The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-10-03
STORY OF CANN|BALS


Berlin. Oct. 3.-That cannibals sell
dom eat white captives and then with
out particular zest IL the gist OF q
scientific report on the subject made by
DIR. Hoffman, formerly a consul i'm At
RIGA and an authority on the subject Of
tribal customs.
Writing of the recent murder of the
German-American miusralogist. John
Henry Warner, by natives of New
Guiena, DIR. Hoffman asserts that the
abstention of csnnibsls in Africa and
of Guiena from the flesh OF white men
is not because they fear the spirit of
the white victim OF his powers of
magic, as has sometimes been assumed,
but because they consider that it has
an unpleasant taste due to the use of
sharp spices and condiments and Of
sailed dishes in the diet Of the Euro
pean.
DR.. Holman cites an article printed
several years ago in u Journal Of
Liberia, in which it was said that
the cannibals in the Liberian terri
tory eat a white man only when he
has fallen into their hands alive. Then
| the victim Ia immersed TO the neck in
n running brook and held there by
bonds for two or three days, on much
the same principle that an oyster il
''ioated'' in fresh water after being
taken from the beds. DIR. Holman had
confirmation OF this from a former
csnnibsl.
The reported killing aud eating of
Mr.. Warner in Pspua. by the natives,
has called attention tn the fact that
out In New Guinea. Wsrper believed
taat radium could be found In Papus
and fell n victim to his own zeal. Ii
is reported tnat his two native COM
panions escaped his horrible fate, the
news of which they brought to the
coast.
AT one time officials believed that
cannibalism was a thing Of the past
in British New Guinea. but clear
evidence that it has persisted into the
present dacada has been provided by
unimpeachable witnesses. In a book
published last year, j. III. p. Murray,
Lieutenant Governor and chief Judi
,ial officer Of Papua, has much to
say about the practice of cannibal-
ism among the natives in the island.
De writes about boiling springs which
not many years ago were made use of
for cooking any prisoners captured in
the village warfare.
Describing the northeastern division
of the island, Murray quotes q native
witness, who telling Of the eating of
human bodies, said: I've boil them;
we cut them up and boil them in a
pot. We toll babies. too; we cut
them mp like a pig. We eat them cod
or hot: We eat the legs first. We eat
thsm because they are like fish. We
have ish in the creeks and kangaroos.
in the grass-but men are onr real
food.
Murray tells of the remark of a
Ferguson Islander to a stranger who
wanted to buy betel nuts from him:
"Why should I sell you betel nuts; ]
am going to eat you." which he
promptly did. He also writes OF u
crew of shipwrecked Chinese, who
we're eaten u by one until the cap
tois, surfeited with the diet. peddled
th o who were left around the coast
selling them to the highest bidders.
Wives. who ventured to look around
during the funerals of their husbands
we've killed and eaten. One native
who was concerned in the killing of
a eighboring chief and his two wives
told of the subsequent eating OF the
victims with the utmost
He told of eating the hand Of one
wife, but refused to touch the other,
as he had killed her. and it was not
the custom Of his tribe to eat ones
own victim. The two women were
singed first. then cut up into small
piece, mixed with sago, cooked,