The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-14
RUBBER COMPANY
In Peru Permitted Natives to Be
5rutaily Treated BY Men in

III Foru F0rnittoo NATIVES to 30
erutaily Treated BY Men in
Its Employ.
An idea Of the enormity of the Peru
Wan horrors may be CLEANED from ex-
tracts taken from blue Book" pub
lished by the British Government CIV
ing testimony embodied in the report
Of Sir Roger Easement, British Con-
sui to Brazil, who was deputed to in
vestigate the atrocities perpetrated in
the Putu1nayo region.
A man hunter, James Chase Of Bar
BADGES, in the employ Of the British
Rubber Company, testified that he and
other man hunters were sent out to
recapture some poor wretches who
had escaped from the slavery in which
they were held by the rubber COM
pany. He told of the party capturing
four Indians in a house. One of them
was a woman, whose head was chop
ped off by order of the leader of the
hunting party. On the way back the
same leader came across a little IN
dian girl six years old. What was
done to her is thus told by the witt
ness: 'Vasquez at once ordered her
head to be cut off," The same fend
in human shape ordered a woman to
be murdered for tagging behind the
other prisoners How the order was
carried out Is thus described: Vas
quez ordered 'muchacho' to cut her
head off. This was done by the same
boy, Cherey, in the same way, he
finging the woman on the ground and
chopping her head off with several
blows of his machete"
F1ogginz mothers because their
children did not bring in enough Of
rubber was q common practice. Here
is the testimony Of a witness: 90.
What were they f1ogged for? A They
were f1ogged if they had son who
did not bring enough Of cucho Grub
ber). If it Is little boy-too little
to be fiogged-they fogged the moth
En-" But flogging mothers because
their little ones were unable to per-
form the tasks assigned them is
trivial compared with the fearful
crime of burning human beings alive.
When a witness testified that he mad
seen this done, he was closely ques-
toned as to the name of the victim,
of the tribe Of which he was a men,
Der, and in regard to other details.
answers:
%. Did they tie the body up and
burn it SOFA. They didn't tie him
up. They dragged the body, and they
put plenty of wood and set fire to IT.
and threw the man on it.
%. Are You sure he was still alive
not dead when they threw him on
the fire?-A. Yes, he did live. I'm
sure of it. I saw him move-opened
his eyes, he screamed out.
@. Was Aurelio Rodriguez look
ing on nll the time?-A Yes, all the
time.
%. He told them to cut off the legs
and the arms?-A. Yes
@. And then put the man on the
fire?-A. Yes"
Keep in mind that all this testi-
mony is from a "Blue Book" issued
by the British Government. The VIC
TINS of this inhuman treatment wero
required to bring in about five hun
dred pounds of rubber every six
months. If they failed to do so they
We're tortured or killed; if they ran
away they were hunted down like
wild beasts and killed.
The evidence we have quoted from
the British "Blue Book" constitutes
but very meagre part Of the horrible
story Of the manner in which human
ity has been sacrificed on the altar
of greed. Spectators on the London
Stock Market and the British COM
pany, under whose management these
inhuman deeds were perpetrared. have
reaped a golden harvest at the cost
of all this human misery. A Few
years ago fortunes were made in Lon
don by a boom in rubber stock due
to the employment of the horrible
methods described in the British
''Blue Book" from which we have
been quoting.
And now the Father of Christendom
focuses the attention of the world
upon these Infamous acts. From the
Chair of Peter he denounces them and
places those guilty Of them under the
severest spiritual censure. If they re-
pent and seek absolution, priest may