The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-04-13
TALE OF HORROR
Some Indians Who Sacrifice Babies to
Sacred Snakes to Ward On Trouble.
The Huge Living Reptiles are Kept
Shut Up i'm a Cave in the Mountains
and Fed on Human SacriiciaI Flesh
by the Fanatics.

Shut Up In a Cave i'm the Mountains
and Fed on Human SacrificiaI Flesh
by the Fanatics.
The grand 1ury Of Bernadillo coun-
ty. New Mexico, was presented with
evidence recently which apparently
shows that human sacrifice Is still be-
ing practised among other barbaric
religious rites by our American In
dams. A considerable amount of
testimony was produced as TO the
practices of witchcraft and the COM
NOR habit of the Indians of murder
ing men n women who are suspect
ed Of being evil spirits" In fact,
Joe Luis chief medicine man of the
Papago tribe of Arizona frankly ac-
k~nowledged that he is the slayer of
Josefa Anton a woman, whom the
Papagos Of a native village near Cow
cred Wells in the Gunsight county ac-
cused of being An evil spirit who be-
Witched them and was responsible for
their misfortunes. During the summer
a great many cattle belonging to the
Indians sickened and died. and starva-
ton stared them in the face. Later
some Of the leaders of the tribe sue
cumbed to a mysterious disease, and
the savages, who still believe in witch
craft, held Josefa Anton. a woman Of
the village. responsible for the condi-
tons. Louis, the medicine man, be-
1ieved it his duty to rid the village of
the witch. SO he lured her out into the
desert and murdered her.
But the most shocking testimony,
says the correspondent Of The New
York American was given by a Catho-
lie missionary who was admitted to
some of the sacred rites of the Indians
of the PUEBLO of Zia. the most isolat-
ed of the savages in New Mexico. Here
the priest was led to a cave in the
Mountains. the mouth of which is en-
closed with a stone wall fifteen feet
thick. In this wall there is a hole
eight or ten inches in diameter, and in
the cave lives a huge sacred snake,
which at times energies through this
hole. The Indians keep a watch at
the cave and regard the appearance of
serpent as a mandate upon them to
produce a human sacrifice for the
creature.
Usually. the witness said, the sacri-
flee was voluntary. some Indian 10th
er being ready, under the spur of re-
Hgious enthusiasm. to offer her infant.
If, however, the exhOrtations of the
frenzied medicine man failed to find
willing response. then a council of the
old men of the tribe was held and a
baby was picked out by vote. In either
case, willing or unwilling, the mother
was led forward to the entrance of the
cave and kept there until the snake
appeared. AS the huge serpent wrig-
gled forth through the hole the mother
crept onward and delivered over her
child.
After this a dance was begun by the
chief medicine man. which was joined
in by the others of the tribe, and the
ceremonial kept up until sunrise.
1t is known that a very similar sys-
TEN of sacrifice of babies and adults
was practised until recently by the
Glorieta Indians. who lived in the
Pecos Valley, of New Mexico. Thirty
miles north of the village Of Glorieta,'
in the mountains. is a cave similarly
sealed up except for a hole large
enough to admit a large snake. This
is we'll known to all residents of hat
section. Several years z when the
Glorieta Indians We're snake Worship
pers. a huge sacred serpent made his
abode in the cave.
A human sacrifice was made at reg
ula periods to his snake. the cere-
mony connected Herewith being one
Of the most sacred tenets of the In
dian religion. Sometimes the sacrifice
was voluntary or the part of the vic
tim. and sometimes was placed on the
altar by his comrades. Finally the
tribe dwindled down to one man and
one oman When the time Of sacri-
flee again came around, the woman
was seized with terror. as a woman was
always considered preferable as an Of
fering to apDease the great spirit
through the medium of the snake. I'm
known to the man, she fed before the
fatal hOur arrived. Left alone to face
the gruesome ordeal. the man was also
seized with fear and fed the country.
Other Indians of other tribes know Of
~ we onl o~po+ ~ I-~- 70
go near it.
The grand jury was impressed with
the need OF a thorough investigation
Of the secret practices Of the indian
and a resolution wah adopted calling
upon the United States authorities to
sift the matter to the bottom and take
means to stop forever the practice Of
human sacrifice. In view of the great
difficulty a white man has in penetrat-
ing the secrets of the Indians. it is not
surprising that the government Off
Gals are ignorant of these cruel cere-
mOnials. In fact, many villages of IN
dams in remOte mountain districts are
hardly known to even the wandering
mining prospectors and are never visit
ed by agents of department of the in
terror. 1t must be remembered, too
that New Mexico is a big territory.
with an area as great as the combined
ares of New York and the New Eng
LAM States, and event may transpire
in certain secluded sections of it and
be as little known to many other sec
tions as if the inhabitants dweTt at a
much greater distance from the scene
of these events. The highest forms of
civilization and prosperity exist in GER
tain parts of New Mexico. but there
are still some Indian pueblos, or VIII
lagos. little known to the white man.
In one form or another this story
which was brought before the grand
jury is not new, as it has been told
around campfires and by writer's of
Pueblo legends and traditions. but it
has never heretofore been brought be-
fore a judicial body. A version of the
story is that there is but one snake of
venerable age and immense size, which
has been transferred from pueblo to
pueblo, causing in each in turn a mys-