Subject:Shot
Entries
Entry 552
I've know a woman to do that.
(What?)
Take a little girl's photograph - a little grow awful fast, you see. And she disliked her and she shoved her finger at her and told her, says, "I'll keep even with your daughter" [see Bad mouth in Index]. And she go into her mother's house and it was a friend of her mother's, you see, see, that had her photo on a tintype, and she'd taken this photo and she buried it with de face down. See. And buried it with de face down but before she buried it, she got her some feathers.
(What kind of feathers?)
Turkey feathers, just turkey feathers, and she got those turkey feathers and she cross-laid those turkey feathers.
(How do you mean cross-laid them?)
Just like my hand is laying 'cross my fingers there now [demonstrates].
(Made a sort of X?)
Yes, sir.
(All right.)
And she laid those things down there, and then she covered them, see.
(Well now, what did she do - lay them in the ground with the picture on that?)
The picture on that and then she put some over de picture, and covered 'em up and she stuck one right straight up in de center of it, after she covered it, in de shape of a grave - she stuck one right straight up in the center of it.
(One of what?) [I knew what, but I want a definite statement from her.]
One of those feathers.
(I see. All right.)
Right straight up and down in de center of it. Well, the girl then, she began in the next ten days lingering. They'd taken this girl to the doctor and they'd taken the girl to the doctor. The more they d taken her to the doctor, the more doctor medicine she take, the worse she get. Finally, it was a fellow come along and told 'um - old colored fellow, he come along and told this girl's mother that she was hurt and she never would get over it. See. And told her one of her friends did it, and told her to give him a dollar and he would cure her. So she done what he told her [gave him a dollar]. So when she done that the old man set something at the door like a black cat. See. Set that thing at the door and he went to saying magic and something, calling de Lord's name, and something just fell all out of that thing just like shots, running all over dat house. [In- formant now confuses logical order by giving conclusion before final details.] And that little girl got up and she walked - she hadn't been up walking - she got up and walked and she got all right. Well, this old man then, see - and he told her, "Now, the one what hurt your daughter will be here, but she'll be here before she [daughter] get out de bed."
[The culprit would soon appear but the victim would not become well until later.]
Shore enough she [culprit] walked in, and when she walked in, her husband [not the culprit's] took a wing of a chicken, with the bone in it, and hit her right in de forehead, and when he hit her in de forehead, it got de blood from her, and he taken some of her blood and give to dis man, and dis man throwed [daughter's] spell on hog he had out in the lot [cf. healing of demoniac in Mk.5:1, Mt.8:28, Lk.8:26; see Transference in Index.]
(On a hog?)
On a hog he had out in the lot - the hog went crazy - Just runned - just hollered and just went plumb crazy.
(Where did that happen?)
That was up here at Kings - right up here at Kings' Crossing.
(I see - right near Vicksburg?)
Yassuh.
(How long ago did it happen?)
Well, that's been about four years ago. (I see. Now, what do you mean something like a black cat? Was it something alive?) No, it wasn't alive, but it was in the shape of a black cat, you see, just cloth - showed up just like a black cat, just like you got on dat black coat dere [informants frequently mentioned my black coat - see Coat, my black, in Index], but he had it in the shape of a black cat and he set it on the floor. You see.
(And something fell out of it?)
Yes sir - something come out of it just like little balls - just like little shots, and run all around over de floor.
(I see. Well, did he find this thing that was buried or not?)
This woman brought it - this woman come and brought it - she come and brought it. See.
(I mean, did he find that stuff that this woman had buried?)
That this woman had buried on the girl? Well, she come,: see. Well, she come to visit dis woman dat morning before the child get up. She had it in her hand. She had went.and took it up. See, this man had been there, you see, he made her take it up, you see. And she took it and when her husband hit her, she dropped it out of her hand.
(What did that man hit her on the forehead for? Who told him to do that?)
This man what had cured the child.
(Told him to do that?)
Yassuh.
(Use the chicken wing?)
To use the chicken wing and hit her with the bone of it, so he could get her blood so he could throw the spell on a hog. (I see. Do you know how he put the spell on the hog?) [Fortunately she does not know, the story would have been too complete.] Well, I see the hog hollering and hootin' - never see do nothin' like that.
(I see.)
Entry 4194
Dey kin put it in a vasoline bottle.
(This chamber lye.)
Yes. Dey gits nine shots - yuh know, lead shots, an' nine bran'-new needles. Yuh put one of dose shots in wit de needle down dere, de head down, wit anothah shot den, until yuh git all of dem nine in dere. An' stops it up in dere in dat vasoline bottle, an' den dey keep it straight up. Put it in a da'k [dark] closet. Dat supposed tuh hold yuh husban'.
Entry 11836
If a man git drownded or sompin like dat, why yo' kin take an' go to de rivah an' if dey draggin' fo' him an' can't find him, why yo' shoot de gun an' he'll rise tuh de top, which in dat's true. Ah see dat mahself. [This is ordinary folklore.]
Entry 7538
For to send anybody away, somepin like that - just to send them away, not kill them, not atall like that - you go to the head of a grave, an ole grave, and you dig down there and you get a handful of graveyard dirt. An' yo' take ten new nails, nine new pins, an' seven grains of shot. An' yo' can take this, if yo' want to send them away from home, send them on adrift, an' yo' sprinkle it where they walk. An' the last sprinkle yo' make every time yo' sprinkle yo' drop three pins an' two wire nails - why they'll get in a fidget to go away some place an' they'll go. The chances is they won't be back under three year no how. [For as old a grave as yo' kin' find, see lO lines from bottom of p.2239.]
digging at an old grave's head to collect dirt for a stated non-killing send-away purpose. Retain old-grave/head location, handful wording and explicit send-away/not-kill distinction. direct conditional sprinkling of a prepared mixture to send someone away rather than kill. Preserve the explicit send-away/not-kill distinction and conditional purpose. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified. The informant explicitly distinguishes sending someone away from killing them and reports a chance of absence for three years. Hyatt's final cross-reference is editorial; the ingredients remain separate.
Entry 1556
Sometimes in shooting a ghost or striking at it they shoot or hit themselves. The ghost may do something to them.
Entry 11526
" 'You git de track like that [going from you] and you say, Go... Git choo a breechloader shell...take all dat shots outa dere an' pō' dat dirt into dat shell...put choo a little cayenne peppah in dere...twelve o'clock dat night... on de way you want de party to go, you shoot dat shell.π [Mobile 937:1.]
Entry 62
I wus livin' with a woman once on Mulberry Street an' this woman claimed that she could - we had a little fuss - she claimed that she could have me kilt. So she goes down on the Eastern Shore [that part of Maryland east of Chesapeake Bay] to see Mr. Bayhan' - he wus a man dey call Mr. Bayhan' [white man] - gon'a have me shot wit' a ball. He's gon'a shoot me through de ball an' I wus to be dead inside of twenty-four hours. She paid him $35. An' then he give her some stuff to come home to sprinkle all through the house. She start at de back doah an' sprinkle to the dining room doah an' starts from the dining room doah an' sprinkle upstairs - sprinkle de whole house ovah. An' he give her somepin to put under de runner where I walked when I come in de front doah - where dat I would walk over this, this would trick me. So, I worked [nights] to the steel plant, an' I came home [very early] one mornin'. She's asleep. Jis' as I opened the front doah, I start to steppin', somepin says, "Raise de runner up - jis' that way, jis' the same as if somebody wus speakin' to me. An' I thought it wus her. I says, "Frances! Frances!" No one answered. Well, I come up to a standstill. I stop [at] de doah an' looked. After awhile I started to take another one [step]. It says, "Raise de runner up. Well, then I kin'a got uneasy, you know. Then I called 'er an' called 'er, but I couldn't git no answer. Well, I say, "Well, I don't believe I'll raise it myself. I'll go across over de street," I says, "I'll git this man up" - the man across the street kept a little resturrant. So I went across de street an' got him to come over with me. I says, "Do you wan'a raise that runner for me?" I says, "cuz there's somepin told me twice to raise that runner up," I says, "an' I think my wife, '' I says, "must be asleep - I called 'er an' she didn't answer." So he said, "I'll raise it up. So he raise the runner up. It wus a black stockin', about that long, across underneath de runner. It wus a ten-cent piece in the center, an' two brass tacks in the toes an' two brass tacks in the end [the topl of it. He looked at me an' said, "Oh!" he said, "I ain't gon'a put my hands on it." I say, "Well," I say, "they say the grace of God is sufficient for all things. It can't hurt me." I says, "I'm gon'a pick it up, but I'm not gon'a pick the stockin' up, but I'm gon'a git de ten-cent piece up." So I reached over an' took my penknife [steel = protection] an' picked the ten-cent piece up an' dropped it in my pocket. I goes back in the house, I walks up an' I walks aroun' the runner, an' gits a fahk [fork]. I takes de end of the fahk an' folds it [stocking] up, [beginning at] de toe end, an' keeps rollin' it up. An' when I got it [rolled] up, you see, then I picked it up on de fahk an' carried it through in de kitchen, an' drops it in de stove an' put salt on it, touch a match to it an' starts it to burnin'. So when it starts to burnin', I goes to call her. I says, "Frances!" She says, "LET ME ALoNE!" I says, "Whut's wrong?" She says, "You's done concern with somepin that don't concern you." She says, "Mr. Bayhan' will get even wit you." Well, if ever I'd walk over it - well, she would git [hear] de shot from it, choo know. Well, [then] I got [would get] the dose. See, as soon as I touched it, why I guess it roused her up, you know. You see? (As soon as you walked over that stocking, that was to shoot the gun off down there where he was?) Yes, sure. That would kill me, you see.
(What kind of a gun did he have?)
He had some kin'a glass, suppose to shoot you through the glass with the gun. That wus suppose to kill me in twenty-four hours. But the Lord's grace is suffi- cient for all things. De spirit put me wise to it befo' I got to it. [Baltimore, Md., (157), 148:1.] [The amazing thing about this story, despite the protective fork, is a man risking his life for a ten-cent piece!]
Entry 3103
[Story No. 3 - recorded in dining room of my hotel at Princess Anne - comes from Joe Dorman, No. 133, the man who told the remarkable storv. POWER FROM DEAD PREACHER'S BONE, p.285. Another story of his, about a whistling snake, has been lost.] I know of an old Indian, the old Indian's name was Marcellus Gates. His wife [a white Woman] left him, and he come to Miss Zippy [Tull] and wanted to find out all about this. She told him everything, she told him the man and all. He wanted to kill this man. "No," she says, "I won't do that." He wanted to kill this other old man whose name of - I can't think of his name now. Anyhow, he wanted to kill 'im. Old man Wainwrightl He was a Wainwright. So he wanted to kill old man Wainwright. "Well, no," she wouldn't do it. "No, I don't do that," she says. "But," she says, "I will fix it so tha' chew kin kill him if you want." "Oh yes," he'd kill 'im. So she told him what to do. He was to draw his phorto on a bran'-new shingle, just so he had his phorto. He goes to work and draws that thing. And she told him just exactly how much powder and shot must go in de gun. They used these old muscle [muzzle]-loaders, then. But de old man was so proud to git to kill 'im, he overloaded his gun. And she told him a certain distance to git off. And he was so proud to git to kill 'im, he went an' got closeter. Uncle Mack! That was his name. Old Mack Wainwright. So he got closeter. This is a real fact. He shot at Uncle Mack on that shingle. An' he ups with his gun, an' when he shot, he busted the shingle all to thunder. She told him if he busted it, he wouldn't die. "Now, you jis' got to mark dat shingle" - had to put one or two shot in it - "if you do, he'll die instantly." And he bust dat shingle all to 'plinters [splinters].
[How well Zippy provided against her own failure!]
But Uncle Mack fell. He was digging up his potatoes. Uncle Mack fell dead as a dead man - ker-boom - as soon as he shot. Here come de girl a-runnin'. Grandpap was killed - or somepin was de matter with him. She didn't know what was ailin' 'im. She knowed he fell. Somebody help her to git 'im to the house. They taken Uncle Mack to the house. And he aimed de gun right middle-way of this pixschure [picture]. And Uncle Mack wus peppered. Ev'ry shot wus in that gun wus on his stumick.
(All the shot that was in the shingle?)
Yes sir.
(They hit him?)
Dat was re'lly de fact. You could see them little bumps - looked like shot.
(On his skin?)
Yes sir - after he fell and was takened to de house and his clothes wus takened off. They didn't know what wus ailing him, you know - his clothes wus takened off and everything, and they wus tryin' to work him up, you know, and bring life to him. And he wus peppered!
(How long ago was that?)
Well, let me see. I'm about 60. That's been 45 or 50 year ago [before 1936]. They wus elderly along that time. Of course, the old Indian lived until I was a good [sized] boy. He lived a long time. I knowed him well. But I knew' d'ole man Mack. He died from it. He wus waitin' to hear, and when he hear' d'ole Uncle Mack fell, he thought he wus dead and he went over to see about it. So he told them what he done. He told he shot him. "By God," he says [on seeing Uncle Mack's stomach], 'that's wah [where] I shot him." He says, "I shot to kill him. Tha' chew see all over there, that's wah I shot 'im. He got so he never will be no better." So after he owned it all up, you know, it was no use to send for no doctor. He told 'em all what he'd done and ev'rything. Old man Mack lived about two or three months. I don't know if he lived that long before he died.
Entry 8340
(What do they do with a person's photograph?) Well, yo' kin take one an' nail it de height of a person on de tree. Git de height an' put dis pichure on de tree an' nail de nail through de haid, an' kill de person - through de haid of de photograph. Or yo' kin shoot it an' person will die.
Entry 378
This man was a very rich white man, jest about - oh, [my grandfather heard this] sometime when he was growing [up] - mah grandfather he did this [treasure hunted], too. That [hunting] was when he was about twenty some years old - [he] didn't go [back] to slavery too, yo' know [grandfather born after slavery]. All right, [grandfather] said dat dis man was very rich, and he was old an' he didn't need the money. He was old and he had an idea he would die soon. So he took dis chest of money out - way out in dis big - had a big plantation. An he took a Negro man out dere wit him - one of his best strongest Negroes he had on his place. Mah grandpa tole me about it. It took five or six boys to lift dis big heavy chest out de wagon - two wheeled wagon an' set it on de ground. All right, now. He say he wrote his sons three names - only three boys he had living, on a piece of paper an' put it in dis trunk; wrote de boys names on a piece of paper, all three names yo' know, an' put it in dis trunk. All right, den dey say, after he got de trunk set on de ground, he tole de other boys to go on away, "Go on back, Boys, or go on down a piece an' take de wagon" - go on back up dere an' being doing something to keep from being around. All right, it was sitting on de ground by a oak tree. All right now, he asked dis Negro boy, say, "Yo' promise yo'll take care of dis money fo' my boys, heah." De Negro said, "Yes sir, sure do - dat a good-weather job." He say, "Now, lookit heah, ah want chew to take care of de money for me." "Yes sir." So de man had, dey say, had a pistol in his pocket. So he showed John some- thing to 'tract his 'tention, jes' lak, "Say, John, whut's dat ovah yonder?" An' quite natch'ly when he looked to see, when John looked to see, why he pulled his pistol out an' shot him - see, shot him down over his money. An' dey say anybody in de world wanta go dere besides dose family boys, git near dere, someone start throwin' de trees on yo' - or somepin will happen to yo'. Git near dere an' yo'd hear some ringin' like bells or see somepin comin dere; see a snake or somepin that will frighten yo' away. Well, yo' see de other boys - co'se it is dere money an' dey kin go right dere an' git a dollar or two whatever dey want; lift de lid an' jest put it down an' go about' dere business. Nobody kin go dere 'cause dis Negro is there an' he kill dem.
(Because the names are there?)
Dat's right 'cause dose names are dere an' dis other fellah dat fell ovah dis money guards dis money - killed him at dis money - 'he tole me to take care of it." Anybody go dere that ain't one of them, fall a tree on 'em, or de wind will. start to blowing, or somepin will happen to make yo' frighten away from de money.
Entry 543
Her daughter wouldn't let her be shrouded.
(Well, why wouldn't they let her be shrouded - what's the idea of that?)
Well, they said people would find out where she was.
(Oh, I see.)
You see, that was to keep people from finding - knowing where she was, and she had been shot in her hip, and she was crippled in her hip. Of course, you know, she wasn't shot person'ly - she fell on the road and it [her hip] broke, but they said a man had drew her pitchure in the woods, you know. He had a little store and each and ev'ry night someone would go in there, you know, and get things outen the store and he couldn't see nowheres they entered. So a man [doctor] told him one day what to do to prevent 'em - says, "Now, you put a hacksaw in there [storeroom? or keyhole?].
(A hacksaw?)
A hacksaw - that's one of them things with a whole lots of picks sticking up. I don't know now what you use it for. [He] says, "When you come back tomorrow, you kin sprinkle some salt and pepper 'round here near the keyhole" - says, "and when you come back tomorrow morning, she'll be standing out chere anxious fer you to go in" - says, "and don't you open the door and let her in" - says, "if you do, why you can't taken it offen her." So that morning, the man says, when he came down, why she was standing there. And she says, "Ah been here waiting and waiting fer you fer hours." [He] says she just hollered at him. [She] says, "And ah want some matches. I can't make a fire," she says, "and cook me and my children nothing to eat." He says, "Well, I'm sorry, I haven't got no matches, '' says, "I'm started down to the post office and I haven't got time to go in the store. I'm in a hurry." And he went right on. Ooh, they says she just shook and she ran on then and started running home. So he went on back to the house - instead of keeping on to the post office, he went on back to the house. And he'd always heard that you could draw a person if you [the person] was a witch and draw dey pitchure on a shingle, or eitherwise on a cake of bread, you know, like people used to bake bread to a fireplace, flour bread. I don't know whether you've heard talk of it but they could.
(Flour bread?)
Yes, take and make it up like you gon'a make biscuits and put it on a griddle and sit it up to a fire - in front of a fireplace and let it bake. And he draw her pitchure as near as he could, or the image of her, you know, and taken it back in de woods and shot it - cut up silver money and put in there instead of the shots in de shell and shot it. And they said that she was just about a quarter of a mile from home and on a plain straight road, smooth road - no roots, not anything - and when he shot that pitchure just through de hip, she fell. Her leg broke - her hip. And so de people went and found her - she hollered and the people came. And she said she had stumped her foot over a root and there wasn't any root there, and they said she had a broken hip. And so her daughter wouldn't let anyone shroud her when she died.
Entry 835
I have heard by having this root bag they can disappear and a shot won't get them, strike them, and the one that is shooting them will miss their shot.
Entry 1830
Dey say if yo' git some devil's-shoestring an' nine shots out of a shell - nine shots an' three lengths of devil's-shoestring. Yo"sposed to keep dat with yo' an' yo' kin put most any kind of perfume on it. An' yo' have a piece of lodestone with it - dat makes it bettah. Dat's whut ah hear a man say he wus doin' - ah seen some of it.
(How did he carry that?)
Entry 3102
[My discovery of Zippy Tull and George Jackson - former celebrities of the high-man or witchcraft world along the Eastern Shore - I have described in the INTRODUCTION. One of the great stories about her has already been given - No. 8, page 5. For George Jackson, see page 912.] [Nicknames characterize the woman - "Zippy'" meaning '"lively'" and 'smart," and "Aunt Zippy'" revealing an affectionate regard by many people. She lived a large part of her life a mile or so from the Maryland line at a place once called Drummondtown, near New Church, Accomac County, Virginia. Approximate dates of birth and death would be the decade of 1830 and the year 1900. I have four stories about her, each told by a different informant; also three remedies given by a fifth person. Never again would I meet anyone who, I felt, had actually been so near old-time workers. All material, except the story by Mrs. Williams, I collected while working the region and stay- ing the last few days at the old Washington Hotel in Princess Anne, Maryland.] [Story No. 1 - recorded in my hotel dining room, Princess Anne, Maryland, was told by a former slave 89 years old.] That's been aboat [about] 70 years ago when I wus - 75 years ago [1861]. I know dat myself, I'm not talkin' about whut I hear somebody 'say. I wus a young man - guess I wusn't a young man neither. I called myself a young man an' I wus courtin' a girl. An' some people lived on a fahm [farm] that didn't like me so very well. I wus a very bright boy an' very swift at that time. So dey begin to wuk [work] on me, as I thought. We has an ol' woman named Zippy Tull, she's a fortuneteller. So I goes down to Miss Zippy an' I says to 'er, "I wan' chew to tell my fortune." She knew my father. She says, "All right, George," she says, "take a seat there." An' she goes over [the cards] an' I never said a word. I jis' sit down there an' listened at 'er. I hadn't tol' 'er nuthin atall yet. So she said, "George," she said, "there's a big dark woman," she said, "that don't like your mother an' don't like your father - an' she poisoned your dog." Well, that wus a fact. An' this dog died sort of tight anyhow. "Well, anyhow," she says, "it's workin' on you. Now, I ain't had no mind it seems to me for nuthin atall. "Well," I said, "I wan' chew to do somepin for me if you kin." She says, "I will, if you do whut I tell you to do," she says. "I will, an' farthermore," she says, "I'll make dem people come to you an' 'splain to you dey done it demselves." I tol' 'er that wus purtty good. Well, I goes to work an' done whut she told me to do. An' fo' or five days from that.
(What did she tell you to do?)
I ain't exposed [supposed] to do [tell] this.
[After all these years the old man was reluctant to tell!]
(Oh! I see. All right.)
In fo' or five days from that, I done jis' whut she told me, an' I done whut she tole me to do Saturday night. Aboat in two or three davs from then, mayhaps a week - that woman hadn't beer to my house in three years - she come there at twelve o'clock. She don't come in. She put both hands on the door an' says - my mother's name wus Liddy - she says, "Liddy," she said, "if ever I git over this, I shall never do any harm to nobody else while I live." "Well, Caroline," she said, "git over whut?" "Whut I've done." She says, "Whut have you done?" "Well," she said, "Liddy, I done a whole lot, I've done a whole lot in my time, but, '' she says, "I've done somepin now which I think that I've gone to my good scene [death] from outside [outside because her own spell had been turned against her by Zippy Tull]. She said, "I'll jes' say to you that I'll never will do nuthin else to nobody while I live, again." "Well, whut have you done?" "Well," she said, "I'll never do nuthin to nobody else while I live." Well, that woman went away, she went back to her home again - she went back aboat a quarter of a mile from me and she pined away. An' whut I done - as that stuff wasted away, she wasted away; when that stuff wus all gone, she went.
(What did she do? Can't you tell?)
Did I tell what I done?
(No. Did she [Zippy] tell what she [the bewitcher] did?)
No, she didn't tell me what she done to me.
(And what did you do, now? What did you get?)
Well, I [he still hesitates] - well, I done this. She [Zippy Tull] tole me to git some new needles, pins, an' some of my own water - an' I fergit now the other t'ings I take, been so long. I fergit the other odd t'ings that she tole me aboat, but some five or six diff'rent. But I know these new needles an' these new pins, an' I think some shot; put it all into a bottle, an' some of my own water into the bottle, an' dug a hole in de fahplace - taken up a brick an' dug a hole in de fahplace in my home. An' I buried this bottle, put it down - the stopper down. She says, "Now, when dat bottle leaks out - all dat stuff dat's in dat bottle, she'll die," she said, "but she'll waste away dat way same as dat bottle." She said, "Stop it up tight," she said, "turn it upside down, cover it up an' place this brick back on top of it." Well, I done that an' buried it, jest as she tole me, where I dug.
(Did she die?)
DIEI Why she smothered! [Princess Anne, Md., (127), 29:2.] 0. [Story No. 2 - came from Mr. J. Shrieve (Numbers Book 83-134), my hotel manager at Princess Anne, a man past fifty, the only white informant interviewed. The latter alone makes him memorable, but a favor he also did later made the day doubly a worthy memory (see INTRODUCTION). This story, No. 2, is numbered 0000. because it is already in the text - see No. 8, page 5.]
Entry 5486
Ah heard 'em say, jis' lak if dey wanta run a person away, git a li'le of de dirt out dey right feet track an' put it in a gunpowder shell - put a li'le bit in de shell. Take de li'le shots out an' put a li'le bit of dat in dere an' put de li'le shots back in, an' shoot it in de way yo' want 'em tuh go. Say dat will jis' keep 'em goin'.
Entry 5918
Ah've heard dat yo' could take a person's hair, whatevah it a woman or man or chile - jes' fo' instance it wuz a lady an' yo' wanted 'er tuh follah yo'. Yo' would take a shell an' po' dat shots out an' put dat hair back in dere, an' yo' put some mo' shots back in dere tuh fill it up. Put in de shot an' run an' shoot it 'cross de rivah, an' dat lady will follah de man any place.
(You have to shoot this across some river?)
Yes, jes' across some rivah an' she will follah 'im.
Entry 6232
Dey kin git some of yuh hair an' bo' a hole in a tree, an' stop it up in dere, an' go dere an' shoot nine mawnin's. Why yo' daid! Shoot dat hole where dey got chure hair stopped up in it.
(That will kill you?)
Yes.
Entry 7268
Ah knowed a fellah - dat's right, he kilt a man. An' he shot de man an' de man fell on his face. An' he run dere an' - aftah de man fell - an' shoved de man on his back, see. An' den he - de woods ah reckon wus jes' about five hunderd yards, yo' know, from where he kilt de man, an' he runned yo' know an' he jumped ovah de fence in de woods, yo' see. An' when dey brought de hounds, yo' know, dere to put on his track, de hounds couldn't run 'im a bit furthah den dis swamp. An' dey ain't got 'im from dat day up until dis [1939]. Dat wus in de time of de World War [I] - it wus comin' on [before 1917].
Entry 10852
If a person wanta git in big business, dey haven't got nuthin tuh do [but] tuh git him some powders an' git dis cal'mus powders. Yo' know cal'=ns powders whut chew take but it's not rhubarb cal'mus it cal'mus itself [calamus = Acoris calanus, the sveet flag, its aromatic root]. An' yo' take dat cal'mus powder an' yo'oear dat cal'- mis powder, see. Yo' wear dat cal'mus powder an' den yo' git chey some guashot - not gunpowder, de gunshot outa de gun shell, jis' lak dese bullets, an' beat den up. An' beat dem up an' den yo' jes' take an' wash dat thing off right good. Yo' have tuh wash it right round yoreself. See, jis' lak de pistol ball, yo' have tuh take dat ball [shot] right outa dere.... An' jis' take dat an' jis' use it round yoreself. See, jis' round yoreself, jis' lak dat. Den yo' tie dat up into a silk corner of a pocket han'ke'ch'ef, jis' in de corner of a pocket han'- ke'ch'ef, an' den yo' kin git [down to] business.
(How do you mean you rub yourself?)
Jis' take yore privates, understan' - jis' lak yo' do with a woman, under- stan'.
(The wcman does this in business?)
Sho', dat's right.
(She takes the powder out of the gunshell and mixes it with this other stuff?)
Dat's right.
Entry 12330
An' if yo' put a piece of wood de lightnin' struck in yore pocket, yo' cain't be shot; cain't be shot by no man, if yo' tote dat in yore pocket.
[Algiers 2954:9.]
Entry 12413
Yessuh, dat gunshell an' de shots. Well, yo' take de shots out. Ah ain't used de shots very much but ah have used de powder. An' ah have heard tell of 'em usin' de shots. But whut ah have used de powder fo', yo' open dat gunshell, but it must be black powder an' yo' git chew some sulphur. An' if yo' wants peace in yore home, yo' kin take dat powder an' three or fo' matches, an' dig a little hole about dat fur down de steps, an' den yo' light dat powder. Hit's goin blow up an' blow all dem matches away, yo' see, whut chew put dere. An' de in- dividual will be gone whoevah it is, whatevah dey doin' to yo'.