Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-10-29
TERRIBLE KING JA-JA.
The Terror of West Africa Exiled to sho
West Indies by the EP..i sh.

West Indes by the EP.. ish.
1t is announced that ia ia once
Chief of Opobo. is dead. 1t will be
remembered that ia ia was deposed by
the English government some years
ago, and that his case attracted a good
deal of attention in the House of Com
mons and in the press of two CONT
nents. Opobo is on the west coast of
Africa, small district among the oil
rivers of the Niger delta About 1887
ia ia began making trouble. He had
had bad reputation from away back.
He told Captain Varney. of the Roy
al navy, says the Phila. Telegraph,
twenty year, ago that all sensible men
were cannibals, and he said he knew
nothing in the eating line that was
quite so toothsome as little bows
ankle. That was before ia ia was
king but even then he was getting
rich trading with British merchants.
A few years before ia ia built him
new palace which was a gorgeous
affair as palaces go in West Africa.
Under each foundation post he buried
a slave alive, about twenty in all, for
no other reason, apparently, except to
show that he had plenty of slaves to
spare. Stories of his degraded bar
barism have been told again and again.
Finally the GROWING act of ia JAS
cruelty came and induced the British
government to take his precious per-
son into custody and put him out of the
way of doing further harm. For years
he had eXacted tribute upon every
pound OF merchandise that entered or
left his country. The white mer-
chants at last decided that they would
not be black-mailed by ia ia any
longer. They told him that he might
make as much money as he pleased in
trade, but he must not meddle with
their business. Thereupon he ordered
his people to have nothing more to do
with the white traders, and, suspect
ing that his dutiful subjects in one
district were still trading with the
whites, he marched his little army to
the place and killed 700 people. Then
the British sent an expedition to ia
JAS country and made things very
hot for him, and when they returned
to the coast ia ia in chains was the
most conspicuous feature of the pro-
cessiOn.
What to do with the African terror
was the next question. Deportation
was decided upon, and Mr. H. H.
tombstone was commissioned by the
British government to take him for a
five years exile to the Island Of St.
Vincent in the West Indies. They
gave him an allowance of 81, 900 a
year for spending money, and he had
plenty of money besides of his own.
He nearly died OF inconsistencies, and
before lang sent a piteous appeal to
England for a few companions to
cheer him up. He asked that dozen
of his wives be sent to St. Vincent to
share his exile. He thought his re-
quest was exceedingly modest, as he
petitloned for only small part of his
harem. Not to encourage polygamy,
however, the wise authorities decided
that one wife was enough. They gen.
erously permitted ia ia to take his
pick, and he sent for Patience.
Queen Patience came, and was usu-
ally in the society of her liege lord, who
was old enough to be her father. She
was young thing dark and dumpy,
and was not~t all regal or digniied in
appearance. Cheap jewelry glittered
all over her ample person. She had
silks and satins, as we'll as calico
gowns, and was as strikingly appar-
ola yrhn oh oh t.
himse If. The Royal couple lived in
poorly furnished cottage with two or
three attendants.
ia ia cut a great figure while in the
West Indies. He was short, thick
set negro. He wore an Admirals
coat with immense bullion epaulettes
over a yellow plush vest with big
green enamel buttons. The vest was
cut very low, displaying large area
of immaculate linen. His jean trou-
sers had broad stripes of blue and red.
and black silk hose, and pair of
gorgeous hower-em broidered slippers
covered his neither extremities.
On his head he wore broad brimmed
hat of African manufacture, something
like SOmbrerO. and In the band were
stuck, at uniform distance, five long
ostrich feathers.
In his ears were gold rings of
unique design; and encircling his neck
was a collar of sharks teeth. with a
BEARS tooth tipped with gold by way
of a pendant. He wore white cotton
gloves and as many aasny rings as his
fingers and thumbs would accommo-
date. Taken altogether. he was a
sight fit for the gods, and astonished
the natives.
ia ia was at last pardoned by the
Queen. He had proceeded as far on
his way to Opobo as Teneriffe, on the
Canary Islands, Off the coast of Africa
where his death is reported to have