Subject:Prohibition
Entries
Entry 11046
To keep dem [law] from de house? Now, if you Wanta a little liquor kept [for sale] in dis place heah and you don't want no man to come in on yuh nov. You go on your station house and git one of de man's name that you'll find out. Git one, two or three - if you kin [get] nine it's much better. De ore you get de stronger it is. If you can't git but one [name], den work on dat Bne one, but let it be de leading man dat you knows is asking about you - to yoar acn judgment. Work by your own judgment, de judgment of your ear. Git dat man nae and git you a brand-new piece of board and write his name. Put 'en cross de world. Write 'em cross de world to you and write 'em backwards.
(Backwards and forwards.)
And dey can't come in fer de devil. And nail dat onto your step and dey can't be seeing you. Not when you nail dat dere. Git you de heart of a chicken and it got to be a black chicken. Cut de heart out of it. Git dat wishin' bone of de chicken breast and you take dat heart wit your hand on dose letters. Put 'em dere so it can't be rub off - on dat board. (You rub this heart over those letters?) All over dose letters, all up and down like dat. And talk at de same time. Tell 'em dat [what] dat spirit is got- ta to do. You don't want no law to worry me. You wants to be up dere selling whiskey. Ah don't want dat law to worry me. Ah don't want no kin' of law. Ah don't even wants 'em to come heah fo' a drink of liquir or beer. Ah [wants] 'em to pass by and keep on passing by. Kin go right in next door but won't come in chere. Take dat wishing-bone, and be shore dat you go. down in de groun' to your shoul- der and turn it down -人. Don't turn it up -Y
(Turn the wishing bone down, the points down?)
[Here we have rite similar to the forked stick or "Y" in No.11032.]
Turn de two prongs down. And while you have - doin' it, you talk to 'em. An' if you know any de officer's names, don't let any come in dere, de fed'ral offi- cer back, de county man back, de city officer back, de state controller, back. Dat take in all 'em, ain't it? Go on over and over. And if you git dose three class of officers, you know why it is, don't you? De federal, de state control- ler, git de county and git de highway man. Den you go to work.
(Where do you bury that wishing bone?)
Under your step, right under your step. Be sure to go under your house. Den you put dat bone. If you ain't got no front, put it in de middleways of de house. [This center under the house and the 4 corners of the house make our rite a quin- cunx.] Dat almost stop people jack-jacking to the front.
Entry 12562
(Well, nog, suppose I'm bootlegging amd I want to keep the lay aoay from the place, what would I do to keep the lay away from the place?) Well, you use this here sugar. You get this sugar, you get some of this saltpeter, and every time that you think of the law or anything, at night, you do it yourself or the one that be's in [the shop] there. You fix it up in a bottle with any kind of green leaf - you know, any kind of green leaf - but leave it be different leafs: might be willow leaf or Palm Of Christian or any kind of leaf. Just a differ- ent leaf. You take it in a bottle with this sinimond [cinnamon], sugar...
[I interrupt. Palm of Christian had to be explained!]
(Now, wait a minute! Where does this Palm of Christian grow?)
That Palm of Christian? Well, just put it in there like that, but stop... (Where does that grow? Here in Louisiana? Does it grow here?) [In New Orleans?] Yes, sir, it grows here - find it everywhere - in the country - they got some right uptown there. (It grows out in the woods - you mean that little palm - that little short palm?) It grows up about that high but with wide leaves.
(Oh! I see.)
[I did not know what it was at the time but I soon found out!] Well, you could take some of them leaves and sprinkle like that - get different leaves, just so its green. And you put it in a bottle and you take - put that sugar and cinament in the bottle like that. Every morning - that's when you thinking that the law's is [= 's & is here] coming and interfere with you, you see - coming and made a raid on your place. Every night and every morning, through the day, re- gardless of how many people are in there [your illegal liquor joint] don't say anything to nobody. Jest take your bottle [of green leaves] like you cleaning up and walk at the end of your property and jest like you'd take the broom and you shaking that bottle, you know, jest like sprinkling to keep the dust down - on back in [into] your place. Any time the law coming there, when he get to your property, he - he jest as pleased as ever. He'll come in there - probably be like this - he'll drink. He'll ask you to give him a [free] drink, a [free] cigar or somepin of the kind like that. And he'll tell you, remember that [a boss] be's over him. He'll tell, too, he'll say, "Well, you be particular, you can git what you want. I was just passing by this way. Well, you jest keep that sugar and ciniment right at your steps, wherever you comes down. And re- gardless of who comes there, he'll never do you no harm. And in prohibition time, well, the time the town went dry, I sold liquor here - I hit on [which he does, you can hear him]. Never had been caught yet. Never have been scared about no law - no prohibition or nothing of the kind... never have. [See margin title PALMA CHRISTI, No.2199, P.626, v.1, and my long comment there.]
Entry 388
Well, in finding buried money, usually when yo' move in a house if there's some money buried there, see, it be's something always there. If yo' don't say anything, or ask it - say, "Do yo' want anything in the Name of the Lord?" Then, when yo' go to sleep, a dream will come to yo' where that money is. Then, yo' git up the next morning an' yo' dig. But chew can't say anything to anybody while yo' digging. Can't talk, if yo' see anyone coming - why yo' jest have to stop diggin', 'cause if yo' say one word why yo' can't git it.
Entry 389
I have heard that in digging money you carry some instrument and when you stick it down into the earth this money has a tendency to draw it and one will know that he has struck money. In the meantime something comes to one in the night and tells them about where the money is buried. They are supposed to be the one who buried the money. His ghost comes and tells you. This is made of iron something like a spear. And when you are digging this money, all the time something is around you - a ghost or something, although you may not see it you hear a lot of queer noises. Sometimes people when they want to avoid this noise or this ghost they say, "What in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost do you want?" And this ghost will disappear. And in the meantime I have heard, you will see ghosts all away around you. You say, "What in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost do you want?" They say that money is buried somewhere and they disappear. You go get this money and you will never see them any more. At my home there used to be a lot of people digging money. They used to have a lot of trouble digging it. They go there three or four times and they say they would get it. Every time they go to dig money they have big bad storms - windstorms, trees would blow over. You go out on a clear night and a storm would come up. You're not supposed to say anything. [Title Three Highest Names is informant's term, FACI,2ed.,1965, pp.746,787 etc.] [Place and informant number lost; by Ed.]
Entry 2108
[This hand I picked up from my colored porter on the Pennsylvania Rail- road between Chester, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., while on my way to collect hoodoo in Fredericksburg, Va. Later I would duplicate this trick by gathering up a May Day rite on the Mississippi River while ferry- ing between New Orleans and Algiers (see No. 986, p.381.] I just happen to be there in this bootleg place - a man goes around sometimes to get a drink - and I noticed pennies nailed across the door. There was a hole right in the center [of each penny]. I guess there was about four pennies. I asked them what that was and they said that was to keep the police away. That was during Prohibition at Tampa, Florida.
Entry 5650
Well, ah'll tell yuh whut dey do. Dey takes dere track an' den dey pats some kinda stuff wit it, see. An' dey take dat track an' den dey take it an' dey'll throw it eithah ovahbo'd or dey buries it, see. Or dey put it in a dirty sock an' dey'll bury it, see. An' dat will prohibit yuh from goin' if yuh vanta go some place.
(Keep you from going where?)
Wherevah yuh wanta go. Jis' like providin' if yuh got somebody an' dey love yuh, see. An' dey kin prevent yuh from goin', why dey takes dat track, see. An' dey'll fix it an' dey bury it. An' dat will keep yuh from goin' away.
(What sort of powder did they put in that track, did you say?)
Dey puts some ingredients in it, see.
(What do they put in it?)
Dey puts spice, sugar, or salt, eithah one, an' dey bury it.