Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-28
War on "Human Leopards."

1t is reported from Sierra Leone that
the Government has arrested several
hundred chiefs of the tribes in the ma
tive Sherbro district, as the beginning
of an active campaign against the i1u-
man Leopard Society. The murders
committed by this brutal organization
have Increased at an alarming rate of
late Originally its membership was
limited rather narrowly IL the lmperri
district and some years ago the Govern
ment thought it had succeeded in COM
pletely destroying the organization.
Writing in 1901, the District Commits
sioner of the Sherbro. Mr. T. j. All
bridge, said: Happily, the persistent
and effective measures adopted by the
Government have been so successful
that l quite believe the Human Loop
ard Society is now simply a matter of
history" Within eleven years it APP
pears to have spread widely through
out the country, and even involved in
its tolls some if not many of the
Christian negroes of the Freetown sec
ton, descendants of the liberated
slaves from the West Indies.
This leopard society is one of the
most curious of the many forms of
fetishism among the lower races of
man. Apparently it is of recent origin,
although simple leopard worship ap-
pears to have existed for many years
in West Africa. The human leopards
however, if they worship that animal
at all. make ii an unimportant part of
their numbo- iumbo-sO far as We
know at least. They have always
maintained the greatest secrecy re-
garding their operations, and, the ma
tives are so thoroughly saturated with
the superstition, that they shut up like
CLAIMS when the subject is mentioned.
Therefore, the knowledge possessed by
the Government regarding their rites
and rituals is meagro, and by no
means bevend suspicion in the matter
Of accuracy Here is the substance of
what the Sierra Leone authorities
think they know about the human leo-
pards:
The members of the Society are can
nibas but apparently not because of
any love for long pie." They eat their
neighhors in the first place because
such a feast is a necessary preliminary
| To becoming human leopard" and
secondly because of a belief that there
!
| lief that the eater is protected in some
magical way by his unnatural meal
1t is said that strangers are often
tricked into joining the order by feed
/ ing them human flesh mixed with
other food. Afterwards they are in
| formed that they have unwittingly
joined the club. and few have the
courage to back out. The new mem
bers initiation fee consists of the
mGrder of some relative or neighbor
for the use of the Society.
There appear to he two magic med
icines manufacturer by them. One is
called nessi. is made from human fat,
and used as a magical ointment. The
other known as borfima. consists of
/ the heart and other organs, and serves
as sort of swearing block" The
members are sworn to secIetary on
i Lorfima, and such an oath is the most
binding of any known in the Sherbro.
When there is no new member to fur
Enish tine needed sacrifice, lots are
drawn for the victim as we'll as his or
her murderer. The murder is commit
ted in some secret pathway of the
jungle: the victim being bounced on
from behind, and struck in the neck
with a curious three pronged fork or
knife. supposed to resemble leopard S
claw Oftentimes the vertebrate are
severed and death is instantaneous
According to Mr.. II. c. Lukach, the
nearest parallel to the Human Leo
pard Society is a human Alligator So
ciety, which exists where alligators
abound. The victims of the latter or
ganization are killed in way to sim
ulafe the attack of an alligator-New
York Post.