Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12

IT AFRICA.
throw up the chicken, and then had
him logged almost to death. In this
trial several German officials from
East Africa said that logging was
absolutely necessary to colonial rule,
and one of the former governors re-
GREETED the mildness of the German
officials.
X X
In this connection, l have just re-
ceived an open letter addressed to
Gen. SHUTS from DIR. Frank Weston,
the Bishop of Zanzibar. and head Of
the universities mission in German
East Africa. The subject Is "The
Black Slaves of Prussia" Bishop
Weston, who has been ten years in
German East Africa, describes the
cruelties of the Germans as beyond
description, and gives many instances
to some of which he was an eye-wit-
ness, Says he: The German SIAM
box, or whip, Is of rhinoceros or hip
popotamus hide. 1t is employed not
merely to hurt, but to damage the
victim. and the soldiers who lay tt
on are past masters in the art. The
German official, or employer, presides
at the ceremony to see that no mercy
tied up. He lies on the earth his
face either in the dust or on hard
floor. After the first two or three
strokes he has to be seized and forced
to keep still. If he wriggles and
screams. he is liable to receive the
same number of strokes again and
again. Also, when the law orders
fifty lashes in two installments, the
man gets fifty at one time"
In another place the bishop tells
how the natives are tortured. He
tells how one of his black friends
was taken into the woods with n
native policeman and a German Off
cial and beaten day by day for q
week until his body was a mass Of
wounds. Another native Christian
was put, in the iron hat. band Of
iron being passed around his head
and frightened by viselike screw
so as to press especially on the tenn
pies. The agony thus caused Is un
speakable. Another method Of tor
ture is to tie string to the middle
finger and pass it back under and
round tho forearm and tighten till
the man confesses. The punishment
of the chain gang also is terribly
cruel. Eight men or women are
chained by the neck to one heavy
chain and not unclaimed until the
must work and move as one while
noceros whips or kick them with
their heavy hobnailed boots or jab- them
with the butt ends of their rifles
British soldiers have experienced
similar cruelties in some Of the Ger
man prison camps during the war
Bishop Weston tells how the natives
are enslaved and how their women
are outraged. While on tour the
officials require that each man be
supplied with a young girl at each
ell v,Ia Nj =
and bought and sold as concubines.
The whole letter of the bishop, which
is considerably longer than the one
herewith publish today, Is filled with
stories of German outrages on the
natives 1t convincingly shows that
they are not fit to retain the colony
they have so abused.
Leaving Lake. Victoria, I went by
the railroad 500 miles eastward to
the Indian ocean, where / again en-
tered German East Africa. l found
German soldiers everywhere and under
Prussians. The natives were big,
strapping fellows. many of them over
six feet In height and large in pro-
portion. Most of them had brutal
faces and were educated to be
butchers In battle.
l stopped for q while at the port of
Tanga and then made my way down
the coast past Zanzibar, as far as
from New York to Cleveland l Wis
tied Oar es Salaam, the. capital
of the colony. This is now in the
hands of the British. 1t has an ex-
cellent harbor and Is one Of the most
beautiful cities on the coast Of East
Africa. 1t has streets and roads made
by forced labor, and the government
house is far superior to anything In
the colonies adjoining. / was enter
tanned there in the large German club,
and stopped at a first class hotel.
known as the Kaiserhof. The resi-
dences of the officials are OF stone,
with roofs Of red tile. They are all
new, clean and artistic. Most Of them
were built by the German govern
ment after the plans Of German archi-
tects, and the result Is excellent. The
settlement has a botanic garden on
the edge Of the town, and its roads
are lined with Towering trees. Every
blade of grass and weed Is kept out
OF the sidewalks. and a chain gang
Of native woman convicts pounds the