Evening star., 1935-03-16
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
of Science Progress in Fie
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

uct which makes them more assim-
liable by the blood stream. And one
of the greatest causes Of low vitality
through the Orient is lack of lime in
the diet This is one of the reasons
why Eastern women age so rapidly.
In the aboriginal society of the
Six Nations all that was necessary
to locate a murderer was to find the
body of the victim There the slayer
would be found also. 1t was against
the law" for him to leave the spot.
Such a paradise for detectives is
pictured by j. NJ B. Hewitt of the
staff of the Bureau of American
Ethnology of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition. the foremost authority on the
ethnology of the Iroquois.
OF course, it was something more
than merely law" which prevented
the murderer from leaving his victim.
1t was an inhibition SO intimately
bound up with the structure of society
that the slayer had practically no
choice except to comply with it. The
lex talionis" procedure was for him
to await there the results of efforts
of his blood kin to make restitution
to the blood kin of the victim.
For. says Mr.. Hewitt. slayer was
fair game for any member of the
victims clan. He hardly could ex-
pect to conceal his guilt in closely
organized society. If he fled he would
be marked man and certainly would
be killed in a short time as an outlaw.
On the other hand. if he remained by
the body, his chances of life were
very good. He waited for the arrival
of members either of the victims FAM
lily or of his own. Then he would
be taken into custody and wampum
settlement probably made for the life
of the slain man by his own blood
kin. Thenceforth he might go his
way in peace His crime was a closed
issue.
While he waited, any member of
the victims family had the right to
kill him by any means whatsoever
Whoever discovered the crime, if he
had the courage, could split the cul-
prit'S head open while he was sleeping
or kill him in fair fight-but If he
did so he in turn must abide by the
victims body. 1t must have been a
nervous vigil. sometimes continuing
for week or more. beside the un-
buried body of the slain.
Actually, however, the chance of
this kind of retribution was very small,
for the dealer of vengeance himself
became a murderer in turn.
When the clans met to decide the
fate Of murderer capital punish
ment seldom was decreed, because
the executioner, in turn, became a
| slayer and himself subject to death
unless his relatives paid for his life.
This would have started an endless
chain of killings, and the clans were
| willing to make almost any COM
promise to prevent this.
I Thus the murderer's only chance
of escape lay in letting himself be
caught. The one alternative was to
flee to come other tribe and ask to
be adopted. This sometimes was
done, especially by criminals who had
reason to believe their own clans were
tired of paying for their misdeeds
But 1t meant practically certain
death. 1t was entirely up to the
other tribes whether they wished to
adopt or kill the refugee. The very
fact that he came to them branded
him as bad character whom they
would not want to adopt. They
usually scalped him.
He might. of course, become a lone
refugee in the wilderness. In such a
case he was almost certain to. starve
to death. Even II he did not. he was
an outlaw who could be killed on
sight by anybody.