he had a piece of charcoal an' had three fish- hooks an' it had two hairpins in that wropped up wit a piece of flannel. Then yo' had to dress it with cologne - with this heah Hearts Cologne. So ah found out that the Hearts Cologne was luckier den the other stuff. Ah found out that.
Entry 1966
I was about 18 years old at dat time. There wasn't nuthin like dat. So once I had a ole fortune teller tell me dat somebody was tryin' to do somepin to me, she'd stop 'em if I'd give 'er $5.00. So I didn't have but three dollars. My brother - he was a stepbrother to me - and he said, "I'll lend joo de other two." So I give 'er $5.00. Well, it wasn't more than about a few weeks I lost it. It was to be kept in my right far-hand vest pocket.
(What did it look like?)
Twas long as my finger.
(Was it a bag?)
She called it a rabbit foot, but I don't know what was in it. It was about the size of my finger and in a little red flannen.