Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1889-05-18
SMELLING THE SAVAGES.
ENGLISH METHOD OF FURNISHING
SOUTH SEA cANNiBALS.


tives-Evidently Not q Pleasant Place ,
for White Men to Live. ,
In vague sort of way reports are received
now and then in England-and by telegraph
in the United States-of the vengeance"
taken upon some savage tribes in the south
seas" by the Smelling Of village" supposed
to contain the residences Of sundry cannibals
who have murdered European.
It sounds well enough to have It reported
that adequate reprisals" have been made in
such cases in the manner indicated, but the
following account of how vengeance is taken,
together with the reasons for such action,
given us by an eye witness Of one such oc-
| currence may enlighten us somewhat In re-
gard to the real effect produced by such
methods:
| "They talk a good deal Of keeping the ma
ton Of the New Hebrides and Saloman's
groups ON their good behavior" remarked
our Informant ''but let me tell you, these I'M
| breeched devils Of cannibals amt hurt much
| by all we do to them.
MR. cRAIG's WARNING.
stake, for instance, the case of two unfortu-
nate traders we found located on Ambrym,
one of the New Hebrides, when we were there
a little while ago We were running down
the windward side Of that island, and when
we were near Craigs cove-just as pretty
little landing as you ever saw, on the edge OF
a cocoanut grove, about six miles long and
mile wide-we were hailed by white man
in boat, and when he came aboard he told
us he was Mr.. Craig; that he had leased that
plantation from the native chiefs for EGO
year. and he and his partner had been doing
. business thus for more than five years. They
got along well enough until one Of the chiefs
Of little village with whom they had been
trading all the time for copra dried cocoanut
meat had grumbled about the price thatwas
being paid, and had warned them that unless
more trade was paid in the future somebody
would be hurt-with the poisoned arrows 80
e silently and fatally used by that people
= Craig said he knew what that meant, for he
had often seen some poor devil struck by one
of these noiseless, venomous darts, and in a
r few hours die in dreadful agony. His native
wife, he thought, might be protection to
him. but he was very much afraid that his
partner was a doomed man.
4 "Of course we promised to do what we
could for him, and soon after, meeting the
T. English gunboat patrolling those waters, we
reported what Craig had told U.s. We were
assured the matter would be investigated,
n and we learned shortly afterward that the
n gunboat visited Craig's cove and the COM
mander had 'palaver' with the chiefs of
IS that district They were informed that If
they injured the property or hurt the persons
of the two foreigners living there summary
m vengeance would be taken. OF course. they
ct were assured that nothing of the kind was
thought Of, and SO they sailed away
"a "a few days afterward Craig's unfortunate
~ partner, while walking through their cocoa
nut grove, was struck by one of those slen
" der, noiseless, poisoned arrows the New He
De brideans use, and in an hour was dead.
'Then the second mate Of labor vessel,
going in shore in answer to friendly smoke
C. signal from the beach, was killed, with two
Of his crew, by volley from the ambushec
natives, armed with rifles, and the boat
be contents plundered
,rt BOMDARDING THE HUTS.
GAS soon as the commander of the Englis
gunboat heard of these murders he hastene
re to execute vengeance Arriving off Craig
cove he found-from Mr.. Craig's evidence
i's that his murdered partner was an Amer
,ct can and SO he declined to interfere in tha
-. matter evidently presuIning that in tt
w sweet by and by some war vessel flying tt
lis, Stars and Stripes would deal out the props
-, punishment.
W but, at tho scene Of the massacre of Il
ers mate and seamen Of the English vessel
Nd few miles from Craig's cove-he resolve
Nv upon inAicting condign punishment. So II
gunboat ranged up and down that side OF tt
inn island. firing shells ashore, some OF whit
'Ne burst in the tops of the trees, some in Il
on, forest itself, which clothes the whole islal
.;,, so densely that not sign of a habitation CT
~ be seen from the sea. And some, when tn
hat did not fail to explode, dropped and burst
G the midst of scattered huts whose primiti
rudeness was such that such explosions mel
for " altered their old features without dana
ing materially their effectiveness as places
shelter to the people who, at the first alar
the were miles away. Now and then sh
md would be sent in the direction where bla
dots on the seashore indicated that the 81
ave ages collected in curious groups watching
no, bombardment
So' I'm such cases it is reported that there Y
to some loss of life, but this is only surmi
from the fact that at spots where shells w
seen to explode there were afterward fou
her traces of fires, where it looked as thou
,o bodies had been roasted and eaten, and it '
presumed that the victims Of the assault
are there been utilized, as is the custom amt
ox. that primitive race! After the proper mum
of shells had been thus exploded, body
and marines and sailors were sent ashore
Complete the task Of destruction. T
penetrated far enough inland to assure tn
as selves that no natives were in the neight
zeal hood, and, after destroying yam patch
two-the only serious damage done-t
AIRED came back with sundry fish nets, cocoa
,eat- calabashes, jaw bones Of turky' boar'
spear or two and other trophies, all of wi
the formed but poor compensation for the
Pro. taken by the savages.
1.-THE latter, having seen the gun
estes move away from the shore. returned
their village, where their womankind
few hours returned everything to its wo
ee. aspect"
Such ia the real mode of procedure an