The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-03-24
HIS OWN ~ExEcUrIoNER.
no story Of a Chief Who Himself In
nicted the Death Penalties.

Ea%tE --- EEE==H#3&h@4#
- story OF a Chief Who Himself In
nicted the Death Penalties.
II you go down to French Guiana
and ascend the big Maroni river a
llttle distance you will find a great
many negroes who talk very had
French, declares a writer in tho Now
York Sun. Some of them. however,
have visited France and have , l;++lo
education. The more intelligent Of
these negroes will tell you that the
greatest mar who ever lived, excent
the hrst Napoleon. was Boni. One.of
these negro tribes is called the ROM
from the name of the man who re-
leased the people from slavery.
Bon1 was the intelligent and auda-
clous negro who. in 1872, revolted
against his master on the coast If
Dutch Guiana. destroyed his property,
escaped with hundreds of other slaves
and founded a new home for the peo.
PIE. whom he piloted to the borders
OF french Guiana. For many decades
all slaves who escaped from their mas
ters were able to find their freedom
among the Bonis. A curious story is
told about Bonn by the explorer Henri
Coudreau, who has done SO much tn
make the interior of French Guiana
known
A long distance up the Maroni river
Is the island of Adlafo. which means
'cutting off the head" This is the is
and where. for a long time. Boni car
rled Out the execution of criminals
whom he had condemned to death
Inc curious feature of his system of
capital punishment was that he re-.
CURED no assistance whatever in car-
rylng his judgments into effect. He
alone escorted the condemned prison.
ers to the island of Adlafo, and IN
aaed he cut off their heads. The
Spartacus of the Negro of the
o seemed to be particularly
1ond OF this sort of exercise. Phvsic-
ally he was the most powerful man in
MS country: No one wished to. cone
with him in combat
When he had a prisoner whom he.
a condemned he would place his
f1intlock and his sabre in the canoe
seat the condemned man in the bow
Of the boat and then paddle up stream
several miles to the island. He. would
not nave even a boatman with him on
these little excursions.
Now" Boni was wont to. saw 70 the
unhappy wretch before him, as he
padded along: do not attempt to, es-
cape. for if you do l shall surely stop
you by a bullet in the legs. | shall
not shoot to kill you. for I shall wish
10 torture you after get you"
mo, chief" the trembling victim
woul often reply, 4 shall not try to
escape" And such was the terror Boni
inspired that the unfortunate prisoner
would reach the place of punishment,
probably without entertaining the
slightest thought of escaping.
When they reached the island Boni
would tell his prisoner to get out OF
the canoe and would then march him
to the place of execution. This was
a large flat rock, washed by the wa
te"s of the rapid river and shaded bv
a tamarind tree. The rock is still
SHOWN to every one who visits the spot.
When they reached the place, Boni
fierce and memorable. would sternlv
command:
Now you die. To your knees.
Your hands behind your back. Hold
down your head"
The unfortunate wretch. more dead
than alive, would mechanically obey
the order: Boni would raise his
sabre, and with one sure stroke would
sever the head from the body. The
head would roll upon the fat stone
and the blood would be washed away
by the rush Of water from the rapids,
which now and then overspread the
rock. Boni would then re-embark.
and upon his return his people would
regard him more than ever as a terror
to evildoers.