Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-01-31
WAR on CANN|BALs SEARCH FOR NAME
Government Of Sierra Leone Try
ing to Stamp Out Practice.
"Human Leopards" Is the Name Of
Secret Society, Members Of Which
Eat Their Neighbors al a Preiln-
mary to Becoming "Leopards."

It Is reported from Sierra Leone
that the government has arrested sew.
eral hundred chiefs of the tribes in
the native Sherbro district, as the be-
ginning of an active campaign against
the Human Leopard. society, says the
New York Evening Post. The muir
ders committed by this brutal organ
ization have increased at an alarming
rate OF late. Originally its member.
ship was limited rather narrowly to
the Imperri district and some years
ago the government thought 1t had
succeeded in completely destroying
the organization. Writing in 1901, the
district commissioner of the Sherbro.
T. J.. Aldridge, said: Happily, the
persistent and effective measures
adopted by the government have been
so successful that / quite believe the
Human Leopard society is now SIM
ply matter of history" Within
eleven years it appears to have spread
widely throughout the country and
even involved in its tolls some If not
many of the Christian negroes Of the
Freetown section, descendants Of the
liberated slaves from the West Indies.
This leopard society is one of the
most curious Of the many forms OF
fetichism among the lower races OF
man. Apparently 1t 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 1t an unimportant part OF
their mumbo-jumbo--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
CLANS when the subject is mentioned.
Therefore the knowledge possessed
by the government regarding their
rites and rituals is meager and by no
means beyond suspicion in the matter
of accuracy. Here is the substance
of what the Sierra Leone authorities
think they know about the human
leopards:
The members Of the society are
cannibals. but apparently not because
Of any love for long pig" They eat
their neighbors, in the first place, be-
cause such feast Is a necessary pre-
liminary to becoming human leop'
ard" and, secondly, because of be-
lief that there is peculiar virtue in
such food-a belief that the eater Is
protected in some magical way by his
unnatural meal. 1t is said that
strangers are often tricked into join
ing the order by feeding them hu'
man flesh mixed with other food
Afterward they are informed what
they have unwittingly Joined the club
and few have the courage to back
out. The new members initiation fee
consists of the murder Of some rela
tive or neighbor for the use of the
society.
There appear to be two magic medi
cines manufactured by them. One Is
called nessi, is made from human fat
ana uSeQ as n IIldSlCdI OlAILICiil. In
other, known as bortima. consists OF
the heart and other organs. and
serves as a sort of swearing block y
The members are sworn to secrecy
on borfima and such an oath is the
most binding Of any known in the
Sherbro. When there is no new mem
Der to furnish the needed sacrifice
lots are drawn for the victim as well
as his or her murderer. The murder
is committed in some secret pathway
of the jungle, the victim belne
bounced on from behind and struck IN
the neck with curious three
pronged fork or knife, supposed to re-
semble a leopard's claw. Oftent1mes
tie vertebrae are severed and death
is instantaneous.
According to H. G. Lukach, the
nearest parallel to the Human Leop
ard society is a Human Alligator so
ciety, which exists where alligators
abound. The victims Of the latter or
ganization are killed in way to s1mu
late the attack of an alligator.