St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-15
Who Has Conquered His Wild
Longing for Human
Baked Meats,
And Tells. of the Fierce Stpug-
giles the Victory Has
Cost Him.
Some Wild Orgies Seen in His
Youth at the Fiji
Islands.
Singular Talk With an I'm
usual Guest at the
Merchants.

sat i'll Ille Clldtr near Lit uOOIb n SldllCo
at the register at the point indicated by
the finger Of the clerk showed the name:
John Brooks, Fiji Islands. -
"Got in this morning." said the clerk
as he adjusted his tie in convenient
glass. "He will go to Chicago this even
ing, and you had better see him now"
Mr.. Brooks was an interesting study
as he sat there. His face was of very
dark hue and his eyes were like glitter
ing black diamonds. His frame was
massive one and we'll proportioned.
Beneath the close-fitting coat which he
wore the iron muscles stood out in
strong relief, and his broad shoulders
seemed fitted to bear the weight of an
empire. His face was not handsome
one, but it showed strong character and
force Of will. A close examination of
his features revealed the fact that nu
merOuS lines had been tattoOed beneath
the skin, but some preparation, or the
lack of care for those CHASTITY ornamen-
| tationS, had caused them to appear
faint, and in places unIntelligible. He
was dressed in black, evidently made
| by rural tailor, and on his head he
wore soft black felt hat.
An Interesting story.
AS the GLOBE reporter addressed Mr..
| Brooks he started as though Suddenly
Wakened from dream, but in musical
voice, with a strange accent, he replied
| to the ordinary salutation and responded
to all invitation to talk about himself.
| His language was imperfect and at
| times hard to understand, but the story
which he told was as follows:
| His name in the language of the
islanders was Vitu XII Mbua, but after
he had become member of the Chris
tian church he was baptized as John
| Brooks.
My father was one of the Tongans,
| from the Polynesian group, who came
| to the FIJI islands under the leadership
| of CHER Maafu," said Mr.. Brooks. He
was an under chief aud had command
over a certain number of fighting men,
who assisted the other residents of the
island of the WindWard group in keep
| ing off the other natives. The reason
for the removal of the Tongans to the
group was for the fact that they needed
timber for the purpose of constructing
canoes, and the timber was not suffi-
cient on the islands where they lived.
| Chief Maafu was All ambitious man. and
| he thought he could acquire control of
the other islands, but he got into
| trouble through injuring the American
| consul.
MY father married one of the natives
of the island, by the name of Vanua,
which name means beautiful eyes. They
| lived in a hut on the island of Tayiuni,
and after the marriage my father left
| his fighting rank to become a domestic
man. Now comes the horrible part of
| the story. True to the customs and re-
| ligiOn OF her race. my mother was
cannibal, and she attended the gather
ingS where cannibaIism was practiced.
1t WAS the custom to kill the widow at
| the death of her husband, and also all
Of the slaves, to kill the aged and sick,
and to sacrifice slaves ut the launching
of war canoe or the construction of
the dwelling of chief.
MY father had a horror of these Gus
toms, and he forbade my mother from
| participating in them. 1t was her Gus
| tom, however. to make her escape from
| the island at night when these CHASTITY
orgies were in progress, and return to
the hut satiated with the awful food.
! When / was child of three years |
| was taken by her on one of these ex-
| curSionS, and for the first TINA in my
J life l tasted human flesh. My father
| did not know of the fact that she was
| taking me with her, and [ was soon a
| disciple to the religion demanding the
| consumption of human flesh.
"When about twelve years of age my
| mother returned with me one morning
after one of
The CHASTITY Orgies,
and we carried several portions of hu-
man meat with us for eating the next
night. They were buried in the sand
near the shore, and my father happened
to come across them. He threw them
into the water far from shore, and then
he came to the cabin where my mother
sat weaving fiber cloth. He said not a
word, but drawing his dagger from his
| girdie he plunged it into her breast.
whether the sights which had wit
messed at the cannibal orgies had made
| me imperVious to emotion or not can
not say, but l never Whimpered. We
buried her under the ledge of rocks
which lined that portion of the shore,
and then we took boat and went to
one of the other islands. | remained
with him until he was killed in one Of
the island wars, in which l fought by
his side, and then joined the people of
my mother.
1.-The orgies did not occur 90 aften as
they had formerly for the lack of ma
teriBl for the feaStS, but they OCCASION
ally happened, and | participated. 1t
got to be a craze with me, this con-
sumption of human flesh. something
like the craving for liquor on the part
of the drnnkard, only worse thousand
| fold. L had no reasons for trying to
keep from it, and | was at times almost
driven to the point OF murder in order
to Satiate my desire for the ghouliSh
food.
Il am very sure that the subjects furR
niShed for some of our feaStS were muir
dered for that purpose by those who in
Ylted me to be present. But | finally
arrived at realization Of my condition.
became acquainted with one of the
missionaries who came to the islands,
and | was one of their converts. The
people were taught how wrong it was to
eat human flesh. and it finally became
the proper thing to kill those who
participated in the horrible orgies. We
drove those who persisted in the OBJ
servance Of the rites of cannibalsm to
one island, and it is my impression that
they are now all dead. At least they
do not openly practice cannibalism.
AFTER | became converted | tried to
preach the Word to my fellowmen with
ill-merited success. have done what
could to bring the poor misguided peo-
pie to realization of their sins, and |
hope | have assisted in the making of a
number of converts.
but what awful struggles | have
had with my unnatural appetite. have
hidden myself in the mountains for days
and days, struggling with myself At
times it seemed that must give in to
the awful appetite, but l finally con-