The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-01-12
RUBBER HORROR
DOWN IN PERU
Atrocities In South America Arc
Equal if Not Worse Than Those
Practlced In the
Congo.
BRITISH INVESTIGATE
American Engineer Brought Back
Stories Of Barbarism and cr,aeIty
to the Native
Indians.
4 X Il I,
BRITISH INVESTIGATE
American Engineer Brought Back
stnrie. 81 Barbarian and Cruelty

to the Native
Indians.
[By Ed. L. Keen, London correspon-
dent of the United Press.]
LONDON, January 11.-All Eng
land is shuddering with horror over
the facts brought out by the special
committee Of the house of commons
appointed to investigate The stories |
of atrocities in the Putumayo rubber
district of Peru-the British Congo.
Not only has ample evidence been
produced corroroborating the charges
originally made by the American en-
gineer, w. E. Hardenburg, pbu. testi-
mony from various sources shows
that the Peruvian governments alleg-
ed effects, following the Hardenpurg
| expose, to correct the evils, were
mere sham. In addition to making
a thorough inquiry into actual condl-
tons the committee was instructed to
report to what extent the British d.
rectorate Of the Peruvian Amazon
CON. any, operating the concession, is
responsible.
The records of the committee con-
stitute one of the most terrible In
dictments in the history of modern
civilization, overshadowing as they
| do the heinious offenses charged
against the Belgian exploitation or
the Congo. 1t has been proven that:
/ Indians Of the district have been
forced to work day and night at the
extradition OF rubber without the
slightest remuneration except suffl-
Gent food to keep them alive. They
have been logged until their bones
were laid bare They have been mutt
lated, ears. fingers, arms, and even
legs cut off. They have been tortured
by means Of fire and water, and in
some instances crucified head down
wards. They have been sold into
slavery at prices ranging from $500
to $500 each. They have been robbed
4 of their wives and daughters by en-
! ployes of the company. Their older
folk have been ruthlessly murdered
when no longer able to work, and
children have been swung by the feet
and their brains dashed out against
/ trees.
i Many of the instances of inhuman-
j ity detailed by Hardenburg were at
4 tested by Sir Roger Easement, who
was sent by the foreign office to make
personal investigation, when he told
i his story on the stand. The Indians,
he said, were generally considered
! not to have human rights, much less
civic rights 1t was maxim that to
kill an Indian was not murder at all
Describing the hunting down and en-
Shaving Of the Indians, the witness
related how one expedition, led by a
high agent of the Peruvian Amazon
NJ company Ca Peruvian) surprised ma.
N tive settlement in the forest. The
Y parents barely had time to flee, leav-
ing eighteen children in the houses
When the parents got little way of
, they waited, hoping thst the children
would follow them. But the mem
hers OF the expedition rushed in
grabbed the children by the heels
and dashed their brains out against
the trees. This was told me by an
old Indian Judge" said Sir Roger
@who had no reason TO deceive ms
and in whom l have every conf
dence"
:. Referring merely to working condl
! tons. Sir Roger said they We're fal
worse than on the Congo. The Putu
mayo carriers we're required to trans
.. port heavier cargoes and for longel
distances.
On the Congo carriers We're paid |
fair remuneration and given food TO
, the Journey. But the Putamayos wer'
, often forced to travel 60 miles with
out any compensation or any food
, Exhibiting flash of powder. SOM
! fishhooks, and few strings of beads
sir Roger declared that these repre-
1 sented the earnings of one Indian TO
o three years, who had to find feed 70
q himself, his wife, and his children.
/ One of the most serious develoI
ments in connection with his con
mittee's inquiry Is the assertion mad
by Jose Torralbo, Colombian consr
- at Manaos, that the Investigation b
s the special commission. headed b
n the American and British consuls ?
:. Iquitos, was little better than a noel
D. cry The committee has received se'
A. eral long reports from Torralb'
it wherein he describes the manner !
n. which the investigation was conduc
b. ed and throws additional Hight on tn
IL present situation, showing that til
,e atrocities still continue.
rs Torralbo charges that the commi
n sion did its work surrounded by p
Up ruyians and that il was accompanie
n, into the rubber region by Julio
% Arana. original holder of the conce
n sim nrpnni1 o~d chjaf afnckhn}dS