The San Francisco call., 1895-12-21
Grim Details of the Massacres
by Natives in the Solomon
Group.
NO MAN Is SAFE THERE.
William Preston Harrison's Miracu.
lous Escape After His Friends
Were Slain.


OF the killing of his two companions and
his own narrow escape with the extraor-
binary cannibal practices of the Solomon
Island natives, whom he had just visited,
excited widespread comment in this City
and elsewhere whittier the news has been
telegraphed.
Information generally comes in such q
roundabout way from these islands and is
so slow in getting here that whatever its
nature it is usually discounted. Mr..
Harrison has, however, come as direct as
is possible for the ordinary traveller, after
spending three months there amidst many
dangers.
His two companions, Flood and Atkins,
were killed and eaten and Mr.. Harrison
himself narrowly escaped the same fate.
Mr.. Harrison is we'll known as the son of
the late Mayor Carter Harrison of Chicago,
and he was till recently one of the editors
and proprietors of the Chicago Times.
His account, therefore, has an extraordi-
nary significance.
He tells that during the past summer
many other deaths have occurred at the
hands of the headhunters, many of which
came under his personal knowledge. These
included in al! nearly dozen white men,
and natives almost without number. He
has given names, dates and places to verify
his story.
II never would have believed that such
practices, carried on in such a wholesale
way as they are" he said, in addition to
his other statements, "were possible. 1t
was something passing balief, but the in
formation was gained by personal knowl-
edge, and it must stand.
"No man in the Solomon Islands dare
trt h,veI 30 frI~o 1,%
tie trading stations, even in the slightest
way, if he would be safe. In fact, he is
not always safe at any of the trading
places. He may be lured aside and killed
at any moment.
1.-The large number of heads I saw in
many places showed to what an extent
cannibalism is practiced. l visited be-
tween twenty and thirty different places
in these islands, and in all of them / saw
the direct evidence of the deeds of the
cannibals.
Human heads and bones were to be
seen on all sides. AS | told you, / saw as
many as seventy-fve heads in one place.
They were placed on top of the canoe-houses
and kept as trophies.
THE average Solomon Islander thinks
nothing of such grisly display. He has
been accustomed to it and the cannibalism
which preceded such show from his in
fancy. With few exceptions all practice
it, and to their barbarian minds it is as
right az anything which we of the civilized
and christianized nations do.
Il was much affected by the tragic fate
of my friends. Charles Atkins and j.
Flood, who sailed in the little schooner
Narova, and who fell into the hands of the
cannibals but ten miles away from Ru-
biana, where was. | had expected to 60
with them, and would have done so had it
not been that at the last minute / was
warned that it would be dangerous.
$50 many deaths had occurred before at
the hands of the head-hunters, among
them two white men who had been
wrecked near the same place and were
seized upon, that l gave up the idea of
going with them. 1t was too late to get
my baggage off the Narova, but am we'll
gone | would surely have been killed, for
not only did Flood and Atkins fall VIC
TINS to the murderous weapons of the
cannibals, but all the rest of those on
board.
LAS they were all asleep on deck, while
the schooner was tied up for the night,
they had no opportunity of resisting.
After the murders were committed and
the bodies dragged away for their canni-
bal feasts, the natives broke open and stole
everything aboard.
"1t is extremely ticklish work travelling
around on the islands, but till had done
it awhile l did not realize the extraordi-
nary extent of the dangers.
1.-The twelve black boys who were killed
at one point on the island while was
there happened to be landed in the wrong
place. and were killed bv cannibal tribe
with whom their own tribe was at enmity
1t was night and quite dark, and the mis-
take was easily made. They were all de-
stroyed shortly after landing and they
were eaten also.
"As to the attack made by the natives
in September on another schooner, where
several on board was killed, l could not
learn all the details. This flesh went the
way of all flesh obtained in such a wav in
those islands.
"In regard to the towns of the Solomon
Islands, there are no towns at all. You
get off anywhere from schooner and YOU
are, literally speaking, in the woods The
natives swarm to the spot. The little sta
ton of itself is not of sufficient size to be
called town."
The 100000 or more natives of the Solo
mon Islands are scattered over the coun-
try, so that white man does not know at
what moment he may be confronted by
them, SO Mr.. Harrison .savs. The only
measurably safe thing to do is to stick
close to the vessel. and even then, as
shown by the instances cited, the visitor is
by no means always safe and dangers in
the Solomon group lurk on every hand.