A "GALLOWS BALL" IN VIRGINIA.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3215, 9 June 1879, Page 2

A "GALLOWS BALL" IN VIRGINIA.

A singular festivity took place in New Kent, Virginia, the other day. It was termed a " gallows ball," and its occasion was the execution of two negroes, Patrick Smith and' Julius Chrisiian,'for murder. The hanging attracted hundreds from every part .of the, country, and the negroes, '■ who came; in 'large numbers clothed in holiday attire,,.made a "gala day" of iti In the evening they determined to have a ball in a large barn. The band consisted of four banjo, play era and one fiddle.' At midnight* the orchestra struck up the " The Mississippi Lawyer," and the dancing. began. „, It, wu. carried on with great spirit' until about two o'clock in the morning, when an old Vondow negress. suddenly, appeared in the middle of the scene, holding in heir hand a large bundle tied up in a red hankerchief. The music at once .stopped, c and after incantations ihe bid woman'informed the assemblage that she had the ropes with which the men were, hanged^and that after she had touched any thai piece would secure the possessor against the evil designs of any .person .who, touched them or poisoned them: she then cut up the ropes in small bits, over whioh she sprinkled something fr,om an,old jug, and sold" each bit for fifty befits. There'was such a demand for these pieces of rope that a fight, was the , consequence, and those who rould not get a piece "acted like fiends," begging for a thread only. The old woman., told^ them nothing else would effect the - ch»rna' small particles of the oUftMbg fin which the. men were buried. A rash thereupon' took place to the grave under, the gallows for the purpose of disinterring the bodies and; bringing back the clothes. The large party who undertook this task soon, however, returned in horror to the ballroom, -.declaring' that, they had seea the two men. who were hanged walking round 'their graves. It was subsequently ascertained that the" visit of the dancers to the grave had Lightened off two. m-?n who had come to dig up the bodies for the doctors. Notwithstanding these drawbacks the ball was a great success, the old negress announcing that all who danced, at the •' gallows ball" would be able to iianee so iong as they lived, no matter if they -lved to be ninety-one.