The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-04-02
Ashantee Horrors.
A Captive's story of slaughters i'm Coo
massie.


A Captive,s story of slaughters in Coo
The special correspondent of the Lon
don Daily NeaOS in Ashantee thus sum-
marizes the reports brought to the Eng
lish camp by Mr.. Kuehne, one of the
missionaries released by King Koffee:
Mr.. Kuehne's description of the
scenes daily occurring in Coomassie
pass all belief in their horror. Mr..
Kuehne says that no day passes with
out slaughter in the streets of innocent
slaves and freedmen. He speaks of it
as a common incident to be sitting in
the doorway, or walking in the street,
or looking on OF some spectacle, when
the next man is suddenly seized by exc
cutioners, who run knife through his
mouth, from cheek to cheek, so that he
may never speak again. He refused
ever to witness the horrible orgies, but
it was impossible to avoid seeing the
dead bodies which are left daily to lie
in the streets, while the pigs feed on
them in the public thoroughfare, drag
ping them about with every conceivable
effect of horror and indecency. There
is one huge charnel-house, or block,
over which, for ages, the vultures have
never ceased to hover and to swoop
down into. The stencil of this is so
fearful as to make passage within very
considerable distance of it almost unen.
durable. Here the great sacrifices are
made. as many as 200 at time having
been recently put to death within it in
one day. Altogether Independently of
these sacrifices daily on small scale,
frequent on a grand one, excuses for
slaughter are never wanting. There is
a certain place whore each of the past
Kings of Ashantee has room, and
where daily food is placed for them.
Into the actual presence of the skele-
tons of the Kings no Ole but the King
himself ever enters. But it constantly
occurs that the wretched mud roof of
some one of these chambers tumbles in.
Then the King himself goes down with
the necessary laborers, and sees it re-
paired. All besides the King who have
| thus been there are slaughtered. There
are variety of duties of this kind
which, as soon as performed under or
| der, entail death on the workers. Mr..
Kuehne speaks of these as of daily Incl
dents, though, of course, there are mo-
mentary lulls, and the degree to which
they are done at different times differs
immensely. When spirits have to be
exercised, the plan is to take small
children tie them up in cloth, and drag
them through the streets all day. AS q
rule the great object is that no victims
shall die before the evening. In the
case of great criminals the man is fast
ened through the cheeks, as already
mentioned, ropes are attached to the
two ends of the knife, and executioners
proceed to slash his flesh with knives all
day, with the understanding that if the
victim dies before the evening the exc
cutioner is put to death. The ordinary
victims are simply left to endure the
agony of the knife through the cheeks,
sitting in room till nightfall. Women
and men appear to be taken for these
purposes about equally, except that the
woman is rather the more valuable ami.
NAL to her master, being both a better
worker and useful in other ways, ano
therefore when slaves are given for sac
rifce the men are more often handed
over. The population appears to con
sist in about equal parts of Ashantee'
and of slaves, with few freedmen
whose condition does not differ mucl
from the slaves. 1t is on the slave pop
ulation that the greater part of the
slaughter falls, and as they are con
stantly recruited by all sorts of device!
from surrounding tribes, the diminutior
of numbers is not so rapid perhaps al
such a system would imply. At thu
time when Mr.. Kuehne was captured
Ado Boofoo was nominally in negotia
ton with some friendly tribe of Cree
pees as to the number of men they wer,
to furnish the King with for war pur
poses. He called them to consult will
him, and having got them into his powe
drove all of them, with all their womel
and children, before him to Coomassie
nominally that the "palaver might b.
settled before the King" All, to tn
estimated number of 5000, have sine
been made slaves or have been slaugh
tered. Though the slaves suffer mos
from the mere sacrifices, and are par
TALLY replaced, there is most minut
system of ordinances decreed by tn
King, which make almost any man il
Coomassie liable to be treated as
criminal at almost any moment. Crimi
nails so brought before the King, eve
il for moment pardoned, the offens
being slight, are put aside or els
merely noted for execution when tn
King next wishes for victims for tn
sacrifices who are of Ashantee blood
Thus the slaughter in the course of til
year of pure-blood Ashantees alone
considerable, and taken together wit
the incessant wars, would account fc
almost any diminution of population
For the last year all the pure Ashante
males have been absent.