The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1897-05-14
CITY OF BLOOD.
ootcntate Who Makes Massacres and
Murder His Daily Pastime.

Murder His Daily Pastime.
Tie causes which led Great Britain
70 send an expedition to chast;se King
Drunami and capture Benin were as
follows:
The Niger protectorate sent nine
Englishmen and go native carriers, all
,narmed, to visit King Drunami and
warn him not to interrupt trade.
Only two Englishmen and 20 natives
escaped the frigntful massacre that
the king ordered.
Had two men visited him they might
have succeeded, but. hearing that
large force was coming, he mistook the
nature of the visit
The affair occasioned an interest far
beyond previous African wars. The
whole world suddenly learned of the eX
istence of an almost fabulous city and
of potentate who makes massacre and
murder his daily pastime aud loves to
drench his capital in blood.
The Benin court is inside the bend of
the elbow in upper Guinea, north of
the French Congo country. The west
coast is little known. 1t is fat coun-
try, covered with dense forests, streaked
ny many creeks. The natives call the
capital Benin Ubine and sometimes Ad
do. The most important tribes under
the king are the Jekris and Sobbos.
The Jekris are very warlike and got
thrashed in 1894 under Mana
Ever since the British have been try
ing to control the most turbulent chiefs
and develop the trade of the interior.
This was rendered impossible by the
king of the bloody city. whose fetch
customs and rule of terror prevent COM
merce in the most important products.
The people are governed solely by
fear and the most barbarous customs
prevail. The subjects are brutalized by
incessant human sacrifices, torture and
cannibalism. The district is immense
~ rich and abounds in rubber. gum,
copal, gum arabic, turmeric, incense
gum. fibers, mahogany and many other
hard woods. Many of these things are
under the ban of the fetch. and of
ivory the king claims one-half, which
he exchanges for slaves and refuses to
sell to Europeans.
James Pinnock. of Liverpool, recently
went to Benin with Capt. Galloway. a
them outside the walls two days con-
sulting the fetch. At last the visit was
permitted. and the two men took their
revolvers and saw the king, who was
surrounded by crowds.
The king wore a garment of beads
which covered his body all except his
toes. fingers. nose and mouth. and was
so heavy that he could not move. As
the flies alighted on these extremities'
black servant knocked the insects off
and rubbed the sore spots.
A treaty was signed between the king
and Queen Victoria and the white men
were then invited to witness a human
sacrifice. They declined and were then
allowed to walk through the town.
They saw at various points human
bodies. one body being on a crucifiX.
the arms and legs stretched out. An
other body. that of man, was tied to
d tree. He had been starved to death on
account of there having been too much
rain. \ third body was that of a man
who had been executed because the
weather was too hot.
In various parts of the city lay
| corpses, headless or armless or shock
ingly muti!ated. Since that visit the
king has several times sent insolent
messages to the coast. saying that he
was as big as the white queen and want
ing to know if her majesty sent her
respects to him.
Other visitors while in Benin go,
messages from the king telling them
to stay indoors, as the chiefs were out
killing. it being the custom to gain pro-
motion rank to rank by killing as many
men as possible. This is accomplished
by waylaying in the night time.
1t is Drunami's custom to kill a large
number of slaves every anniversary of
his fathers death. The population of
the district is not numerous, not as
large as Ashanti. The people are in
dolent and cowardly and chiefly occu-
pied with agriculture and the produc-
ton of palm oil. One correspondent
says few white men have visited the
place.
The best known was the traveller
Belzoni. who was buried there in 1928
The place is of vast antiquity and the
ancient seat of a great fetch dynast.
which passed from one generation to
another and still exists with all its
primitive revolving sacrificial customs
\ trader who has been there twice
says the natives come hooting down the
roads, barring the way even 25 miles
from the city.
The approaches to the city walls pre-
sent an aspect of bioodthirsty barbar
ity almost impossible to describe. On
either side of the roads are the re-
mains of victims done to death with the
most cruel fetch rites, both men and
women being crucifed, impaled. mutt
.ated or half buried to satisfy the
vhims of the brutal espot.-Boston
Herald.
The Useful BabOon.
So far as speed is concerned the dog.
of course. has the advantage, but for
keenness of scent. for the instinct of
finding edible plants and hidden water.
and as a sentinel against every kind of
danger. the baboon is unequaled. lie