Sun River sun. [volume] (Sun River, Mont.) 1884-1885, 1884-09-25
SOME lNHUMAN TEASTS.
wen Who Eat Their FelIcw.Men-
Wreck of the Medusa and the Suf.
fcrings Of the Crcw-pe Mar.
soez in Florida Horrible
Food Used in Dire
Necessity.

Inc publication of the alleged can
niballsm OF the survivor. of the Lady
Franklin Bay expedition Turns public
attention strongly 10 the subject Of
nnthropophagy. The fact that men
under stress of hunger will eat men
is as old as the stone age Of Europe.
Remains Eof human banqucts are to
be found in the lately opened caves OF
France and the prehistoric remains of
Denmark. Savage tribes the world
over have eaten their enemies, fact
which induced the philosopher
Comgto to declare that The greatest
step forward in civilization mado by
man was the invention Of slavery.
which substituted service for food.
When tho early explorers came first to
America they found the West Indian
Islanders ull man-catcrs, whence the
name Cannibnl como. "Cnlribal" be.
ing the word used by The Spanish dis
coyercrs. These Indians were exceed
ingly partial to human flesh, eating,
however, only that Of tLeir enemies.
In Marco Polos travels in The East he
describes markets il which human
flesh was Offered for sale in Tartary,
and later travellers have confirmed this
fact. The same open snle is said to
be the custom among the wild tribes
near the Congo, in Africa, and in 9th
or parts OF the interior of The darl;
continent. In New Zealand, and the
South Sea Islands generally, especial
ly ut Fee-jec, cannibalism was the rule
rather than the exception. 1t was as
sociated with tho religious belief OF
the people, and the most horrible cx.
ccsses were continued down into the
times within the memory OF men now
living. In tho South seas the chief
epicures in anthropophngy were to be
found, tho Now Icalanders, and in
deed all OF those with educated pal
atcs, estceming the palm OF The hu.
man hand rs the choicest tit-hit in all
gastronomy S5ingulally enough, the
Australian cannibals, after Il number
Of experiments, declared that civilized
man had so saturated himself with
salt and tobacco that his flesh was
ruined for cookery, and the white man
among the cannibals of the South
seas is looked upon much Us we re-
gard n fish-eating duck. Instances
are on record wherein crews of wreck
cd vessels were preserved FOR the sole
reason that they were unfit to eat.
Among white men cannihalism has
always been regarded with the deep
est loathing and horror, and it has
only been under the dires. stress OF
famine that food SO unnatural has boon
resoiied to. There has always been
IN idea amounting almost to super
sttion that once a man partake5 Of
the ghoulsh repast the foul appetite
grows upon him, and that no fear of
punishment on detection can keep him
from seeking ncw victims. This is
said to be II mania, and Il name has
been given to it, Anthrophagi, OF
which many well authenticated cases
are to be found in the books.
A iiilancso woman named Elizabeth
was burned inthe middle Of thirteenth
century for numbering and dcyo,ring
Il number Of children. In Saxony the
celebrated Goldsmith case will be re
mcmberod. This wretch had killed a
man. and, in order to conceal the body,
burnt and ate it. lie then committed
soyoal other murders for the same
purpose, being finally executed in
1872. 1t is assorted that the reason
that swine and similar flesh was de
clared unclcan by the lawgiyors OF
the East was the fact that il tasted
much like man, and led to the llso of
the latter food. 1t is related of Rich
ard Ceaur do Lion that after being
sick in Palestine he cravcd boar'sj
head, a luxury hard to get in Mo
hammedan land, and that 4 Saraccn's
head was dressed, baked and eaten
rayenously by the King, who, accord
ing to the ballad, said:
King Richard shall warrant
There il no flesh so noullissant
Unto an Englishman,
Partridge, plover, heron ne swan,
Cow ne OK, sheep ne swine,
As the head of Il Sarnzync.
In the wars that devastated Italy in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centrr-
les, caniliabalism was common in the
prolonged sioges, and determined re-
sistancc of the besicgcd. At the siege
of the castle of Bolrctino, III 1870, the
soldiers who formed tho ward OF the
castle ate the horses, dogs and such
other domestic animals as they could
fiud. and then dcvourcd the servants,
women and children in the fortress.