The Portland daily press., 1899-03-17
JUSTICE IN ETHIOPIA.
The Sorcery by Which an Assassin
was 40 ed.

Method of Proccdure-The sentence
and the Execution.
In order to get clews in difficult cases
Che Abyssinians resort to extraordinary
methods In detecting criminals they en-
ploy young boy, whom they put into a
certain condition of somnambulism-
They call him the liebacha.
The liebacha is made to sleep at the
scene of the crime. Early in the morning
the seance begins. During the night he
is supposed to have become thoroughly i'm
pregnated with the fluids which the Grim
inal left in the astral atmosphere. Conse-
quently he has a clew which he follows as
one might follow footsteps upon the sand
But before he starts out he must drink,
fasting the magic draft" This bever-
age. like those employed by the sorcerers
of the middle ages, is composed of vegeta
BILE and animal ingredients. 1t is said that
at daybreak they add three drops of the
blood of male child
When the liebacha has taken this
strange morning cocktail he becomes ex.
ira lucid. He sets out ON his journey fol
lowed by an anxious crowd watching all
his movements. Some time ago your cor
respondent had the privilege of seeing
liebacha started on the scent of an assassin
who had murdered the Abyssinian carrier
of the French mails. The young somnam-
bulist at first ran to the camp of the mer-
chants. There he entered hut and rest
ed. The crowd understood that the Grim
inal had stopped there, and, as matter oil
fact, the woman of the house, on being in
terrogated, replied that man the day be-
fore took shelter there, but left at sunrise
forgetting his gun. The gun was exam 4
ined and recognized as the one that be
longed to the carrier. Evidently the scent
was good
The liebacha rose, ran along rapidly
and soon entered another house, where
they found that the assassin had asked for
a drink and had just left. The liebacha set
out in pursuit, but the horsemen, anxious
to seize the assassin and get the prize offer
ed by Menelek, dashed at a gallop along
the road and soon brought back the fugi
tive.
A few days afterward the members of
the French colony of Addis-Abeba were in
vited by Menelek to be present at the trial
1t WAS a spectacle never to be forgotten. 1t
is in the open air that Menelek holds his
criminal court, under the perpetually blue
sky of Abyssinia. On the steps of an i'm
mense banquet hall the emperor was squat
ted, oriental fashion. AT his left was the
French colony, at his right, seated on steps
covered with carpets, was the atfa-negus or
mouth of the king, as he is called, the
chief justice of the empire. Below him
were the judges with their white turbans,
and all around, forming a semicircle on
each side of the tribunal, were the specta-
tors. The criminal was brought forward
According to the Abyssinian custom he
was chained to two freemen. This is
precaution against any chance of escape or
suicide 1t is also hoped that his two
guards by chatting with him may induce
him to confess his crime
The prisoner was a little lame man
He advanced into the vacant spot in front
of the negus. He knew the fate that
awaited him, but he appeared to be per
fectly calm and looked plaoidly into the
face of him who was about TO judge him.
Heaven save you'll" cried an Abyssin-
ian.
keep your prayer for yourself, " replied
the prisoner. Il don t want it,
"You have committed murder" said
the emperor. ''Why did you do it:''
ITO rob, was the reply.
did your crime have any other motive
in view"
''No; I AIN a beggar. The courier had
thalers and I wanted them
"Well, you shall be punished, said the
emperor. Have you anything to ask
Your clemency would give you immor-
tai renown, " pleaded the murderer III
you pardon me you will be like the good
God
Then the emperor turned toward the
! / -. !. 49,
old man advanced aud declared that dur
ing his long life he never heard of such
dreadful crime and that the criminal de-
served to be hanged.
Another said that he should be burned
A third spoke loud and for a long time
making furious gcsticulations and con
Guiding that if the assassin had ten lives
he should be executed ten times. All We're
unanimous in pronouncing the crime
abominable. Each one endeavored TO be
as eloquent as possible so MS to attract the
attention Of the negus. They were not
lawyers, and, by the way, it is not safe to
call man lawyer in Abyssinia, because
lawyer" in that country means ''vender
of words. They were ordinary subjects
who had come to the trial, the jury in all
its purity. They We're graceful in their
movements of sincerity and Indignation;
but, like all orientals, they We're too EN-
phatic and extravagant,
The affa-negus came down from the
steps, and turning toward the emperor de
livered his address in a loud voice. lone
might CO. said he, "to Djibouti, to Mas
saua and even to the White Nile withou,
encountering any trouble. Even woman
can travel from the land of the Kaffa to
Gondar without being molested, and yet
this little sickly and lame man" (at these
words the assassin rose up and looked at
the judge with an air of deflance) KILLED
this courier while he was calmly sleeping
The crime WIGS great; the punishment
must be terrible. Let it be applied. "
Another judge brought the book of the
law, the "Fetha- Negest," from which he
read as follows; "He who commits muir
der and who by his crime brings scandal
upon the city shall be burned alive
But the king of kings of Ethiopia would
not permit the sentence to be carried out
according to the ancient law.
LET him be hangedp said he.