Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-15

THE w EEkLY GAZEI
TIE INFLUENCES or .sLAVEBT
THE GAZETTE believes TINT the aboli-
ton of slavery was an unmixed blessing
| to every citizen Of every state in the
American Uniol Looking back over
the reconstruction period, the riotous
waste of the negro and carpet-bag rule,
/ the suffering and travail through which
| the Southern people were compelled to
pass; regarding the present and gazing
upon the future with the ap-
prehension with which every thoughtful
mind must be filled; loving the South
with all the passion that patriotism could
inspire or a fervid nature kindle-hold-
| ing TO the Southern people in esteem and
veneration that are almost idolatIous-
THE GAZETTE would not willingly see
them return to that condition in which the
spring of 1861 found them. But while we
Of the South believe that slavery was
wrong, and while we must thank God
blotted out forever, yet there were in
nuences exerted by it which have worked
great good, and which relieve the people
of America from the odium of having
committed a crime.
We refer to tie influence wrought upon
the lives of those who were enslaved,
and upon their progeny.
God moves in mysterious way.
His wonders to perform.
Aud through the trials and vicis-
STUDIES which for the last thirty years
have taught the Southern peO-
pie the virtue of patience, as
well as through years of degrading
slavery by which the negro race were led
to participation in a civilization higher
than centuries would have carried to
their native shores, His hand may be
seen by those who, unbllnded by preju-
dice, are willing to recognize good wher-
ever found.
slavery upon the negro may be drawn
from articles recently published in the
London papers. Old Jinphy, king Of
Eboe, nation of interior Africa, died
recently, and the "Ju Ju' rites were
celebrated for several months. About
two months after tho old kings death
a number of traders from New Calabar
went to visit the new king. When they
~,
the orgies still in full blast. The account
in the London papers says:
On the arrival of the traders the old king was
still lying in an open grave that had been dug
for him. It was large and deep-large enough
to accommodate nine of the departed rulers
youngest wives, who had been murdered in the
cruelest manner Each of them had had her
ankles and wrists broken so that she could
neither walk nor crawl. In this MANNED con-
dition, and suffering the most excruciating pain,
the poor creatures were placed at the bottom of
the grave, seven of them lying side by side
The kings body was then laid on them in
transverse direction. Then the two remaining
women were laid by his side.
There they were left without food or water, to
wait for their kind Observation-Disclosures
however it is said, did not come to their release
until after four or five DAYS of intense suffering.
In the meantime four were stationed
around the grave, armed with clubs, ready to
knock backward any of the women wSo, despite
their fortunes and pain, migilt manage to crawl
to the side of the pit. IS
But his was not all. In other parts of the
town other human sacrifices were taking place.
Suspended from various trees were the bodies of
several men, They, too. were undergoing ago
bored through heir feet just by the ankle.
Through these holes ropes were drawn and the
men tied to high tree, head downward, and
left to die.
The traders were also unwilling witnesses of
another frightful sacrifcial execution. Noticing
q number Of natives standing in a group they
went to the spot to see what was going on. To
their horror the white a native tied by
the feet and neck. The rope attached to the
reck was thrown over the limb of a tree in one
direction, while that fastened to the feet was
tied 20 tree IN an opposite direction. The ropes
were then drawn tight, and when the body was
nearly torn asunder native with Ratchet
struck at the neck, severing the head from the
body The head was then thrown into the grave
where the king was lying, and the body was
eaten by the cannibal natives.
Tae traders while inexpressibly shocked at
their fendish practices, were powerless to stop
them as the natives would not brook the
slightest interference with their religious Gus.
toms, - and such interference would have been
undertaken ct the peril CT the lives of the white
men. All they could do was to make their way
back to New Calabar and await the termination
of these bloody rites. Before leaving, they
learned that seven men would be sacrificed each
month during the next ten months.
The negroes of the South, slaves
twenty-five years ago, free to-day. are
the direct descendants of those African
tribes among which the 'Ju Jul rites
still prevail. Whatever privileges of
civilization they enjoy to-day over the
inhabitants of Eboe they owe to the in
stitution of slavery. Self interest is the
motive power of the world 1t settles
prairies, clears out forests, builds cities,
POUNDS colleges, establishes churches.
1t is the handspring of human thought