Browse:Ole Church Hines: near Wilmington, N. Car. (Volume 1, entries 3090)
Ole Church Hines: near Wilmington, N. Car.
Volume 1, entries 3090. 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 3090
My husband was hurt. Of course he's dead now. And my husband was hurt. But his first wife - he was married the second time, I'm his second wife. And his first wife, after the death of her, why his people you know how people are. You know when some people - that after the death of [in] the family, they want people to dis- tribute and jis' give everything they got away. And so his first wife, after the death of his first wife, his first wife people - he had three children and he decided that he would give their girl to the grandmother and he keep the two boys and still keep house and his things together. Well, they didn't want him to do that. They wanted him to give them all the children and the household furniture and everything and jis' break up housekeeping, and he wouldn't do it. Well after he wouldn't agree to do it, then his sister-in-law come to stay with him and keep house for him, and gonna call herself helpin' him. So he was out workin' one day and she cooked some molasses bread. And he came in that evenin' and was out takin' out his team, takin' 'em out to feed 'em, and one of the little - the oldest boy came out to the stable and he says, "Papa, he says, "Aunt Dinah got some molasses bread, cook some molasses bread today, and he said, "Aunt Dinah put somepin funny in that bread." As God should have it, He let that child told him - "Aunt Dinah put somepin funny in that bread." Still he didn't make de child any answer. He goes on in de house, he went on in and wash up and dress in the house. When he got through, Dinah call him. She says, "Come on to supper, Andrew, '' she says. He said, "No, I don't think I want any supper tonight." He says, "Dinah, I'm feelin' bad, I don't think I want any supper." So he dressed and went on out to a restaurant and got his meal. [He lived on the edge of Wilmington.] And he stop eatin' at home. And next evenin' he came and the molasses bread was up in [the] safe. The next night she says, "Andrew, don't choo want a bit [of] some molasses bread?" She says, "I cook it for yah." Still it wasn't cut. [The fact that she had not taken a slice of it was suspicious - to Andrew.] He said, "No, I don't think I want anything to eat." He says, "I don't feel good tonight." And he stop eatin at home all together. Well, that molasses bread stayed up in safe, he said, roun' 'bout three or four days. And one evenin' he came home and the molasses bread was out in the horse stable - nobody didn't eat any of it. Well, they couldn't get him like that. Well, they [went] on [trying to fix him]. After a while he got down. He begin to linger. He couldn't sleep at night. He couldn't go for to work. He began to be helpless as a newborn baby. When he'd get off his bed in the mornin' he was jis' like - when he put his feet on de floor it was jis' like stickin'-pins and needles was stickin' in de bottom [of his feet] and he was achin' like dat all ovah. And so a friend of hissen, a woman friend of hissen [by the name of Harriet] came to him and says, "Andrew, she say, "there's somepin wrong. [She] came to see him. She says, "Andrew, there's somepin wrong wid joo." Says, "I got a uncle on de Sound [Wrightsville Sound]" - between here [Wilmington] and Wrightsville Beach - "and he's name [by the name of] ole man Church Hines." But he's dead now. "And," she say, "zhoo come on and go with me." she says, "I know Uncle Hines kin do you some good, I believe." and so he says, "Well, I'll go anywhere to get somepin cure me." So when he goes down there next mornin', [after] Harriet came to see him, it all he could do to hitch his horse to his buggy. And he goes on down to the Sound. And when he got out at ole man Hines, he says, "My boy, did zhoo come to see me? You's in a bad fix, ain't choo?" [See THIS WUS BAD FIX, p.316, and MAN YOU'RE RUINED, p.314.] He says, "I's certainly is." He says, "I don't know what's ailin' me," he say. And he [Hines] say, "And I mean you's in BAD FIX!" So he says, "I tell you wha' choo do." He says, "Got any money?" He said, "Yes, I got a little." [Hines says], "How much choo got?" He says, "I got $15.00 now with me." He says, "Well, I'm gon'a char' joo $30.00." He said, "I'll pay you any price zhoo charge me, if you do me any good." He says, "I'll give you the $15.00 now, and then I'll bring you de rest when I come back agin." He say, "No, I don't want any now," he said, "but I tell you what choo do. You go on back home this evenin', and [when] you get back home, you take a little stick and look right down to left side of your front doorsteps. And jis' take dis - don't put cheh han' on it - you don't have to dig fer, jis' got to pull de dirt off it. And when you dig a little bit, jis' de least bit, you'll find a little bag." And he say, "Don't choo put yer han' on that bag. You take a stick, take it between two sticks." And he said he was so anxious to git back home he trotted de horse ev'ry step of the way from the Sound. When he got back home he dragged [himself] out de buggy. He had de stick befo' he got home. And as he said, he jis' went and pulled de dirt, and time he'd pulled de dirt, it was a little bag. And he said it was nine pins and nine needles, and somepin looked like a whole lot of little dust and stuff. He didn't know what it was. He says ole man Church Hines tole 'im to take dat bag between two sticks and carry it down to the river, and throw it cross his left shoulder and cuss it when he throw it overboard. And he said he did it. Now, he said to him to go back down to him nex' mornin'. Nex' mornin' he goes back. He say, "Did joo fin' whut I tole yah?" He says, "Yes." He says, "I know you fin' it." Well, he said he went [felt] better that night than he did fer six mon' - aftah he got dat bag. And dat de way he was. When he put his feet on de flo', it was jis' like needles and pins was stickin' in de bottom of it [because he has been walking over the needles and pins buried at the left side, the evil side of his front doorstep]. And so he said he went on back down there, and he say, "Did you fin' de bag?" And he say, "Yes, sir." [Hines says] "I know you fin' it." And he said, "Now, you come on in here." And he take 'im in de room. He says, "oh!" he says, "it's a man and a woman got choo fixed like dis" - which he didn't tell 'im none of dat de day befo'. You see, he jis' tole 'im what to do. And he said, "A man and a woman got choo fixed like dis." Says, "It's a sister and a brother. They wanted joo to do, and you wouldn't do jis' like they wanted joo to do, and they were pretend [intended] to kill yah." And he says, "Now," he says, "I got to kill one." He says, "One dem gon'a die, if I take it offa you." And he said he didn't care which one die, jis' since he get offa him. And so he said, "Now, well I charge you $30.00." And he tole 'im to go on back home now.
(What did that root doctor do to kill them?)
Well, it jest a mystery now. He never did know. He'd never did tell, don't choo see. He jis' do de work and you never knows what he did. [I evidently ask while machine stopped, "Who were the sister and brother that fixed Andrew?"] That was the sister and de brother - his mother-in-law and his mother-in-law brother. You see, the sister-in-law [Dinah] tried to get him first, but after she couldn't git him, den de mother-in-law and de brothah stepped in. And dey was intend to get him. He says, "The one got to die and the othern'll be in a bad condition, a critical condition - but she won't die right away." And so he come on back home. And it wasn't long before the ole man died bellin' [bellowing] like a bull and howlin' like a dog (see 775-776. p.256). And de mother-in-law walked on crutch[es] fer six mont's and she died.