The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-07-10
A Massachusetts, IdOlatOr and Canni.
bal.

Berkshire is the discovery of q canni-
bal, who for the past four years has
lived in the Town of Otis. In an un-
guarded moment he told the story of
his early exploits, and thus has achieved
q wide reputation. Travelling three
miles east of Otis Center, up steep
winding route, passing in full view of
Otis Pond, one comes after numerous
turns in the highway to the end of the
road, the remainder of the county
road" having been abandoned long
since. The rest of the journey Is on
foot up high hill, from which one can
see the finest of Berkshire scenery for
twenty miles in all directions, through
meadow, pasture and wood, following
q mere path in places. and thence down
another steep hill. At last one discov-
ers farm of several acres, and here,
in the seclusiou which such man
might desire, lives Henry Smith, the
confessed cannibal. He is about fifty
years of age, with big. bushy whiskers,
and laugh which, although not de-
moniacal, Is yet far from being smooth,
and one not easily forgotten. The farm
is owned by a North Berkshire CATTLE
raiser, and Smith has the rent free for
his services as herdsman, in which Ca
pacity he has served for the past four
years. His wife is a French woman,
who does most of the manual labor.
and can pillow, plant, NOW and do, in
fact, all kinds of teamwork, while her
husband spends his time either in fish
ing in the pond below, walking from
four to eight miles to the neighboring
villages, or herding his cattle. He has
been married eight years but has no
children. A more desolate place than
his surroundings could hardly be found
in Berkshire County.
The man-eater says that he was born
near Rhinebeck, N. Y, but where he
does not know, and has little recollec-
ton of his parents, for early In life he
ran away from home, and at probably
fifteen went to sea. His wanderings
have been so nearly all over the world
that he knows little of country, kin, or
restraint. He was early shipwrecked
on one of the South Sea Islands, where
cannibalism was practiced and idolatry
was the worship of the natives. The
presence of tobacco upon him rendered
him unit for the cannibalistic palate,
and he was spared. How long he re-
NAMED there he does not know, but he
learned to enter into their savage rites
with a good deal of zest, aud ne con-
fesses to have acquired It's. for hu-
man flesh. and raw fish: toad, or even
a snake he can relish with a good deal
of .satisfaction. The report that he had
eaten a man in New Jersey he pro-
nounces false, bat he has, as lie thinks
literally, been willing to work six
months for q Blandiord man in ex-
change for one of the latter's daughters
to eat. In regard to his ability to chew
GROCERY, it is said of him that, when
offered dllDk of whisky from glass
bottle, the other day, he easily bit off
and chewed up the neck and cork, and
drank the contents with evident relish.
During the war Smith was in the naval
service, attached to the st. Louis, which
was cruising through the Mediterranean
Sea, in pursuit of the Rebel privateer
Alabama. and claims to have been in the
service for three years. His religion
seems to be q mixture of idOlatry, Mo-
hammedanism, and suc! other strange
rites rs have come to him in his travels.
Recently, pa1t way up the mountain
side, he has erected an idol, which he
calls :'Boudish," and before it, every
Sunday morning about ten o'clock, he
bows, sings, dances and offers up his
prayers, the ceremonies occupying
about an hour. and any striking de-
fomity of nature he holds in awe,
rather than something to be worshiped.
Three gods, or Eoudish:" which he
has carved out for himself, have been
stolen from him, as he says, by the
Christians, and the latest idol is made
much larger SO that it cannot be easily
taken away. His neighbors, q mile or
more away, know him to he a strange
man, but until recently have known
little of his peculiarities ether as to re-
ligion or cannibalism. - Rttsfeld
(Mass.) Cor. Springfield Republican.