Subject:Poison
Entries
Entry 4226
Yes, ah have too. Ah heard dat jis' lak if somebody wuz tuh wanta fix yuh or poison yuh some way, an' if yuh kin take it - jis' lak if dey wuz tuh go 'long an' put down poison fo' yuh an' den, if yuh kin git dis heah tuh put ovah it, yuh see, befo' dis person git tuh it, den dat would kill de poison out of de dose dat dey have put down fo' yuh.
(They just sprinkle this chamber lye over it?)
Yeah, dey sprinkle it ovah it.
Entry 6766
Ah've see 'em take dis li'le bit of wasp or dirt daubahs, yo' know de're white. Ah've seen 'em [doctor] take dem [dirt daubers] an' go cah places dat people were poisoned. Dat is some ways tuh beat 'em out dere roney. [These people] thought dey were poisoned. An' [these doctors] have 'em in dere han' an' claim dey would cure 'em an' take out dose things in 'em. Dey gotta take out dose things, but dey didn't take 'em out.
(How did they do it then?)
Dey [doctors] carried 'em [dirt daubers] dere wit 'em. [Informant is skepti- cal about a doctor removing dirt daubers (usually if not always dead ones) from a person. He believes the doctor brought the insects with him and used a little sleight of hand.]
Entry 6792
Know dey taken fish fo' a person dat dey win' [wind] is short [luag trouble]. Take a fish whut got dose bladdahs in 'em whut holds win'. Yo' diy dat, an' aftah dryin' dat, if a person is short-winded, yo' take an' bust it an' swallah [swallow] dat air, an' dat gives yore lungs fresh air.
Entry 6798
Some things is purtty good. Now a person, if he is EAT POISONED, yo' kin take a toadfrog - yo' know dese toadfrogs whut hop a li'le short hop. Yo' kin take one of dem an' split 'im open an' bind 'im on 'is side or on 'is laig an' yo' know, evah bit of dat poison will come outen it. Evah bit of it will come outen it.
Entry 6817
Take guts from a grain [green] gourd and make a tea. Drink, and if hurt inside, you will vomit.
Entry 6977
Well, now, yo' kin take lard an' vinegah an' sugah an' kill any poison in de worl'. Yo' undahstan' me, if yo' use it right away. Yo' undahstan' me, yo' kin take lard an' sugar an' mix it tuhgethah, yo' undah- stan' me, in a quart bottle. Lard, vinegar an' sugah. An' mix it in a quart bottle. If it's right den, yo' undahstan', an' take a tablespoonfulla it three time a day. An' dat'll stop any poison in de worl'.
(That's what you do [use] when people come to you?)
Sure.
Entry 6984
[Here is a remarkable survival, perhaps my only example of the belief. This rite has survived not only time but also my notation doubtful, made only a few months after its collection out in the field!] Dey say if anybody wan'a try tuh poison yuh or anythin', or dey eithah try tuh run yuh crazy or anythin', dey say go tuh de runnin' spring [of water], an' git choo a stran' of [your] hair, an' turn yuh back to it [spring] an' t'row in de watah, an' nevah look at it, an' dey say dat'll kill dat [witch- craft]. [This is a substitution rite. The intended victim substitutes a strand of his hair, a part of his life, for the whole of his life. To earlier man, and even into the Middle Ages many springs or wells were considered holy, each well guarded by its own spirit. The Christian Church renamed these famous wells for saints. I lived for some months on a narrow winding street called Holywell, in Oxford, England. Further, the Old Testament tells us that songs were sung to wells and springs: Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it, " in Numbers 21:17.]
Entry 7238
[The following statement is a penciled note of mine made back in 1937 while transcribing cylinder recently recorded in Wilmington:] Fortuneteller - while eating breakfast in this woman's house [who was hurt] - the woman who he said had hurt her sent over some biscuits - he ate them and told his hostess [and patient] they would have killed her if she had eaten them - long story not worth copying. [Wilmington, N. Car., (215, the story occurring in Evans Co., Ga.), 121:2+85.] [The story should have been cop- ied because it showed that a doctor was immune to poison. It also shows a spell must be prepared for a particular person, a common belief in hoodoo.]
Entry 9926
Jis' lak dey say if yo' poisoned, yo' take a frog an' split 'im open alive an' tie 'im on. Dey say dat will kill dat poison.
Entry 10559
Dis heah bullbat, yo' kin take one of dem an' kill 'em, an' if yo' git a chance to git a person to eat some of it, dey'll take sick an' dey'll die, if yo' don't git 'em cured.
(A bullbat?)
A bullbat. Yo' jest cook one yo' know an' git somebody tuh eat it.
Entry 10897
I've heard of dey usin' cat hair or dog hair or - I'll tell you. You kin take a dog and you git some hair right from her rear end, you understand; right near where at she do busi- ness, you understand. All right. You take dat hair and you swinge [singe] it, you see. You gits enough [hair] so you kin swinge it, where you kin find it after you done it. You put it on a piece of clot'. Why you jes' set a match to it and swinge it, see. "Fore [before] it burn too much, why you put it out, you smother it you see. After you smother it, de clot' you burn it on, why you don't take it off dat cloth. You jes' tie it up right in dat same cloth, you see. All right, you put nine knots in dat. After you tie it up you put nine knots in it, and perhaps you tie it around your waist, or you could make a sling and put it around your neck, or you could sew it up in your weskit [vest] lining, or sompin like dat, or coat linin', or dere's several ways to tote it. See. Why dat's de way you do wit dat [cat] hair proposition.
(What good will it do you to carry that hair?)
That stand fer a lotta things: dey kin pass poison [you] and it won't hurt you. You can do anything you want with it.
Entry 11018
Now, dere one chicken feathah you could use, to do any harm, dat's a frizzly fowl. A frizzly fowl is good and is bad, onnerstand. Now, yo' kin take a feathah from de top of a frizzly fowl's head and you kin take a feathah from de top of a frizzly fowl's back. And you kin take dat feathah what you git from de frizzly fowl and take one new pin and pin dem two feathah togethah and I kin take dem feathah and put 'em in your bosom or anybody's bosom and you is a crazy man ovahnight - in an hour.
(Supposed to make him lose his mind?)
Yes, sir, crazy fer de next. Yo' kin put 'em in dere dis hour and de next hour somebody gotta tie 'em down.
(Well, what else can you do with that Frizzly hen? Can you do anything else?)
Yes, you kin use de bun gut, you know.
(Gut? The intestine? The testicle?)
[My preceding questions merely ask for more information. The meaning of the word bun in the sense of anus or buttocks I had known for years, but bum gut did not penetrate immediately because I had translated the words into rotten gut
[stomach trouble, etc.l also a folk term.]
Dat's real good. You kin take dat and kill a nation. [You can kill a nation because of all that hoodoo poison that goes through a frizzly hen - see margin title DOCTOR FRIZZLY Pp.59-63, v.1, and many places.]
(How Would you do that?)
Well, you take dat and you cook a soup. Cook in a chicken soup, onnerstand. Well, I hate dat house dere. I wanna poison dat whole house, but dey is my neighbors. Well, I git dat soup and carry over dere, go across wit it.
(You poison them?)
De whole house. But now you gotta put in dat, Doc - des scrape dem in it - de fingernails. Keep dem dirty and scrape 'em - [into the soup].
Entry 11117
Some people dat suppose tuh be poisoned, yo' know, dey'd drink dat coconut watah - not de coconut itself but de watah [or liquid in unopened coco- nut]; an' dey suppose tuh drink it fo' a certain ml ber of days an' nuthin else, no food or anything else, an' dat jes' kills de poison. [Poison here is boodoo, not chemical poison.]
Entry 11304
Dey use hair offa a dog fo' whut ah heard. Ah heard that if a person git a nail stuck in dey feet an' yo' shave de dog an' put de hair on dere, it's good fo' de poison. But fo' anything else ah haven't heard. [Read poison or hoodoo poison? The problem here is did you step on the nail accidentally or did someone cunjure the wound upon you - make you step on nail?]
Entry 13255
You take sulphur, they tell me and mix it together in pure lard and rub with it. You kin move it [poison or cunjure] 股中 away. Sulphur and pure lard, cream it together and rub with it. They say that choo kin get it out choo by that. And [in addition] you take so much sulphur, don' choo understand, with brown sugar. You take it [inwardly]. Well, that purges you, you know, and git all dat bad stuff out.
Entry 210
A black frizzly hen won't let nothin' stay in de yard - he'll scratch it up. You see some frizzly hen it be so necked [naked] in de back an' it'll be red? It be necked, then he done pick [up] a root. You see some chickens dat scratch aroun' de door for fresh worms? Well, if dere toby or anything stuck down here, if it's anything in a bag, dey [the ordinary chicken] ain't goin' do it; but a black frizzly hen, dey take it up an' eat all dat pisen an' den dat pisen, when he pick it up, he gets necked. An' de person who puts it down, dat hen take it up.
Entry 213
De frizzly chicken - most people have dem on dere yard. If anybody wanta do anything to yo', why dey supposed tuh scratch up all de poison.
Entry 492
No, sir - say a witch don't put spells on you, a witch rides you. [A great amount of evidence is given in this book that a witch does put spells on you and also rides you.]
(How could you keep her from riding you?)
Well, you git - lemme see now - you gits new needles and you gits [new] pins - I know a man had ketched one of 'em - git new needles - he was a sensible man - you know, he know all dem things - he was a sensi'le man - he died now - he caught one. You git new needles and you got'a pins - git new needles and pins, he say, and put 'em in a bottle and when he come a-riding, you know, someone will call his name. You see, someone will be shaking his side to wake him up and somebody will call him - jus' like if I'm over here and you say "John" - you call my name and dat bottle'll be open and slap dat bottle up like dat [demonstrates], you see, and you got his spirit. See, you got de spirit and dey say you kin see de little black thing running around in de bottle. And this one this man had ketched, he stopped de bottle - dey called his [witch's] name - his [victim's] wife called his [witch's name] while he was riding her husband and stopped de bottle up - stopped de spirit up in de bottle, you see, and [later] dis witch takes fits and dey takes him ovah to the hospital and de witch never did get better. And dis witch say if he [could] see dis man - dis man was by de name of Mr. Joe Richardson - he says, "If I could see Mr. Rich- ardson, I would git well." You see, if he could see you and just talk wit you, you see, he would get better - see, because it would git his spirit back. You see, dis man had his spirit. But dis man wouldn't go to de hospital and see 'im, you see, because he done belonged to de same church dat dis man belonged tuh and that he Was a witch. And everybody used to say he was a witch, but you see, some people doesn't believe it. Well, this gentleman [Richardson] he was, you see, half-white and half-colored but he was more white den he was colored and he had plenty sense. So he say, "I tell you he's a witch all right," he say, "I'm goin' ketch him because I know how to ketch him - I'm goin' ketch him." And he [his wife] got de bottle and stopped de bottle up and called his name and ketched his spirit in de bottle wit de new needles and pins, and he tuk sick and he was sick until he died - he died in de hospital. Dey come to your house in de night - late hours.
(Now tell me how to catch a spirit - what will they do now?)
Dey call you late hours in de night when you sleepin' and when you answer 'em, den dey shut de bottle up and shut your spirit up in de bottle. Dat's de way dey catch you.
(I see - you have to answer them though before they catch you?)
Yes, answer - you got'a answer 'em, and if you don't answer 'em dey can't ketch you - your spirit.
(This is if somebody wants to get your spirit to harm you?)
That's right.
(What if they catch your spirit - what will happen to you then?)
Well, you may be spritely and, you know, plenty of spirit in you, and then you be's deadlike - you have to be just like how I am - you see, I can't work - I ain't workded for over two years, I'm not able to work.
(Well, what do you think is wrong with you?)
You see, I was poisoned. You see, I use to been smart, you see, and working, going all de time, and dey didn't like dat - they fixed something you see to take all of my strength away from me.
Entry 573
A woman in Georgia said if yo' got a pain about chew anywhere, said, take a frog an' don't kill him, but jes' lay him in de palm of yore hand or wherevah de pain wus an' dey tie him an' let him stay there. An' dey say, if he dies, yore poisoned; if he don't die, then yo' are not poisoned.
Entry 947
On the 13th of the month - that's befo' de new moon, yo' go out an' kill a frog and place him in de sun and let him dry and if any affected part about chew, why dat's poisoned or anything like dat, yo' lay dat frog on it and it'll ease it. That's a sure cure.
Entry 1000
It kinda makes me feel funny to tell it. It was at Norfolk [Virginia]. That was in 1917. This woman had been sick for quite some time. The doctors did not seem to understand what was the trouble with her. They did everything they could for her but nuthin seemed to do her no good. Finally they got a different kind of doctor. It was a woman who was supposed to understand all about it. When she came she looked at her and she said, "Can't you see this snake?" She meant she was tricked by a snake. "Why, the time is past when she should die. She should have been dead a month ago. It is only her vitality that kept her alive." She said she would try to do what she could for her. She [the sick woman] said she didn't want to make nobody else in the condition she was in. [She did not want her condition turned back on the person who had caused it.] So she [the doctor] got a chicken she could throw this disease on instead of throwing it on to a person. They kept it upstairs in the room next to the woman. "Keep it well fed [said the doctor]." She didn't want the chicken to die. "Don't let no one touch the chicken [said the doctor]." If anyone got a hold of that chicken they would kill it. They didn't want the people downstairs to kill it, for they knew what it was there for. They thought these people were causing that sickness. After they got this chicken, sure enough the girl began to get better. At that time they use to get at least a quart of bran every day from that bed. It came off of her skin. It looked like - you seen husks of the meal after corn [maize] is ground. After they used to take that up from the sheet they used to put it in a paper bag and carry it and throw it into the river. They said that would help to get her well. It came off of her body each day - the skin rubbed off. You have seen the scales rubbed off of a fish. Her skin looked just like that, just like people begin to peel around the nails in scarlet fever. The woman told her she would have to cross water. The doctors they didn't want them to bring her away. They didn't have a case like that. They wanted to follow the case to the end. She came on here [to New York City]. She didn't live long after she got here, her condition was so weak. I guess it was the change of climate, too. I don't know what happen after I left. home to the chicken. That chicken walking around, I tell you what it was like - it got on my nerves. The stuff from the bowels of that chicken would be just as green as grass - poison. [The doctor correctly diagnosed this severe case of desquamation as caused by a snake; correctly, hoodooically speaking. Doesn't a snake shed it's skin? Much more is involved. We have here a rare situation. A snake tricked into a patient fails to create; that is, fails to develop into a snake from a swallowed snake egg, or to reform the original snake body from dead-snake powder. Had the snake egg or powder created a body, the living body of this snake within the patient could have been removed easily (see margin-title Live Things in You, p.227, and Index). Instead of a living snake we have a snake spirit. How does a snake spirit display itself? A patient will act like a snake: crawl, dart out tongue or run it round lips [as a snake is supposed to do), have long sleep periods (hibernation), and peel off skin (ecdysis). Our doctor combines three rites, the magic three: if the healthy chicken fails to attract the snake spirit from the patient, the fish scales (snake scales) when thrown into running water will carry away a part of the snake spirit (Part of Spirit Equals Whole of Spirit, p.21); and if these two fail, the patient crossing water will loose the snake spirit - spirit cannot cross water.]
Entry 1164
A black hen, now, dat's for when anything - a snake or rattlesnake bites you. Wanta see what a rattlesnake is, you jes' go out here in de woods. If you is goin' huntin' purtty soon you see a rattlesnake down here [in this part of the South]. You know a rattlesnake look green-grayish; you know you can't hardly know it's a rattlesnake lessen you look down good. Well, if he bites you, if you kin git to a frog or a black hen and cut him open while he is alive - cut him open and put him on dat, it will draw all dat pizen out. [The blood is the essential element in these split live-animal rites, which cure just about everything.]
Entry 1266
If somebody poisoned yo' in yore laig or yore feet or anywhere yo' poisoned - paralyzed poisoned [paralyzed by poison] - yo' git chew a green - don't git nuthin but a green one, green toadfrog, an' rub him - rub him until he dies. Be sure yo' rub him till he dies.
(Where do you rub him?)
Jes' take him in yore hand an' rub him right down de back till he die - rub him right down his back till he die an' den split him open. After yo' split him open git chew a flannel - a white flannel string [strip about dat wide an' put it in dere an' sew hit back together so hit won't come out dere, an' bind him on dat place an' it will turn black. Dat's de poison.
Entry 1301
Jes' lak, now, if anyone should poison yo - put snakes in yo' or scorpions or anything inside yo'. Well, that's easy tuh cure. Yo' git chew a gourd, either a dry one or a green one, an' git de guts out of it - it's a very particular thing an' yo' have tuh be very particular with it. An' yo' boil dem guts an' give 'em one tablespoonful - if any kind of poison inside of yo', every bit of it's comin' out. If it's in de foot or de leg, den make a poultice an' it will kill it right in there. Jes' make a poultice out dose guts an' boil 'em - put a little meal with 'em, make a poultice. Dat'll kill dat.
Entry 1537
Jis' like anyone got poison through liquor or anything like that, you take some dimes, seven dimes an' put 'em in gas [gasoline] an' water, an' you take 'em out gasoline an' put 'em whiskey, [take 'em out of whiskey] an' then boil 'em, an: then when you done boil 'em you drink the whiskey an' that'll kill poison. [For gasoline as protection, see p.446.]
Entry 3085
This man I married - oh, it was forty some years, forty-five or near fifty years ago now [happened about 1887]. He was taken sick and his mother said somebody had poisoned him. And this old woman [ole Leana Davis, called Mammy Doctor, well-known in Richmond years ago], whut waited [doctored] on him, come to see him, cut off getting de [medical] doctor's medicine. [This was standard practice to "cut off" the M.D.'s medicine, which was considered useless and harmful in witchcraft and hoodoo.] She went and got a he bullfrog and said she was goin' bury him at the center of the door and whoever did it was goin' come back and ask her what was de matter. Well, she got dis he bullfrog and put him in dis cup [top from a], baking-powder box [can], and made an oath and filled it full of five cents worth of new cayenne pepper. And he [bullfrog] bellowed like a bull. This ole cunjure woman put it under the sill of the door, right down in de corner here - and the house there today and that cup is down there now, I reckon - the door where he was livin' at, under the steps. And ev'ry mornin' for nine days his mother had to go there and stomp on de steps and say she hoped to God she'd get 'em. But this boy died. He died. And the frog still there - calculate it still there now, I reckon.
Entry 6397
Dey say dat dey jis' cut jure [your] fingahnail off. Even if yo' trin yo' fingahnail an' anybody settin' aroun', it may be at party drinkin' tuhgethah, a person dat drink. Well, if yo' trim nail an' somebody don't lak yo', got it in fo' yo', yo' [person who dislikes you] take up de nails an' - down dere whilst yo' haid turn, yo' not seein' [him] take de nails up, an' prob'ly he got de likkah [handy] or slip up an' put some of 'em [your own fingernails] intuh yo' glass. Well, usely [usually] dey [fingernails] goes down parta de way tuh de bottom furs [first] an' come back up. Po' [pour] yo' a drinka likkah an' - well, yo' not thinkin' nuthin, takin' an' prob'ly half-shot or somepin-lak, an' drink dem nails dOWD, Why YO' FINGAHNAIL IS SURELY DEAD POISON TUH YO' BODY AS A RATTLESNAKE. DEY'LL SURE KILL YAH.
Entry 6526
Hit wuz a lady up yondah, she got poisoned, an' a doctor out chere from Herbertville, he cured 'er. Sompin would be runnin' in 'er laigs an' yo' could see it jis' movin' in 'er laigs. An' de doctor out heah from Herbertville cured it.
Entry 6666
Ah hear'd 'em say if dey wan' choo crawlin' up de side a house an' so aktin' [acting] jis' lak a spidah would ak [act], tuh have a spidah web an' have dem a spidah, an' take off 'is laigs an' put it in somepin, jis' lak some whiskey or ewer [either] somepin tuh eat, tuh have it on de inside of yeh. An' say, aftah dat's on de inside of yuh fo' sich a length of time, say den yeh'll start tuh aktin' funny in de way dat a spidah will ak. Say yo'd be crawlin' up, tryin' tuh crawl upon de wall, come down, gits on de flo', yah crawl fo'wards, come back. Say when dat stuff wus in yeh it's poison tuh yer system. An' dey say yo'd ak from dat time on until yo' die.
Entry 6692
Drink tea from Adam-and-Eve and Old Hundred. Cures poison within nine days.
Entry 6799
Dey taken toadfrog fo' poison. If anybody poison yo' or sompin, yo' could take a live toadfrog an' put 'im tuh yo', or somepin lak dat, an' it would draw de poison from yo'.
Entry 6801
If yore leg is swollen through poison, split open a live frog and tie on.
Entry 7441
Now, yo' kin do dis. Dis anothah thing. If a pusson poison somebody belongin' to yo' an' yo' feel dat dat pusson have been poisoned, dat pusson near [to you] is a corpse. Yo' git choo a fresh hen aig - see what I mean - an' yo' put it undah dat pusson, in de corpse, undah dat pusson dat is in de corpse. Put it undah dere, don't break it dough [though]; but chew gotta do dat in secret, see. An' yo' let dat aig stay in dere an' bury 'im wit dat egg in dere, in de corpse, an' if dat pusson was kilt or poisoned, immediately aftah de egg break, de pusson who done de poisonin' will die.
Entry 745
Ah had one [case] - Miss Katy Jones which was harmed, she had frogs in her. These frogs had came [from] de crushed bones of a live toady. De bones was grind and placed into de food with a serpent's head crushed with it and put into her food that she eat and create a growth. From this growth in her stomach - I could bring her fer you to see. An' taking a bone[?] weed, which dey call a herb which dey call a pestle - a pounder.
(What is the name of this weed?)
De weed? A bone[?] weed, dey call it. Yes, sir. Strip it up.
(Is it a bone weed, like b-o-n-e - bone of your body?)
Oh, no sir - a bore [or boar] weed - it grows like people say - dey call it de gall of de earth - a yella root. [Do pestle, pounder and bore or boar weed suggest that he is talking about the tion's-foot, a possible identification for his gall of de earth? The latter root is frequently used.] Take it and pull de bark from it up - you have to for casting, dat's de way ah always does it. [Pulling the bark up is upward magic to make the patient throw up, vomit, have a casting (up); just as dowrward magic, usually rubbing downward, drives pain or disease downward and out of the body through the feet.] Next, boil de herb and put a pickamarrow[?] into it.
(A what?)
A pickamarrow[?].
(What's that?)
That's a bush that grows high but you use de root of it. And boil de root and give dat to her to drink and that will 'cum'late a casting on [in] de stomach and that will bring de dangerous poison from de body, and then we kin be able to heal that body after bringing the casting from it. Otherwise, from that, if they have it in them and you never git a caskey [casting], you kin not cure de body.
(What is that caskey - what is that?)
That's heaving up - like you see some people heave up.
(I see - that's what they heave up, I see.)
That's de way I would get mine from 'em - let 'em heave it up, de poison part. And like rattlesnake's buttons off de body, you know, de rattle part of a rattlesnake - de powders from dat, people say dat will run you blind. Well, no doubt it will, if it git in yore eyes it will run you blind, but if it's crushed up into a powder and you eat that, that will create a death, because you kin not live with that in you.
(Well, isn't there any way to cure it, if they got that in them?)
Yes, sir. Take dat - that herb for them to throw up.
(That will cure them, too.)
An' you have to take a gallberry. You know what a gallberry bush is - take de berry from a gallberry bush and put it in water and squeeze de juice from de gallberry which dat is a snake food.
(What do you do with that, then?)
You squeeze it and take that juice from that and boil it. After boiling de juice, turn it into de person to drink, as after dey go to drug store and take a dose of castor oil. If dey have a cold, castor oil will break de cold on 'em, from dem, and dem [they] will be able to git rid of it. But if dey drinks dis medicine off of de gallberry leaves and de rattlesnake master, that will be able to help dem get rid of it. (Get rid of this - from the rattlesnake-button powder.) [Since gallberry (inkberry) is thought to be a snake food, here is another example of like cures like.] [Savannah, Ga., 655:1.]
Entry 979
I've been hurt once by a woman. Well, I wus poisoned in good fashion. I liked to died. I had Doctor A., a medical doctor and his medicine went against me, it didn't do me no good. And the erbs dat I kep' home, which I keep some now, you boil them and then taken some and put on the whiskey in the bottle. I jis' plumb blind, jis' broke out all the way. And that's whut got me on my foot. And I, see, I keep that tea.
(What else did you do?)
Jis' roots and teas: silk root, blacksnake root, and devil-shoestring root. You see, the first time you take de silk root, and you cut it inch long and you steep dat in overnighti water [water overnight] and put a cover over it. Well, it's bittah and you'll throw up everything in you. De stuff come out of you green as you ever seen, as green as grass you ever seen. De devil-shoestring and the blacksnake root you steep dem togethah and you drink that. Den when I got so I could walk I goes in the Woods, take my hatchet, I gits some cherry bark, red oak bark and dogwood root; and bathed [with] that - make a wash of this water you know and use it to wash with. And bathe right down, bathing that for nine morning: And den when you git ready to throw it away, you throw it to sunrise. ["This little fellow sold hands - a cripple" - note made when I did original transcription soon after collecting statement; happened in Wilmington, 1912, but remedy came from Scotch Hill,12 miles from Wilmington on the Newbern Road.]
Entry 1092
[The term Eve-and-Adam is more frequently used than Adam-and-Eve, a proper name for the plant, but what an informant means by either name I do not know - it could be a plant from six or seven genera. Since one informant calls this root (possibly a corm) Adam-and-Eve-and-Their Son, I would identify it as puttyroot, common name for Aplectrum hyemale, a North American orchid producing annually a solid corm, "two or three of which remain strung together." When there are two, we have Adam and Eve; when three, the son is added. This could suggest The Trinity or The Holy Family, but as often as I heard the plant named I remember the son once. Adam-and-Eve, like lodestone and some other objects, is one of these He-and-She ingredients - see Index.] Ah knows that. Ah had a cousin, she lived in Oil Town, Arkansas. She got poison, see. Dis woman had her howlin' [like a dog - see No. 775, p.256, and second cure under Dog in this subsection later]. Now, ah know this fo' a pus'nal fac'. She wus howlin' an' sometimes she jis' crawlin' on her knees, see. Stood up diff'rent times though. Mah uncle taken her tuh her daddy - he [daddy] taken her out heah tuh Newport, tuh Ca'Zine Dyer. He taken her out theah. She got some rattlesnake dust - ah nevah will fo'git this, an' she made some little bags an' she hung one undah dis arm an' one undah dis one, an' she went an' got some dat Eve-an'-Adam dust an' she place it on cousin right heah [demonstrates]. Now, mah cousin wus crazy - she wus stone crazy.
(Right on her breast?)
Yes. She wus crazy. One [bag] wus made outa rattlesnake dust an' one [bag] wus Eve-an'-Adam dust. Dis one right heah dat's Eve-an'-Adams' dust on yore chest, an' dat whut she put undah her arm dat wus rattlesnake dust yo' see. She put one undah each one of her arms. An' when she got that Eve-an'-Adams' dust, she put that little bag an swung it right there. An' she tole mah uncle tuh buy a bottle of turpentine an' say, "Now, fo' nine mawnin's straight yo' git up an' fix yore water in a washpan an' let her wash her han's fo' nine mawnin's straight an' throw it to de.east." An' mah cousin wus jis' crazy - she wus jis' howlin', she didn't have bita sense. An' when dat woman put that on her, she come back home an' she tole her mama, she say, "Ah feel lak a diff'rent pusson." Dat wus in Newport, [Arkansas]. Strictly brought her back to her min' an' she didn't have sense 'nuff even to entertain mama.
(How did he fix this water in the morning?)
Ah'll tell yo' whut chew do. See, yo' git some watah an' yo' put it in de pan an' yo' put that turpentine in there fo' nine mawnin's straight. Yo' see, yo' take it in yore han' jis' lak yo' goin' wash yore face - co'se lotta folks use a face towel but yo' use it jis' natural, yo' see. [For use it jis' natural, see also the Uncle Ben Mackey story, No. 918, p.337.] Rub it ovah yore han' and stroke it down ovah yore face an' throw it tuh de west. See, throw that tuh de west, an' yo' say, "Lawd, heah am ah. Take all mah troubles an' heal me, In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost." Co'se ah wus with mah cousin when she do that an' she wus crazy. She wus jis' as crazy as a rud [red] lizard [see Index].
(When did this happen?)
Dis happen in 1929, Oil Town. An' ah nevah fo'git de woman's name dat did dat [spell]. Her name wus Lou T. [At a later date we shall meet Caroline Dyer again. See near end of my interview with Madam Collins of Memphis in Interview section.]
Entry 1250
Dat's good tuh cure any poison. Yo' take de fig tree - first yo' take de leaves an' then yo' go an' git the root. Yo' git de root an' de leaves, stir it together an' make a tea. Aftah yo' stir it together an' make de tea, yo' git brimstone, sulphur, sweet milk, an' fifty cents in silver, a ole fifty cents, an' boil it together. Make a tea an' drink the tea three times daily. Take the fig root - boil de fig root an' bathe wit de water an' always throw it to sunrise; if yore poisoned, every bit will come out - it couldn't stay in.
(You drink this tea only from the leaves?)
Outa de leaves.
(And the root tea you use just for bathing?)
Fo' bathing - dat's right.
Entry 1526
He got poison in some whiskey. Don't know what he [poisoner] had in there, but he'll pour it in your liquor. Well, another fellow gave him [poisoned man], sent him a dime, a silver dime unaware to him - he didn't know anything about it. This fellow's wife cut this silver dime with a file and gave it to him to drink in sweet milk. [This is the magic rite of the unknown remedy, one of many devices for hoodwinking the disease spirit within.] That helped him awhile, until they got him to an old lady and she gave him some - some blacksnake root and rose water and May-water (see p.381) together. You take the blacksnake root, a package of blacksnake root from the drug store, and you pour it in your water, in your - or anything you going to put it in and then pour it - put this May-water and rose water in thataway and let it get hot, good and hot, and then when she cool down you drink it. And this poison in you, it'll pass up and down, from this way and that way [from mouth or bowels]. You understand. If it too hard here, well it come from up above. And through the rose water it will go through the lower bowels - it'll pass, all be gone. And the fellow will become well - that sickness will leave him.
Entry 1530
Cut yo' a silver dime into fo' parts wit a file, if anybody have given you any poison or anything dataway. Yo' take an' cut de silver dime into fo' parts, an' yo' take yo' some fresh beef lard an' take de cow milk an' drink that, an' yo'll vomit everything that chew took - fight it right now, in about fifteen minutes everything will come up. (You just take the dust of the dime. You don't cut the dime all the way throughthen?) Yo cut dat dime all de way through see, because yo' goin' tuh swallow that silver.
(But you must cut the silver into four parts.)
Yo' cut into fo' parts an' den roundin' it so it won't irritate de entrails, makin' it very round so yo' won't have no sharp point on it atall. See. Take an' mix it with that milk, that cow milk, an' that fresh lard an' drink it down. Anything that chew take that won't kill yo' in de co'se of twenty minutes, it comes right back up.
(You don't use the dust?)
No, not de dust - dat's very dangerous, de dust. If de dust git into de intestines dataway, yo' understan', an' settle - why, yo' understan', yo' got'a file it aroun' an' make it small enough tuh swallow de same as a pill yo' know. Not de dust. [Sometimes the whole dime is swallowed - see Dime in Index.]
Entry 1539
One time I was poisoned an' I taken with a pain in my stomic an' head- ache. Well, I taken real sick. I begin to throw up an' ev'rything I throw up was jis' as green as grass an' bitter as gall. Well, they sent fer de doctor. The doctor came. He give me a 'scription of doctor medicine. Well, I taken a dose of de medicine an' de medicine stayed in me I guess about two minutes. An' de medicine made me awfully sick, made me worser than I was. An' I threw it right back up. Well, we had twelve doctors[il!]. [Twelve doctors like every doctor in town is an exaggerated expression not mean to be taken literally - a hyperbole.] They didn't any do me any good. They did me worser instead of good. De medicine would do me worser all de time. So after that, they said, "Well, dere must be something to do." So I sent my sister to the store an' got a box of Squibbs soda an' a box of sulphur. I taken a teaspoonful of that. And that stayed in me. It gave me a little relief. After that I got nine silver dimes. I boiled them dimes good. Then I let the water cool. I drink nine swallows for nine mornin's. An' I improved an' began to get better. Then I got some Eve- an'-Adam [Adam-and-Eve] - that's a little roots. I boiled de Eve-an'-Adam an I drinked de tea of that an' I got better.
Entry 1540
This wus my daughter. Well, it wus give her in a apple an' this apple wus poison; we think it wus dressed. Well, she'd take sick on the young of the moon every moon. The poison would swell her - sick in the stomach an' her laigs. An' that went on. Then I went to a doctor an' the doctor says he give her up. Well, he didn't know whut wus wrong. The medicine he used, you know, instead of gettin better, for a year she got worse. An' so one of my brother-in-laws from Brunswick wus here. He would insist, you know, on sendin' me to a woman an' this woman I went to she liveded on Second Street. She wus one those ladies, you see, a woman that knowed how to cure folks, you see. An' she explained it to him whut it wus. She said this child wus poisoned in a apple. I remembered after[ward]. She ate hit I didn't [think anything about it at the time].
(How old was your daughter?)
She wus eighteen months old.
(When she ate this apple?)
Yes. An' after, one of my frien' speakin' with this woman [doctor]. An' she said, her name wus Lucy, she [following woman doctor's instructions] told me whut to do with child. She told me when she got crampin' at home - an' I explained to her how long this child would been like dat - an' she said dis child wus poisoned from me not givin' her no [root doctor] doctor medicine. Then she tole me whut to do. She tole me to take thirty-five cents in silver - twenty-five centsea [a quarter] an' a dime, an' boil that in a quart of water down to a pint. An' then she tole me to take it out de water an' scrape some of it an' boil that [in another quart of water] down to a pint, and then when I cooked 'em [each of these separate quarts of water] down to a pint, she told me to put a teaspoonful of table salt.
(Which water?)
An' after I did that this swellin', you know, commence to leavin'. An' I'd give her this medicine three times a day. The first time it passed through her, you know, it wus as green as grass; the second an' third time [the green was weaker] until it cleared up. An' she got her - this swellin' an' everything would leave her an' it continue on an' in six-month time that fixed it. She was all right but she tell me that she had this poison so long that she'd never be sound an' strong as if her normal self. An' so she lived then until the six day of de month last March. She died in the night.
(How old was she when she died?)
Seven.
Entry 1594
I had experience of dis myself, I'm fixin' to tell yo' now. I wus goin' wid some woman once. Someone poisoned 'er in some fish an' dey did somepin tuh 'er. An' whutevah dey did, it went true [through] 'er han', broke out in bumps - big large ones 'bout dis size [demonstrates], right true de han'. Yo' could see it. If it hit dere [on one side of her hand], it would come out dere [on the other side of her hand] - look like dey connect wid one 'nothah. Feets an' han's. An' she couldn't put 'er foot on de floah [floor]. I goes me to work an' I got me some Brown Mule [trademark] tobacco. I got me some snuff, Railroad Mail [trademark]. I got me some sulphah. I got me some salt, some salts physic [probably Epsom salts], an' got me some of 'er watah an' some of mine. I mixed it togethah. I say, "Save me all de watah you kin fer de nex' hour or two, [that is] as much as yo' git fer de nex' night er [or] day." I mixes all dat togethah an' I boil it good. I set up wid 'er 'bouts couplea days an' nights er mo' bathin' [bath-ing, not bathe-ing] 'er feets. She couldn't touch de floor [her feet pained so much]. Well, I kep' bath-in' 'er an' kep' bath'in' 'er in dat stuff, an' kep' bath-in' 'er in dat stuff till fin'lly I cured 'er like dat. Den I went an' got some of dis potash fer 'er tuh take - jes' a little bita watah. Yo' kin take dat very easily in a little watah.
(How did she get this way?)
At someone's house she got dataway by eatin'. I know it. I went to a fortune teller. Dey tole me dat dat wus zackly how she got it. Dey even picked it out [while running the cards] an' it was some of 'er own people did it.
(Did the fortune teller tell you what to do?)
Dey didn't tell me. A ole woman tole me dis long long years ago. She always tole me, she says, "Yo' look out, '' she says, "whenevah dat to happen an' know whut tuh do fo' yoreself, if anyone hurt yo'. Git dat an' bath [not bathe] yore- self from de knees on down [see p.369] an' it'll nevah cause no swellin' in de knees." It didn't swell a bit.
Entry 11450
Dey git chure fingernails an' yore toenails. Ah didn't hear how many yo' takes, jest so it yore fingernails an' yore toenails. Dey take dat an' dey parch it, dey go back dere an' parch 'em. Beat 'em up real fine an' put 'em in some water den an' boil 'em till dat makes - jes' makes kind of a medicine-lak out of it. Den dey'll take dat - make dis heah medicine out of it den dat's a poison-lak. Dey'll take den an' po' it - git chure hat or anything lak yo' got to wear. Lak dey be's around yo' an' dey'll po' it aroun' de rim of yore hat, an' dey puts some cologne in dis - some sweet-smelling cologne, an' put in dis, an' po' it roun' yore hat. An' dey says dat yo' smell dat, an' jest walk - dat'll run yo' crazy, give yo' a feeble mind. Jest half de time yo' won't know whut chew doin'.
(Then you get my fingernails and toenails and you put them on my hat?)
Yes, sir, anywhere dat chew git it. Put it in sompin where he [you] kin git de smell of dis, inhale dat. [St. Petersburg (lol4) 1640:2.]
Entry 637
One time when I was cunjured I was about sixteen years old. And another girl invited me to go to a party, and to the party they served ice cream, and on the way back home I taken sick. And mah mother got ev'ry doctor she could in de town to try to do me some good and he wouldn't [couldn't]. And so she told me - mah mother said dat dey told her - she said ev'rybody kept tellin' her - to get a cunjure doctor for me. And so she did. And when she got the cunjure doctor he told her if she had a waited twenty-four hours longer to gotten him that he couldn't of saved me. And so he got some pokeberry root and boiled dem and made a poultice and put it to mah stomach, and taken water off of nine dimes that had been boiled fer nine hours, and I drank that first. Then after I drank that, he gave me some salts and sodee [soda] - takin' salts [Epsom salts] and sodee warm, and I drank that and that started me to get sick. And after I got sick on mah stomach he got two fars, half-a-gallon jars, one with muddy-lookin' water in it and the other was clear. And when I would vomit, he said the poison that I had taken would go in the muddy jar or the clear jar. He had to have both. And so when I vomit, it was a little snake about that long and it went in the muddy jar of water.
(Could you see it?)
I could see it after they show it to me. Of course I was so sick then still I couldn't see it. And after I taken that to stop mah pains, I had to have some silk-root boiled in a quart of water down to a pint, and some spirits of turpen- tine in it, to keep the misery out of mah stomach and take the soreness out - and still wear the poultices until I was better. [And I wore a] silver dime and salt in my shoes for about two years after dat - I wore a silver dime round my ankle, round both of 'em, and salt in both shoes. And he said that I could wear it on, if I wanted to; but I would be out de danger of those people hurting me again. He didn't say ev'rybody, just those people. [Wilmington, N. Car., (268), 273:7; Rose Hill, Duplin Co., N. Car.,1929.]
Entry 13
It's jes' lak [like] if ah'm runnin' a place of business an' ah has some enemies - yo' know yo' has enemies ever'where yo' go. If yo' large 'nuff to bother 'bout yo'll have enemies. Ah kin have some enemies an' ah kin be runnin' a place of business - jes' sellin' fish san'wishes an' all dat kinda junk. Well, a lot'a people would hate me on dis - yo' see, ah'm makin' mo' money den dey can an' dey'll hate me. Well, all right. Dey'll go, prob'bly uptown an' tell a false' on me an' have me put in jail. Yo' see, ah done lock up an' ah'm got'a pay out a bunch of money den an' come out if ah got it or prob'bly make time on it. Well, whensomevah ah git out - well, ah may go back to mah business agin. Well, now heah dey come agin after me. Understan' - heah dey come agin after me. Well, now, I kin go tuh de graveyard zactly twelve a'clock at night. Now, ah'm goin' to mah peoples - where dey's buried. An' after ah git dere ah walks five feet into de graveyard. Then - if' yo'll 'low [allow] ma ah'll show yo' axely [actually] whut ah mean [his voice turned from me while he demonstrates]. Ah walks dis way [he walks]. Now, heah's de gate chere. Well, ah walks [he walks] five feet from de gate an' when ah git inside [that near] de gate ah turns round [he turns] an' backs up five feet [he backs up] till ah git inside de ceme- tery. Ah wheel round right quick an' de first grave ah'll put mah eyes on, ah'll go to dat grave an' ah makes me a big round ring at de head of dat grave. [He acts out everything.] An' after ah make me a big round ring at de head of dat grave [as a protection against spirits], ah take me a solid fifty-cent piece an' put it jes' as fur down in dat grave as ah kin git it. An' after ah put it down dere mah hand would come up wit all de dirt-cover ovah dere [the dirt sticking to the half dollar]. Den ah takes a eatin' fo'k [table fork] an' ah sticks it in dat grave. Well, ah went to mah mother [her grave] to control her mind of might to dash dese peoples' mind from me an' keep dem from botherin' me, but dose [his people] are daid. Now, dose folks are daid - like dey say hants an' spirit an' all like dat. Well, dey come to form - to skel'ton, see. Well, now heah about three yeahs ago ah had a sister - she came down heah an' dere peoples in dis town will tell yo' dis very day, white and colored. Well, dey 'rest her two-three time of drunk'. She could take jis' dat much of whiskey [demonstrates] an' jes' go to her haid, an' she start to call anything come ovah her. Well, now, she was fixed, dey tell me in Jacksonville ~ now, dat's whut she tole me some other [person] did to her. [Alcoholism is usually caused by someone putting a spell on you - see Drinking-spell in Index.] An' ah could go an' git her sometime two an' three a'clock in de morning - bring her back. An' ah have went round to diff'rent people I knowed dat give 'er dat stuff an' tell 'em don't let her have none. Well, she got to find dis stuff but hit don't be until de change of de moon. When dat moon come to be a quarterfull, den dat's de time she commence goin' on, commence goin' on. Well, now, when dat moon done vanish 'way an' gone, she jes' as good, jes' as pleasant an' happy as she kin be. Well, she wus told to go to de graveyard - she lives in Jacksonville - an' when she git to de graveyard - now, our mother's daid - our mother died of witch- craft - whut chew call roots. She died of dat an' ah kin splain it tuh yo' how, whut caused her to die [he explains this later]. An' dey tole her to go to de graveyard an' after she got to de graveyard, tuh Walk five feet inside the graveyard an' wheel round right quick, an' de first grave she saw, she take a solid fifty-cent piece an' push it jis' as fur down in de grave as she kin git it an' take her han's out, an' in takin' her han's out befo' her han' git to de top, git jis' a lettle bit dat dirt - see, root [dig] fo' it [with the coin]. Well, now, dere's nuthin' dey put wit dat dirt. An jis' stick dat eatin' fo'k in dere an' leave it, chew see. Dat eatin' fo'k yo' wanta leave. Well, now, she got de dirt - dat's whut chew call buying dirt from de daid. [We shall meet many examples of the spirit of the dead being paid off with coins, but here the fork - silver-plated or steel, is both payment and protective device.]
(What did she do with that dirt then?)
She jis' take it an' put it on her an' tote it, jes' tote it - she didn't put anything in de worl' wit it. [Usually, this graveyard dirt would be wrapped in a piece of paper and worn sewed up in a very small cloth bag and called a hand or toby or mojo - these of great variety and purpose - many examples of them being given later.]
(How was your mother hurt did you say?)
Now, mah mother - dat wus in 1919 in Tallahasse, Florida. We lived in 362 Caldwell [?] Avenue. Well, during dat den de street wus name No'th McCommins [?] Avenue. Mah mother she wus poisoned with whut ah may call dung - it's a bottle of your dung. Jes' lak if ah go to de bathroom right dere an' use de - well, her stuff was taken an' it was placed into a bottle. An' after it was placed into dis bottle, jes' nuthin' but hit - an' it wus a cork stopper wus placed in de top of dis bottle, whut chew call to stop it up airtight dat no air in de worl' couldn't git in it, an' it wus buried to de no'th corner of our house. Mah mother lived an' suffered - lived an' suffered fo' [four] yeahs. But we tried doctors from Thomasville, Florida - Dr. McClintook supposed to be as good a doctor as evah walked out - a medical doctor de horsepital - we tried him. We tried all other doctors an' none couldn't do her no good. Mah grandmother went to a place you call Quincy, Florida - out in de country to a fellah by de name of Mr. McClain. She went dere to him.
(White or colored?)
White - he wus white - went out dere tuh him. An' he tole mah grandmother, he said, "Ah been layin' heah lookin' at de condition of yore daughter." [He was a forseer or foreknower.] Dat's whut he tole mah grandmother. He said, "Ah been laying heah lookin' at de condition of yore daughter," he say, "fo' [for] munts an' munts an' she been sufferin' fo' othah people." He said, "De people dat's doin' her dis dirt is comin' in her house eve' other mawnin', bahrin' [borrowing] a match or bahrin' some salt or bahrin' some peppah an' stuff." He said, "Dat is to he'p [help] build dis stuff whut dey got in de ground." Now, he tole her, said, "Yo' go back home." She said - but now dis man wouldn't take no money out chure han' - he didn't take a dime - but chew owed him whut he charged to do. Yo' didn't pay him what- somevah he git fo' doin' yore 'mount of work. When he git done wit his - whut yo' want to have him tuh do - yo' goes back home. He given yo' a piece of some- thin' look like a five-dollar gold piece in a black cloth an' he got dis money by de air. Dat's de way he worked it, by de air - he re'lly did it hisself. [See in Index, Doctor, payment of.] Well, he tole mah grandmother - she go back to de house an' look up on de south corner of yore house, an' he say, "Yo'll find a quart bottle wit some dung in it." An' he say, "Yo' take dat quart bottle an' unstop it," an' he say, "po dat stuff out of it." He say, "When yo' po' it out of it," he say, "then yo' come back to me." Well, mah grandmother po'd it out an' mah mother then commence tuh - her bowels den commence movin'; her bowels wus locked den [before that], yo' see. Well, she went back to him an' he give her some kind of medicine - ah don't know whut it wus. But she give him somepin - she had a twenty-dollah bill dressed, mah grandmother did fo' mah mother. Now, dis man tole her, said, "Now, let her tote dis on her as long as she live, an' nobody won't hurt her no mo'." Well, leastways, she died from it - she lived 'bout a couple of months afterwards, after dis stuff was po' out de bottle, but she died. [How the twenty-dollar bill was dressed (prepared magically) by the doctor I do not know, but my skeptical nature refuses to believe he returned it to grandmother. One of many ways of dressing money for oneself will be found in margin-title Cast It Into Oblivion. The medicine given to grandmother could have been black draft or Epsom salts both commonly used by doctors in such situations. The woman had been dying - constipation was not the cause. For a similar hopeless case, a poignant one, see margin-title Doctor Assists Death.] (Well, how did the man get his money when you paid him - how did he get that money?) He tole mah aunt an' mah grandmother to - he give dem somepin look like a five-dollah gold piece an' [also] it was a black rag; seemed to me [when I saw it later] that it was a han'chief. He tole her, said, "Yo' take dis an' go back home an' leave dis on de table - dis five-dollah piece yo' see - on de table." Well, it looked like to me it was five dollahs, but he didn't tell her no five dollahs, but ah called it five-dollah gold piece. [The coin was a fake. I comment here while checking transcription with cylinder - "speaks very rapidly."] But he tole her, when she give it [his fee] to him, say, "Lay dis [piece] on de table an' spread dis black rag ovah it - jes' spread it [rag] ovah it [piece] an put chure money [fee] on top of dat an' tie it up, an' walk out chure room." He say, "Ah'll git it, don't chew worry," he say, "because mah working is de air, star an' de moon." He say, "Ah don't work jes' natch'al comin' to a person." He say, "Ah kin do mah work an' not even go to you. Yo' kin jes' only write me an' yo' got to tell me whut chew want done - jes'write me an'ah'll come to yuh [in the spirit]." Dat's whut he tole mah grandmother and aunt. But anyway de money didn't leave out de house an' he didn't come an' git it - but didn't nobody carry it to him. But when we went back in de room de next morning, de money wus gone, an' most all de three of us wus in de house - mah aunt, mah grandmother an' me, 'scusin' mah mother whut wus sick. He re'lly got dat money.
Entry 35
De woman kin take or either a man, ah guess - but chew kin take a dozen needles an' put 'em in watah an' let 'em stay in dere ten days an' give someone de water to drink off. Dey say it's a deadly poison - say it jes' de same as yo' drink a needle - feel like some pins is sticking yo' in de inside - somepin like, jes' like if a person wanted to put a spell of some kind on - yo'd have dat pain jes' lak yo'd swallowed some needles yo' know. It take effect on yo' dat-a-way. Whut dey would do to stop it ah don't know.
[Just as the person's essential qualities were in the bath water (see No. 29)
so also the essential qualities of the needle absorbed by a bath are transferred to a person drinking needle-water.]
Entry 245
(All right - suppose you tell me that?)
See, year before last, I had a fence round my house and I had vent cross to the store, and when I come back and I put my hand on the gate. Well something hit me in that finger [demonstrates] just like it was a - had stuck it with a pin or something.
(The little finger of the left hand.)
The little finger. So, I didn't pay no attention, and the next day I looked on my arm, right along up there and it was a long black mark like that and like a cross. Well, when I seen it, I know it was something wrong. Well, I got up and went got me some of this fish brine; you know, what come off a mackerel fish. I put me some saltpeter in it and I put me some salt in it and heated it, and I put some soda in it - heated it right hot and I bathed in it. Well, then after I bathed it, in a day or so it was gone off - I bathed it but once or twice, but- it left a little sign of it there. So I went to a kind of a fortune teller woman when I was here in town and she told me just what I used was the right thing. Well, I told her I sure was glad, I didn't know that because, I said, if anything else happened to me I'd know exactly what to do. So she told me that it was where somebody had had a painted snake and dressed my gate with it.
(What kind of a snake?)
A painted - some kind of a painted snake.
(A painted snake?)
Yes sir.
(Well, what do you mean - was it a live snake? What kind of a snake?)
I guess it was. And they must have painted him with something what they had, and just laid it on the gate, and I caught it on my hand and arm.
(You mean they painted the paint on the snake?)
Yes sir - some kind of old poison stuff. See. And see, when I went to the gate and caught holt of it, it got on my hand. (I see.) [This snake was dressed with a poison and sent out to smear it on the gate.]
Entry 324
Ah heard dat yo' could take a black cat at fo' a'clock on a Sunday mawnin' an' carry him at de fo'k of a road - carry a pot 'long wit chew or have yore pot dere. An' dey tells me now - ah don' know - dat yo' take dat cat an' put him in dat pot alive an' kiver him up airtight - boil him. An' after he's done, take dat pot an' go set down by a stream of runnin' watah an' yo' commence pullin' out bones from dat cat an' yo' pull dem till yo' git to de ninth bone. Yo' take dat ninth bone an' take keer of it.
(That ninth bone?)
Yes. Now, yo' got take ca' of it. Yo' take dat bone an' yo' carry it an' git good whiskey an' put it in a bottle an' drop dat bone down in dere, an' dat bone or dat whiskey offa dat bone, if a person is sick or poisoned, a teaspoonful of dat whiskey - sometimes, if he gwine git cured dey comes near tuh killin' him - give a teaspoonful of dat if he's poisoned.
Entry 594
If yo' think anyone got chew poisoned, yo' kin take three needles an' stick 'em in yore pillah, an' then yo' kin take one an' stick it in yore mouth. An' if dese needles turn black, why yo' know den yore poisoned. Dat's all ah know dat needles is good fo'. (You just stick the two needles in your pillow?) Dat's right - an' put one in yore mouth. (If the needle in your mouth turns black then you are poisoned.
Entry 610
Put it round yore leg - that's a good way to tell when yo' poisoned or tricked or witchcrafted any way. Either yo' swallow it or wear it round yore ankle, or either yo' kin hold it in yore mouth. If yo' hold it in yore mouth ten minutes an' yo' take it out, it be black like [that] little thing here [switchbox for my Telediphone.]
(Did you say you swallow it?)
Yo' swallow it.
(How do you swallow it?)
Well, yo' jest swallow it jes' like yo' do bread or anything - it'll remain in yo' body.
(You don't swallow the whole dime though?)
Yo' swallow the whole dime.
(You mean the whole piece or do you scrape ft off?)
Yo' swallows the dime - the whole dime, an' it will remain in yore body some- times 'leven days [see No. 568], but yo' have to watch yo'self an' see when it appears, an' if it black, why yo' know then there is something wrong.
Entry 613
I know when mah sister wus a-goin' - someone fix her up by her hat an mah mother - there's a ole witchcraft - of course, you know, jis' like mah father didn't believe in it an' she didn't allow such things at de house. So they tol' mah mother to take some needles - two needles, an' two broomstraws, an' two quartahs whut de lady wid de stars aroun', an' take a pot of boilin' watah an' put it in; an' if anybody, yo' know, did anything to you, those things will go togethah, you know, an' dance; if not [fixed or hurt], it won't. So she tried it. But sure enough it wus true. Then she take an' pour that off in a - I think de watah, it made a tea, you know, had to drink de tea. That's to kill it, de poison. [Wilmington, N. Car., (221), 210:5; at Rocky Point, N. Car.,1933.]
Entry 615
Like sometimes you have a sore on your foot and it's hard to cure up, or you feet swells, give you a lot of trouble and painful. Then you take this bluestone...you boil this silver money in this water and if it jingles [to tell whether you have been conjuredl why then you mix this bluestone in that and then mix this sulphur. You take silver-water like that, they call it, then sulphur - you mix this sulphur with it and make a paste like, or you kin jest use it to soak your feet in and then bake 'em in de fire. You soak 'em for nine days or nine nights, then bake your feet by the open fire. You see, from the heat, and that draws out, they say, the poison. It's something like, they say, they dressed somepin they stepped on or dressed your shoes or dressed your stockings. And when that poison comes out it'll leave little white speck like places in your flesh. That's like if somepin you've powdered they've brushed on you or you've stepped over.
Entry 647
[Why medical medicine or doctor medicine is worthless in hoodoo, a believer explains:] I say all de - most all de sickness now, it's not natch'l.
(What does it come from?)
Vitchcraft. (Why do people do that?) Jis', some of 'em jis' begrudgin'. Some of 'em get, you know, be begrudgin' of anything you have an' dey'll poison you. Some want cheh husban', dey poison yah; an' some want cheh job, dey poison yah. (Have they any good rootworkers up there in Rocky Mount [North Carolina, home of informant]?) No, sir. Dere is some up dere kin do somepin to yah but dey can't cure yeh.
(Where do people go then?)
Dey come to town heah.
(Any good ones down here?)
Yes sir, purty good. I reckon de best ones is in South Carolina.
(What do they usually charge to cure you?)
Some of 'em twenty-five to thirty dollars - a good price.
Entry 714
There wus a woman that had gotten poisoned an' of course I knowed, you know, jis' whut to do, you know, for to save her, you see. An' I got me some stuff, you know, some swamp root an' some silkroot [silkweed] an' I put that together, you know, an' cut it all up, an' balled [boiled] it an' give it to her to drink. Of course she wus re'l bad off sick. An' so I gotten that an' made it, choo see, right away an' give it to her. An' she commence to gettin' relief, you know, after it worked. It jis' went right on through her, you know, an' she commence gettin' relief. So after that I told 'em to not to give her nuthin' heavy, you see, food to eat. Jis' give her fresh sweet milk, you know, to drink; but put de milk on an' let it boil, you know, an' skim it. An' she gotten all right.
(How did they poison her?)
Well now, she had inhaled, 'twas some dust I think, some - I think it wus snake dust. You see it jis' look like it wus jis' a powder. They throw it, choo know, an' she - it went through in her mouth.
(How do they make that snake dust?)
Get de snake an' put 'em in de fire, you know, an' burn 'em, you know - jis' have it on a tin, you know, an' burn 'em, you know, jis' like you burn a bone, you know, down into a powder, you know. An' den take it you see, an' jis' throw it aroun'. You inhale it, you see. It's re'l strong. Jis' put any other little powder in with it, choo know, to make the scent, to make you smell of it, choo see. Well, that go all through your system. [The informant, a healer, a native of Willard, N. Car., denies title of root doctor.]
Entry 721
Ah've watched dis from a kid. Ah nevah did believe in roots or anything lak dat but mah experience, it made me believe in roots an' diff'rent things, yo know, fo' dis reason. When ah wus a kid roun' 'bout eight yeahs, ah had a mother an' she liked good times. She'd go out. So at last, one day she went out an' left me an' mah brothah home. So, while she wus away some people came through de yard - jes' a girl an' her sister, an' she made fun of mah brothah. Mah mothah came back an' ah tole dat dey made fun of mah brothah. So she wus a lady liked tuh drink sometimes. So when dey came along - dere wus about fo' of 'em, so she tackled 'em an' dey had a fuss. So about a week or two after, she taken sick. Dese people claimed dat dey poisoned her, yo' know. She wus taken sick an' mah granddaddy and [grand]mother did ever'thing in de worl' dat dey could fo' her - had taken her to doctors an' dey couldn't do her any good. So dey claimed dat dey poisoned her - she dried up an' looked lak [like] a witch, an' would have spells, jes' fall out on de flo'. She jes' come to nuthin' but bones, yo' know, an' went away tuh nuthin'. Dey tell me dat wus whut chew call witchcraft roots.
Entry 864
A fortune-teller woman told me year before last that someone got a lock of my hair, that I combed out, and buried it with the dead to keep me down and out, ailing and always feeling bad. She told me if I was to give her a couple of frying chickens, she Would stop it. [She also said], in washing my face in a few mornings I would find this hair in the water I washed in. I didn't do it because I didn't believe in it. And she told me, if you don't give it [them] to me that they will die. And sure enough, they were dead in three days. I'm sorry I didn't give them to her but I didn't want to get such foggyism in my head. She said the reason I would have bad luck was because her mother was sick and she was begging for her.
Entry 877
Well, ah know of a man once he wus poisoned. He got poisoned by his wife. His wife given dis poison to her two oldest daughters to give him. Well, dis man's life lingered a good length of time befo' he died. A week befo' he died dey went to git somebody tuh see if dey could do him any good. Well, after gittin' dis man, dey were too late - dis sick man he wus too fur gone, but this man tells this man's brother that wus sick, he said that his brother wus too fer gone, dat he couldn't do him any good now, but he could git dese two persons that give this man this trick, an' two yeahs aftah dis man was buried, dey would be buried. Well, de first yeah aftah buryin' dis man - nine months aftah dis man wus buried, dis man's oldest daughter wus buried, an' in de next nine months de nex' oldest daughter wus buried.
(Well, what about that casket - is that in this story?)
Yessuh, dat's in dis story. De casket, aftah dis man died, dis man dat come dere to see could he do him some good, took him a spool of thread an' put the spool of thread in de casket with the man an' tied de loose end to the porch, an' as the ambulance went away wit de casket, dat unwind de spool of thread till it wound it all out. An' then he wus buried an' them two parties that give this man this trick, in two yeah's time dey will be buried. So dat's about de casket.
(That is all he did to make these other people die?)
Dat's all he did.
Entry 925
A fellah wus poisoned an' he turned black from his toes - left foot - he got black all up to his thigh. An' after he got black he stayed that way fer about three or four weeks an' he couldn't git well. An' they car'd 'im to four or five diff'rent hospitals in Florida an' he couldn't git well. An' so fin'lly, he taken from one thing to another an' his side were gittin' a little bettah. After it got a little bettah, well, a fellah got sick in de hospitial - de fellah who poisoned 'im, an' he send for 'im. So he went to dis fellah an' he wus confess on his bed dat he's dyin', see, an' he told 'im dat he poisoned 'im. He axed 'im whut he poison - said, "What choo poison me fer?" He said, "Well, jis' didn't like you; somebody axe me to poison you an' I jis' had to do it to make mah money." An' he axed 'im an' said, "Well, how will I get cured?" He said, "I'll tell you whut I poisoned you with, an' I'll tell you whut I cure you with - you kin cure yourself with it." He said, "Whut choo poison me with?" He said, "I poisoned you with runnin' huckleberry, it's de root; an' go into a graveyard an' dig right down in de center of de grave, an' git some of dat dirt an' put it in dere with dat runnin' huckleberry root, an' ball [boil] it an' take dat tea an' put it in some whiskey, an' that how you poisoned." When he axed 'im, he said, "Well, how will I git well?" He telled 'im to go in the woods an' find 'im some silkweed - it's some sort of silkweed that when you mash on it, milk it look like will come out. An' you [put it] right in some watah an' ball it, an' after it ball, you put fifteen drops of turpentine in - add it up to a quart of watah. An' you take a glassful like dat for nine mornin' until you take it all up. Be sure an' take it all up in nine mornin'. In nine mornin' your colah'll come back an' that'll cure you. Dat bin mahself. He poisoned me. I's de fellah he poisoned.
Entry 934
Well, ah was hurt - ah wus swollen up all ovah and ah had a rash jest broke out on me jest like spider web - jest all over wasn't a speck on me without de web, and mah eyes, de balls of 'em fell down heah and dis part was up in yore head. (Your eyeball sort of fell down?) Yes - ah couldn't see. Come on me all lak that. Ah went out mah house and came back - out well and came back all in dat condition. Well, it run on me till fo' 'clock so ah didn't know whut to do. Well, ah first called in a doctor. Well, de doctor he came and he said ah was poisoned. Well, he was doctoring on me, see, an' ah didn't know [then that I was hurt] - ah was trying him first. Well, it happened agin round de same time round de 15th of de next month. All right, he came in and saw me again. [And the doctor's medicine didn't do her any good.] So it come tuh me - ah said, "Dere something else wrong." So ah goes [to a doctor] tuh fin' out. So ah [or doctor] found a bottle of stuff look like sulphur - it was puffed. When it would swell, ah'd swell - it jest went all ovah mah body.
(This stuff in this bottle puffed up?)
It would puff up - it puffed up. When ah found it, it was swole jest lak ah was - looked like sulphur. It swole, you know, jes' like sulphur when it get wet and swell. Well, dat's de way it was. Well, when it would swell, ah would swell uP, yo' see. Mah eyes git blind and ever'thing. Well, after ah gits de stuff up, well, de swelling was yet there, yo' see. Well, it came to me [this is always guidance by a spirit] to use - ah use chamber lye and saltpeter. Dat's whut ah used to bath ever' morning 'fore sunrise. Then throw it away - throw it out. It commence to sink - all advanced away. Ah swole one time mo', after. Well, ah did de same thing. Well, ah've had no mo' of it.
(Where did you throw this out when you finished bathing with it?)
Throw it out in de back dirt, out chure back do', yo' see, sunrise - yo' throw it sunrise.
(Towards the sunrise?)
Yes, throw it sunrise and don't look back - over de left shoulder and don't look back. Dat cleared me up.
(Did that happen here in Mobile?)
Yeah.
(How long ago?)
'34 [1934].
Entry 1044
My own laig Was pizen oncest, an' dey had my laig pizened in a way dat I couldn't use it, see. And I went in a graveyard and I axt a fellah wat died and ah pay him a little bit, and I got dis same woman dat fix my laig up, pizened it. And I went to de same woman and she died, see. I got a piece of her dress - under pieces like and I went and got some of dat same [dirt] and I washed my laig in de water and that heal my laig up.
(You got some dirt from one grave.)
From one grave - a fellah wat died, and I paid him to use some of that dirt, see - and de lady wat dies, wat had my laig fixed, and I went and got a piece of de dress befo' she died, see, and I got de cloth and put 'em in dat water - in dat water with de graveyard dirt, understand, and I washed my laig in dat water about four or five times understand, and den my laig was well.
Entry 1051
Yo' use a dime to keep anybody from poisonin' yo'. Yo' take dat dime an' a new file - yo' take a new file an' ten cents an' file it into a glass. Den yo' put into that about two good mouthfuls of sweet milk an yo' drink it down. Dat cures fo' seven yeahs - dat nobody can't hurt chew fo' seven yeahs. Yo' kin step ovah anything yo' wanta, eaten anythin' yo' wanta, an' dat silver will turn it. Dat ah've proven out dat, cause ah had a uncle dat had eaten somepin. [Could this remedy derive from the belief that, "The entire composition of the body changes every seven years?" FACI, 1st ed., No. 2855, p.139; 2ed., No. 3534, p.159.]
Entry 1183
Yo' git de inside of de chicken gizzard, see - yo' know when yo' clean a chicken, yo' got a skin yo' pulls out dat gizzard. Well, dat's de part yo' Want - dat skin. Yo' keep dat. Well, yo' pound dat up an' if yo' were doctorin' on anybody dat had any kinda poison in 'em, yo' jes' pound it up an' put it in his medicine or in water, whatsomevah yo' givin' 'im, an' let him drink dat an' yo' would see dat poison leave.
Entry 1302
In case if a person is poisoned, swelled up bad, look like dey 'bout tuh bust and dey poisoned, sickly, swelled as large as a barrel, a hogshead barrel, yo' wants to go git chew a piece of saltpeter and put dat saltpeter in a half glass of water and yo' go an' git yo' some gourds, some green gourds, an' take de entrails out 'em an' boil 'em, and let 'em take a cupful of dat, an' all de worms and things in dere, will throw 'em up. Den yo' wanta release dose parties den - dose parties who did dat. When dey throw de worms up, dey take 'em an' put 'em in a bottle an' stop 'em up airtight and go to de river and throw it ovah yore shoulder. Well, den dem parties go an' jump in de rivah an' drown - kill demselves.
Entry 1349
Ah want tell yuh dis. Ah got hurt oncest in mah feet so ah couldn't walk. Ah got dese doctors aroun' heah and dey all of 'em say diff'rent things. You know what called to me to do? Yo' know what a jimson weed is? (Yes, I know what it is.) It got cockleburs stuck on it. Pull up de whole jimson weed, put it in a pot and boil it, put a handful of table salt in it, a handful of red peppah, and you suppose to jest bath in it - see, jest as hot as you kin bear it. But ah was in such a bad fix that I drunk a teaspoonful of it before ah went to bed that night. An' ah was [had been] down fer about eight months - ah couldn't walk - an' de next mawnin' ah hit de floor fo' mawning [could stand up and walk]. An' after ah did it, ah talked wit a old experiment [experienced] root doctor and he tole dat would kill any kind of poison. [Presumably informant took bath before drinking tea. See jimson-weed bath, No. 1075, p.405.]
Entry 1380
Ah heard 'em tell of - say if anybody got poisoned or put down anything fo' yo' an' yo' don't wanta move, yo' jes' git chew two ten-cent can of potash, Red Devil Iye, an' at twelve a'clock in de night yo' dig a hole as deep as yore elbow - measure yore hand all down - gotta do it exactly at twelve though. An yo' bury a can of dat potash an' git chew a brand-new box of cookin' salt.
(Where do you bury that potash?)
Tuh de gate - between de gate an' de steps, at twelve a'clock in de night.
(That's just one can?)
Yo' put one can dere an' a fresh box of salt whut chew have nevah nused any of it.... Yo' dig dat hole an' yo' put dat potash down in dere an' po' dat cookin' salt, de whole box, on top of it tuh yore front an' yore back. Ah don't care whut it is dey put down round dere, dat potash will eat it up. It can't hurt chew - can't harm yo'.
Entry 1414
Heard of 'em usin' a penny for such as drawin' poison out of yore feet, if yo' stick a nail or somepin in yore feet. Yo' set a penny on it an' dat will draw it out.
Entry 1416
Now, jest like someone is harmin' you, you kin take a penny and take it and knock a hole troo it and have a frog. Ah don't know if you know what a frog is. And cut dis frog open and place de penny in before you knock de hole in it. Cover de frog back together tight, and after covering de frog back, you let it stay fer about thirty or forty minutes. Den take dis frog out - [I mean] take de penny out of de frog, bore a hole in de penny, take a cord and take dis penny and tie one round yore ankle and tie another one around de other ankle. Jes' like the wimmin keep people from hurting them - they take a dime and bore a hole in that dime and put one dime on one laig and one dime on the other laig, and then that will keep anybody from poisoning them or any kind of thing. Protection to the body. An' dat's de way wit de penny.
Entry 1528
Take a dime made in 1898 an' yo' kin place it under yore tongue an' if anyone is tryin' tuh give yo' any poison or anything, yo' kin drink all yo' want an' that dime will take that poison from it - yo'll nevah git poisoned wit it. Then, when yo' take that dime from under there an' drink dis stuff, yo' kin take it an' wear it round yore laig an' yo'll never - nobody never could poison yo', jes' long as yo' keep that dime round yore laig. Let it be a silver dime though.
Entry 1538
If a person got dem live things in 'em, you kin git chew nine dimes an' take an' git chew one dose little cornered file an' git yo' a piece of newspapah. Yo' file one-half of each one of dose nine dimes an' git chew half a pint of sweet milk and take dat dust an' po' into dat drink of sweet milk. Let that silver lie in yo' all night long till de next mawnin'. Den yo' git up an' git chew a brand new bottle of castor oil an' take. That silver, dat kills that thing, and oil jis' - it'll all pass out. Silver kills poison.
Entry 1574
If people poison yo', goin' poison yo', wear sulphur in yore shoes an' yo' takes sulphur.
(What will that do?)
That keep the poison out.
Entry 1612
Dey kin take yore chamber lye - jes' lak anybody go tuh work an' poison yo' or anything, yo' see. Well, yo' kin git some sweet milk, yo' see, an' honey, yo' understan', an' a lil' likker an' mix dat chamber lye - jes' a little, yo know - an' likker an' honey an' vinegar. Well, yo' take dat yo' see an' dat would make yo' vomit it up yo' see.
Entry 1626
Mah auntie had to use that. They say when a person tryin' to poison yo', they say git up ev'ry mawnin' fer nine mawnin's an' throw yore chamber lye out backward over yore left shoulder backwards an' don't look back at it an' that will keep 'em from poison yeh. Yo' do that before the sunrise.
Entry 1639
If a person poison yo', give you some kind of deadly poison, yo' know, tuh poison yo', take yo' a hoecake of [corn]meal out chure flour an' take yo' jes' any amount of chamber lye dat chew have from de night ovah an' mix it up. But chew buy yo' a brand-new yard of homespun cloth [almost always homespun; cloth rarely added] an' right at chure fireplace mix it up jes' like yo' mixing up dough. An' yo' make, yo' know, jes' a flat roun' hoecake an' put it in de backside of yo' fiahplace. Dat befo' yo make yo' fiah in de mornin', yo' under- stand, an' den builds yore fiah on top of it. An' whosomevah done anything to yo' - whosomevah poisoned yo', say dat'll turn it back on dem.
Entry 3094
My grandmother - well, I'm speaking of my aunt - just as well say grandmother, she was born a slave. She [aunt] said that one night she dreamt that this friend of hers was mixing up something that was green, yet it was sup- posed to be milk. And she said to her husband next day, "Purnell, don't you take dinner with Bettie on Sunday." But sure enough he would go and take dinner with this woman on Sunday - they were friends - and sure enough this woman did poison her [aunt's] husband in milk. So he called on a man by the name of George Jackson who lived out here near Girdletree [Maryland] at that time - he's dead now. [George Jackson never lived at Girdletree.] And he went to call on this old man George Jackson. And he went to get some roots out of the woods and boiled it up. And while he was boiling these up he was singing a song. And the more he'd sing, the more this stuff would boil. I suppose that was just [uncle's] imagination. But when he got it boiled as much as he wanted it, he gave my uncle this to drink. And there had been things crawling up and down - running up and down - inside of him. You could hear them. She [aunt] said this had happened about two weeks after he took this dinner. You could hear these things squealing as if though they were mice and rats. And finally, when he drank this up, an hour or so afterwards, why these things came from him - he discharged these things. And they were wood- bitches - ground puppies.
[For another example of singing while something boils, see 918, p.337.]
This happened down here at St. James [a Negro community in which I was to work a few days later]. St. James is five miles on the other side of Pocomoke [City, Maryland] right on the border of Virginia. [The speaker is Jerry Williams, George Jackson's grandnephew and my contact man. I had interviewed him that summer at Ocean City, Md. We are about to start my second collecting trip in Maryland - Friday, Dec. 14, 1936 - as well as to use the Telediphone for the first time. This unusual story of George Jackson singing to his brew, the first recording for the Telediphone, signifies bubbling luck - also work - for the 3000 cylinders to follow.]
Entry 3099
[Pauline lived on an island 6 miles from Brunswick, Georgia, where I Was then working. What an opportunity to have explored that marvelous coastline as I had done at Beaufortl But I resisted the tempta- tion, refusing to break my rule - not to interview white doctors. I have two accounts of Pauline, both taken from broken interviews. In the first, we had been talking about Pauline - I am unable to find this - and then later I ask the following question.]
(Are there any white people that work here now?)
[Informant returns to Pauline.]
She lives on Bly's Island.
(Oh! She is still here. I don't want to talk to her but I just wondered.)
[Brunswick, Ga., (1201), C400:7 = 2017:7.]
iTne second account of Pauline comes from a man who has already given us in- formation about Doctor Buzzard - see 3071, p.893.] A white woman.
(What was her name?)
Miss Pauline.
(Where does she live?)
She lives heah at Bly's Island, a large island right cross tuh de rivah on de road to Jacksonville.
(Oh, just near Brunswick?)
Yes sir - six miles out chere [on the road] tuh Jacksonville. Well, mah mother done taken me out dere. Well, soon as ah got dere she set down an' talk tuh me. She asked me if ah evah worked any place an' ah tole her where ah worked. She asked me, "Did yo' have any enemies round dere?" Ah said, one woman wus a cook dere an' she wanted concernin' me tuh have somepin tuh do wit her - me an' her had tuh make beds in dis, yo' know, to dis home ever' mawnin' together. Ah wouldn't say nuthin to her. She said ah tried tuh play cute. She de one dat put down de stuff at de back gate of dis white tourist home where we were workin', an' ah step on it wit mah right fut gettin' ovah de fence. She done put it right whar ah got ovah de fence at ever' mawnin'. Me an' her wus de first ones dere. So after she seen me - see, ah tried to step on mah left fut, if it done kilt me. See, after two yeahs an' a half ah wus dried up to 135 pounds. She [Pauline] tole mama tuh let me come dere an' she would give me medicine. She taken sulphur, turpentine an' some kinda cocklespur weed - cocklebur weed - taken de cocklebur weed an' made a medicine out of it. [Three ingredients.] So she made a medicine an' ah started to taken dat cocklebur weeds an' sulphur an' turpentine. An' tole me tuh wear three pieces of Irish potatoes - white potatoes in each one of my shoes. So after dey figured - it came on to 'fect mah othah fut an' mah hips, yo' see, an' ah wus dead from heah down [demonstrates].
(From your hips down.)
Yeah, from de hips down. So after dat ah wore de Irish potato an' thing. an' ah begin tuh git bettah. So she tole me not tuh drink no whiskey. So ah stop off from drinkin' some whiskey an' got tuh walkin' an' ah put down de crutches. Yo' know, ah could walk wit de walkin' cane. Ah put down de crutches. So ah begin tuh drink whiskey at night wit de othah boys roun' heah. So dat throw me agin. Dey had tuh take me dere agin. She tole me ah had been drinkin'. Well, when ah got dere dat time, it had done came up into mah shoulders heah - see [demonstrates], it had me, ah'm daid in mah left ahrm - come up mah left side. So she had tuh work fast. Dey had tuh keep me out dere tuh her house fo' three days. So we had tuh pay her wit three pieces of silver money - ah had tuh find three silver dollahs somewhere. She charge only three dollahs - don't care how big de case wus - had tuh pay her wit three silver pieces of money. That concernin' de three links of chain also.
(Of Mary - that Mary wore around her neck?)
["Dat concerning de three linked chain dat Mary wore pertaining tuh de Bible" - from his interview in INTERVIEWS.] Yes sir, dat [represents] three silver dollahs dat ah had tuh pay her wit. De firs' time paid her wit a silver dollah, an' after ah went three times, had tuh pay her de three silver dollahs. So dat's de whole case of it, until ah taken up dis last bottle of medicine. Ah didn't drink any mo' an' dey said ah wus cured of it. Den ah had a fren'. He wus poison by a girl on a piece of cake. But he wus crowin' lak a rooster - jumpin' up an' down. An' ah tole him concernin' dis same lady - tole his mothah. An' she taken him out dere an' she pay her with three silver piece of money - carried him three times. See, each time it wus a dollah. When she carried him de last time, dat's when she gave him some kinda medicine an' out of his throat came a frog, little small wiggle-tail, little small snake. [Three things came out of his throat.]
Entry 5208
People, yo' know, kin take an' weah sulphur in de shoes, an' as long as yo' weah sulphur in yore shoes, ah don' care who put anythin' down fo' yo', it wouldn't hurt chew. Sulphur an' salt eats up de poison.
Entry 6535
If anybody poisons yo', yo' git dem red ants - de red ants. Ah don' know nuthin 'bout nuthin but de red ants. An' yo' git dem red antses an' yo' put it in a li'le bit of whiskey, an' yo' put some gunpowdahs wit it. An' when yo' put it in dat whiskey an' de gunpowdah, yo' make it out a liquid yo' see, of a mub. An' den yo' put it down dere an' yo' git de white of a aig, an' yo' mix dat up as a rub stuff. An' rub yoreself wit it, an' if dere an' insect in yo', why dat'll cuz dem tuh leave. As fur as ah heard of dat.
Entry 6550
Dey use a frog. Kin take a frog an' kill 'im, an' git a drop of 'is blood an' a drop of someone's blood an' put it tuhgethah. An' put it in some coffee or whiskey or tea or sompin lak dat, an' give it tuh dem tuh drink. Well, dey'll be poisoned an' go crazy an' yo' have tuh send 'em tuh 'sylum.
Entry 6562
Ah've heard tell of 'em usin' frogs fo' diff'ren' things. Now ah've heard tell of 'em - yo' take a frog an' yo' wanta put a SPELL on a person, poison a person. Yo' take a frog an' kill 'im an' let 'im git dry. Den yo' parches 'im where yo' kin powdah it up. Yo' take dat powdah an' put it intuh whiskey or watah or yore coffee, an' let - yo' know, from time tuh time, let 'em drink offa dat. An' it'll create frogs in 'em.
Entry 6574
Ah heard dat chew kin take a lizard an' take an' cut 'im an' dry 'im up. Kill 'im an' aftah yo' kill 'im, den yo' cut 'im. An' put 'im out on a piece of bo'd in de sun an' dry 'im up until he come crinkle. Den yo' take him an' parch 'im. Put 'im in de stove an' parch 'im, an' take him out an' grind 'im up an' put 'im in a bottle.
(What will that do?)
Dat dust, yo' kin jis' keep it in dat bottle. See, dat dust will poison people.
Entry 6584
Git 'em - an' yo' take dese heah stingin' scorpions, too. Git 'em an' parch 'em up. Let 'em git good an' brown. Cook 'em an' den powdah 'em up right good, an' put 'em in a bottle of watah an' stop 'em up real tight fo' awhile. An' den if yo' wanta poison dat indi- vidual, why yo'll po' some of dat out intuh 'is watah.
Entry 6588
Now yo' take a scorpion, he's poison. Now yo' got sompin ag'in me an' yo' got sompin ag'in a man on King Street. Yo' may got sompin ag'in a man on Spring Street. Well, now, ah'm de fust [first] one yo' wanta git nex' tuh. Dis man on Spring Street de secon' man yo' wanta git nex' tuh. Well, yo'll take dat SCOrpion an' kill 'im. WHEN YO' DONE KILL DAT SCORPION, YO' BRING 'IM HOME HALF LIVE. YO' AIN'T KILL 'IM ALTUHGETHAH. He half live when yo' bring 'im home, but yo' finish killin' 'im when yo' bring 'im in yore house. Aftah yo' finish killin' 'im, de last lick yo' hit 'im yo' know yo' goin' kill 'im, yo' goin' call mah name. Yo' call mah name. Ah'm yore enemy. Ah'm yore dead [deadly] enemy. Ah'm de one yo' Wants tuh git nex' tuh altuhgethah. But when yo' kill dat scorpion an' call mah name, ah'm goin' take sick. Now dat man ovah heah on Spring Street, yo' goin' call 'is name by dat scorpion's tail. Yo' goin' cut dat scorpion's tail off jis' about dat much [demonstrates]. Well, yo' goin' tuh hold dat scorpion an' yo' wrap dat wit silk thread, silk thread. An' [as] yo' hit it, yo' cast it in yore yard an' say, "Go, yo' bastard, yo'." An' he's gone.
(And would it do anything to the person living on King Street, then?)
Dat man on King Street goin' work wit me.
Entry 6609
Yo' take a snake an' when he git angry kill 'im. An' dey take dat snake an' hang 'im up an' let dat blood drip. An' when de blood drip, take dat blood in a bottle an', lak if any- body dat yo' don' lak, a person yo' don' lak, yo' put dat blood intuh dere whiskey. An' dat poison a person. Say dat put live snakes in some persons.
Entry 6618
Ketch a blacksnake an' jis' hang 'im up, cut 'is haid off an' let nine drops of blood drop in a cup. See, an' yo' put dat in whiskey an' give it tuh most anybody dat yo' think have harmed yo'. Well, dat poison, yo' see. Dat's poison den. (What will that do to them?) It would create snakes in dem. An' aftah a long while dat would kill 'em.
Entry 6628
Take a snake an' cut 'is haid off, which is poisonous, yo' know, an' let dat haid dry up completely. An' den take it an' pound it up an' give it tuh dat individual tuh eat. Or de snake gut or anythin' like dat, an' give it tuh dat individual in dere food tuh eat. It don' hardly kill 'em, but it will cuz li'le insex [insects] tuh grow in 'em.
Entry 6652
Well, dey tell me dat if a person wanta poison anothah one, jis' lak - AH RECKON DEY CALL IT WITCHCRAFT. AH DON' KNOW WHUT DEY CALL WITCHCRAFT. AH DON' KNOW EVEN WHUT DAT IS. But anyway, ah'm talkin' 'bout whut ah have heard, whut folks tell me. Say, jis' lak yo' might wanta poison a man or woman, or somebody else ah didn't lak, ah would hunt a snake, de skin offa dat snake, dey shed. Ah take dat shed an' ah would carry dat an' pound it up an' put it intuh dis an' hang dat up in de chimley where it keep warm an' hot fo' nine days. Den yo' take dat aftah yo' let it stay nine days, take it down an' yo' kin - dere'll come live thin's in it from dat shed. An' yo' take dat den an' put it in othah whiskies an' give it tuh someone an' dere come live things in 'em.
Entry 6722
Black cat, a black chicken. An' if yo' git hurt, a snake bit chew or anythin', yo' cut dem open live an' put it on dere. It'll draw all de poison out.
Entry 6726
Dat's de way ah heard about a friz- zled chicken. Take a frizzled chicken an' if dere any poison aroun' yore house, if anybody put down any poison fo' yo' an' yo' got a frizzled chicken in dere, he git it up.
Entry 6637
Ah heard 'em tell dey could git a snake, a poisonous snake, an' take kill 'im, see an' dry him. Dry him out an' dat would make a dust, yo' undah- stan'. An' take dat dust an' put it in dere shoes, an' it would kill 'em. Ah don't know how true it is, only whut ah heard. Jis' put in 'is shoes.
doubted report of harmful dust from an explicitly poisonous snake. Both Ah heard and Ah don’t know how true it is, only whut ah heard must remain visible. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 6767
If a man give yo' some poison - yo' git de poison in yo'. Den yo' make a tea out de dirt daubah nest an' drink it, an' dat'll kill it.
Entry 6802
Yo' kin split a live frog open an' put it on dat place where yo' snake bitten at an' de poison will come intuh de frog.
Entry 6811
Yo' take garlic, yo' see, if a person got poison in 'em. Yo' jis' take dat garlic an' yo' stew dat down wit vinegah, an' yo' give it tuh dat person tuh eat. Dat will kill it down in dere. (What kind of poison?) Any kind. Jis' say, jes' lak dere's a person down heah gives yo' poison in whiskey or sompin. Yo' know, jis' LAK A PERSON TRY TUH KILL YO', TRY TUH GIVE YO' ANY KINDA SNAKE-HAID DUST.
(Any live things in them?)
Yeah.
Entry 6812
Ah know whut ah done tuh keep 'em from hurtin' me, aftah dey hurt mah chile. Ah put sulphuh in mah shoes. Dey say dat wuz good. An' dey tell me tuh drink garlic. Put watah on de garlic an' drink it, an' said put sulphuh in mah shoe, an' drink milk an' sulphuh. Dat's what dey tell me.
(Drink what kind of sulphur?)
Drink milk an' sulphuh.
(Milk and sulphur. Mix the milk together?) Yes, sir, an' drink it. Say dat's good fo' poison. (No one can hurt you if you do that.)
Entry 6820
Take de grapevine an' de gourd vine an' dese things dey call sunflow- ahs, an' yo' kin make a tea wi' dat. An' dat is very good tuh take fo' de blood if anyone go tuh work an' work on yore blood agains' chuh. Well, yo' kin go tuh work an' work wit dat, an' nobody kin nevah hurt chew. A gourd vine is a very simple medicine tuh take against poison any time. If anybody take it, dey nevah git poisoned.
(Well, what would they take from the gourd vine?)
Jis' de leaves, eithah de vine.
Entry 6831
If yo' gotten any poison - yo' see, anythin' dat wuz poisoned - dey could go tuh a gumwood tree an' git de innahba'k, yo' undahstan', from de sun- rise side, an' boil it in sweet milk. An' give tuh dat person three times a day, a tablespoonful, an' dat would offset some trouble, dat poison.
(You mean if somebody has tricked them?)
[I am asking, is this ordinary or hoodoo poison.]
Yeah, somebody's tricked 'em.
(Cunjured them or something?)
Dat's right. Dere wuz a ole man dat usta [use tol come tuh mah gran'mothah's house an' he would tell 'er a certain person wuz jis' down an' out, chew know, jis' couldn't har'ly [hardly] live, an' dis same remedy dat ah'm tellin' yo' 'bout now, of de sap ba'k from de sun- rise of a gum tree. Boil dat in sweet milk an' give dat person. An' dere's somepin 'bout a blacksnake hide dat yo' git fo' 中商 dat person tuh weah it roun' 'is vaist or anythin'. Give him dat sweet milk an' gum ba'k boiled, yo' undahstan', fo' a medicine. Dat would be de remedy.
Entry 6900
Git some red pod peppah an' some vinegah an' heat it real hot, an' git in it an' bathe in it. Wash all de parts. See, when it comes out through de po's [pores] of yore skin yo're sweat- in' den, an' dat'll cuz dat poison tuh go away from yo'.
Entry 6901
Anything wrong, yo' kin take some sweet milk an' heat it real hot, an' put some red cayenne peppah in it an' put some red pod peppah in it. An' scrape some silvah off de dime an' put in de glass, an' put some gun- powdahs in it, an' yo' drink it. An' when yo' drink it, jis' makes yo' bu'st out in a big sweat an' den yo' kin vomit it up.
(This poison?)
Yeah.
Entry 6902
(What's the name of it?)
It's called de red shank.
(The red shank root?)
Yes, sir. It's called de red shank an' ah'll tell yo'. If ah came tuh yo' an' if ah've got a bad disease, see. Well, yo' take dat red shank, yu' undah- stan', if it's put out, why yo' take de top of it; an' if it's not put out, yo' take a grubbing hoe an' dig the root up an' wash de root. See. Put it intuh two quarts of watah, an' bile [boil] it down tuh one quart [the magic of diminishing amount]. Unnahstan'?
(I understand.)
Bile it down tuh one quart. Den yo' take - when yo' bile it down tuh one quart, yo' take it an' yo' set it off [the stove]. Unnahstan' dat?
(Yes.)
An' den when yo' set dat off, yo' git a li'le piece of bluestone, lak a speck- led pea, an' beat it up right fine an' stuff it in dere. Git chew a li'le piece alum about dat long. Put it in dere, but let de watah be good an' cool. See, don' put it in dere hot. An' den yo' takes it den, an' yo' give it tuh 'im an' tell 'im tuh take three swallows three times a day. Now de way a boy, or man eithah - whutevah he is don't yo' take it jis' lak yo' drinkin' watah, becuz if yo' drink it lak yo' drinkin' watah, well it don't do yo' any good, becuz it will git down in yore stomic an' it will be dere so much till it will sour. It will be de same as milk, when yo' drinks it. Dat buttahmilk when a man is in bad shape, it's jis' a dose of poison tuh 'im. It keeps sour on 'is stomic. Jis' take no more dan three teaspoonsful a day. Take it as [medicine] yo' know. If yo' take too much of it, why it don't do you any good. It'll do yo' harm.
(Three swallows. One swallow before each meal?)
Dat's right.
(I see, each day. All right.)
An' den don't eat so much grease.
(What did you say?)
I say, let de buttahmilk alone.
(I see.)
Entry 6924
Takes a dime an' put a hole through it, an' yo' kin weah it roun' yuh ankle or roun' yuh arm or roun' yuh neck. Dat's in case if a person wants tuh try tuh poison yo'. Dey claims dat dat poison goes in dat silvah in place of in yuh system.
Entry 6925
Fo' pertectin' yo'self if yo' thought dat dey wus goin' tuh put any- thin' down, lotta people goes tuh work an' take a silvah dime an' put it roun' dem laigs an' weah dat. Dey say de silvah dime will ketch de poison.
Entry 6929
Tuh see whethah a person's poisoned or not. Dey take dat silvah dime an' dey put it in yuh mouth an' put it undah yuh tongue, an' keep it undah dere ten minutes; an' if yo' take de dime out an' de dime black, why dey say yo're poisoned.
Entry 6931
Yo' take a silvah dime, yo' file dis silvah dime in- tuh a pint of milk, yo' bile dat milk, yo' drank it, an' dat milk's gon'a bring whutsomevah poison in yuh. It's gon'a bring it out.
Entry 6934
(How do you do that, now?) Take a dime, one thin dime, an' file it in sweet milk an' drink it, an' take fresh lard an' drink down, an' dat poison-a come up. Pull dat poison up.
Entry 6936
If anybody wuz poisoned an' lak if anybody wuz goin' do anythin' fo' dem, an' dey jis' really knows dis one thing an' jis' make up an' do fo' dem. Well, if dey wuz poisoned in a way dat chewed wanta do sompin fo' 'em, why yo' would take whiskey, a dime drink of whiskey, an' nine drops of turpentine an' puts it in dis whiskey. An' [if] dis whiskey don' make 'em drunk an' de tur- pentine won't bothah 'em, well dey drinks it down. Well, dey drinks it down. Well, tuh make it shore, yo' takes a ten-cent [piece] an' file it off wit a file. Well, yo' puts it in sweet milk an' give it tuh dem tuh drink evah day, jis' lak yo' do a meal.
(What will that do?)
Well, dat will draw de poison from 'em.
Entry 6943
[Silver will] run it outa yo'. Ah'll run it outa yo'. Ah'll git me a dime or quartah - so it's silvah money - take me a file an' ah'll file dat stuff, dat quartah, yo' see, an' git de dust, git it plumb dusty. All right, ah'll git me some vinegah, some salt. See, ah'll put it in dere. Ah'll put me fif- teen drops of turpentine in dere wit it. Ah'll git me a box of Epsom salts. Ah'll give yo' dat Epsom salts three times a day. Dat's tuh keep yore bowels open. Dat vinegah an' dat, whut ah got made up. Yo' drink it fo' times a day until it take a act on yo'. Well, now, it - in drinkin' dat, why it'll stir dat up in yo', yo' see, stir dat poison up. An' dat Epsom salt [is] tuh keep yuh bowels open, yo' see, an' pass it on through.
Entry 7234
Ah wus goin' wit a girl about six yeahs ago an' ah quit dis girl. An aftah ah quit dis girl, ah started goin' wit anothah girl. An' dis othah [first] girl got acquainted wit dis othah [second] girl. An' so she [first girl] got acquainted wit de girl ah wus goin' wit, dis othah [second] girl. Co'se [Of course] ah didn't tell 'er dat ah had evah been wit dis girl. An' so dis [first] girl had a party one Satiday night an' she got me dis girl dat ah didn't wan' 'er tuh know of. Quite natchel ah wen' tuh de party. So she had a Victrola, wusn't no radio den. In fac' [fact] she didn't [would- n't?] have one no way. An' she had a li'le whiskey fer de party dat night. An' so, all de while ah wus goin' wit 'er de ole Victrola, de spring 'ud [spring would] jump off sometimes an' ah used tuh fix it fer 'er, while ah wus goin' wit 'er. So she, aftah de music stopped, she tole dem dat ah could fix de Victrola. An' she'd [she had] taken de Victrola in de kitchen an' put it on de table. An ah went in dere an' see zactly [exactly] whut wus de mattah wit it an' fixed it. An' she put a pint of whiskey on de table up dere. Well AH DIDN'T PAY NO 'TEN- TION 'CUZ AH NEVAH DID BELIEVE IN DIS STUFF [HOODOO]. SO AH DRINK SOME OF DIS WHISKEY. MATTAH OF FACT AH'D TAKEN SEV'RAL DRINKS OF DIS WHISKEY. An' so, aftah ah got de Victrola completed an' evahbody got tuh dancin', an' den ah started takin' a couple a dances mahself. Well, when ah started takin' dese few dances mahself, ah got dizzy; got a li'le dizzy an' got a haidache an' got out mah haid some. An' de girl frien' ah wus goin' wit den, she'd taken me tuh 'er apartment. Aftah she'd taken me tuh 'er apartment, ah woke up nex' mawn- in' an' found mahself dere. So ah kinda come tuh mah haid a li'le bit. An' den she rent de cah [car] tuh take me home. So dey'd taken me home. An' when ah got home - ah don' remembah when ah got home or nuthin of de kin' lak dat. So 'bout nine o'clock Sunday mawnin', well ah started havin' fits, one right behin' de othah. So dey tell me, ah don' know anythin' about it. Ah fell unconscious den. So dey spent dat Sunday. DEY HAD ALL KINDA DOCTORS. DEY SPENT $74 ON ME DAT SUNDAY ON DIFF'REN' DOCTORS AN' NOBODY WOULD TAKE DE CASE. SOME DOCTORS WOULD COME IN AN' TREAT ME FER SOMPIN - DIABETES AN' DIFF'REN' THIN'S - AN' MAH REG'- LAH FAMILY DOCTOR, HE COULDN'T TAKE DE CASE. So he tole mah uncle an' evahbody dat he didn't know whut wus de mattah. It wus a case tuh 'im. So den ah stayed unconscious from dat Sunday mawnin' at nine o'clock until dat Monday night at half past eleven. Well a frien' of mine - didn't tell me - ah wus still unconscious, but he tole mah uncle. "WE DONE TRIED EVAHBODY ELSE CHERE [HERE], SUPPOSE WE TRY A HOODOO DOCTOR. IF HE DON' DO NO GOOD, WE JIS' WON' PAY 'IM. He [this doctor] run worms out mah mothah, but she [mother] said, "Ah know anothah good lady [but she is too far away], but anyway, by he bein' so bad off, we'll go up an' see dis one firs'." So dis fellah came in - so dey tell me, see ah wus still unconscious - said, "Yes, " S SAID AH WUS POISONED, AN' HE WOULD HAVE ME ON MAH FEET IN 45 MINUTES. Well, it wus about eleven-thirty den.
(In the morning or night?)
In de night. An' dis wus on a Monday night. Ah had been unconscious since Sunday mawnin' nine o'clock till ovah dat Monday night at eleven. SO HE COME IN AN' COMMENCES TUH WORKIN' ON ME. SAYS MY BOWELS WAS LOCKED AN' DIFF'REN' THIN'S. HE GIVE ME SOAP AN' BITTAH ALOES...
[I interrupt.]
(How did he give you the soap?)
He taken de soap an' he jis' mixed it up in a glass; yo' know, jis' watah enough tuh make de soap dissolve. Yo' know, Octagon soap, an' made somepin lak a pill outa it an' jis' held mah mouth an' rubbed mah throat - so dey tell me - until ah swallah dat. An' den dey give me bittah aloes an' dat unlocked mah bowels. AN' SOON AS IT UNLOCKED MAH BOWELS, AH COME TO. When ah cOme to, ah knows mahself. When ah wus on de party ah wusn't able tuh go tuh de bathroom. AN' [AFTER MY BOWELS MOVED] DEY SHOED ME A ANIMAL COME OUTA ME 'BOUT - AH GUESS ABOUT DAT LONG [DEMONSTRATES].
(As long as your little finger.)
YEAH AN IT LOOKED SOMEPIN LAK DE COLAH OF A ORANGE PEELIN', AN' IT RAN UP ON DE MEDICINE GLASS TRYIN' TUH GIT OUT. Ah [had] come tuh, den. Co'se ah wuS weak aplenty. Ah wus weak aplenty from havin' dose fits. Ah wusn't any good. De fact is, he tole me it would take aroun' a couple a yeahs tuh git so ah wus well ag'in. In fact it did. So ah commence tuh askin' question Who did it. HE'D TAKEN A NEWSPAPAH AN' PLACED IT IN A PAN OF WATAH AN' LET IT SET IN DIS PAN A WATAH SOMEWHEAH ROUN' ABOUT AH THINK - IT WUS NINE MINUTES AH THINK, AN' DIS WOMAN'S PICHURE COME ON DAT NECKED [NAKED] JIS' LAK SHE WORN NUTHIN ON 'ER - NECKED ABSOLUTELY.
(The woman that did this to you?)
Yeah. So he ast me did ah know dat woman. Ah say, "Yes." He say, "Well do yo' wan' tuh have her tuh come here an' confess tuh yo'?" DE PICHURE APPEAHED ON DE NEWSPAPAH RIGHT LAK DAT AN' HE TOLE ME TUH LOOK AT IT QUICK. AN' AH LOOKED AT. IT QUICK AN' AH RECOGNIZED IT AN' IT JIS' FADED AWAY AN' JIS' STAYED LAK DAT. [Before proceeding to the doctor's magic-mirror trick, let me pause in an attempt to explain his pan-of-water trick, the latter an excellent example of hydromancy. The doctor had brought in his usual medical kit a newspaper folded into folds about 3 inches wide; the top fold containing type only, the bottom fold also the picture of a scantily dressed woman. He then holds the newspaper several inches under the Water, type side up and picture side down. Patient is instructed to free his mind of all thought except the identity of the spellcaster soon to be revealed. Gaze at the water constantly without blinking. After a long period, as much as 9 minutes, the doctor begins to rotate the newspaper so that the picture suddenly appears and disappears. He tole me tuh look at it quick an' ah looked at it quick an' ah recognized it an' it faded away.] So he said, now ah'll have her tuh come here an' confess tuh yo' dat she did it, if yo' want me tuh. Ah tole him, ah said, "Yeah, ah'll be glad tuh." He'd taken a mirrah an' turn it bottom upwards; taken a mirrah an' turn de face up lak dat [demonstrates].
(The face of the mirror up.)
Lak dat. An' he said - ast me whut wus 'er name. An' ah tole 'im 'er name. Ast me whut wus mah name, an' ah tole him mah name. He wrote mah name at de top an' 'er name at de bottom.
(On this mirror?)
On a piece of papah an' placed it on topa dis mirrah. An' den he'd taken a clock an' turned it face down, almos' right on topa de mirrah, an' let dat stay dere fo' five minutes. An' he'd taken it up in fo' an' a half minutes, an' put it down fō' a few seconds, den picked it up. He tole me she would be dere in five minutes. Ah don' know where she wus. She wus away cross town, somewhere. But he tole me tuh watch out fer 'er, she would be dere in five minutes. Ah Wus wondahin' how she goin' tuh git dere. She lived on Marshall Avenue 'bout fō' or five blocks from dere. Well in fō' an' a half minutes from de clock she wus dere. She come up on - man had a automobile, a taxi. Ah don' know whethah she wus on 'er way dere or whut, but in fō' an' a half minutes she wus dere. She tole me dat she did it an' she wus sorry. She says she didn't do it 'erself, said she got somebody else tuh do it, an' tole me his name an' evahthin'. (Do you know what they put in the whiskey to hurt you that Way? What she put into the whiskey?) Yes, dis fellah had taken two grains of snake dust an' put in de whiskey. But dat wasn't did dat Satiday night. Had it been did dat Satiday night, it wouldn't a worked so fast, see. She had did it somewhere roun' about three months agO, an' DAT LIVE ANIMAL HAD BEEN PERFORMED FROM DAT SNAKE DUST. An' den ah had been away from 'er fō' fō' or five months, an' had been goin' wit anothah girl an' had passed 'er up. Well dis girl wus teachin' school. Well ah wouldn't let dis girl know dat ah had evah been wit 'er, cuz ah thought dere would be a lot a jealouSy dere. WELL, WHEN AH WENT BACK DAT NIGHT, DEY STIRRED IT UP, YO' SEE, AN' DAT MADE DIS LIVE ANIMAL LOCK MAH BOWELS. AN' IT HAD TUH PASS THROUGH OR ELSE AH'D A LIVED SO MANY HOURS HAVIN' DOSE FITS AN' DIED.
Entry 8293
[Quicksilver in hoodoo is rarely the. metallic element mercury; it is usually tin foil, or scrapings from the metallic amalgram backing a mirror. There are other examples of this quicksilver in Hoodoo, and perhaps one or two of the real substance.] Ah said dey take a gun an' load it wit quicksilvah an' shoot chure pichure, in yo' arm or somepin lak dat. Make a card, don't chew undahstand, an' if yo' don' do somepin fer it, why it will jis' keep arottin' an' rottin' till it ruin yo', yo' undahstand, wit bloodpoison. (How could you shoot quicksilver in a gun?) Take yore [gun] powdah an' put it in dere an' den yo' pack it. Now yo' [add] buckshot. Den yo' take yo' quicksilvah lak dat [put these 3 things in gun or shell] don't chew undahstand, an' put it in de gun.
Entry 8836
They take yore han' - lak ah git chure han'writin' an' ah'll take yore han'writin', even if ah don't know whut tuh do, yo' git somebody else. Yo' take yore han'writin' an' put a smoothin' iron down on it an' take a smooth piece of white Papah an' put chure han'writin' down on it. Well, take a hot iron an' put it on de top [of the handwriting] an' dat'll draw jes' lak yore han' is kinda wet on de papah, dat will draw de dirt from yore han' on de clean papah. [For another example of drawing, see No.8831.] Yo' take dis clean piece of papah dat chew had de han'- Writin' in it. Den yo' take dis papah an' twist it lak dat once [demonstrates]. Git it jes' long as yo' kin till yo' git eight rolls [or twists] in dat papah. Yo' take dat papah an' yo' junk it down in a bottle. An' yo' take dat bottle dat chew put dat down in, in dere. Den yo' take salt in de pinch of yore fingah lak dis [demonstrates] eight times an' put in dere. Well, yo' take some watah lak yo' take a cowpas [see later for this word]. Boil de watah an' po' in dere off a cowpas. Yo' buys it, a cowpas, yo' buys it from de drug sto'. Dat's if somebody gittin' poisoned, yo' see, cowpassin'. Yo' buy it from de drug' sto'. (Is that what they give dogs? Something like that, what they give to the dogs?) Well, ah guess, but ah nevah see dem give it to de dogs. [I think informant is speaking about copperas, a word pronounced in many ways and occurring frequently in the text.]
(What color is it?)
It's jes' lak silvahwhite, funny-lookin' stuff. Well, yo' boil it an' puts it on dis papah. Well, see, dat stuff is tuh - eat, chew know, de papah by de- grees. Well, as it eat dis papah by degrees, dat's eatin' yo', puttin' de spell on yo' jes' as de papah eat. But yo' gotta put dis back in runnin' watah. Yo' can't keep it out until finely [finally] de papah's et [eaten] up an' de bottle is all busted an' yo' see it all gone tuh watah. Well, it's no cure fo' yo'.
(That eats you up, you say?)
It jes' eats yo' up. Yo' see people look lak dey has some kinda vener'al disease. Yo' know, look lak a sore break on yo' dere an' a sore break on yo' heah, an' when yo' git dat healed somepin else broke out on yo'. Firs' thing yo' know yo' pass away. (You put this clean piece of paper on the letter in order to draw out the perspiration - around this perspiration.) Wit a hot iron, not too hot iron, but jes' a...
Entry 9582
If a person tryin' tuh poison yo', yo' kin take peppah an' salt an' weah it in yore shoes. Evah time yo' put chure shoe on, keep dat red peppah an' salt in dere [see that it has not leaked out] an' ah don' care whut dey put down, it cain't hurt chew.
Entry 9882
If yo're poisoned yo' use a frog. Yo' take dat frog an' yo' cut 'im half in two, an' lay 'im on de place where - yo' know, jis' lak it wuz a li'l swollen or sompin lak dat some place. Yo' lay dat frog on top dat place an' de one dat chew had a idea dat did do it, yo' jis' cuss 'em out an' tell 'em, "Ah want chew tuh be jis' lak dis frog is, daid an' in he-ell." An' he'll swell up jis' lak de frog would. Jis' lak yo' are, dat's jis' how it would be happen tuh dem.
Entry 9888
If anyone poisoned, yo' kin take a live toadfrog and split 'im wide open an' bind 'im up on dere, it'll take dat 'fect away.
Entry 9914
If ah be in de baid sick - ah hear'd dat if yo' be in de baid sick an' yo' are poisoned, yo' ketch a live frog an' wherevah de misery is, yo' put dat frog dere an' dat frog turn green, but if yo' are not poisoned, why he won't. [To understand this remark- able frog-turning-green rite, let us examine a similar rite previously given, the hoodoo woman from Bergen Junction (reference later). Here the victim, having exchanged shoes with another man, wore them to work next day: Dat night he wasn't able to walk home. He was hoppin'. His laig was hurtin' all up, clean up tuh 'is knee. An' yo' kin hear 'im hollerin'. Ah hear 'im my ownself...two blocks. De doctor [M.D.] he come. De doctor couldn't do no good. Dey had to go git...big [prob- ably both in size and importance] hoodoo woman stay out from Bergen Junction... she come dere and she put her han' on 'im jes' lak dis heah [demonstrates] an' drag it over 'is face - we all standing dere lookin' at 'em - bring 'er han' right down ovah 'is face jes' lak dat an' carried it straight on down, right ovah dat laig. An' she done dat three times, an'...two toadyfrogs hopped outa dat man's laig, an' dat man got all right. Come out [the frogs came out] back dere where de two places 'bout tuh come to a haid - where it done, you know, formed a corruption. Here we have one of those head-down-to-feet rites that drives di- sease or evil out of the body through the feet, often the big toe, into or on to the ground. How a sleight-of-hand artist would have performed this trick I do not know, but I can suggest a possible method. The hoodoo woman, probably saying she worked In the Name of the Lord, opened her right hand, turned it about to show it empty, and laid it on top of the man's head In the Name of the Father. Then slowly the open palm went down over the man's face, neck, shoulder, side of body to hip, thigh, knee, leg, foot and finally rested open palm on the ground. There may have been verbal mumbo jumbo along the descent. Next our hoodoo oper- ator saying she would now use more force, closed her hand loosely and began at the man's head again; this time In the Name of the Son. Her half-closed hand going down this time pressed heavier against the man's body. A third time and In the Name of the Holy Ghost, she laid her hand on the man's head, but now hand was a closed fist pressing heavily on its downward journey over the man's body. When she opened her fist on the ground it was empty but two frogs, young ones probably the size of hulled peanuts were jumping about. (Yes, I have seen many of these small frogs.) She then pointed out de two places 'bout tuh come to a haid, where it done, you know, formed a corruption. Surely the corruption on the man's leg was the misdirection permitting the release of the frogs. (For this hoodoo woman from Bergen Junction, see No.1263, p.441, v.1.) The reader will now understand how in our present rite the non-green frog suddenly could turn green. And finally the reader should notice how the present informant quickly changes from if ah be in de baid sick to if you be in de baid sick. This change occurs frequently in HOODOO. After all I was a total stranger to my in- formants, many of whom considered me a hoodoo doctor! Reference for green-frog rite: Brunswick, Ga., (1219), 2061:8.]
Entry 11375
De fig tree - take a bottle an' urinate in de bottle. An' it's jes' lak if yo' got it in fo' me an' yo' wanta hurt me, urinate in de bottle an' den take somepin else [what?] an' po' in dat urinate, an' take dis red string an' tvist it real tight an' slash it to de main root of dat fig tree. Anybody go to dat fig tree an' eat it dey poisoned. If dey eat a fig offa dat tree dey's poi- soned. [The preceding word slash I evidently understood as lash according to my following question.]
(How do you tie this string around it?)
See, yo' takes de cork stop- per an' puts it into dis bottle. An' yo' takes a small nail an' makes a hole right into de center of dis stopper, right down in de cork, see. An' de end of it, take it out an' jes' twist it real tight an' jes' take yore knife an' jes' open de end of a tendril, jes' break off de tendril an' jes' let de thread in dere, an' jes' let it close right back up. See, dat urinate po' right into de tree.
(You have part of the string into the bottle and part of it hanging outside?)
[This is one of several transfusion rites in HooDoO, another example of how doc- tors imitated M.D.'s.] Yes.
Entry 11401
If dirt under your fingernails is dropped into whiskey or anything, your system becomes poisoned or poisoned. [Charleston 642:5.]
Entry 12586
Sometimes a penny is used to keep from being poisoned. If you are poisoned, the penny turns green. [Baltimore, but informant 153 from Charlotte Co., Va., 60:1.]
Entry 12587
Heard of 'em usin' a penny for such as drawin' poison out of yore feet, if yo' stick a nail or sompin in yore feet. Yo' set a penny on it an' dat'll draw it out. [Wilson 2667:4.]
Entry 12985
Take a little piece of this silk root or piece of swamp root and hold it in your mouth and chew it and swallow de juice, and if you is poisoned, it'll make you sick in your stomach and you'll have to vomit. If you start to vomitin', why they've done somepin to you.
Entry 12988
Yo' could take a lizard or a snake or a frog or anything like dat an' Perish it tuh death. Jes' put it in a can or sompin, yo' know, an' let 'im die. Sell, when he die yo' could, yo' know dry it up. Yo' could make a powder out of hin like dat. Well, den if yo' kin git dat in anybody's food, he gonna have dem Live things in 'im - hit'll come back tuh life. Yo' see, dey grow. Well, not de thing dey is tuh git dat out of him - jes' say, if yo' put it in 'im or anybody else put it in 'im, an' dey come tuh yo' [author become a root doctor] fo' tuh git it out of 'im, yo' git chew a silver piece of money. An' yo' wash dis heah, every edge, if yo' use a dime or a quarter or fifty-cent [piece] or anything. Let it be solid silver. An' hit every edge dat dey is round dere. Well yo' give him dat silver [intern- ally] an' dat silver will git dat out of 'im. Hit'll take every bit of dat poison out of 'im.
(You have to hit every edge. With what?)
Yes sir, hit every edge [of the milled coin] with a file. Git chew a brand- new file dat has nevah been used an' yo' hit every edge - jes' a little grated silvah an' [and you give it internally to your patient poisoned by lizard, snake or frog].
Entry 13009
Jes' lak if yo' didn't know whether yo' wus poisoned or not, but a piece of silver is de best. If yo' think yo' were poisoned an' don't know enough fo' shore, if yo' put a piece of silver in yore mouth an' hold it in dere, in de length of time it will turn black if dey is any poison in yo'.
Entry 13014
Well, if yo' git poisoned, yo' kin take a dime an' tie it round yore laig, roun' yore neck, an' if yo' poisoned, dat dime will turn green an' it'll cure it.
(Do you tie that dime - one around each leg?)
No sir, round de left laig.
(And then one around the neck, too?)
Yes sir, one round de neck an' one round de left laig.
Entry 13020
Well, dey say if someone poison yo' an' yo' git it in yore stomach - yo' take a dime an' grind it - yo' jes' file it up into ashes an' - take it, an' dat'll cure it. An' den if yo' poisoned yo' take a dime an' put it on yo' or either wear it on yo an' it'll turn black, den somebody poison yo'.
Entry 13027
If person is poisoned, boil Brown Mule chewing tobacco with grated silver dime, boil teaspoonful twice a day. [Memphis 1569:7.]
Entry 13095
Kin put different things in it to cause yo' feet tuh swell, such as rattlesnake's - take de haid of a rattlesnake an' go out dere an' dry it in a sack yo' know an' take dat dust - dat aw- ful poison yo' know - jes' a little bit of dat. Dat's de same way as dey do tuh kill yo' - right through dis country. Dey'll take dat rattlesnake haid an' dry it yo' know an' git a dust an' lak yo' vanted a drink, dey'd be standin' aroun' an' yo' happen tuh po' de likker out, dey drop de least bit of dat in dere, yo' know. Dat's rank poison. Yo' drink dat whiskey an' it kill yo' an' it hardly kin be detected. Or dey put dat in yore shoes an' cause yore feet tuh swell.
Entry 13098
They could it it with that hair. They can take that hair and mingle it in your comb, and dress that hair under a burnt snakehide, and put that in [on] your head and you'll go bald, and when that perspiration dries in your eyes, you'll go blind.
(You take "burnt snakehide?")
Burnt snakehide.
(You dress that with the comb?) [Dress comb with that!]
Over with the comb. See? And wrap that hair - soak that hair in water and something. Put it in that burnt-snakehide dust, and put it - wrap it in a - like if a person's using the comb, they don't pull all the hairs left out of the comb, and it'll take it to your head. And gradually that stuff will poison the roots of your hair and run you bald.
(I see.)
And if it drips in yore eyes...
Entry 1239
I had a mother, she wus poison. Somebody took her hair. The fellah that come to cure her said they put it in a bottle, a cologne bottle, put it in some runnin' water - that cause her min' wus goin'. He didn't zackly make her, you know, straight; but he told 'er whut wus ailin' her. He told er to git up every night jis' befo' mid- night, she wus livin' in de country, an' walk to the fork of the road. She do that fo' five or six night. I don't know zackly how many nights that he told 'er, but I know he told 'er go to de fork of a road. He told 'er take some dirt from under her front steps an' wear it aroun' her head as a poultice. He said that would help 'er. It helped a lot.
Entry 1544
Fo' poison yo' kin take a silver dollah an' boil it in a halfa gallon of watah an' boil it down to a quart wit dat dollah in dere, an' den when yo' take dat dollah [out] put a dime in dere an' drink off of it. But put chew a little sugah in dere, jes' enough to dress it, an' drink off it an' it will kill de poison. [Unusual use of word dress.]
Entry 1545
Git one of dese little three-edged file and git chew a silver dime an' scrape a little dat silver, and den take a teaspoonful of salt - I mean to say and sulphur, and jes' three drops of camphor and a glass of sweet milk. Dat will git de poison out of you, if dey's got dis dope by witchcraft in you.
Entry 4285
chamber lye kills poison. If yuh keep chamber lye roun' yuh house, wit sulphur an' red peppah, no one can't harm yuh.
Entry 10631
Well, dey claim that the alligatah gall is mo' of a poison den prackly [practically] anything dat choo evah did come across. Take alligatah gall an' trō' [throw] it in de path, or anythin' [any- where] where it won't hurt, an' yo' prackly kin git rid of de whole family.
The report calls alligatah gall a poison. Its asserted strength and effects are unverified, and the bracketed glosses remain editorial.
Source passage
printed interview with editorial and production layers · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
see me all de time, don' choo? [Asking Cubby.]
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Yeah. I see you all de time.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
(Well, just tell Mr. Cubby and tell these people I'm not a policeman, you can see that.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Dere's a lotta dem [healers]. Dere's Zeffie Hill.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
I was tellin' 'im about her.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
MIFFIN
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Tha' Zeffie Hill is good.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
I was tellin' 'im about them. Those are the people who say they heal. That's those yo' were tellin' about comin' in on Sundays.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
MIFFIN
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Yeah. Dey don' do nothin' but heal, give yo' numbahs to have luck an' things. But dese othah people - dey supposed to be good.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
I heard also there was some good ones down in Clewiston.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
MIFFIN
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Yeah, dere's some good ones in Clewiston, Florida. But where at in Clewiston, Florida?)
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
I know I could find that out from her. She gits in on the weekends. She lives in Clewiston but she lives in...
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[Mrs. Miffin breaks in before Cubby finishes statement.]
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
But yo' know whut, if Jera
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[?]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
hadn't o' died - I know one lady tha' he'ped them a lot. But Jera died and Jera always say,
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Named speaker in the recounted account; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"I'm goin' give yo' this woman's address if anythin' evah happen, give her my name an' tell 'er I sent yo'.'
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
But I didn't get to Jera before... Yo' remembah Jera Jones an' she died?
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[Asking Cub- by.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
She say,
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Recounted woman whose identity is unresolved; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"I could git yore son out of trouble.
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Recounted woman whose identity is unresolved; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
I don' know why I sat down so long, I didn't have the money to pay an' go like dey was goin' an' I jis' lef' ev'rythin' in the han's of the Lawd. Tha's jis' how I wus 'cause I didn' b'liev' in 'em, but now I do. "
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Cause I see too many things happenin' now. Tha's true, don' choo think so?
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[To Cubby.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
In some cases.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4497
In some cases, yes.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[A pounding noise here - apparently it is her children pounding their fist on the car door glass]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Darrell get away from there!"
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Go ahead home!"
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
I've seen some things happen I can't explain them myself so it would tend to make yo' sorta believe it.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
(Well now let me give you an illustration - that man you talked to that said he was going to put warts on your arm. Now if you were in the proper frame of mind it's just possible that he could put them on you. See what I mean?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Sho', look what I did about 3 weeks ago. I went to a house - me an' this girl was goin' wid dis same boy. Dis woman, ol' 'nuff fo' my Momma now. This stuff from spirits from whut I know fo' myself. Okay, dey kep' sendin' fo' me an' I know I don' drink no likker. I know good and well I don' drink likker. An' I goes up there - sit there - de bar. Dey had a ha'fa pint settin' up there on de table an' I said to 'er, I said,
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Well, look, I don' drink no likker."
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Yeah, drink some."
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
An' the devil tol' me to drink tha' likker an' boy I'm tellin' yo' - my little daughtah could tell yo' - I came back downstairs, I be- gin to git real sick. She po'ed the likker an' she po'ed the Coca Cola in. The Coca Cola floatin' in the likker an' I came back downstairs an' in about 30 rinutes I got deathly sick an' I got so sick I jis' layed across de bed. An' dis same little girl whut was standin' right dere
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[she may be referring to one of the children who earlier was pounding car window]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4497
. I sta'ted vomitin', an' san, dese li'le things - white an' dey are wrapt up jis' like a worm. Jes' like a worm an' dey come outa me for about 30 minutes an' I wus so sick! Yo' lmou I got a fo'k an' I took one out an' I tried to unwrap it. Ev'rytime I try to unwrap it they wrap back up an' there's about 30 of 'em in dere an'I gen' to de doctah an' yo' know whut he tol' me? I was likker poisoned!
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(You were what?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Likker poisoned. Dat likker was poison.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Uh huh.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[At least I am noncommital!]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
An' yo' know right today she come right dere an' sit on dat step, dat bench right dere ev'ry day. An' I JIS' HATE 'ER TO MY HEART. An' I jis' came right - an' I tol' 'er de othah day,
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
"Don't come to my house no mo'."
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
She ol' 'nuff to be my momma an' she goin' wid dis young boy.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Well why did she do it to you? Is she jealous of you?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Goin' wit de same main. I mean, yo' know she's do dese hot things yo' know, dese lookin' things an' dat woman couldn't see me ag'in no mo', 'cause dat guy is good an' I could git dat money an' a lot of women can't see no man takin' care of no woman. Dere Some Women dat cain't. AN RIGHT DEN AN' DERE I MADE UP IN MY MIN' UNLESS IT'S JESUS, BABY, DAT'S THE ONLIEST PERSON CAN GIVE ME A DRINK - JESUS. If I drink it I be by myself. It's somethin' I bought by my- self, not wit nobody 'cause I been deathly sick from likker. I won' bother wit it. An' she go to dis main up here all de time but he don't do nothin' but heal, yo' know?
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Heal.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Up in Tumesea[?], yo' heard of 'im?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(What's his name?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
I don' know his name.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Tumesea
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[?]
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
, Georgia?
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah. Doc - dey call him Doc.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Where is it now, what's the town?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Tha's in Tumesea
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[?]
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
, Georgia.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Dat's in Thomasville.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[Now it sounds like they are saying Thomasville.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Thomasville?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah. But Honey
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[Who is called Honey?]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
yo' know he got his church, but he do not do no nasty deal. Tha' man's straight. He's a healer, he's straight.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Just a healer. In other words he doesn't put any conditions on you but he will remove evil conditions.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
He will move evil conditions but he will not put nothin' on you.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(I see.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Now, I def'nit'ly knows dat.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Well ther'e
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[there are]
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
some of these people I'd like to talk to just to get their experience.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[My desire will be granted in some of the following interviews.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah. But dere's a lot of 'em yo' go to yo' git a good cussin' out, dat's whut yo'll git 'cause most people don' wan' choo to know dey doin' things like dis. A lot of 'em don', do dey?
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[Asking Cubby.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
No, dey like to keep it a secret.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Lak to keep it a secret.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
CUBBY:
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
They have quite a few 'roun' here, but yo' can't fin' out.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Dere's a lot of 'em roun' here. I'm lookin' at one dere...yo' know who I'm talkin' about, lookin' at one dere right yonder. I mean yo' don' git nothin' dere an' I know yo' don' git nothin' from 'er but a good cussin' out. Oooh, cause she don' - she will not talk to yo'.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(In other words you just have to take it along easy.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(And they have to really trust you and know who you are and all that sort of thing.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah, yeah. Dese people roun' here do not trust yo' too much, yo'd better b'lieve.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Well, I don't blame them. I tell you today the way the world is...)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Mos' of 'em - yo' tell 'em somethin' they go on an' tell the pollece, don't they?
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[Says to Cubby.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
That's right.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4499
De pōleece dey turnin' up givin' yo' all kin'a dirty things. An' yo' jis' cain't blame people fo' tryin' to pertek [protect] themselves.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Well years ago there were a lot of stool pigeons. Are they dropping out?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
No...dere's a lot of 'em bein' dropped, dere's a lot of 'em bein' kilt.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Well, certainly as sure as a white man came around they ran and told the police that some fellow was out there working...)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yo' fin' a few. Well, yo' don' fin' - yo' wus young when there wus stool Pigeons. Boy, that Abraham, Abraham, uh Alford... It was so many of 'em dat... dat fellow got kilt... James. Dere's a lot 'em got kilt, them gangsters from Tampa had dem kilt off. Yo' can't be bothahed...dose b'lievers...dose people don't b'lieve in things. Aw, they had them dropped off.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[She rambles on and on in this paragraph. I was uncertain of most of this. Mrs. Dyel.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(What about those people who give you lucky numbers? Have you ever gone to anyone to get a lucky number?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
I'll go to one. I go out dere on Hamm Road ev'ry week to get me one
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[laughs]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
The lady I took you to the other day.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[Meaning Dr. Hyatt I believe. Mrs. Dyel.]
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Ev'ry week. An' yo' know what...
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Oh, oh, which one was she? The white woman or the colored?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
The white Woman.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Oh, she gave numbers - from Palmetto?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yes. Yo' know I went out dere an' yo' know whut she tol' me? She tol' me to play a one-six an' a five-six. Yo' know whut, I didn't have but $5. Yo' know that I stood up dere an' let dat one-six came by an' paid $85. I wen' out dere a Thursday an' do yo' know it came out on Friday night an' I stood up dere - I didn't have but $5. I stood up dere an' said,
reported or enacted speech · Miffin (speaker in this passage) · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
"Dere ain't going to be no one- six, de odds is too high."
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
An' here comes one-six. $85... I was sick. She gave me dat number. I gave 'er $2. She gave me a one-six and a five-six. The five- six came in de las' race. $85...an' I wus dead broke. An' she gave me the two- eight, the two-eight came...
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[Transcriber Mrs. Dyel says, "The paragraph was dif- ficult to transcribe. She is talking very fast."]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Well how would she get those numbers?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
I don't know...she wus a min' reader. She read 'em.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Do you know I talked to that woman. Yeah, isn't that right Mr. Cubby?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Did she talk all right?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(She wasn't doing much talking to me.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
She was lookin' at yo' do'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[though]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
wasn't she? Studyin' yo'?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Well this is the white woman, isn't it?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yeah, yeah, but I like tha' main
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[man]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
bettah.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Is there a husband, that man in the same house?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yeah. I like that main
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[man]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
bettah than I do tha' woman.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(Well, I think she's clever.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
She is re'ly clevah.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(She's quite a talker and quite intelligent. What was her name? Something? Something?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[Name purposely omitted.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yo' know what else she do? Now I've knowed people to git into a little trouble an' dey have to pay her so much, about $37. But she's straight dey say.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
(I think she was a little bit frightened about me.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yeah, she prob'ly was.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(She may talk to me again. I don't know. She was verv nice about it. I think if these people knew they were not going to be personally involved, that there is no name given or anything of that sort, I think they would really talk, don't you?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Yes. I think they Would. That's the main problem.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4500
But there is so many things bein' goin' on when dey wus tellin' de po-leece ev'rythin' - I mean yo' can't blame 'em, can yo'?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(Oh, I know. Well, how is Palmetto? Years ago you used to always...)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Oh, no, no. It's no mo' o' dat now. Now, if yo' hear of a number, ev'rythin' comes strictly from de dogs. Yo' cain't even fin' none 'roun'. People got so bad in turnin' dem up dey jis' had to give it up.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[Cubby says something and she repeats it. I cannot tell what they say.]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Cubie stop an' people stop wit it, yo' see?
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
That's right.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4500
When they stopped dat over in Cuba they automatically...they prob'ly be doin' some kin' of ol' mess from the dog. But they don' bothah wit it. I don' know nobody over here [in St. Petersburg?] playin' no Cuba anymo'. Dere's no sech word as a Cubie no mo'.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(Cubie?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Cubie.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(Cubie? What's that?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Jes' a number, dat's wha' dey call it at Palmetto
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[Florida]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
CUBBY
contact participant · Cubby (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Jus' a number. Jus' a new name.
uncertain turn attribution; attribution alternatives: Miffin (speaker in this passage), Cubby (speaker in this passage); attribution is uncertain; context excerpt; unresolved source attribution, context only · Vol. 5, p. 4500
An' boy I used to know some people used to write [or ride] it 6 or 7 hundred dollars a week but all of 'em gone, dey jes' forgot 'bout it.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(People who sold numbers?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
If dey were throwin' time on yo'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[giving prison terms]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
like dey wus throwin' on dose people, yo' would've stopped too. 10 or 15 and 20 years. Who want dat time? Nobody!
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(In other words you can't go around to shops - years ago you could go around and buy numbers any place. You could get them for a penny a piece.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Ooh, no. Yo' can't buy 'em here no mo'. Know
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[Do you know]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
where ev'rybody go at night? To the dogs. Ev'rybody
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[go]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
to the dogs
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[dog races]
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
now. An tha's fas' money too.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(I see. Did you ever get a lucky number that worked?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Who, me? No, 'cause I'm a lucky dreamer. See, I can dream my own numbers, see. I'm my own...
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(What do you mean dream a number?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Well, don' choo dream?
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(Yes.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Well, I jes' dream. I have good dreams. I'm a good dreamer.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(And do you remember any numbers in the dream, things of that sort?)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Who me? I remember ev'rythin' I dream.
interviewer · Hyatt (interviewer); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
(I evidently don't sleep well. I don't remember my dreams.)
informant · Miffin (speaker in this passage); context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Yo' know wha' I did Thursday night? I had my rent - $60! The rent man there put up a sign to move. I wusn't workin'. Sixty dollahs behind in de whole time I been dere. At leas' I got my four kids home. Here he comes wit a sign. I layed down We'nesday night - I'm jis' goin' to tell yo' what I did. An' I wen' to bed. I wus so disgusted We'nesday night. Yo' know whut I dream? A main [man] whut I use to go wit came an' tol' me, I said, "Where yo' been so long?" He said, "I got in some trouble." I say, "Yeah?" I say, "What kin' o' trouble?" He say, "For a cell mate." I say, "How much did yo' git?" He say, ''$42, 000." I got ready - I had $3.00. This jis' to show yo' yo' got luck on yo'. [She
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Well, look, I don' drink no likker."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Yeah, drink some."
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Dere's a lotta dem [healers]. Dere's Zeffie Hill.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4497
In some cases, yes.
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 5, p. 4497
see me all de time, don' choo? [Asking Cubby.]
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4498
"Don't come to my house no mo'."
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Up in Tumesea[?], yo' heard of 'im?
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah. Doc - dey call him Doc.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Dat's in Thomasville.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Lak to keep it a secret.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Dere's a lot of 'em roun' here. I'm lookin' at one dere...yo' know who I'm talkin' about, lookin' at one dere right yonder. I mean yo' don' git nothin' dere an' I know yo' don' git nothin' from 'er but a good cussin' out. Oooh, cause she don' - she will not talk to yo'.
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4499
"Dere ain't going to be no one- six, de odds is too high."
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4499
De pōleece dey turnin' up givin' yo' all kin'a dirty things. An' yo' jis' cain't blame people fo' tryin' to pertek [protect] themselves.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yo' fin' a few. Well, yo' don' fin' - yo' wus young when there wus stool Pigeons. Boy, that Abraham, Abraham, uh Alford... It was so many of 'em dat... dat fellow got kilt... James. Dere's a lot 'em got kilt, them gangsters from Tampa had dem kilt off. Yo' can't be bothahed...dose b'lievers...dose people don't b'lieve in things. Aw, they had them dropped off.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Ev'ry week. An' yo' know what...
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4500
"Where yo' been so long?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4500
"I got in some trouble."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4500
"Yeah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4500
"What kin' o' trouble?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4500
"For a cell mate."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4500
"How much did yo' git?"
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
But there is so many things bein' goin' on when dey wus tellin' de po-leece ev'rythin' - I mean yo' can't blame 'em, can yo'?
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Cubie stop an' people stop wit it, yo' see?
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
When they stopped dat over in Cuba they automatically...they prob'ly be doin' some kin' of ol' mess from the dog. But they don' bothah wit it. I don' know nobody over here [in St. Petersburg?] playin' no Cuba anymo'. Dere's no sech word as a Cubie no mo'.
Nested source context: unlabeled live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
An' boy I used to know some people used to write [or ride] it 6 or 7 hundred dollars a week but all of 'em gone, dey jes' forgot 'bout it.
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Yo' know wha' I did Thursday night? I had my rent - $60! The rent man there put up a sign to move. I wusn't workin'. Sixty dollahs behind in de whole time I been dere. At leas' I got my four kids home. Here he comes wit a sign. I layed down We'nesday night - I'm jis' goin' to tell yo' what I did. An' I wen' to bed. I wus so disgusted We'nesday night. Yo' know whut I dream? A main [man] whut I use to go wit came an' tol' me, I said, "Where yo' been so long?" He said, "I got in some trouble." I say, "Yeah?" I say, "What kin' o' trouble?" He say, "For a cell mate." I say, "How much did yo' git?" He say, ''$42, 000." I got ready - I had $3.00. This jis' to show yo' yo' got luck on yo'. [She
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"I'm goin' give yo' this woman's address if anythin' evah happen, give her my name an' tell 'er I sent yo'.'
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"I could git yore son out of trouble."
Nested source context: live aside to present children · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Darrell get away from there!"
Nested source context: live aside to present children · Vol. 5, p. 4497
"Go ahead home!"
Nested source context: present recording context · Vol. 5, p. 4497
[A pounding noise here - apparently it is her children pounding their fist on the car door glass]
Nested source context: unresolved place and addressee qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4498
[Now it sounds like they are saying Thomasville.] (Thomasville?) Yeah. But Honey [Who is called Honey?]
Nested source context: healer scope qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4498
(Just a healer. In other words he doesn't put any conditions on you but he will remove evil conditions.) He will move evil conditions but he will not put nothin' on you. (I see.) Now, I def'nit'ly knows dat.
Nested source context: transcription uncertainty qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[She rambles on and on in this paragraph. I was uncertain of most of this. Mrs. Dyel.]
Nested source context: transcription difficulty qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[Transcriber Mrs. Dyel says, "The paragraph was dif- ficult to transcribe. She is talking very fast."]
Nested source context: name suppression qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4499
[Name purposely omitted.]
Nested source context: transcription and voice uncertainty · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[Cubby says something and she repeats it. I cannot tell what they say.] Cubie stop an' people stop wit it, yo' see?
Nested source context: cross page production qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4500
[She
Nested source context: cross page production qualification · Vol. 5, p. 4501
continues with this story, speaks rapidly and in incomplete sentences, does not speak clearly - impossible to transcribe]...an'
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4497
Dere's a lotta dem [healers]. Dere's Zeffie Hill.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4497
In some cases, yes.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Up in Tumesea[?], yo' heard of 'im?
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Yeah. Doc - dey call him Doc.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Dat's in Thomasville.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Lak to keep it a secret.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4498
Dere's a lot of 'em roun' here. I'm lookin' at one dere...yo' know who I'm talkin' about, lookin' at one dere right yonder. I mean yo' don' git nothin' dere an' I know yo' don' git nothin' from 'er but a good cussin' out. Oooh, cause she don' - she will not talk to yo'.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4499
De pōleece dey turnin' up givin' yo' all kin'a dirty things. An' yo' jis' cain't blame people fo' tryin' to pertek [protect] themselves.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Yo' fin' a few. Well, yo' don' fin' - yo' wus young when there wus stool Pigeons. Boy, that Abraham, Abraham, uh Alford... It was so many of 'em dat... dat fellow got kilt... James. Dere's a lot 'em got kilt, them gangsters from Tampa had dem kilt off. Yo' can't be bothahed...dose b'lievers...dose people don't b'lieve in things. Aw, they had them dropped off.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4499
Ev'ry week. An' yo' know what...
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
But there is so many things bein' goin' on when dey wus tellin' de po-leece ev'rythin' - I mean yo' can't blame 'em, can yo'?
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
Cubie stop an' people stop wit it, yo' see?
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
When they stopped dat over in Cuba they automatically...they prob'ly be doin' some kin' of ol' mess from the dog. But they don' bothah wit it. I don' know nobody over here [in St. Petersburg?] playin' no Cuba anymo'. Dere's no sech word as a Cubie no mo'.
Unresolved source context: exact live turn attribution unresolved · Vol. 5, p. 4500
An' boy I used to know some people used to write [or ride] it 6 or 7 hundred dollars a week but all of 'em gone, dey jes' forgot 'bout it.
partial continuing interview window with context only edges
These pages contain part of the continuing Miffin, Cubby and interviewer conversation; neither the complete interview nor every topic is included.
The opening address to Cubby continues from the preceding page and is included as context only.
The closing dream and rent recollection continues on printed page 4501 and is included as context only. The following context reports that transcription was impossible; no dream-number account is reconstructed.
Unlabeled switching turns retain localized Miffin/Cubby holds; explicit labels do not qualify every following unlabeled line.
Transcriber uncertainty, name suppression and literal place-name alternatives remain visible.
Honey question and Thomasville suggestion do not resolve identity.
Reported healing/poisoning/success and healer/harmful-working distinction remain attributed historical claims; privacy/police qualifications retained.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 5, p. 4496 · Vol. 5, p. 4497 · Vol. 5, p. 4498 · Vol. 5, p. 4499 · Vol. 5, p. 4500 · Vol. 5, p. 4501
Source passage
continuous interview · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
editorial speaker label; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
MIFFIN
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
This is about two good frien's. An' mah cousin sta'ted co'tin'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
[started courting]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
this lady's husban'. An' this lady fin' out tuo ont's later tha' she
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
[cousin]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
wus co'tin"er husban' an' she had dis spell put on 'er. An de spell wus dese snakes an' some othah insex. Dat whut de doctor says.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
(How many years ago did this happen?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4493
Ooooh, Miz Carrie been dead - been about six yeahs now. No, it hasn't...yeah, about six.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. Where did this happen, by the way?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
This happen in Savannah, Georgia.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Oh, in Savannah, Georgia.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
She came down
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[to Florida]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
when she got sick. Dey sent 'er down here to see 'er brothah.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Den 'er brothah taken 'er from here to a root doctor.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Where did he go to, do you know?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
I don't know where dey went - some part o' Florida.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Some part of Florida.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Uh huh. An' this main
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[man]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
worked on 'er an' she went back 3 or 4 times an' dey got some snakes an' a lotta insex. An' 'er skin it turnt as black as de snake, as rough as de snake hide. An' all 'er hair, bald, completely bald.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[Children can be heard in background.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
An' den she got so desp'rate an' less den two mont's time she died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
But dey did git dese snakes an' things out, 'cause her brothah brought de jars back wid dese things, yo' know, in it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. Then what happened to the woman who put this...)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Well, de woman taken sick two mont's later an' she died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Now this is the woman who put this spell on this other woman?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Uh huh. She got sick an' died sho'tly aftah mah cousin Carrie died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. Well when the brother took this woman there - this woman was your cousin wasn't she?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Uh huh.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(When he took her there, did the root doctor say anything when she came in or what?)
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
What some doctors say on first seeing you can be interesting: see CONSULTA- TION TECHNIQUE, pp.307-321, v.1.1
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Well she went back 2 or 3 times an' he had to keep workin' on 'er. Yo' know, to try to git it all out of 'er. But when they fin'ly didn' git it all out of 'er she had turnt so black an' it had poisoned her through an' through. An' so he tol' 'er he couldn't do her any mo' good an' she died sho'tly aftah.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see. And what did you say about her skin?)
informant · Current interviewee; supporting excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Her skin turnt as black an' rough, jis' like a snake. He said she had some- thin' like snakes, somethin' out of a poison snake into her system.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Who turned the spell back on the woman?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
My cousin
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[husband of cousin, Carrie]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
did, he had it turnt back on 'er.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Did the same root doctor do that or...)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
No, not de same one, but de one she wus goin' to down here gave her de stuff dey put back on 'er up dere.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(Oh, I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
She had to go back to Savannah but after dey taken her back up to Savannah, dey brought 'er back down here an' she got so sick an' den dey took 'er from here back up to dere an' she died.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
But now de woman did confess dat she had 'er fixed by
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
[for]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
botherin' wid 'er husban' - bein' a good frien' to 'er now, she confessed dat.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Yes, she did.
Nested source context: reported doctor treatment and statement · Vol. 5, p. 4494
Well she went back 2 or 3 times an' he had to keep workin' on 'er. Yo' know, to try to git it all out of 'er. But when they fin'ly didn' git it all out of 'er she had turnt so black an' it had poisoned her through an' through. An' so he tol' 'er he couldn't do her any mo' good an' she died sho'tly aftah.
locally coherent subpassage
The editorial comment on printed page 4494 has an unclear closing mark. The following answer belongs to the interviewee.
Miffin’s self-correction about six years remains unresolved.
Doctor diagnoses, cousin relationships, return of the spell and confession are narrated claims, not additional live voices or established facts.
The editorial CONSULTATION TECHNIQUE bracket retains its printed closing glyph.
Children heard in the background are recording context, not participating testimony.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 5, p. 4492 · Vol. 5, p. 4493 · Vol. 5, p. 4494 · Vol. 5, p. 4495 · Vol. 5, p. 4496
Source passage
printed interview with editorial and production layers · Source-local attribution; no resolved person identity is asserted.
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I goes to work. I goes down to the drug store an' gits me a box of sulphur, goes to the store
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[grocery]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' gits me a box of cayenne peppah an' some salt brian. I goes out on the hill.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Fresh fish salt brian
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[fresh (= unused) brine from salted fish]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
. Gets me botter
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[bottle]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
of vinegar. I goes out dere on the hill an' fields an' I digs mah'erbs. I goes on back an' boils 'em, strip zim
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[strips 'im]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
off, bathe zim from his knees on down.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What sort of herbs?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Whut did I get? Runnin' brier an' pokeberry
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[poke or pokeweed]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
root. An' he's up walkin' an' goin' all up yonder on the railroad track now, pickin' up coal ev'ry mornin' of his life.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Theoretically, large lumps of coal fall from an overloaded tender of a steam engine or smaller lumps from coal cars of a freight or coal train; actually, human hands usually assisted the coal. Any walking along tracks was illegal.1
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' after no sooner 'an
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[than]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I got 'im up, the prior
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
told 'im he wanted his room - he couldn't rent it no longer. An' told 'im he wanted 'im keep me away from there. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
was goin' to these here so-said-to-be cunjures an' gettin' dus'
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[dust]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
an' stuff, an' I found stuff 'tween the mat- tresses
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[while]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
he
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[proprietor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
out at work. So after I cut mah cards an' find out where de stuff was, why I went on an' get it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What do you mean cutting your cards?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Cuttin' mah cards? Run a deck of cards. I kin run a deck of cards an' tell anything I want to know. Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(What did you want to find out?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Find out where he had it put.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Now listen. I wan'a tell yah. I take a deck of cards an' tell anybody more than they wan'a know. Not only take a deck of cards, I kin take a cup an' tell anybody more than they wants to know.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
See.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
I'm out of a family - I'm a son of a mother that could even down-tell
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[out- tell]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
you - she walk in here an' call your name, tell you where you live, tell you the number of your house, how many children you had, whether your wife was livin' or not, w'a' kin'a hair she had, how old she was, W'a' her name is. That's the kin'a mother I had.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one will continue later.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Where did she live?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Greensboro, South Carolina. That's where I come from. I come from there where it
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[root working and allied practices]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
is known to be the very best dey is goin'. Yes sir, yes sir.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[Side one continues.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
An' I don't care w'a' kin'a spell's on a person or how a person is sufferin', I kin walk in the house, I'll be in the house five minutes - not only that, I don' haft, I don't har'ly even, don' haf to ast a person. I kin walk along the street an' lbok at a person an' tell w'uther they's hurt or not.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Uhuh. Is there anything about their appearance, their face or anything that.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
Well, I tell yuh. A person of that kind kin see it.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
(Oh, I see.
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
[You]
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 936
see it.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir. A person of that kind kin see it - a person of, like myself. You see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows, you see.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Uhuh. I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I knows. An' then on top of my knowin', I know whut to do to break it up
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
- whut to cure it.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
An' then on top of that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[there is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a things as they call this here witch'ry. You believe in witch'ry?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(I've heard about it but I don't know. I have never had any experience. I don't know whether to believe in it or not.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, did
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[do]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
you believe in there
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[is]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
sich a thing as a witch?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(Well, I don't know.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, there is sich a thing as a witch.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(There're the things that ride you, aren't they?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Yes sir.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(How do you keep them from riding you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, you kin take a pair of scissors an' put underneath your head or you kin take a new piece of lumber an' put it underneath your head
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[the latter being unusual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
(What are these witches?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, I'll tell you. A witch is a person that has sold herself to the devil an' he comes in a spirishal
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[spiritual]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
way. See, jis' like you has got your mind on a home wheresomever you live, you worry about your parents, your people, your brother or your father or your wife or your sweetheart or your mother or your daughter an' they rest upon you - in your mind - why it's quite nach'al
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[natural]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
fer something to have happened to 'em an' directly they feel it. You kin feel it. You see, you kin feel the burdens of it. Well, the same way with a person dat's so deeply into anything an' 'twill follow 'em in their sleep. Have you read any such or in your travels? Haven't you already see
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[seen]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
the future out of your work in your sleep?
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Side two begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
Well, that's the way that is. So then, on top of being so interested in it, self confidence is the best of all. Self confident. I walks in a house - if I had someone to send I would go an' say - I could send fo' 'er. I walked in a house up here on Catherine Street in thirty-five
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[1935]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
dat people had come from Petersburg
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[Virginia]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
over here that wus suppose to be root doctors - it's no better than Florence Turner. Dr. E. Turner ou' chere
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[out here]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
wus her doctor. He walked in the house - she'd taken sick. He walked in the house an' ast that
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
[whether]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she had caused her little boy to call 'im. He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
she says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
The doctor looked at 'er. He question 'er an' all. He says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 937
I saw Florence's sickness that night - she got up five o'clock an' went out with a friend of hers.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(What was really wrong with her?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Well, I'll tell yuh - an' so I 'us at mah home. I gets up the nex' mornin', at duh breakvust table, an' tole mah
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[female]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
frien' w'a' I seed in mah sleep. I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
- I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She said dat Florence an' Henry lef' here at five o'clock this mormin' I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Den, I went on mah job at work in the coalyard. They brought her in home nine o'clock dat mornin' unconscious. I came in
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[after work]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
to mah supper. She wus rollin' to me. I walks in the room - Dr. Turner'll tell yuh the same thing - I walked in the room an' tol' 'em, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
The doctor turn aroun' to me, jis' like this here, says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
How do you know?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Doctor in the recounted Florence exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee as represented in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[This is my only example of a doctor and doctor confronting each other. It happens in the presence of the doctor's patientl]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I.sit right down side de bed
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[aping the doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
an' tole huh
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[her]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
, ev'ry- where day'd went - I's mah house 'sleep in bed - tole her whut kin'a woman serve de table, how she set, where an' how the glasses wus. She said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She sent an' got 'im. When he come in - he wus about an hour comin' - he come in, he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
he said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
she say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
He gits in the car an' goes to the bank an' gits money, come back, fill the 'scription. He
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[doctor]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gives 'er a dose of that medicine an' made it worser.
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[End of side two.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[Side three begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I tole 'im, I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
I says,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
She's right over here on Catherine Street - I mean on Williams Street, in ten- hunderd block. She'll tell you the same words tonight. I kin go an' call 'er up out of 'er bed. Ev'rybody roun' there tell you who cause her to be livin' today. I went an' got mah stuff an' fixed it for 'er an' I got groun' puppies out of 'er. I got things out of 'er looked like fish lice. You ever see fish lice?
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
(Yes.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Made mah tea from mah runnin'-brier root. Got mah grain
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[green]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
gourd seed - guts out of a grain gourd. Went up here on Windsors
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
[?]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 938
Farm, paid seventy-five cent fo' one quart of black-cow milk - milk whilest it's hot. Brought it back an' give it to 'er, after I give 'er d'other medicine. An' she jis' as helpless as a newborn baby, couldn't raise her han', an' wus scared to death, scramblin', tryin' to git out de bed. Think ah'm tellin' a lie? Ah'll git me a car and drive ovah dere an' prove it to you. There's another fellah live right chere on Moore Street below me - use to, he
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
don't live there now - call 'im John Ham. John Ham, whut been sick, claimed to have the rheumatism. Him an' his aunt had spent ovah three-hunderd dollahs on 'im. So I tole 'im, I said, one day out dere I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
there ain't a thing in the worl
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"'
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
- he's showin' me about his leg - I say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
editorial gloss or commentary; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[where the good doctors are]
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
You believe in that mess?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I kin cure yuh.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin all the time, yuh see.
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Kin yuh, Lin?
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Person called John Ham in the account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Interviewee speaking in the recounted exchange; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Yeah."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(What did he call you?)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He call me Lin.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(Lin.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Mah name is Lindsay, but he call me Lin jis fo' a short name.
interviewer · Interviewer; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
(I see.)
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
Say,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
He said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; supporting excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
I said,
reported or enacted speech · Current interviewee · Speaker quoted in the local account; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[End of side three.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
editorial recording or production note; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
[Side four begins.]
informant · Current interviewee; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
context only; context excerpt · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"an' when I dress this house,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"if it's true,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 936
"you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 936
I says, "an' when I dress this house," I says, "if it's true," I says, "you will have no trouble."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"Florence,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"w'a's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I don't know, doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I'm so sick I don't know w'a' to do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 937
"I think you've got broken-down nerves."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"An' tell Florence when she come to don't go out with"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"tell Florence when she gets up to don't go out with."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence an' Henry are gone out."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, jes' as sure as God's still in heaven,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence is gon'a git 'er dose."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Doctor,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, God knows, you shore must'a seen somepin,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"cuz God knows,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"it's true."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Well, all right,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"now sen' an' git him, sen' an' git chore frien' down here on Secon' an' Canal - South Secon' Street."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Florence, whut's the mattah?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'm sick."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Uh,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"anything that I kin do?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"No."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I got some medicine, a 'scription here,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"you got any money to fill it?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll git some."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"Don't give 'er no more medicine,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I'll take 'er case up mah ownself."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin you Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"How much you charge me to cure me?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll tell you what I do."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"What?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll go here in the hills an' git the stuff an' I'll make you up some tea,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' I'll drinks a cupful of it mahself to show you that it's not poison, of the same tea."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll make you up a quart of this tea, then I'll give you a bath three times a week."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I don't care whut the doctor says,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"the doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Whut!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"De doctah tells a lie."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Huh!"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You ain't no damn doctah."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Don't talk like that,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you don't know who you talkin' tuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if Lil says for me to cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'll cure 'im,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, Lindsay,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is,"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I'm your black Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"God above my God an' your God, too."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well, I'm your earthly Jesus."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Well."
Nested source context: continuing window edge · Vol. 2, p. 939
An' when his sistah came - I wus livin' the third do' from 'em - when his sistah came, he tole 'er about it. She said, "The doctor sayed you got plume-itary rheumatism." I said, "Well, I don't care whut the doctor says," I said, "the doctah tells a lie." She said, "Whut!" I said, "De doctah tells a lie." She looked at me as hard, "Huh!" Turn aroun', says, "You ain't no damn doctah." Dem's her words - de's of his sistah - said, "You ain't no damn doctah." His mothah is name Lil. An' his aunt stand' on the porch, she says, "Don't talk like that," say, "you don't know who you talkin' tuh." Kin'a 'fraid of me. I tole 'er, "You damn right, choo don't know to who you are talking." I said, "Bein'st you don't - bein'st I'm no damn doctah," I said, "if Lil says for me to cure 'im," I says, "I'll cure 'im," I said, "an' prove to you tha' I - tha' choo don't know whut choo talkin' about." Lil said, "Well, Lindsay," says, "if John Ham wan' choo to try an' cure him," said, "you can't do 'im no more harm than w'at he is," said, "cause he can't eat nuthin, ev'rything he eats comes back on 'im, he jis' goes crazy with his head, he can't sleep at night, an' he's down on his crutches here an' he can't - he's jis' helpless to hisself, an' I got to work." I says, "In eighteen days I'll have John Ham ou' chere playin' ball." I said, "I'm your black Jesus." Told 'im jis' like that an' laffed at 'im, patted 'im in his chest. I said, "I'm your black Jesus." I said, "God above my God an' your God, too." I said, "Well, I'm your earthly Jesus." An' he laff an' he said, "Well."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 938
"How do you know?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"John Ham, ''
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"there ain't a thing in the worl"'
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"they ain't a thing in the worl' but some of your womenfolks have put a spell on you."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Look, don' choo know I done been all down South
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"You believe in that mess?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I boun' to believe in that mess when I do's that mess."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"I kin cure yuh."
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Kin yuh, Lin?"
Nested source context: reported quotation · Vol. 2, p. 939
"Yeah."
Nested source context: editorial counterfactual qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[This was about the best answer I could have given to his difficult question. If I had answered, "You believe in witchery, therefore it exists for you; but I do not believe in witchery, therefore it does not exist for me, except in that it exists for you" - if I had so answered, would his second question have followed?]
Nested source context: recording representation qualification · Vol. 2, p. 937
[End of side one.] - whut to cure it. [The last four words are on the cylinder but not on the record.]
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"there ain't no need of writin' Florence no 'scription. Florence is poison.
Nested source context: reported self context · Vol. 2, p. 938
"I saw it last night.
partial continuing interview window with context only edges
This passage covers part of a continuing interview; neither the complete interview nor every topic is included.
The opening treatment promise continues the preceding introduction concerning Fletcher Powers on printed page 935; it is included as context only.
The closing John Ham and family dialogue follows the recording-side marker and continues on printed page 940; it is included as context only.
Narrated diagnosis/recovery remains attributed historical claim; no medical findings or effects.
Patient, doctor, family and Lindsay names are local source mentions, not resolved person identity.
Retain recording/cylinder distinctions and Hyatt counterfactual commentary.
Bounded passage retrieval, not complete corpus coverage or practitioner consensus.
Read the full source context: Vol. 2, p. 935 · Vol. 2, p. 936 · Vol. 2, p. 937 · Vol. 2, p. 938 · Vol. 2, p. 939 · Vol. 2, p. 940