Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-05-17
A LIVING DEATH.
Sickening TOrtues of Kamr Charged
with Witchcraft.

Sickening TOrtues of Kamr Charged
with Witchcraft.
In the various works describing saw
age lite, and the barbarities attending it,
which it has been our fortune to read in
the course of the last few years, we
have met with nothing more truly hor-
rible than the following account of the
fetish-like cruelties practiced by the
Kaffirs towards their own race and kin
dred. The details are given by Capt.
King, Of the British army, who took a
prominent part in the late Kaffir war.
After giving several instances of butch
cry towards such of the soldiers as were
unfortunate enough to fall into their
hands, Capt. King says:
When chief or great man of a
tribe is seized with sickness, the witch
DOCTOR, with forms and incantations,
looms some poor wretch to death, on
pretence of his having bewitched the
ailing man. His focks and herds are
forfeited to the chief, and his children
left beggars and fatherless. One in
stance may suffice to give an idea of
their savage ferocity, and spare the rep
tition OF outrages on the poor settlers,
or those unhappy enough to fall into
their hands. The son of a chief named
Macomo having fallen sick, a witch
doctor was, according to custom, con-
suited, to ascertain the individual under
whose evil influence he was suffering;
and, as usual man of property was
selected and condemned to forfeit his
life for his alleged crime. To prevent
his being told Of his fate by his friends,
a party Of men left Macomos kraal ear
ly in the morning to secure the recovery
Of the sick young chief by numbering
one of his fathers subjects. The day
selected for the sacrifice appeared to
have been sort of gala day with the
unconscious victim; he was in his kraal.
had just slaughtered one of his cattle
and was merrily contemplating the con-
vivialities of.the day before him, over
which he was about to preside. The
arrival of a party of men from the great
place gave him no other concern than
as to what part of the animal he should
offer them as his guests. In a moment,
however, the ruthless party siezed him
in his kraal. When he found himself
secured with rheim around his neck,
he calmly said, 1t is my misfortune to
be caught unarmed, or it should not
be thus He was then ordered to pro-
duce the matter with which he had be-
witched the son of his chief. He re-
piled, l have no bewitching matter; but
destroy me quickly if my chief has con
sentcd to my death His executioners
said they must torture him until he
produced it; to which he replied, Save
yourselves the trouble, for torture as
you will cannot produce what | have
not He was then held down on the
ground, and several men proceed to
pierce his body all over with Kafir
needles. The miserable victim bore
this with extraordinary resolution-his
tormentors finally tiring, and complain
ing of the pain it gave their hands, and
OF the needles or skewers bending
During this time fire had been started,
in which large fiat stones were placed
to heat. The man was then directed to
rise, and they pointed out to him the
fire, telling him it was for his future
torture, unless he produced the bewitch-
ing matter. He answered I told you
the truth, when l told you to save your
selves the trouble. As for the hot
stones, can bear them, for | am inno-
cent. | would pray to be strangled at
once, but that you would say / fear
your torture, Here his wife who had
been seized, was cruely beaten and i'll
treated before his eyes, The victim
was then led to the fire, where he was
thrown on his back, stretched out with
his arms and legs tied to strong pegs
driven into the ground, and the stones,
now red hot, were taken out of the fire
and placed on his naked body-on the
groin, stomach and chest, supported by
others on each side of him, also heated
and pressed against his body. 1t is i'm
possible to describe the awful effect of
this barbarous process, the heated
stones slipping off the scorched and
broiling flesh, and being only kept in
their places by the sticks of the fend-
ish executioners Through all this the
heroic fellow still remained perfectly
sensible, and when asked if he wished
to be released to discover his hidden
charm, said, release me- They did so,
fully expecting they had vanquished his
resolution, when, to the astonishment
of all, he stood up a CHASTITY spectacle,
broiled alive his smoking flesh hanging
in pieces from his body! and composed
ly asked his tormentors, What do you
wish me to do now?' They repeated
their demand, but he resolutely assert
ed his innocence, and begged them to
put him out of his misery; and as they
were now tired of their labor, they made
running moose on the rheim around his
neck, jerked him to the ground, and
savagely dragged him about on the
sharp stones; then placing their feet on
the back of his neck, they drew the
moose tight and strangled him. His
mangled corpse was taken into his own
hut, which was set on fire and burnt to
ashes. His sufferings commenced at 10
A. NJ. and ended only at sunset