American Historical Ephemera and Photography Featuring the Civil War and American Militaria Collection of Bruce B. Hermann

2 1/4 x 3 1/2 in. CDV on cardstock mount (toning, surface soiling, and wear to rounded/clipped image and mount corners and edges). Verso bears photographer's imprint and pencil inscriptions reading "Sauvages de Port de prince [to?]" and "Slave Trader."   

The prisoners stand in a line at center, dressed from head to toe in white clothing, flanked by armed soldiers wearing plumed headgear. A rectangular sign bearing text is partially visible to the lower left corner, in part, "Sarthon," though it is otherwise indecipherable. An engraving of this scene was featured in Harper's Weekly, where the details of the story were reported. Eight men and women were put on trial and found guilty of abducting, murdering, and cannibalizing a young girl as part of a vodou ceremony in the village of Bizoton in December of 1863 (the incident became known as the affaire de Bizoton). The alleged ringleader of the group was a man by the name of Congo Pelé, who was the uncle of the young victim. See DASH, Mike. "The Trial That Gave Vodou a Bad Name." Smithsonian (May 2013).

RARE: We can locate no other copies of this image.