Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-02-11
HERE TO RESCUE SLAVES.
Boer War General Tells of Brutalities
in West Africa.

Boer War General Tells of Brutalities
in West Africa.
General F. Joubert Pienaar. who
fought in the Boer war, arrived here
from England on the steamship New
York. This is his first visit 10 Amer
lea. and he brings with him story
of the slave trade existing on the
West Coast of Africa and of the
cruelties practised upon the unfor
tunate natives. General Pienaar's
mission is to expose this human traf
fic, and ne says he has a definite plan
by which it can be stopped. This plan
he does not care to reveal until he
has presented a number of letters of
Introduction to persons of prominence
in this city, whose advice he seeks in
carrying out his work.
There is no man who loves his
wife and family more than l do" said
he. when seen recently at No. 424
West Twenty-third street, but what
have seen in the Angola province
is of such a serious nature and it has
impressed me SO that l have left my
wife and seven children in Cape Town
and have cut loose from all other af-
fairs to right this great wrong. Every
thing l say l can prove concerning
these poor slaves and their treatment.
After the Boer war | sold my prop
erty in the Transvaal and attempted
to settle in Angola, where there was
Boer colony. After l was elected
leader of the colony was asked by
the Portuguese government to sup
ply X force of men to subdue Kaf-
fir chief. The men of the Portuguese
force that went with my men shot the
chief. cut off his head and sold it
for nine little Kaffirs. They used
the head as a cornerstone for new
fort, and planted the Portuguese flag
in the head, / wrote at once to the
government, telling its officials that
/ could not be a leader of men who
did such things. Instead of support
ing me they hunted me out of the
country, and should never have been
here but for the help of the British
Consul"
General Pienaar says the rich own
ers of the cocoa plantations in the is
lands of Principe and ST. Thome, off
Cape Palmas-who live in Lisbon
employ slave traders to get the slaves.
These slaves, he asserts, are purchas-
ed in the interior and are driven to
the coast shackled together in fours.
A contract is read to them in Portu-
guese and they are forced to agree to
its conditions, which they do not I'M
derstand. They are then shipped to
the Coco Islands, where they invaria-
bly, die within a year from malarial
fever, only to be replaced by others
obtained in the same way. They are
poorly fed, receive no money for their
services, and are horribly beaten with
cowhide thongs-often beaten to
death, he says. The climate of the
islands is such that the cocoa trees
grow lu2uriantly, but it is fatal to
the inhabitants. The overseers and
the cable company's employees, he
says, have to leave before, or as soon
as the fever attacks them.
II have challenged the Portuguese
government" said the general, ito
produce five slaves who had lived to
come back from these islands, and
they could not do it. There are three
manufacturers of cocoa in England
who buy about one-third of the pro-
duct of these islands. Many of the
owners OF these plantations are mem
bers of the Portuguese government,
who will fight to the bitter end any
interference in this immensely pros
porous industry, the income from
which exceeds every other in that
country. They connive with the slave
traders, who are rich men. They pay
on an average $3.50 for a slave"
The general told of little Kaffir
boy who ran away from his master.
When he was caught this master beat
him with ''shecot"--a cowhide
throng, dried and twisted like a cork
screw-"until his little body was
streaming with blood" He then
boiled piece of Boer stick tobacco
and made the boy drink cupful of
the mixture, ending his life by hang
ing him to beam by the heels. and
this man." said the general, boasts
of this and similar acts, of cruelty TO
his slaves. New York Tribune.