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NEGRO FORTUNE TELLER

Historical Research Project No. 2231, Assignment 10
Canvassers Avis Lou Lomenick and Iness Tucker
(Transcribed by RaNae Smith Vaughn.) 

In the early 1900s, there lived in Iuka, near the old Neblest place, a Negro fortune teller by the name of Tom Mitchell. He was called Blind Tom or Blind Mitchell and wore dark glasses to hide his sightless eyes. Blind Tom was very popular with all the young people, especially those who continually sought his advice. He was also very lucky in assisting people who needed to recover lost or stolen articles. On one occasion, Mrs. W. B. Ellis thought she had lost $40, and accompanied by Miss Celeste Harris, they went to Blind Tom for help. He assured her that the money was not lost, but in a certain trunk under some sheets, and sure enough, when she reached home, there it was, and she remembered having placed it there. But the gift of fortune telling brought about Tom’s death. Several stores in Iuka had been burglarized and someone went to Blind Tom for aid. He told them that a man by the name of Harris who lived up the railroad near the section house was the guilty part. Blind Tom described in detail where the merchandise was hidden and what it consisted of. Sure enough, every thing was found afterward, and it consisted of all the things he said there was. Unfortunately, shortly afterward, Blind Tom was found with his head split open with an ax, and the man Harris was sent to the penitentiary for three years.