Iron County register., 1892-04-21
HIS OWN ExEcUTlONER.
A Chief Who Himself Inflicted the Death
Penalties He Imposed.

n Ch1ef p" no Himself 1nft1ctes the DeatD
Penalties He Imposed.
If you GO down to French Guiana and
ascend the big Maroni river little dis
tance you will find great many ne
groes who talk very bad French. Some
of them, however. have visited France,
and have little education. The more
intelligent of these negroes will tell you
that the greatest man who ever lived,
except the first Napoleon, was Boni.
One of these negro tribes is called the
Boni, from the name of the man who
released the people from slavery.
Boni was the intelligent and auda-
cious negro who, in 1772, revolted
against his master on the coast of Dutch
Guiana, destroyed his property, escaped
with hundreds of other slaves and found
ed a new home for the people, whom
he piloted to the borders of French
Guiana. For many decades all slaves
who escaped from their masters were
able to find their freedom among the
Bonis. A curious story is told about
Boni by the explorer Henri Coudreau.
who has done SO much to make the in
terror of French Guiana known.
a long distance up the Maroni river
ting off the head This is the island
where, for long time, Boni carried out
the execution of criminals whom he had
condemned to death. The curious fea-
ture of his system of capital punish
ment was that he received no assistance
whatever in carrying his judgments in
to effect. He alone escorted the con-
demned persons to the island of Adlafo
and unaided he cut off their heads. The
Spartacus of the Negroes of the Woods
seemed to he particularly fond of this
sort of exercise. Physically he was the
most powerful man in his country No
one wished to cope with him in combat.
When he had a prisoner whom he
had condemned he would place his
fiintlock and his saber in a canoe. seat
the condemned man in the bow of the
boat, and then paddle up stream sew
eral miles to the island. He would not
have even a boatman with him on these
little expeditions.
Now" Boni was wont to say to the
unhappy wretch before him, as he pad
died along: do not attempt to escape,
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 to torture
you after / get you"
No, chief" the trembling victim
would often reply, Il 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
fat rock, washed by the waters of the
rapid river and shaded by tamarind
tree. The rock is still shown to every
one who visits the spot. When they
reached the place Boni, fierce and mex
orable, would sternly commands:
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 sa Der,
and with one sure stroke would sever
the head from the body. The head
would roll upon the fiat 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 embark, and upon
his return his people would regard him
more than ever as terror to evil-doers
Chicago Herald.