Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-06-25

A CONVICT IN A VIRGINIA PRISON
DOTeS ON HUMAN FLESH.

rics-His Early Lifc-How He Was Cap
bile Hay.
II came to light recently that among tn.
prisoners In the Virginia penitentiary is q
genuine cannibal. The prison authoritie.
knew of the fact short time after the
prisoner was received, but said nothing
about II until q Catholic priest In Rich.
mond who had ministered to the prisoner
let the cat out of the bag, and the rumol
was soon substantiated beyond doubt.
ESQ Aso Is the name Of the cannibal
originally, but since his residence IN
America he has been going by the name
Of Antonio Frederick, cognomen he
picked up somewhere during his voyages
as q common sailor on the high seas He
appears to be about 88 years Of age, though
he insists that he Is In his fifty eighth
year. He Is 9 feet inches high, weighs
174 pounds and has a magnificent ply
sique. or gingerbread complexion,
bright, Intelligent eyes, low forehead
straight nose and lips unusually thin for
an African, he is by no means a bad look
ing negro. He reads and writes WELL talks
intelligently, with foreign accent lean
ing toward the oriental brogue, and has q
nervous terky way OF noticing things gen.
orally. During his 80 years residence In
America and Europe he has picked up q
deal OF information and grown accustomed
to civilization, yet cherishes many of the
legends and customs Of his native land.
He claims to be proselyted to the Catholic
faith and wears his beads and cross. He
prays three times day and reads his BIZ
BILE regularly. So.
Despite all this, ESQ Aso still has keen
appetite for human flesh. He declares that
a cannibal never loses his taste in this re-
spect and insists that he would not hesi-
tate to partake heartily of such menu II
he could secure human flesh for a meal.
"As soon as my term here Is out" said
he, I'm going back to the OLD country,
where l can eat man meat without dan
ger. When once you've eaten 1t, you new
or lose taste for 1t. There isn't any better
eating In the world.
my fathers name Is ESQ Aso," said
he land ], the eldest son, was named aft
er him. My father was king of five set
Elements on the Binn river in eastern
Africa, near the big desert. He was ruler
Of about l, 700 people in all. He had five
wives. My mother, whose name was Min
debar, was killed by the efromo. He was
the man who made the sacrifices at the al
tar and gave the people religious instruc-
tion. He found out that my mother be-
witched one of our elephants and made
him Kill my young brother. The efromo
then tied my mother to tree, where she
remained without food until she died.
when he burned her body on the altar.
The efromo was 6 feet 4 inches high and
wore mask when he went in public. /
never saw his face.
'"When l was Is years old the juka a
priest named Ngwi, who lived in Sikita,
some distance away, took me from my ia
ther and kept me as his servant. fought
In the battles with the neighboring tribes
Tor year or two along the Kog and Nog
and killed many men, We had i
to fight for four or five days every three
months to get men to eat. Once I got
In the side, but got away and got
well after month. We fought with bow
and arrow and spears. Sometimes we put
1Ji, kind OF poison, on the points of the |
weapons.
I'VE killed the prisoners and cooked |
hem by putting them on crossbar, back |
iown, and roasting them over a fire made |
n q square pit underneath. The hams |
Ind shoulders are the bost to eat, and the |
muscles of the arm were eaten to make us |
strong and brave. With the meat was
erved sauce made by boiling certain
lerbs There is no better eating in the |
world than that. 1t is tender and Juicy
md very wholesome. When once you eat |
and get used to it, nothing will take its
,lace.
After the meat was all taken off the
zones and skull were given to the boys to
lay with. The skull was then dried in
he sun, and the children found much
in filling 1t up with sand and
citing 1t run through the eye sockets.
hat was nearly all the means Of amuse-
nent we had. - ,~
"The priest who took me from my fa-
her sold me to man named Haljealoji
n African, who belonged to a tribe far
her west. killed my master in his camp
ne night and ran away. Soon afterward
took passage on the ship Savannah and
anne to the West Indies. couldn't speak
ny English or French Or Spanish, and
idn't understand word anybody said. I
'as In the West Indies only about Is days,
'hen got aboard the Tennessee and went
9 one Of the cities on the Atlantic coast.
Drifting from place to place, I finally
rent to Norfolk and soon after that left
'orfolk and was put to fighting.
II was then grown man, but couldn't
Understand anything people said. I only
now they gave me a blue suit and gun
nd put me on a big ship. fred my gun
whenever the captain made the others
hoot, but 1 never knew what they were
II fighting about. For two years was
ghting, most Of the time on board ship.
was at Mobile Bay when the ram was
unk there, and at Fort Fisher was shot
q the chin
At this point the man pointed to an old
vound on the chin, which had left an
gly scar, and stated that he was struck
here by a glance lick from large ball.
after relating some further experiences In
clearly intelligible way he gave an ac-
ount Of some Of his voyages as q sailor
nd appeared to have accumulated deal
4 scattered information from number Of
European and Asiatic countries. He stat
d that he went to Richmond several years
go after many stormy voyages and mar