davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1914-01-25

year in a twin town, tisolated with
other women in like case. And take part
in purifying rites" after which she may
possibly be permitted TO rejoin her ap-
peased lord.
There is strange belief ON the part OF
these natives that certain human beings
are capable of ssnding forAh their souls
into the bodies Z" animals.
81 WAS warned said Talbot that a
so-caiied 'crocod dileAlnan'-h is one
who was supposed to have the power of
sending his soul into such a reptile-in-
tended to revenge "A eriid.ek against me
for dispossessing him of illegally acquired
land. The surprising thing j. that. only
day or two after | received THIS warn
ing. one OF my oldest and fuost tr;:sted
servants was dcvoured by crocodile.
My wife and had bsen entertaining
French gentleman at dinner and Sltu.
after serving our coffee, had withdrawn
and gone down to Il small pier to bathe
as it was the feast of Ramadan and he
was a Mohammedan. Suddenly we heard
llnearthly shrieks and all rushed down to
the pier. but before we could get there
the cries ceased and when we reached
the waters edge there was nothing to
see but the swirling water, which the
struggles of man and beast had rhurned
to d foam.
II do not attemtpt to- aexplain thes.
strange coincidences. I only know that
they occur. Quite near to mH station. for
example. there lived 1; so-called fish
woman. one day she suddenly t:ccain. so
Ill that her friends thought she surely
would die I am caught in the tishtrap
i'll the river. she managed TO gasp 'go
and set me free or ! shall die So they
hastened To the river where there was a
tishtrap and found it to be full of fish
among the rest large one which was
kicking and struggling in evident agony.
They released all the fish and from this
moment the woman began to recover and
was soon quite Well
Copyright, 1911. by Curtis Brown,
Evening star., 1914-01-25

or the dansant. or whatever the in
divdual fancy of the host may call
that sort of pleasant gathering. where.
with others he MAY meet members of
his own family perhaps his sons and
daughters: there will be at least one
form of entertainment in which par
ents and children will be able to IN
dulge without the unpleasant feeling
that the parents must speed up to
keep up with the younger generation
and that the children must slow down
not to leave their parents behind.
The modern dances, while seemingly
i..o..e strenuous exact much less of "a
Evening star., 1914-01-25

with the message that further attempts
to interfere with the society would be
punished by the death Of the messengers
or myself should | venture thither."
In spite of this warning. MIR. and Mrs.
Talbot. with no protection except such
as a couple of reyolvers and rifles and
-four native policemen afforded, Went
forthwith TO The headquarters Of ENkpo
Nja~haW. only to find the region. to all
appearance. absolutely deserted. Its deri-
zens. some of whom proved merely TO
have gone into hiding and others to seek
assistance from neighboring towns had
left word that they had departed for Il
far country.
In the midst of the village stood one of
the native drums. and the commissioner.
among many other things. is well up
in the native ''drum-languagc. Accord
ingly, he ordered one of his dusky hench-
men to beat a kind of general assembly,
with the result that tho supposedly de-
parted natives came tunbling pell-mell,
ont of the bush from all sides.
Il x
THE expression of their faces when
they saw US was So comic declared Mrs.
Talbot that We simply sat down and
roared. though as a matter of fact We
We're at Their mercy As soon as we had
recovered. however, my husband talked
to the chiefs Ike Il father, explaining
that it would be much more to their adj
vantage to come quietly down to court
and stand their trial than to compel him
to food their country with soldiers from
Calabar. and in the end they consented
and came down under arrest"
To be the father of twins. Talbot states.
is considered disgrace in his region.
in spite of the fact that large families are
Evening star., 1914-01-25

has committed. l find it extremely diff
cult to convict for it. witnesses being
afraid to give evidence. knowing that if
they do they will be poisoned at the first
opportunity.
One of the chief grivances that the den
fzens of Eket have against their commits
sioner is the way in which skulls have
gone up in price since he arrived. The
old rate was about 50 per skull, which
was thought fairly stiff, but now every
body who wants to ornament his mantel-
piece with may have to go as high
as ten or even fifteen dollars before he
can crafty his wish. The explanation OF
this much-resented increase in the cost
OF living is that Talbot has practically
put a stop to the digging up of corpses
for the sake of the skulls. which used to
be quite thriving industry in Eket
working hard. said Talbot. two or
three partners sometimes could dig up as
many as thirty skulls. and afterward they
sold them to folk who wanted to become
members of one of the various secret so
cieties which exist in the country and to
which no one who does not possess at
least one human skull is eligible for
membership. So. OF course. neither the
enterprisiug grave robbers nor their Gus
toners. whom they have promptly
raised the rates. thank for cIrtatlin%
their activities.
Asked how. with only a handful Of ma
tive policemen 70 assist him. he man
aged to govern these hundreds Of thou
sands Of savage natives. Talbot replied:
BY white preStge-in other words.
sheer huff. In case OF need trere are
native troops to be had fToal Ca!abar,
three days away. and the f1ihios know
this. Thanks to my escapes ;ron vari-
ous hot corners. ,however-as when I pass
al $t1I fE,- hot 7 Of al
ambuscade that would have blown me
to bits. and another time when | whizzed
by on my motor cycle. with my wife i'll
the side car. before the intending muir
,terers could take anl-the natives firmly
believe that ! have powerful Juju
watching over ne. and this belief Of theirs
often stands we'll in hand.
..One OF the most formidable Of the Sc
cret societies in Eket,' Talbot continued.
sis the .Ekkpo Njawhaw,' whose name
signifies 'Ghosts-the Destrcye,s, and my
attention was drawn TO the fact that II
was again offering up human sacrifices
in September last when poor woman
brought in some fragments of charred
bone which she declared TO be all that
was left of an only brothe- who had
fallen a victim to one of the chiefs OF
the society Later on I discovered tiat Il
little girl seven years old VAS fsscucd
only after great difficulty from 5cins OF
fered up after the sacrificiai dress had
been placed upon her. while the great
drum was beaten and the head priest
announced: .Ekkpo Niawhaw will eat to-
day' I at once sent court messengers 10
summon before me those responS'bi" 10:
rho outrage but the unfortunate ennis
saries were seized, beaten and sent back
Evening star., 1914-01-25

normal man leading such an unnatural,
abnormal life. His appetite will become
more and more capricious. his heart ac-
ton more irregular, his complexion will
5etray untoward developments in the
hepatic tract He may resort more ana
more to braces. the effect of which
not being counteracted by any physical
exercise will soon be noticeable on his
kidneys.
The new dances offer to the busy man
one simple and pleasant solution for the
problem of exercise
On his wy from The Office to ms
~ tango Tea
Evening star., 1914-01-25

In
inhue theys eneraIy nrcp III to dcatha

makes a slip ON the night as one might
say, it used to cost him his life.
This maronette show of the Awas,
which no white men had ever seen before.
consists of a complete drama performed
by some thirty queer little figures about
three feet high anu With curious head
dresses. some five or six of which are
-'on at one time. The arms. legs. heads
aud mouths of the figures move and they
are worked from below by natives who
are screened by blankets like the operator
of Punch and Judy show. All the time
the performance is in progress two
priests beat the inciosing blankets with
broom-lile implements. and three youths
in picturesque dress. dance about in
order to divert the attention Of the spec
tators from what is going on behind the
scenes
..One of the chief objects of this per
Torrance, should explain, is to convince
the women Of the tribe that these mar
ioncttes are actually supernatural beings,
and that is why seven whole years are
devoted to rehearsing for one of these
productions And IT, before the coming
of white rule. at one of them. one of the
operators happened to drop his MARION
ettc outside 50 that the women could see
that it was really doll instead of a god.
he either was put to death or sold into
slavery.
Another upcommouly queer perform
auce. and one that. now that ] have dis
covered it. | ann highly suspicious about.
Talbot went on. lis what | may call the
baby my stery 1t takes place at Ndiya
and consists in apparently pounding :.
baby to Il pulp and bringing it to life
again. and il it is all the same baby
have nothing to say. but if, ! strongly
suspect. two babrcs used iii the
trick. then it is thing that must be put
Il stop to. difficult, and almost Impossible
as this; always is. Whenever this trick
is to be performed. Il child is taken from
some woman of the tribe. who then is
sent into the bush away from the town.
as the sight of what is to follow would
Evening star., 1914-01-25

Man Who Has to
Keep a Quarter of a
Million Savages In
Order. and Has Only
Fourteen Native Po-
licemen to Help Do
1t. Tells for the First
Time of His Latest
Adventures and Dis
coveries in Their Coun-
try Dusky Actors
Who Rehearse Seven
Years for a ''Produc-
tlon and Until Re
Gently Were Killed or
Sold Into Slavery if
They Made a Mistake
"On the Night As
sassin Who Claimed
One am" More Than
the Current Rate Be-
fore He Would Kill a
Friend.
Evening star., 1914-01-25

surely be too much for her. The Ndiyas
l should explain a sort of mortar.
made of the stump of a tree. followed
out. to beat up their yams in. and when
all is ready for the performance of the
baby mystery, which is given before the
whole village. the infant which has been
borrowed for the occasion is placed in
this mortar and then. to all appearance.
literally pounded to a pulp by couple
of the priests, who use pestles formed of
thick clubs for the purpose.
Worse is to come, however, for when
the baby is apparently done for, three
native men dancers come forward. and
the first of them partakes, or appears
TO partake. of little of the baby The
second has a little more. while the third
eats what is left, while the audience
holds its breath with horror.
Then these three execute weird
dance. at the end of which. to the as
tonishsnent of all. the man who has APP
parentiy eaten most of the baby sud
denly proGuces the infant from under
the robe he is wearing, the suppoSition
being that the child has been reborn.
This last is the only part of the trick
of which any of our party had personal
knowledge. We had arrived in the vii
lage unexpectedly. and our coming put
stop to anything of the kind. The other
details We have had from many differ
ent witnesses. 1t is always the baby
originally borrowed which is reborn.
and eventually returned to its mother,
and OF course, it may be all trick.
Possibly the tree-stump mortar which
is used may have false bottom. and
the baby not be injured at all. but it is
difficult TO resist an uneass suspicion
that second baby. obtained in some
fashion. IS substituted for the first one.
and actually eaten up, aud then the first
child made 10 reappear. but as yet
have no evidence TO support this belief.
and | hope it may be all magic at which
these tribes all are amazingly apt.
Throughout his new domain the dis
trct commissioner apparently is loved
and hated with equal fervor- Those who
esteem him include many native women
whom he has saved from death or tor
ture at The hands of chiefs who have
better halves to spare, and who are
adopts At the refinements of torture.
Sometimes they ''irnpaie" their victims,
frequently they leave them to be Ge-
voured by ants. occasionally they break
both thighs of their own children in
order to cause grief to the mothers. and,
in milder cases. fill their wives eyes
with pepper after beating them nearly
to death.
Others who have reason to be kindly
disposed to Talbot are those he has
saved from being sacrificed to the va
rious juius or gods. and it is TO the
gratitude of these rescued wives and
natives that the commissioner. IN turn,
frequently has owed his escape from
death To many OF the native chieftains
whose prerogatives he has interfcred with
and certain chief clerks whom he has
brought to book for wholesale graft
ing the commissioners uame has the
nroyerbial effect of a red rag on a bull,
and they have attempted to murder HIM
more than a score of times that he knows
of. The details of one such attempt when
the commissioner was to be putchercd at
Evening star., 1914-01-25

. AMAURY TAI
BOT, the famous
and plucky British
district commission
er in southern Nj
Seria. surely must
beara charmed life,
or else. as some of
the natives believe,
be under the spe-
cial protection of a
powerful Juiu. for
he is back in Eng
Evening star., 1914-01-25

Elrf be ,+fn
blindcd b,- . ,,.ofase;.,,,.,, H. - go
that ,b. ,,a,, i.n,os a,,,,, 49,, s,,.,, NC
from furtr,cr nbvs;c,1 datortor.t;,p
HF '''' h'" u'tiices. one may dsh'
w ny cannot the old ones have played
the part OF a national nostrum which
the new ones arc .xpected tn nI.vo
-,
Inc o'a uaii'ea
constituted PROBABLY the most formal
type of entertainment Only the very
yo1,uo mon found any nleasura il, ,b.r,
-,
anu hos'eaS7 were 'l"ass haro put
10 hho partners Tor the young women
invited to their balls. Men of thirty fled
from, the baIIroo,, IN tho snolar .f,er
. -, -.
o"e PeiiNii'torS u'iiee Win tneir dihhei
partners; men of forty and fifty were not
even expected to show that much court
cav 10 the yvo,pen ,bev took in IN dinner
me ies'' was '"a oiiN 'iie Sou'"
result was that b,tsv men compelIed by
tb,. b,si,,.ss str,ryle in which ,be, arc
.,,,.,,,d ., ,.,,,.,1,e ., ,.,,,,.,sb;,,,, r,a.l,
:, -, -.
heNei ia" a. 'iiei' ui"po'"' NV oi'e 'hi''e
mat VIII make noufishlng meals proht-
abls 20, the human bHdS-pNerciSg There.
Evening star., 1914-01-25

,,,,;;on, torturo,c .,na III, nrurtition-
ers Of nerhans the most hideous blood
rites known in Africa They value human
life. apparently, about as highly as we
90 that OF the to-oe- s"aiteo ny a!,l M
- tsi e ;.t;,,s Z-c.,r1v-f,
cludinc children not vet in their teens
to appease their great Juju de.ties two
of the most terrible of which are named
''Ita Brinyan'' and ''Ekkpo NiaNhaw.
In the Eket district the professional
rate for committing a murder is three
yams a tubcr much like a giant potato
though one man who was brought before
Talbot charged with killing somebody ut
the instance of a third party was proved
to have stuck out for four vans before
he would take on the job On being as
Evening star., 1914-01-25

land again safe and sound with the eN-
ception of an old foot ball knee that
has required expert medical attention in
spite OF twenty or more deliberate and
Ingenious attempts to kill him in the
strange land of which he is overload
Meanwhile he proves to have had lot
more adventures and made a lot more dis
coVeries than those which already stand
to his credit. of which almost nothing
has oeen allowed to get into the papers
here.
This proves to lie because two famous
scientific bodies. the Royal Geogra phica
Society and the African Society before
whom Talbot is to lecture. are anxious
to 3c the frs: in this country to hear of
his adventures But with the proviso that
whSt he said should be printed only in
the United States thu. intrepid young. ad
IN nistrator and explorer consented to
give the writer az account Of some OF
the most interesting of his experiences.
The interview that follows will remain
his only public statement prior to his ap-
appearance before the two societies mem
toned.
Talbot. vino is thirty-siN, and still
looks the mighty foot ball player that he
used to be. is now in charge of the k.ket
district of southern Nigeria, where he has
TO keep something like quarter OF Il
million natives. many of whose towns
had never been seen by Il white man
until Talbot first visited them in some
thing like order with only fourteen ma
tive policemen to help him This region
by the way. is one of those drawn or
most heavily 10 supply slaves for the
United States. and the lbibios. who in
habit it. are said to be the most expert
poisoners on earth. as well as expert
Evening star., 1914-01-25
1 f Americans have

r AlIltTLSdIlS nave
been for several
Years famous the
world over as a
nation of dyspep-
ties; the money we
have been spend
ing on kidney and
liver cures dwarfs
the budgets of
several small Eu-
ropean nations.
1t may sound
Evening star., 1914-01-25

LONDON, January u. 1914
Evening star., 1914-01-25

The average American spends his days
and evenings resting. At the breakfast
table. in a car, at his desk. at the lunch
eon table. at his dinner table. in his
library or parlor at the theater
n is tceiitss TO recall the various MS
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14
REPR|MANDSF0R
Z POLICEMEN
ORDERED
StigaII Suspended as "fa|se Ac-
cuser" in Hotel hFair-Charge
HasIett Struck Prisoner.

Reprimands before the entire Police
Department were Tuesday night or
dered by the Police Board for Patrol
men NJ. G. Stigall and Boiling r.
Hasiett, both of whom were charged
with conduct unbecoming officers.
Chief interest attached to the hear
ing of Stigall. who, in addition to his
reprimand, was suspended for 29 days
His charge was the outcome of a
charge preferred by Harry Sapphire,
house detective at the Hotel Ansley
who claimed that the officer had
falesly accused him of blackmail for
no reason other than to make him
lose his position at the hotel. Sap
phire charged that Stigall desired the
place for himself.
Stigall admitted making the charge,
but declared he believed il to be true
at the time he mace It, He had been
told, he said, that the house detective
had accepted money from j. i. Car
ter, of Augusta, who was found in q
room at The hotel with a stenographer.
Sapphire said the only hush mon
ey" he knew anything about was a
check for $50 he had taken from an
Atlanta business man and turned over
to the manager of the hosiery, who
later returned it to the donor Man
ager J. p. Lection, OF the Ansley. took
the stand in behalf of the detective.
Haslett was tried for striking Wal
ter Ninson, a prisoner.
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14
GRAIN NOTES.

The Chicago Inter Ocean says: "A
great many traders are bullish on wheat,
but are not buying to any great ex-
tent The fact that prices have not de-
clined sharply during the recent decline
in corn is regarded by some good trad
ers. as evidence of strong position.
Corn traders in general are less bear
ish than Of late. The news that Ar
was taken as significant. Some of
those who were in the pit all day said
that traders have sold too much short
corn the past two days and that the
market was in shape to do some bet
ter.
"A motion favoring free wheat has
been unanimously adopted by the Man
itoba Legislature and will be forwarded
TO the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa.
The motion was introduced by MEM
Der of the Government parfN"
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14

towering from the sllylight of the
Cotton States plant. Street car traf-
fee along the Stewart avenue. West
End, College Park, East Point and
Hapeville lines was demoralized.
A feature of the blaze was the
bucket brigades' formed by men AMI
women. boys and girls. to overcome
the peril of small fires which started
within a radius of several blocks.
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14
COTTON MARKET OPINIONS.

Josepthhal. Louchiemer & Co. I'VE
continue to advise sales on rallies
Shearson. Hammil & Co: I'VE con-
tinue advice to buy on recessions."
Miller & Co.: Look for a trading
market"
Logan & Bryan: do not care to ad-
wise buying on advances"
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14
MAYOR HINTS HE
WILL OPP OSE
BOND ISSUE
Humphreys Move for Five Million
Dollars to Bring Hot Fight
Despite Need Of Funds,

Statements by Mayor Woodward
Wednesday indicated that he still
does not feel very favorable to any
new bond issue proposal
We need lot of money we haven't
got said he, but a good deal can
he said about the way the last bond
issue was handled.
: "A good many of the bonds, bear
ing IL per cent interest were sold
and great deal of the money has
lain in banks drawing only per cent
interest. That was a net loss OF ? 2
per cent interest to the city; and it
doesn't look like very good business
10 me-
Chairman " G.. Humphrey. of the
Council Finance Committee, after
hearing requests for appropriations
for two days, declared that the only
real relief lay in a bond issue, and
he said that the amount should be
fully $4,000, 900
Small Funds Block Progress.
The Finance Committee is faced
with the proposition Of having to
leave many projects of progress un-
touched because of lack OF funds.
Some OF the new members seem very
much surprised that such should be
the case, but it is the same old sit
uation that is realized every year
when the budget is made.
Most impressive to the committee
was the demand for new school ia
cilities.
Mrs. ]. c. McGehee, spokesman for
2 delegation from the Fifth Ward,
declared that four little children were
suffering from pneumonia because Of
the poor heating facilities at the Da
Wis Street School
The place is full of leaks and
oraughts," she declared THE stove
that heats the building is held to-
sether with wires, and two little boys
are detailed to stand beside the stove
with buckets of water to prevent the
wainscoting from catching fire.
Smoke Nearly Unbesrable.
THE smoke and SCOT is often so
dense in the school as sometimes to
make IL almost impossible for the
teachers to see the pupils or the pu
pills to see the teachers"
The Board OF Education will be
heard at length on the needs of
schools Wednesday.
Chairman r. NJ. Harwell, of the
Smoke and Gas Commission, appeared
to urge an assistant smoke inspector,
TWO elevator and boiler inspectors and
a calorimetersto test the heat units of
gas.
We are extending our fight against
the smoke nuisance and we must have
another man." said Chairman Har-
we'll
Gas Tester Urged.
I'VE have been seeing to 1t that the
gas was up to standard on candle
power, but we have had no means of
testing the heat units ] am con-
WINGED that the heat units are low. A
calorimeter will cost only 1925 and
with II we. will be able to reduce the
gas bills of the people thousands of
dollars"
Chairman Humphrey asked Mr..
Harwell If anything had been accom-
plished to reduce the smoke nuisance
Mr.. Harwell declared much had been
done, Mr. Humphrey said he could
not see or feel it in the air
Judge Spencer Atkinson and Frank
p, Rice urged $4,000 for the i'm
provement of West Peachtree street
They pointed out that the work on
me street had been we'll started and
that the street must not be left in its
present condition.
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14
View w. & A. to Push
Double Track Project

The special legislative committee on
the Western and Atlantic Railway left
Atlanta Wednesday morning for short
tour OF inspection Of the road. The
committee was accompanied by Hines
NJ. Smith, of Rome, civil engineer.
who will advise the committee as to the
cost and practicability of double track
ing the road from Chattanooga to At
lanta
The committee has reached only one
conclusion in it's Investigations, and that
is that whatever disposition is made OF
the road at the expiration Of its pres
ent lease, it should be double tracked
as soon as possible. The committee will
return Wednesday night or Thursday
morning.
Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-14
Promised Gold to Wed
Gets Only Coal; Sues

CHICAGO, Jan. 14.-Mrs. Grace
Wood. "a, has asked to be free from
her 60-year- usband. who she
says, lured her into wedlock with a
promise of four bags of gold. The
bags contained sawdust and coal.