VOODOO, or VOUDOO, a name given by the negroes of the West Indies and the United States to superstitious rites and beliefs brought with them from Africa, and to the sorcerer who practiced these rites for his benefit and aggrandizement.
In the Southern States of the Union there was at one time a widespread and deep-rooted belief in the power of these sorcerers. As the negroes advance in education, the belief is dying away. At one time, however, despite all efforts of religious teachers to banish the mastery of this belief from the minds of the slaves, the voodoo "doctor" was an almost omnipotent individual in the estimation of his fellows. No slave could, under any pretext, be persuaded to expose himself to the vengeance or wrath of one of these conjurors. In some cases there was a reasonable foundation for these fears; for in not a few instances has it been proven that some of the voodoos were skillful poisoners, and while the great mass of their professed art was a rank imposture, still they possessed enough of devilish skill to render them objects of wholesome dread. Their methods were as varied and variable as the winds. Anything that was mysterious, or likely to impress the ignorant mind with a feeling of terror was eagerly seized on and improved by them to their own advantage. Their services were more often invoked in destructive than in curative offices. If a negro desired to destroy an enemy, he sought the aid of the voodoo, who, in many cases, would undertake to remove the obnoxious one, and the removal was generally accomplished through the medium of poison. No doubt exists that in many cases the victim of a voodoo died from sheer fright, for whenever a negro had reason to think that he was possessed by the spell of the voodoo, he at once gave up all hope, thus hastening the accomplishment of the end toward which the energies of the sorcerer were directed. Their incantations and spell workings were always conducted with the greatest secrecy, no one being allowed to witness the more occult and potent portion of their ritual. They were frequently employed by dusky swains to gain for them the affections of bheir hard-hearted inamoratas, and love powders and other accessories for "tricking" constituted their stock in trade, and in some instances yielded them no insignificant revenue. The field in which voodooism flourished best was the far South among the rice, cotton, and sugar plantations, where the negroes were not brought into contact so closely with their masters as they were farther North.
VOORHEES, DANIEL WOLSEY, an American lawyer; bom in Liberty, O., Sept. 26, 1827; was graduated at De Pauw University in 1849; and admitted to the bar in 1851; began practice in Covington, Ind.; was a member of Congress in 1869-1873, and of the United States Senate in 1877-1897; served on the Senate Committee on Finance during his whole career in that body. He was also a member of the Committees on Library, Immigration, and International Expositions. The erection of the new Congressional Library was largely due to his influence. Owing to his tall and erect figure he was known as the "tall sycamore of the Wabash." He died in Washington, D. C, April 10, 1897.
VORONEZH, a province of Russia, surrounded by Tambov, Saratov, the country of Don Cossacksj Kharkov, Kursk, and Orel; area, 25,443 square miles. The surface is in general level, with gentle undulations and chalk hills of no great elevation. The principal river is the Don, with a course from N. to S. of 390 miles. It receives, near the town of Voronezh, the river Voronezh, with its affluent the united Usman and Chava. The principal crops raised are corn, potatoes, beetroot, tobacco, garden produce, and sunflowers, from the seeds of which an excellent oil is procured. In the fine pastures of Voronezh horses and cattle are largely reared. The chief exports are corn and other agricultural produce to Rostov, wool to Kharkov, cattle to Petrograd and Kharkov, and horses to most of the provinces of Russia, Pop. about 3,200,000.
VORONEZH, the capital of Voronezh, at the influx of the river Voronezh into the Don, is 310 miles N. N. W. of Rostov. Founded in 1586 as a stronghold against the Tartars, it first became important in the time of Peter I., to whom a monument was raised here in 1860. It has over 20 churches, several monasteries, and before the World War had extensive tanning industries, and carried on a large trade in corn, sugar, and oil. Pop. about 70,000.
VOROSMARTY, or VOEROES- MARTY, MIHALY (vo-rosh-mar'ty) , a Hungarian writer; born in Nyek, Hungary, Dec. 1, 1800; published "King Solomon," a drama, in 1821, which was followed by a poem, "The Triumph of Fidelity" (1827) ; "King Sigismund," a drama (1824) ; "The Flight of Zalan," an epic poem; the tragedy "Kont" (1825). His narrative poems entitled "Cserhalom," and "The Enchanted Valley," established his reputation as the first Hungarian poet of his time. He was
