Murder and witchcraft in Mauritius.
A correspondent at Port Louis, writing of the growth of witchcraft in Mauritius, relates an extraordinary incident that occurred there about three years ago. A noted sorcerer, a black, named Picot, abducted a girl about six years of age, and, after having fearfully maltreated her, cut her in pieces with the object, it was averred, of using human flesh for diabolical purposes. The crime was traced to him; he was arrested, tried at the assizes before our late Chief Judge, Sir Adam Gib Ellis – now in the West Indies – and condemned to be hanged. Sir George F Bowen was Governor at the time, and before signing the death warrant the affair was discussed in Executive Council, Sir A.G. Ellis, though not a member, being present.
After sentence was passed upon him Picot declared that he was beyond the power of the Government; that the authorities could not hang him; his sorcery placed his life out of their reach. And now mark what followed. The chief judge lived a few miles out of town, and no sooner had sentence been passed than showers of stones fell upon his house night after night.
No sane person, free from superstition, has ever doubted that this was the work of Picot’s accomplices and friends, who, arming themselves with missiles, threw them upon the roof of the house, and then made off. But the strangest part of the affair consists in the fact that the assailants could never be discovered. Night after night a volley of stones was discharged, but no trace could be obtained of the persons who threw them. What is of more importance is the fact that the judge’s lady was who, in condemning Picot, alluded to the crime in the terms it deserved, pleaded so earnestly before the Executive Council for the man’s life that the sentence of death was reluctantly changed to one of imprisonment for life.
These are simple facts. From that time “Picotism” has been as well defined a term in Mauritius as Dacoitism is in India. Master Picot is now well and hearty, and his friends exultantly say that he bears a charmed life.
Manchester Courier, 8th August 1884.