The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-06
CANNIBALIsM IN AFRICA:
TIE HORRIBLE RITE SAID TO BE
STILL PRACTICED.

Leone, In Spite of the Missions Lo-
Gated There for Many Years--rhe
secret Society of the Human Leo
pnrds Is Not Yet Stamped Out.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.
In 1903 Sierra Leone became a crown
colony. Thus for ninety years this small
portion Of the Western continent Of Africa
has been directly administered by civ
ilized European government; its inhabi-
tants subjected 20 European ideas of right
and wrong, amenable to what it pleases
US to term. and what we all hope to be,
the enlightening properties of European
| and especially British influence, the REIN
ing tendency which contact with European
minds and European modes Of life should
nave upon the uniformed mental philoso-
ply Of the African native. For nigh upon
century the doctrines of Christianity
have been taught in the protectorate. In.
Vulnerable missions, Evangelical, Wesley
an, Methodist, Roman Catholic, have la
bored each according to it's own particu-
lar tenets and conceptions in the one
| great effort to raise the African to a
higher moral and intellectual level in the
| category of human beings. The Church
OF England has cathedral and about six
| teen parishes or districts in Freetown and
throughout the colony The Roman Cath
Ole Church has its cathedral also; mis-
| sion house al Sherbo (of which more anon
and convent kept by six Sisters of Mercy
From 1894 to 1893 121 clergymen of the
Church Missionary. Society--to mention
one religious body only-have served in
Sierra Leone, no less than forty-four OUT
Of that number having succumbed to the
| deadly climate. Here, one would have
thought, If anywhere In Africa, civilza
| ton would have made itself felt, and the
| moral status of the native have been rails
ed though ever so Slightly, from the abyss
OF centuries of mental atrophy. Sierra
Leone. connected for all time with the i'm
| mortal names of Clarkson and WILDER.
force, associated with all that is best and
| truest in that much misused word phii-
antropy, might reasonably have been ex-
| pected TO produce encouraging results ana
| 70 have justified In some degree the high
| hopes which sheralded its birth.
And yet events have occurred during the
| last few years In this our Oldest colony
Our one military and coaling station in
| West Africa; in constant steam communi-
cation with Europe; boasting eathedrals,
buildings. q
! hospital, bank the mmencenent of a
railway provided with full-fedged staff
| OF officials, numerous religious Institutions
| ana many white inhabitants-which makes
| one query the efficacy of the work I'M
dertaken and almost despair of the negro
race. Two years ago a series of terrible
I murders were committed in various parts
! OF the protectorate, some even in the
nelghborhood of Freetown itself. Bodies
OF men and women, generally mutilated in
| a horrible manner, We're constantly being
| discovered. AS a. rule. certain parts were
| missing, such as the head, an arm, or a
| Leg sometimes the stomach of the victim
was ripped open, and the entrails removed
| OWING 10 the condition of the bodies when
found, medical Examination was attended
with much difficulty; but it was ascertain
ed beyond doubt that the murdered per-
sons had Invariably been struck down
| from behind treacherously and unexpeet-
| eddy, and either stabbed or strangled The
motive of the crime seemed to point either
to revival of cannibalism or fetish wor-
| ship necessltating in the latter case the
making of medicine with portions of the
| human body. For many months the as
sassns baffled all research, and the muir
ders continued to increase, causing great
| apprehension throughout the colony.
| To cut long story short, investigation
|
ful secret society, with ramifications all
over the county, known as the Human
Leopards,' whose cardinal articles of faith
were the practice of cannibalsm and the
| making of human medicine" The dis
| gushing rites which characterized these
orgies are unfit for comment 1t appear
ed that the murderers, clad in leopard
skins, were wont TO conceal themselves
in the branches of trees overlapping the
1 bt1c -,
| Cling villages from which they dropped
silently and swiftly upon an unsuspecting
pedestrian who happened to pass beneath,
| thus displaying some analogy with the
| Indian Thugs. Such portions of the muir
| dered persons which seemed desirable
were devoured; others, as before slated.
| being converted into medicine for fetish
purposes. The exact figure viii never he
| known, but over eighty murders were
actually traced to this fiendish society.
Eventually about half dozen of the
| Human Leopards'' We're caught and pub
| licly hanged in the Freetown market
place. 1t was hoped that no more would
| be heard about cannibalistic societies in
Sierra Leone, but trustworthy reports
show recrudescence of the evil in another
part of the protectorate, among the Sher-
hroes, or Shabras, as they are sometimes
called, who has always been reckoned
i
nehs or Sousous (the two principal tribes
of the protectorate), and amongst whom
several religious missions have long been
| established. II was officially reported of
! the Sherbroes, as far back as 1868. that
! great improvements were observed
among them" Yet il is among this tribe
that another society, no less CHASTITY in It's
revolving hideousness, has arisen that of
the Human Alligators." Like the HUI
man Leopards,' the Human Alligators"
! praeticed cannibalism and the making Of
human medicine" Although the society
was mentioned for the first time in a te;e-
| gram from Freetown, which was pub
lished in the papers a week or two ago.
| il would appear TO have been well known
| for n considerable time in the COLONY
The Sierra Leone Weekly News, edited
be it noted, by a native, and the most
widely read paper on the West coast.
prints the following, which is worth re-
| producing:
simultaneously with the ravages that
were being committed few years ago bv
the Human Leopards Society, the mem
bers Of the other species of cannibalism
known as the Human Alligators' Society
on the waters of abe Boom Kittam river
Sherbro, We're numbering their victims