A NOTE ON SIERRA LEONE, PAST AND PRESENT 88
APPENDIX
DESPATCH FROM THE GOVERNOR OF SIERRA LEONE REPORTING ON THE 119
MEASURES ADOPTED TO DEAL WITH UNLAWFUL SOCIETIES IN THE
PROTECTORATE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
SACKVILLE STREET, FREETOWN _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
VIEW OF FREETOWN 1
A TEMNE GIRL 3
OBLIVIOUS OF HUMAN ALLIGATORS 9
PORO DEVILS 15
ENTRANCE TO A PORO BUSH 19
BUNDU DEVILS, SIERRA LEONE 21
WIVES OF A NATIVE CHIEF 25
A PORO DEVIL 28
WEAVING COUNTRY CLOTH 30
BUNDU GIRLS AND DEVIL 35
STOCKADE SURROUNDING GBANGBAMA PRISON AND GUARDHOUSE. 38
PRISONERS AWAITING TRIAL, GBANGBAMA PRISON
A NATURAL BRIDGE ON THE ROAD TO GBANGBAMA 43
A NATIVE VILLAGE 46
PALM FOREST, SIERRA LEONE 51
A NATIVE VILLAGE 56
A SELF-CONFESSED CANNIBAL 63
A WATER-SIDE VILLAGE 66
HINTERLAND TYPES 71
WEST AFRICAN SOLDIERS 74
THE PRISONERS OF A NATIVE CHIEFTAINESS, CRACKING 79
PALM-KERNELS
LADIES OF THE SIERRA LEONE HINTERLAND 83
A NATIVE CHIEFTAINESS 85
EMPIRE DAY IN FREETOWN 88
WHERE HAWKINS MAY HAVE LANDED FOR SLAVES 90
THRESHING RICE, SIERRA LEONE PROTECTORATE 93
A NATIVE HUNTER 96
PICKING PALM-KERNELS 99
THE HIGHLAND OF SIERRA LEONE, WITH HILL STATION IN THE 104
FOREGROUND
BUNDU GIRLS AND BUNDU DEVILS 111
COTTON TREE STATION, 9 A.M. BUNGALOW TRAIN, FREETOWN 115
FREETOWN FROM THE HARBOUR 117
VIEW FROM GOVERNMENT HOUSE, FREETOWN 125
[Illustration: VIEW OF FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE.]
HUMAN LEOPARDS
_PART I_
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
That there were cannibals in the Hinterland of Sierra Leone in former
days appears from the observations[1] of William Finch, who visited
Sierra Leone in August, 1607. This accurate observer states, “To the
South of the Bay, some fortie or fiftie leagues distant within the
Countrey, inhabiteth a very fierce people which are man-eaters, which
sometimes infest them.” This clearly points to the Mende country, where
the Human Leopard Society was lately flourishing. Finch does not,
however, refer to anything but pure cannibalism.
In 1803 Dr. Thomas Winterbottom, the Colonial Surgeon, Sierra Leone,
wrote an account of the native Africans in the neighbourhood of Sierra
Leone, and, after quoting and criticizing various authorities who had
alleged the existence of cannibalism in different parts of West Africa,
states (vol. i. p. 166) as follows:
“That this horrid practice does not exist in the neighbourhood of Sierra
Leone, nor for many hundred leagues along the coast to the northward and
southward of that place, may be asserted with the utmost confidence, nor
is there any tradition among the natives which can prove that it ever
was the custom; on the contrary, they appear struck with horror when
they are questioned individually on the subject, though at the same time
they make no scruple of accusing other nations at a distance, and whom
they barely know by name, of cannibalism.”
Joseph Corry[2] (1806) hints at human sacrifices, but neither he nor
Major Laing[3] (1822) heard anything of cannibalism, whilst Harrison
Rankin[4] (1834), who appears to have made considerable inquiry into the
matter, and who speaks of “slavery, cannibalism and polygamy” as being
deemed domestic virtues in the wilds of Africa, specifically mentions
the only definite and well-ascertained case of cannibalism which came to
his notice; it was the case of a liberated resident (i.e. a native
African liberated from a captured slaver) who had wandered in the bush
and had killed another native for food. Rankin in conclusion states, “In
the heterogeneous commixture of tribes in the British Colony, I
discovered none which doubted the practice of cannibalism, but none of
the established residents would plead guilty to the charge themselves or
admit it of their own nation. They generally agreed in attributing it to
the savages of the river Bonny.”
[Illustration: A TEMNE GIRL.]
The first trace of human leopards appears in the following quotation
from Bishop Ingham’s “Sierra Leone after a Hundred Years,” published in
1894. The Bishop writes at p. 272: “The Temnes believe that by
witchcraft a man may turn himself into an animal, and, in that form, may
injure an enemy. A man was burnt at Port Lokkoh in 1854 for having
turned himself into a leopard.” His lordship, who went to Africa about
thirty years and who wrote about forty years after the event above
mentioned, would probably have heard of this fact through Christian
natives who (even if they had known the real reason for the burning)
would have been keen to put it to the account of witchcraft; but taking
into consideration the frequent criticisms of Temne “boys” at Gbangbama
during the sitting of the Special Commission Court that it was absurd to
waste so much time over the prisoners, but that we ought to burn all the
persons charged with human leopard offences together with their villages
and families, and so stamp out the practice as it had been stamped out
in the Temne country, it seems more than probable that the man was
burned not for witchcraft but as a human leopard.
The first definite reference to human leopards is to be found in
Banbury’s “Sierra Leone; or, the White Man’s Grave,” 1888. At p. 183 he
says: “Secret cannibalism is also prevalent, though the native
punishment for this custom is death, and in the Mendi Mission (an
American society) they possess the skin of a large leopard, with iron
claws, which had once been the property of a man who, under this guise,
satisfied his horrible craving.” This clearly refers to human leopard
activity.
Mr. Alldridge,[5] who has had a long and intimate acquaintance with the
Mende tribes, is of opinion that the Human Leopard Society is of no
great age, probably not more than half a century. All, however, that can
be said with certainty is that until comparatively lately the operations
of this society, if it existed, were so limited or so secret that the
Society was unknown to Europeans, or indeed to Africans who were in
touch with Europeans.
In 1891 the report from the Mende country that a number of cannibals had
been burnt to death came as a shock to the Executive. The existence of
the practice of cannibalism was known, but there was no idea that there
was cannibalism on such a large scale. It seems that the inhabitants of
the Imperri chiefdom had suffered so heavily at the hands of the
cannibals that they complained to their chief. The complaints becoming
too numerous and too insistent to be disregarded, the chief called a
meeting, and the big men of Gangama, Gbangbama, Yandehun, and other
towns and villages met at Bogo. Here the question of cannibalism was
discussed, and those present were informed that a number of Tongo
players[6] had been summoned for the purpose of discovering the
cannibals, the guilty parties no doubt depending upon their Borfima[7]
and bribes to escape detection. On the appointed day the Tongo players
arrived. A huge fire was lighted, and the Tongo players were directed to
throw into the fire all persons whom they found to be cannibals. One of
the first to be cast into the flames was the principal chief who had
been instrumental in calling in the Tongo players, and it is asserted
that as many as eighty persons were burnt to death, a number of them
anticipating their fate and of their own accord throwing themselves into
the flames. A mercantile agent who visited Bogo shortly after this
terrible retribution reported that the spot where the burning took place
was a sickening sight, with its heaps of white ashes and remains of
human bodies, whilst Mr. Alldridge, who held an inquiry into the matter,
says that the pyramid of calcined bones which he saw at the junction of
two roads just outside Bogo was about four feet high.
But the Government could not view with indifference such a crude and
barbarous administration of justice, and on the 5th May, 1892, issued
the following proclamation:
“WHEREAS from time to time in the Imperri Country and elsewhere within
the Colony of Sierra Leone there have been native plays or dances
commonly called or known as ‘Tongo Play,’ whereby some of the
inhabitants of the said Colony have been accused of and denounced as
being ‘Human Leopards,’ or as guilty of various crimes and
misdemeanours, and upon such accusation and denouncement they have been
unlawfully burnt to death or otherwise illegally punished:
“Now THEREFORE His Excellency the Administrator of the Government of the
Colony aforesaid doth hereby publish, proclaim, and make known—
“That from and after this date the play or dance of the Tongo People
commonly called and known as ‘Tongo Play,’ being contrary to law, must
at once cease throughout the Colony.
“That every Tongo person is hereby enjoined and required to quit the
Colony within twenty-one days from the date of this Proclamation on pain
of being arrested, detained, and deported as a Political Prisoner:
“That every person taking part in any ‘Tongo Play’ or action resulting
thereupon will be prosecuted and punished according to law:
“And all the inhabitants of and sojourners in the Colony are hereby
enjoined to govern themselves accordingly.”
With all dread of the Tongo players removed, cannibalism burst out
afresh towards the end of 1894, and at the beginning of 1895 a number of
murders took place. It was then definitely ascertained that these
murders had been committed by members of a society which afterwards
became notorious as the Human Leopard Society. To deal with this
extraordinary class of crime the Government of the Colony of Sierra
Leone decided that drastic and exceptional legislation was necessary,
and a Bill entitled the Human Leopard Society Ordinance, 1895, was
introduced and passed as Ordinance No. 15 of 1895.
The object of the Ordinance was set out in the preamble, which read as
follows:
“WHEREAS there exists in the Imperri Country a Society known by the name
of the Human Leopard Society formed for the purpose of committing
murder:
“AND WHEREAS many murders have been committed by men dressed so as to
resemble leopards and armed with a three-pronged knife commonly known as
a leopard knife or other weapon:
“AND WHEREAS owing to the number of these murders, and the difficulty of
detecting the perpetrators of the same, it is expedient to amend the
law:
“Be it therefore enacted by the Government of the Colony of Sierra Leone
with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof as
follows”:
Then followed provisions making it penal for any person without lawful
excuse to have in his possession or keeping any of the articles
mentioned in the Schedule, viz.:
“(_a_) A leopard skin shaped so as to make a man wearing it resemble a
leopard;
“(_b_) A three-pronged knife; and
“(_c_) A native medicine known as ‘Borfima’”; and under the Ordinance
the police were given powers where there was reasonable ground of
suspicion to arrest and to search without a warrant, and heavy penalties
were imposed for obstructing the police.
On the 9th October, 1896, a Protectorate was proclaimed over that
portion of the Hinterland of the Colony of Sierra Leone which had
hitherto been merely under the control of the Colonial Government.
Up to this date, for more than half a century, the Government of the
Colony had claimed and exercised the right of intervention in disputes
which led to intertribal wars or which interfered with the trade routes
from the interior, but beyond this and the efforts made to stop
slave-raiding there had been very little interference with the
Hinterland natives.
During the same year it was found necessary further to strengthen the
hands of the Executive in dealing with crimes committed by members of
secret societies, and the Human Leopard Society Ordinance of 1895 was
added to, provision being made whereby any chief who was proved to have
permitted or who failed to report within a reasonable time any
celebration of Human Leopard Customs which had occurred in any place
under his control was liable to heavy penalties.
Under the amended law the Governor-in-Council was given power to order
the arrest and detention of chiefs when it was deemed expedient to do so
for the preservation of peace and order and the suppression of the Human
Leopard Society. Power was also given to the Governor-in-Council to
deport any such chief from the British sphere of influence in Sierra
Leone. The reason for the latter enactment seems to have been that it
was considered impossible for the Society to flourish without the
connivance of at least some of the chiefs in the part of the territory
affected.
It appeared that while some chiefs had been most active in their support
of the Government, others had given no assistance or had even put
obstruction in the way of investigating charges by refusing to deliver
up witnesses and by allowing them to leave the country, with the result
that in many cases it was difficult to bring offenders to justice.
Prosecutions, however, took place from time to time for offences against
the Ordinance, and in a number of cases convictions were obtained on
capital charges as well as in lesser offences against the Ordinance.
[Illustration: OBLIVIOUS OF HUMAN ALLIGATORS.]
During investigations connected with the offences committed by members
of the Human Leopard Society, it came out that another secret society
existed known as the Human Alligator Society. This Society appears to
have been an offshoot of the Human Leopard Society and the usual
meeting-place of this new society was in the vicinity of rivers where
crocodiles or as they are called locally alligators abound.
Thereupon the law was further amended in 1901, and it was made a felony
for any person without lawful authority or excuse to have in his
possession, custody, or under his control an alligator skin shaped or
made so as to make a man wearing the same resemble an alligator.
During the year 1903 a Circuit Court, presided over by a judge who sat
with assessors, was constituted, and after that date all offences
against the Human Leopard and Alligator Society Ordinances were tried by
that Court. From that date up to the middle of 1912 there were before
the Circuit Court 17 cases, in which 186 persons were charged with
murder under the above-mentioned Ordinances; of these persons 87 were
convicted and sentenced to death, and in many cases the sentence was
duly carried out publicly in the vicinity of the place where the murder
was committed.
In July, 1912, a murder took place at Imperri; the murderers were
disturbed at their work; a man who was patently concerned in the murder,
but was not one of the actual murderers, was arrested; upon this man’s
shoulders the murderers threw the whole burden of explanation. Unable to
invent even a plausible explanation, he made a clean breast and gave the
names of those implicated in the murder. In the course of his
explanation other murders were referred to and other names were
mentioned, with the result that further arrests were made, whilst other
members of the Society whom he named turned King’s evidence. In this way
the authorities obtained information with respect to about 30 human
leopard murders since 1907, and between 300 and 400 persons, including
several paramount chiefs (Mahawas) and a large number of sub-chiefs
(Mahawurus), were arrested. As in many cases no corroborative evidence
was procurable, the majority of these persons were released, leaving
108, who were committed for trial.
To meet some of the difficulties which had arisen, the Government
thereupon brought forward two Bills, one of which extended and
strengthened the existing law as to unlawful societies, whilst the other
set up a special court for the trial of persons charged with offences
connected with unlawful societies, and authorized the deportation of
persons who, although acquitted by such court, were, in the opinion of
the court, a source of danger to the peace of the district. The
Attorney-General, in introducing the first Bill into the Legislative
Council of Sierra Leone, said:
“It will be within the knowledge of Honourable Members of this Council
that the operations of the Human Leopard Societies in the
Protectorate—chiefly in the Northern Sherbro District—have been lately
very active.
“Not only have many murders been committed this year in connection with
the Human Leopard, but murders which have been committed within the last
three or four years have only just come to light. I can say that, so far
as I know, there are over twenty murders at least in connection with
this Society perpetrated this year or within the last three or four
years just recently come to light. This is a very serious state of
affairs, and one that has to be dealt with in a drastic manner. As far
as my knowledge of this Society goes, twenty years ago its operations
were confined to, not the big men of the Protectorate, but lesser
people; in fact, it was the paramount chiefs who took part in trying to
suppress the Society. However, it seems as years have gone by, this
state of things has changed, either from natural inclination or from
force of circumstances, and the Society has become too strong for the
chiefs, with the result that the paramount chiefs themselves have been
drawn into the Society and are now the leaders of it.
“Section 2 of this Ordinance gives the Governor power, when any murder
has been committed in any chiefdom, to declare such chiefdom or any part
thereof to be a proclaimed district, and gives the District Commissioner
power to arrest anybody therein. In the past the Government’s chief
difficulty has been to get evidence to substantiate a prosecution, as it
is generally after a long time that people come forward to make
statements about these murders, and, owing to the intimidation practised
by the influential chiefs upon possible witnesses, the Government have
always encountered great difficulty in procuring witnesses to bring to
justice the perpetrators of the crime. It will be seen by Section 2 the
District Commissioner has power to arrest any person whose arrest and
detention he may consider advisable in the interests of justice; the
first person he will naturally arrest would be the chief of the
district.
“This power seems drastic, but the circumstances of these murders are so
exceptional that drastic powers are required. Honourable Members will
remember that in the Principal Ordinance it is a serious offence to be
in possession of certain articles. It is proposed to add three other
articles which will be seen detailed in Section 7. Up to the present,
the possession of certain articles has been necessary to enable the
District Commissioner to deal with persons who are known to be active
members of the Human Leopard Society. It is now made criminal for a man
to be a member or to take any part in the operations of this Society.
These are the two chief points in the Bill. Another addition is that by
Section 5 which gives power to the Governor to deport a man who has been
connected with this Society, and, if he is an alien, to banish him
permanently from the Colony. As the District Commissioners have been
obliged to arrest a good many persons for whom it may not be possible to
formulate any charges, Honourable Members will see from Schedule 9 that
there is an indemnity clause covering all the arrests which have been
made.”
The three articles mentioned by the Attorney-General are described in
the Ordinance as:
“(_a_) A dress made of baboon[8] skins commonly used by members of an
unlawful society;
“(_b_) A ‘kukoi’ or whistle commonly used for calling together the
members of an unlawful society;
“(_c_) An iron needle commonly used for branding members of an unlawful
society.”
In introducing the Special Commission Court Ordinance into the
Legislative Council the Attorney-General said:
“This Bill gives the Governor power to constitute special courts for the
trial of all offences under the Human Leopard and Alligator Societies
Ordinance, 1909, and also the Ordinance (the Human Leopard and Alligator
Amendment Ordinance, 1912) which has just been read a second time. I may
say that the usual way of trying offenders in the Protectorate is by the
Circuit Court with three or four Native Paramount Chiefs, but as a great
number of these chiefs are implicated and have been arrested in the
Protectorate, it is obvious that the services of many, if any at all,
will not be available. Moreover, there are 64 persons under trial. It
will take up too much of the time of the Circuit Judge if all were sent
for trial before the Circuit Court. The Governor has the power to
appoint Commissioners, usually men who are Senior District
Commissioners. However, it is not desirable to appoint Commissioners in
the ordinary way to try offences like these. Instead of the prisoners
being tried by the Circuit Judge in the ordinary way, they will be
charged before a special court of three Judges.
“It is proposed in the Bill, which I may point out will only be in
operation for one year, to appoint a Special Commission Court consisting
of three persons. Who they are or who they will be I cannot say; but I
can say that they must be either judges or barristers of a British
court.
“The Bill also provides that there must be unanimity before a prisoner
can be convicted. The procedure will be practically the same as that of
the Circuit Court, and all the procedure of the Circuit will be
followed.
“It will be observed in Clause 10 that the same powers of deportation
will be given to the Governor when dealing with prisoners convicted by
the Special Commission Court as with those convicted by the Circuit
Court. By Clause 11 further power is given to the Governor.
Unfortunately, it sometimes happens in these cases that there are
several persons who are more or less connected with these Societies, but
against whom there is no evidence; they will be simply ordered to leave
the Colony and will not be allowed to return.”
The Colonial Office were fortunate in being able to secure the services
of an able and distinguished lawyer and judge in the person of Sir
William Brandford Griffith, an Ex-Chief Justice of the Gold Coast
Colony, to be President of the Court, and he arrived in the Colony from
England on the 8th December, 1912.
-----
Footnote 1:
These observations, to be found in vol. i. of Samuel Purchas’s
“Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, containing a History
of the World, in Sea Voyages, and Lande Travells,” by Englishmen and
others, are printed in full at p. 94.
Footnote 2:
“Observations upon the Windward Coast of Africa, the Religion,
Character, Customs, etc., of the Natives, etc. etc., made in the years
1805 and 1806,” by Joseph Corry, 1807.
Footnote 3:
“Travels in the Timmanee, Kooranko, and Soolima Countries in Western
Africa,” by Major Alexander Gordon Laing, 1825.
Footnote 4:
“The White Man’s Grave, a Visit to Sierra Leone in 1834,” by F.
Harrison Rankin, 1836.
Footnote 5:
“The Sherbro and its Hinterland,” by T. J. Alldridge, 1901.
Footnote 6:
See p. 21.
Footnote 7:
See p. 23.
Footnote 8:
This was owing to the fact that a society known as the Human Baboon
Society had been discovered to exist in one of the Northern Districts
of the Protectorate.
[Illustration: PORO DEVILS.]
CHAPTER II
THE PORO, TONGO PLAY, BORFIMA, WITCH-DOCTORS, OATHS
THE PORO
Although it is impossible to say that the Human Leopard Society is
connected with the Poro, nevertheless any account of that Society would
be wanting unless accompanied by some reference to the Poro, one of the
secret societies by which the natives of the Sierra Leone Hinterland are
educated and were, until the British Government took over the
administration of the country, ruled. Mr. Migeod, in the _Journal of the
African Society_ for July, 1915, ventures the suggestion that Purrus
Campus in Ptolemy’s map of the second century may be no other than the
Latin for Poro bush; and everything points to the custom being of great
antiquity. The earlier writers on Sierra Leone dwell almost exclusively
upon the predatory habits of the Poro and the danger of trespassing into
the Poro bush, but Major Laing (1822), who travelled amongst the
Hinterland tribes to the north of Sierra Leone, also points to the fact
that it was the Poro which governed the country. He says:
“Particular pieces of ground (generally eminences covered with thick
wood) are consecrated to the Greegrees and held sacred. I have always
seen those enclosures approached with reverential awe, and have been
informed that the smallest encroachment upon them would subject the
aggressor to the most awful punishment from the Purrah, an institution
which is much dreaded by the whole of this unhappy country. Their power
supersedes even that of the headmen of the districts, and their deeds of
secrecy and darkness are as little called in question, or inquired into,
as those of the inquisition were in Europe, in former years. I have
endeavoured in vain to trace the origin or cause of formation of this
extraordinary association, and have reason to suppose that it is now
unknown to the generality of the Timannees, and may possibly be even so
to the Purrah themselves, in a country where no traditionary records are
extant, either in writing or in song.
“In the early ages of the slave trade (which particularly prevailed in
this country) every nefarious scheme was resorted to by the headmen for
the purpose of procuring subjects for the markets. It may be conjectured
that where liberty was so insecure concealment not difficult, and the
means of subsistence easy to be procured, and when the power of the
headmen did not extend beyond the limits of their own town, many
individuals, whose safety was endangered, would fly to the woods for
protection; and as their numbers increased, would confederate for mutual
support, and thus give rise to secret signs of recognition and rules of
general guidance. It may further be supposed, that in a country divided
amongst numerous petty authorities, each jealous of the other, such a
confederacy may soon have become too powerful for any probable
combination against them; and being possessed of power would at length
employ it in the very abuses to which it had owed its own origin.
“The headquarters of the Purrah are in enclosures situated in the woods;
these are never deserted by them entirely, and any man, not a Purrah,
approaching them is instantly apprehended, and rarely ever heard of
again. The few who have reappeared after several years of secretion have
always become intermediately Purrah men themselves; those who do not
again appear are supposed to be carried away to distant countries and
sold. The Purrahs do not confine themselves always to the seizure of
those who approach their enclosures, but frequently carry off single
travellers, and occasionally whole parties, who are imprudent enough to
pass from one town to another in certain districts without applying for
an escort from the body. To ensure safety, one Purrah man is sufficient,
who, while leading the party, blows a small reed whistle suspended from
his neck. At the advice of Ba Kooro, I procured one of these persons as
a guide from Ma Bung to Ma Yasoo, the intermediate country being thickly
inhabited by the Purrah. As we passed along, they signified their
vicinity to us, by howling and screaming in the woods, but although the
sounds denoted their neighbourhood, no individual was seen.
“The Purrahs frequently make an irruption into towns in the night-time,
and plunder whatever they can lay their hands upon—goats, fowls, cloths,
provisions, men, women, or children. On such occasions the inhabitants
remain shut up in their homes, until long after the plunderers retreat.
During the time that I was in the interior, I always had a sentry over
my quarters at night, for the protection of the baggage. One night, the
town in which we slept was visited by the Purrah, and my sentinel
remained firm at his post. When the Purrah came up, an attack was made
upon him, but the application of the bayonet kept them at a distance
until I made my appearance, when the Purrah, uncertain of their power
over a white man, scampered off; they were mostly naked and unarmed, but
a few had knives.
“The outward distinguishing marks of the Purrah are two parallel
tattooed lines round the middle of the body, inclining upwards in front,
towards the breast, and meeting in the pit of the stomach. There are
various gradations of rank among them, but I could never ascertain their
respective offices; persons said to be men of rank amongst them have
been pointed out to me with great caution, as the Timannees, generally,
do not like to speak of them; but I could learn nothing further.
Purrah-men sometimes quit their retirement, and associate with the
townspeople, following employments of various kinds, but no chief or
headman dare bring a palaver against a Purrah-man, for fear of a
retributive visit from the whole body. At stated periods they hold
conventions or assemblies, and on those occasions the country is in the
greatest state of confusion and alarm; no proclamation is publicly made,
but a notice from the chief or headman of the Purrah, communicated by
signs hung up at different places, with the meaning of which they are
acquainted, is a summons to them to meet on an appointed day, at a
certain rendezvous. Palavers of great weight, such as disputes between
rival towns, or offences of such magnitude as to call for capital
punishments, are always settled by the Purrah—the headmen of towns not
having at the present day (whatever power they may have possessed
formerly) the lives or their subjects or dependents in keeping. The
Purrah may be therefore said to possess the general government of the
country, and from the nature of their power, and the purposes to which
it is applied, they will probably be found a most serious obstacle to
its civilization.”[9]
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO A “PORO BUSH.”]
Every subsequent writer touches upon the Poro, and gradually more
information is gleaned as to its object and procedure and the manner in
which it exercises its power. The fullest account is to be found in Mr.
Alldridge’s “The Sherbro and its Hinterland” (1901). The Poro is for men
only, and it begins by training the youth of the country. Boys between 7
and 20 are taken into the Poro bush for several months. “The meetings of
the fraternity for initiation of new members always take place in the
dry season, from November to April, as they are held in the Big Bush, a
part of which is sufficiently cleared and the ground cleaned. The
opening to the Big Bush is rudely constructed of palm leaves, the
entrance being through leafy bowers, and the aperture serving for a
doorway hung with country mats. Inside, the place is separated into
compartments similarly divided by palm leaves—that entrance also being
hung with mats. The whole is beneath the dense and overspreading foliage
of high trees, and is known as the Poro bush.”[10] This Big Bush is
usually much higher than the usual low bush of the country, and looks
more like virgin bush—a scarce commodity in Mende land. Here the boys
are taught and trained and initiated, here they dance and sing after
dark, and here they are imbued with the idea of the power and authority
of the Poro. After some months of training the boy is placed in—
(1) The Messenger or servant class; or,
(2) The Mohammedan Mori[11] or the Devil men class; or,
(3) The Chiefs’ class;
when further initiation and instruction suitable to his class are given.
Until the British Government proclaimed a Protectorate, the government
of the country was practically in the hands of the third class. The
chiefs would assemble in the Poro bush, they would be sworn to secrecy,
and then would discuss the matter in hand; their orders would be issued
and carried out by the whole Society; any member in default could be
tried by a Poro tribunal inside the Poro bush, condemned, and there put
away.
Every member of the Human Leopard Society is a member of the Poro, the
main supporters of both societies are the chiefs, the place of meeting
for both societies is the Poro bush—this suffices to show how easily the
Poro organization can be used, and no doubt has been used, for many of
the purposes of the human leopards.
[Illustration: BUNDU DEVILS, SIERRA LEONE.]
TONGO PLAYERS
A quotation which Mr. Alldridge has been so good as to allow from his
“Sherbro and its Hinterland” (pp. 156–159) with respect to the Tongo
players already alluded to will illustrate the atmosphere in which the
human leopards worked.
“Formerly when suspicious circumstances, such as frequent sudden deaths,
or the continuous disappearance of individuals, as in the case of the
victims of the Human Leopards, arose and baffled the local fetish,
recourse was had to the terrible Tongo player system, especially if
cannibalism was thought to be at the bottom of the mischief.
“To set this medicine going the intervention of a most appalling fetish
had to be invoked through a class of medicine people from the upper
country called the Tongo players.
“As soon as the Tongo players had determined to comply with a request
from a chief, they sent out their emissaries into his towns and villages
to obtain information concerning suspected people. When all was ready
the head of the Tongo, named Buamor Neppor, attended by his two
principal assistants, Akawa (Big Thing) and Bojuwa (Great Thing) with
their following, arrived in the principal town and proceeded to clear a
space in the bush for their encampment, where they made their fetish
medicine. This place of concealment was called Mashundu.
“In the investigation one village at a time was dealt with. A messenger
was despatched to call all the men, women, and children to a meeting to
be held on an appointed day.
“The meeting was held on a cleared space, called the Korbangai, outside
the town, to which the people had been summoned. They were then drawn up
into line. Their names were called by a spy from their own village, who
was in the pay of the Tongo players. Certain questions were asked. The
names of suspected persons were then submitted to the medicine-men,
hidden in the bush, who professed to go through the ordeal by which the
guilt or innocence of these suspected persons might be determined. The
operator’s ordeal was the plunging his hand into a cauldron of boiling
oil and pulling out a piece of hot iron. If the hand was burned, it was
certain proof of guilt; if not burned, of innocence.
“The victim thus being found out, he was brought before the head Tongo
player, who asked him if he were prepared to pay money. If he were, time
was allowed for him to send to his family; meanwhile he was detained and
stocked. Having got as much as they could out of the man and his family,
an excuse was made, and he was burned to death.
“On some occasions a Tongo play was held. The players were arrayed in
barbaric costume. They wore a leopard-skin cap, the side flaps of which
drooped over the face, a leopard tail hung down from the back of the
cap, and a sort of door bell was attached to the end. There was a
leopard-skin jacket; the wrists, elbows, and ankles were further adorned
with strips of leopard skin; the whole costume being completed by short
cloth knickers, trimmed with leopard skin, and leopard-skin gaiters.
“The Tongo players came out and danced; the headman and his attendant
carried a knobbed staff set with sharp cutting instruments, called the
Tongora, which was loosely veiled with leopard skin.
“While dancing the headman and his two attendants suddenly rushed up to
the suspected persons and dealt them heavy blows with the Tongora, blows
which may or may not have killed them at once; but whether killed or not
they were quickly taken away and thrown on the fire.”
BORFIMA
A word which was constantly heard before the Special Commission Court
was Borfima, the “medicine” referred to in the Human Leopard Ordinance.
The word is a contraction of _Boreh fima_, medicine bag, and is usually,
but not invariably, tightly bound up in a leather package. This package
contains, amongst other things, the white of an egg, the blood, fat, and
other parts of a human being, the blood of a cock, and a few grains of
rice; but to make it efficacious it must occasionally be anointed with
human fat and smeared with human blood. So anointed and smeared, it is
an all-powerful instrument in the hands of its owner, it will make him
rich and powerful, it will make people hold him in honour, it will help
him in cases in the White Man’s Court, and it certainly has the effect
of instilling in the native mind great respect for its owner and a
terrible fear lest he should use it hostilely. An oath administered by
the proper person and with due ceremony upon Borfima is of the most
binding nature, and it was by means of such oaths that great secrecy was
obtained. But the potency of this great fetish apparently soon
evaporated. Owners of the Borfima found that their riches did not
increase as rapidly as they anticipated, they lost cases in the Courts,
expectations were not realized with respect to adverse witnesses upon
whose hearts and livers and kidneys imprecations had been showered—all
this showed that the Borfima had become weak and needed resuscitation
with fresh human fat and blood—and to obtain this human fat and blood
was the primary object of the Human Leopard Society.
WITCH-DOCTORS
To give an idea of the mental outlook of the majority of the natives
before the Court, and so that some of the difficulties under which the
prosecution laboured may be appreciated, allusion should be made to
witch-doctors and oaths.
[Illustration: WIVES OF A NATIVE CHIEF.]
A witch-doctor holds a high position in a native community, and is often
able to accumulate great wealth. The practice of this profession is
usually confined to certain families, the secrets of the profession
being handed down from father to son. Only one member of the family
practises at the same time, although he may have a number of assistants
who are commonly members of his family. Some of these witch-doctors
profess to be able to name and trace their ancestors back to a remote
period. All the followers of this profession are skilled herbalists and
have some knowledge of surgery, but they profess to effect cures by the
aid of witchcraft. If a native is ill, it is said that he has been
caught by some devil, and it is the business of the witch-doctor to rid
him of that devil. The witch-doctor knows that certain devils dislike
certain herbs, which, if administered to the sick person, may have the
effect of disgusting the devil and making it fly away. A devil is
frequently caught and put into a bottle, and then it is for the patient
to say whether he will have it destroyed, which can only be done by
fire, or whether he will allow it to be released and propitiated by
various offerings, and by such means transform it into a friendly devil,
which he can make use of to injure some other person. The witch-doctor
is frequently employed by chiefs or other much-married men to discover
whether their numerous wives have been guilty of acts of infidelity;
they are also frequently employed to discover the perpetrators of any
crime and the place of concealment of stolen property, and it is
extraordinary what successes they achieve, particularly in discovering
stolen property.
OATHS
Another line of practice in which witch-doctors excel is the “pulling of
swears”—_anglice_, the removal of oaths. When an oath is taken upon an
ordinary native “medicine,” it is possible for the oath-taker to be
absolved from the consequences of a breach of his oath by engaging a
witch-doctor, who, for a fee proportionate to the potency of the
“medicine” used, will “pull the swear.” This is accomplished by certain
ceremonies performed with other “medicines.” After the “swear has been
pulled,” the first medicine has, so to speak, its teeth drawn.
The “medicine” on which pagan Mende witnesses were sworn before the
Special Commission Court was compounded every Monday morning by the
Court interpreter, and consisted of a preparation of salt, pepper and
ashes mixed with water. A spoonful of the mixture was taken by each
witness when sworn; if there were many witnesses, fresh “medicine” had
to be prepared later in the week. The oath administered in the presence
of the Court and repeated by each witness was, in its English
translation, as follows: “I (_name of witness_) swear by this medicine
to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Should I
tell a lie, if I go to the farm may snake bite me, if I travel by canoe
may the canoe sink, and may my belly be swollen. I swear by my liver, my
lungs, my kidneys, and my heart that, should I tell a lie, may I never
be saved, but may I die suddenly.”
-----
Footnote 9:
Pp. 92–99.
Footnote 10:
“The Sherbro and its Hinterland,” p. 126.
Footnote 11:
When it suits his purpose a Mori man will insist that by his religion
he can have nothing to do with such a heathen custom as the Poro; but
one of the features of the Sierra Leone Hinterland is the remarkable
way in which Mohammedan Mori men are associated with every form of
secret society, magic, witchcraft, “medicine,” and every sort of
trickery.
CHAPTER III
THE KALE CASE
The Special Commission Court, consisting of Sir W. B. Griffith,
President, Mr. F. A. Van der Meulen, and Mr. K. J. Beatty, commenced its
sittings at Gbangbama in the Northern Sherbro District on the 16th
December, 1912.
Gbangbama is a town belonging to the Imperri Chiefdom, and is situate in
the heart of the Mende country, having, within a radius of ten miles,
several towns where murders committed in connection with the Human
Leopard Society had recently taken place.
The Court was held in a large barri[12] specially erected for the
purpose. The prisoners were confined in a number of huts surrounded by a
stockade, and were guarded by a company of the West African Frontier
Force. Several members of the Freetown Bar were present for the purpose
of defending various persons to be tried by the Court.
The first two days were occupied chiefly with legal questions raised by
counsel on the cases before the Court.
The first case dealt with was the one known as the KALE CASE, which
occupied the time of the Court for nearly a fortnight, and in which the
evidence of a large number of witnesses was taken. Three men[13] were
charged with the murder in or about the month of March, 1911, of a boy
named Kalfalla, aged about fourteen years. The murder took place at a
village named Kale, which is situated on the bank of the Mongheri River
opposite the town of Mongheri, both of which places are within the Jong
Chiefdom. The accused were all headmen and men of importance in the
Chiefdom, and the deceased Kalfalla was the son of one of them, and was
at the time of his death in the process of being initiated into the
Poro.
The three boys who were put in the Poro bush at the same time as the
deceased gave evidence before the Court, and described how they had been
captured by the Poro Devils and taken to a Poro bush at the town of
Senehun, which was under the control of an important person who was
described as the Kumrabai (King-Maker) of the Jong Chiefdom. While they
were in the Senehun Poro bush, two of the accused came to the Kumrabai
and asked that these boys should be allowed to go to the Kale Poro bush,
so that they should be available to assist in farm work. Permission was
at first refused, but eventually they were allowed to go, where, in
accordance with Poro custom, they worked out of sight of all women. A
shimbek (i.e. a grass hut with grass walls) was built in the Kale Poro
bush for the boys, and for several nights they slept in this shimbek.
[Illustration: A PORO DEVIL.]
These three boys stated that one evening the three prisoners, one of
whom was the father of the deceased, came into the Poro bush and told
them that they were to come out of the bush that night and sleep in the
barri (a shelter with low walls) at the back of a house belonging to one
of the accused, the deceased’s father. They described the position in
which they slept, how shortly before daybreak they were awakened by a
noise, and how they saw one of the prisoners holding the deceased boy by
the legs, whilst another of them, who had a leopard skin over the top of
his head and hanging down his back, was bending over the body. The boys
raised an alarm, and as the accused ran away they heard sounds which
resembled the pit-a-pat of hurrying feet, and the impression created was
that it was a large number of persons who were running away from the
barri. Soon after this the father of the murdered boy again appeared on
the scene; he went immediately to the barri and appeared to show grief
on seeing that his son was dead. His accomplices next appeared, followed
shortly afterwards by a number of other men, who assisted in carrying
the body to the Poro bush. Arrived there the accused, together with some
other members of the Society, consulted together or, as the witnesses
described it, “hung head.” It was agreed to bury the body at once, and
the boys were threatened that if they spoke about the matter something
bad would happen to them; that if they were ever asked what had happened
to the dead boy they were to say that a snake had bitten him. The eldest
boy was also sworn on the Borfima not to reveal what he had seen and
heard. This boy described the oath he took, which was to the effect that
if he revealed this matter and afterwards went by water he would drown;
if he went into the bush a snake would bite him; and if he walked on a
road thunder would strike him. He was further sworn on his heart and on
his kidneys that both would wither away if he broke his oath.
The boys and several witnesses described the wounds on the deceased,
three of which were in the throat, and the other on the chest. From the
description given of the wounds there could be no doubt but that they
were caused by some sharp instrument, probably a knife, and could not
have been caused by a leopard’s claws. The accused, in accordance with
native custom, were compelled to report the matter to the “Grand Master”
of the Poro, but contrary to native custom they did not report until
after the body was buried. At this breach of custom the Kumrabai was
annoyed, but he allowed himself to be pacified with a “head of
money”—seven country cloths, valued at about thirty shillings.
[Illustration: WEAVING COUNTRY CLOTH.]
Two witnesses who confessed to being members of the Human Leopard
Society were called and gave an interesting description of their
initiation into the Society. They had joined the Society at different
times, and belonged to different branches of it. One belonged to the
branch in the Imperri Chiefdom, and the other to a branch in the
Gallinas Chiefdom, several days’ march distant, but their description
tallied in almost every detail regarding the initiation ceremony and the
objects of the sacrifice. A mark is made on a candidate for initiation,
usually on the buttocks, so that it will be concealed by the loin cloth,
the usual and only article of dress worn by the ordinary native in those
parts. The mark is made by piercing the flesh with an iron needle,
raising it, and shaving off a thin slice of flesh. The wound is then
treated with a medicine known as Nikori, which apparently has antiseptic
qualities, and which is made by grinding the bark of the wild ground
nut. The blood taken from the wound is put on the “Borfima,” and the
novice by this means becomes what is spoken of as “joined or married to
the medicine,” and a full member of the Society. Meetings are only held
when the leaders of the Society consider that the Borfima belonging to
their particular branch requires what is spoken of as “feeding” or
“blooding,” and this can only be done by the killing of some person.
Apparently one of the rules of the Society is that a victim must be
provided by a member of the Society; usually, the person called upon to
provide the victim is a member who has received some material
advancement, such as becoming a Mahawa (a paramount chief) or a Mahawuru
(sub-chief), as it is considered necessary on such occasions to
propitiate the Borfima, which is looked upon as all-powerful for good or
evil. When it is arranged who is to provide the victim, a date is fixed,
usually four to six days later, a rendezvous is decided upon, and the
persons who are to do the killing are selected. The second meeting is
generally fixed for just after dusk, usually in the Poro bush, and the
victim is either enticed to a place in the vicinity of the
meeting-place, or certain members are appointed to do the killing in the
town or village, and convey the body to the Poro bush, where the Borfima
is first “blooded” and then the body is divided up among the members,
and, according to the evidence of the ex-members of the Society, the
flesh is either eaten raw on the spot or taken away and cooked. To use
the words of one of these witnesses, “some like it raw, some roast, and
some prefer it boiled with rice.” The witnesses also described how the
members of the Society made themselves known to each other by a movement
of the second finger across the palm of another person in shaking hands,
and also by a peculiar rolling of the eyes. Both signs were demonstrated
to the Court. The witnesses examined certain marks in the buttocks of
the three prisoners, and alleged that they were the marks made at
initiation into membership of the Human Leopard Society.
The following, somewhat interesting, point of native custom was touched
on in the evidence: When a boy who is in the Poro bush dies, the body is
buried there, and his death is not announced to the female relatives
until after the Poro has “been pulled” (finished). It is the duty of the
Lakai (the head-messenger of the Chiefdom and a high officer in the
Poro) and of him only to announce the death. When the Poro is about to
be “pulled,” all the women who have sons in the Poro bush are made to
stand in a circle at the entrance to the town. The Lakai is escorted by
his retainers into the midst of them. He carries an earthen pot, and if
a death has occurred among the Poro boys he dashes the pot to the ground
and breaks it at the feet of the mother of the boy, and in this way
announces to her the death of her son. The women wail for some hours,
after which a funeral dance is given by the parents or the nearest
relatives of the deceased; and this dance may be kept up for several
days and nights, according to the wealth of the family of the deceased,
who provide the food and drink for the occasion.
None of these ceremonies were performed in connection with the death of
the boy Kalfalla; but the omission of these rites was not a matter to
which much weight could be attached, owing to the difficulty of
obtaining reliable information on matters connected with the Poro, and
the custom is only mentioned incidentally.
The defence of the accused was that a bush leopard had killed the boy.
They admitted that they had concealed this fact and had given out that
it was a snake-bite which had caused the death of the deceased, but they
said that their reason for doing so was in order to save the father of
the deceased, the first accused in the case, from certain penalties
which he would have incurred had it come to the ears of the Poro Headman
that he had allowed a “bushboy” who was still in the Poro to sleep in an
open place outside the Poro bush. The position, shape, and character of
the wounds were emphasized to show that it must have been a bush leopard
which had caused them, and it was pointed out that it was an offence
against the law of the country for any one to sleep in an open place
exposed to danger, such as the barri where the boys had been permitted
to sleep. The accused alleged that these “bushboys” should not have been
allowed to sleep out of the Poro bush, and that it was an aggravation of
the offence that they had been allowed to sleep in an open place like a
barri; that the first accused, as head of the family, was the person on
whom the blame would have fallen; and that he, for these reasons,
persuaded the others to give out that it was a snake-bite which had
caused death. If this was accepted, they urged, they would not be called
on to show the spot where the boy was injured, and they added that the
burial was hurried so that people should know as little about it as
possible. Had the burial been delayed, the women might have got to know,
and that would have been a further offence against Poro law. It was also
submitted that it was contrary to nature that the first accused would
have murdered his own son in such a cold-blooded manner.
The prisoners were ably defended, but the arguments put forward for the
defence did not create doubt as to the main facts deposed to by the
witnesses for the Crown.
From the evidence of the witnesses one thing emerged conclusively—viz.
that it was no bush leopard which killed the boy, but that it was some
person or persons simulating a leopard who murdered him; and the
evidence of the other boys that they had heard the pattering of many
feet outside the barri when they raised the alarm pointed to the fact
that there were a number of persons concerned in the murder.
The Court could come to no other conclusion than that the murder was
committed in connection with the Human Leopard Society, and that the
first and second accused were the actual murderers of the boy Kalfalla.
These two men were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, and
were publicly executed at Mattru in the presence of the acting paramount
chief and a large number of his people on the 25th January, 1913.
[Illustration: BUNDU GIRLS AND DEVIL.]
The third accused, who had taken a prominent part in concealing the
murder, and who was proved to be leading member of the Human Leopard
Society, was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact to
murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
-----
Footnote 12:
I.e. a thatched roof on wooden posts with thick mud walls about two
feet high.
Footnote 13:
At the request of the Colonial Office the names of the accused persons
in all the cases have been withheld.
CHAPTER IV
THE IMPERRI CASE
The second case dealt with was the one known as the Imperri case.
Fifty-four persons were charged with the murder of a boy aged about
twenty years. They were also charged with being accessories after the
fact to murder and further with being members of an unlawful society: to
wit, the Human Leopard Society.
The murder took place on 13th July, 1912.
The Crown Prosecutor, for want of evidence to corroborate the story told
by accomplices who had turned King’s evidence, only proceeded against
fifteen of these persons on the capital charge.
The case was commenced on the 13th January and the verdict was given on
the 3rd March. Fifty-nine witnesses gave evidence, and the notes of
evidence taken reached nearly a thousand foolscap pages.
The facts as alleged by the witnesses for the Crown were as follows:
Very early on the morning of Sunday the 8th July, 1912, the leaders of
the Human Leopard Society met at some place near the town of Victoria,
the chief commercial town in the Imperri Chiefdom, and decided to hold a
general meeting of the Society that same evening in the Imperri Poro
bush. The Santiggies (messengers) of the Society were despatched to warn
members to attend, and about sixty of them met that same evening.
They began to arrive at the rendezvous, which was a clearing in the
centre of the Poro bush, soon after dark. There was only one path
leading into this clearing, which was surrounded with dense bush, and on
this path were stationed certain executive members of the Society, who
passed the members along after they were satisfied as to their
membership. They proved this chiefly by the peculiar handshake of the
Society.
No lights were allowed at this meeting. Towards midnight the President
of the Society, who owed his position to his being the most important
man in the Chiefdom, arrived with his staff, and after the names and
rank of the persons present were called, he proceeded to address the
meeting. He announced that the object of calling members together was to
discuss and consider the question of providing food, or in other words
“blood” and fat, for their medicine. That it was some time since the
parent Borfima was fed, and that it was necessary that their own
Borfimas should also be blooded and anointed.
A discussion then arose as to the means of providing the necessary
victim. One of the members present was asked to supply a victim, and
when he demurred it was pointed out to him that it was his turn to do so
by the rules of the Society, and it was suggested that the person to be
supplied should be his adopted son Yagba. Both this member and the uncle
of the boy Yagba protested strongly, a heated discussion followed, and
finally the two members in question were informed that unless they
immediately consented to give the boy asked for, either one or both of
them would take his place. Under fear of this threat they consented.
It was then arranged that the members should meet again on the Friday
following, and both the father and uncle of the promised victim were
warned that if the boy disappeared or there was any difficulty about
obtaining him one of them would be taken instead. After nominating two
of the members to do the killing and others to convey the body to the
Poro bush the meeting was adjourned.
On the following Thursday a boy died in the town of Imperri and his body
was buried next day. In the ordinary course of events there would have
been a funeral dance that evening, but fearing that it might interfere
with their projects, some of the members of the Human Leopard Society
secured its postponement.
As it grew dark that evening, the members of the Society gathered
together in the Poro bush. The members deputed to do the killing were
dressed in their regalia of leopard skin.
As the evening wore on and the time for sleep came, the boy Yagba, under
instructions from his uncle, spread his mat on the verandah of the
latter’s house and lay down and eventually went to sleep. About midnight
the two murderers arrived and crept on all fours up to where Yagba was
lying. One of them held him while the other stabbed him in the neck with
a knife. Death was not instantaneous, and the boy moaned and beat the
ground with his feet. This awakened some women and a youth who were in
the house, and their screams aroused the whole town. An attempt was made
by the two murderers to drag the body away, but as a number of people
rushed out of their houses they gave up their attempt and fled into the
bush where they warned the others of what had happened and got rid of
their leopard-skin dress. The members belonging to the town hastened to
get back to their houses before their absence should be discovered.
[Illustration: STOCKADE SURROUNDING GBANGBAMA PRISON AND GUARD HOUSE.]
[Illustration: PRISONERS AWAITING TRIAL, GBANGBAMA PRISON.]
The townspeople collected round the body of the murdered boy and kept
saying to each other, “What is this trouble?” “What has happened?” The
uncle of the boy, who had been beside him the whole time and who
appeared to be very upset at seeing the body, said in reply to the
questions on all sides that koribrah (leopard people) had killed him. He
was taken aside by some of the accused, and the seriousness of his
admission pointed out to him. He was told to say that owing to distress
of mind he did not know what he was saying, that what he really meant to
say was that it was a bush leopard that had killed the boy, and that he
himself had seen two leopards rushing out of the town after the alarm
had been raised. He was promised a sum of money if the matter was hushed
up on the basis of the death being attributed to a bush leopard, but it
was incidentally mentioned to him that if he did not succeed in creating
this belief the town would in all probability lose another of its
citizens, as their Borfima had not yet been fed, and they would, in a
certain event, know where to look for a victim. The story was then
circulated that it was a bush leopard that had killed the boy; and there
was some confirmation of this story by the statements of some women and
boys who said they saw what looked like a leopard running away after the
alarm had been given. From the evidence it appeared that these people
had mistaken the murderers in their dresses of leopard skins for real
leopards, which are numerous in the vicinity.
About 6.30 the following morning the clerk to the District Commissioner
overheard a man at the town of Gbangbama tell a friend that a bush
leopard had killed some one at the town of Imperri the night before. The
clerk immediately proceeded with some police or, as they are called in
the Protectorate, Court Messengers to the town of Imperri, and arrived
there soon after 8 a.m. They were met by the chief men of the town and
taken to view the body of the boy Yagba, several of the accused being
present and volunteering the information that a bush leopard had killed
the deceased. The Court Messengers, as a preliminary step, took into
custody all the people who occupied the house where the deceased had
been killed, including the uncle of the boy. Meanwhile a vigorous search
was prosecuted to find the spoor of a leopard, but none was to be found
in or about the town. His uncle was then taken on one side by the clerk
and Court Messengers and in view of the nature of the wounds and the
fact that there were no signs of any leopard was asked to explain how
the boy had come by his death.
It was clear, owing to the nature of the wounds, that no leopard had
killed the boy; and, faced with this fact and his admission of the night
before, he gave an account of the murder and the names of the persons
concerned in it. As many of these persons as could then be found were
forthwith taken into custody, the others were subsequently arrested, and
after a preliminary examination before the District Commissioner all
were committed for trial.
The chief testimony against the accused was that of two accomplices who
had turned informers. These men confessed to being members of the Human
Leopard Society and as having been present at the murders of several
victims of the Society. They gave evidence to the effect that all the
accused bore the mark of the Leopard Society. The mark on each of the
accused was pointed out during the hearing of the case, but although
there were certain peculiarities about the mark, and although its
position on the person of each of the accused was in most instances
approximately the same, yet, owing to the fact that the majority of them
had other marks, similar in shape and colour, some doubt existed as to
whether the marks pointed out were really the marks received on
initiation into the Society.
After hearing the evidence, no one could doubt that a murder had been
committed, and that that murder had been committed by members of the
Human Leopard Society. Their plans miscarried, they were disturbed at
their work by the cries of the occupants of the house; the actual
murderers finished their work, but those deputed to carry away the body
failed, the uninitiated in the village awakened, and saw what had
happened, and it was too late to remove the body. The question then
followed as to whether the persons charged were those who had actually
committed or who had taken part in the murder. The evidence of the
accomplices was strong, but the chief difficulty in regard to the case
for the Crown was to obtain corroboration of the evidence of these
accomplices. In cases of this sort where the principal men are bound
together by the bonds of guilt as well as of secrecy, where the victim
is provided by the head of the family, who, instead of ferreting out the
crime, uses all his influence to have the matter hushed up, and where
the whole people cower down in dread of the terrible vengeance
threatened by the awe-inspiring Borfima, it is not to be wondered at
that it is exceptional to be able to procure independent evidence. The
relatives, even the mother of the victim, will not come forward
willingly, and when such witnesses are forced to give evidence they will
only say what they think is non-committal, and from that they will not
budge. They look upon the “medicine” as being responsible, and hold the
view that the members of the Society are forced into killing a victim in
order to “feed” the Borfima.
In this case, however, many of the non-committal statements pieced
together formed important corroborative evidence, and that, together
with other evidence, satisfied the Court as to the guilt of six of the
accused, who were found guilty of murder.
The sentence on four of them was publicly carried out at the town of
Imperri on 18th April, 1913. The fifth and sixth, who were domestic
slaves, were also found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, but the
sentences, on the recommendation of the Court, were afterwards commuted
by the Governor-in-Council to life imprisonment. The Lavari to the
principal accused was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact
to the murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
[Illustration: A NATURAL BRIDGE ON THE ROAD TO GBANGBAMA.]
There is little doubt that but for the chance overhearing by the
District Commissioner’s clerk that a boy had been killed by a leopard
this crime would never have been brought to light. After a time, when
all trace of evidence had vanished, it would have been given out that
the boy had been killed by a bush leopard. And this story would have
been all the more difficult to disprove from the fact that in that
neighbourhood leopards abound. Within a few hundred yards of where the
Court sat was a leopard trap, whilst during the hearing of this
particular case at least two leopards were shot within a mile of the
Court barri.
CHAPTER V
THE KABATI CASE
The next case dealt with was the one known as the Kabati Case, from the
village where the murder took place. In this and the following cases
Lieut.-Colonel H. G. Warren sat in place of Mr. Van der Meulen, who
proceeded on leave.
Originally fifty-six persons had been charged and committed for trial on
a charge of murder.
The person murdered was a young woman named Mini, and the murder took
place in or about the month of May, 1911, at Kabati, a small village in
the Northern Sherbro District of the Protectorate.
As in the previous case, sufficient corroborative evidence to support
the stories told by accomplices, who were the chief witnesses for
prosecution, could not be obtained, and the Crown Prosecutor decided to
proceed against only three of the prisoners, entering a _nolle prosequi_
on the capital charge against the remainder. These latter were
subsequently prosecuted, and a number of them were found guilty of being
members of an unlawful society.
Of the three men proceeded against two were men of importance in the
Protectorate; the first accused was a paramount chief or Mahawa, and the
second was a sub-chief or Mahawuru, the third accused being a brother of
the Mahawuru. The girl Mini was weak in intellect, but to what extent it
was not easy on the evidence to say. She was the niece of the second
accused, the Mahawuru, and for some time prior to the murder had formed
a member of his household. The story told by the witnesses for the Crown
was as follows:
Some time toward the end of May, 1911, a meeting of the members of the
Human Leopard Society was convened and held one evening at Mosenge, a
deserted village on the borders of the Imperri and the Jong Chiefdoms,
and was attended by most of the members belonging to that particular
branch of the Society. Soon after dark the members began to arrive, and
after giving the countersign were admitted to the meeting. A small fire
was lighted, round which the members sat. Three Mahawas or paramount
chiefs were present, and they with other big men of the Society sat in
front with their subjects, in order of precedence, immediately behind
them. When all those summoned were assembled, the second accused—the
girl Mini’s uncle—was elected Mahein (presiding officer) of the meeting.
He first called the names of all the principal men, who answered to
their names. The senior member then, in accordance with the custom, said
to the second accused, “You”—mentioning his name—“have called a meeting
of the members of this Society, which should not meet except when
important business is to be done; we therefore look to you now to tell
us what that important business is.” The second accused, after walking
three times round the circle, proceeded to address the meeting. He said,
“The spirits have spoken to me and told me that unless we want something
bad to happen to us we should put blood on our Borfimas when four days
and four nights have passed. I invite you all to meet again, and at that
meeting I myself will supply a person whose blood will satisfy the
hunger of the Borfima.”
In answer to inquiry the second accused further informed those present
that the person he proposed to give would be his niece Mini, whom he
stated had a devil in her. Then after some discussion as to how the
murder was to be carried out and after details had been arranged the
meeting broke up.
On the evening of the fourth day after this the members of the Society
reassembled at Mosenge, and about sixty persons were present. When all
the expected guests had arrived, the second accused, who was still
Mahein, called over as before the names of those present. It was
arranged that they should remain at Mosenge until it was sufficiently
late for ordinary villagers to have retired for the night. Towards
midnight a move was made in the direction of Kabati, which was about
three miles distant, and on their arrival at the outskirts of the
village they were led to some bush, where they were told to sit down.
The second accused, who was the Mahawuru of Kabati, and his brother then
went into the village, and were quickly followed by members wearing the
regalia in the form of the leopard skin of the Society. The woman Mini
had for some days previous to this been sleeping alone in a room at the
back of her uncle’s house, at some distance from where his wives and the
other members of his household slept, and one of his domestic slaves,
who for the purpose of performing menial acts had been made a member of
the Society, was placed on guard over her. On this man signalling that
all was well the second accused went into the room and quickly awakened
the girl, who followed him down the bush path to where the other members
were waiting. She came quite quietly, and did not appear to realize that
anything unusual was occurring. It was stated by persons present that a
firi (a horse tail elaborately decorated with sebbehs) and an Aku
(Yoruba) cap to which more sebbehs (charms) were attached were then
produced by two important members of the Society, and that a certain
ceremony was gone through which included the pointing of these things at
the girl. It was then announced that members present need not feel any
alarm in regard to what was going to happen, as the ceremony performed
would have the effect of warding off suspicion and would assist them in
concealing what was going to happen that night.
[Illustration: A NATIVE VILLAGE.]
It was alleged that the third accused then went behind the girl and
stabbed her in the side with a large knife. She fell forward, and was
immediately seized by four men and hurriedly carried farther along the
path to a small clearing. The other members of the Society fell in
behind. The body was deposited near where the Society’s “medicine,” the
Borfima, had been placed, and veins of the victim’s throat were opened
so that the blood might flow over the “medicine.”
After the parent Borfima had been blooded, a few persons who were
sufficiently important to be able to keep their own Borfimas advanced in
order of seniority and collected a few drops of blood on their
“medicine” which they had brought with them for that purpose.
Two men were then nominated to cut up the body. The belly was first cut
open and flapped over the chest and the interior organs were removed.
The breasts were then cut away and given to one of the Mahawas (chiefs),
and part of the belly, the finger and toe-nails and the scalp containing
the hair were given to the first accused. The heart was set aside to be
sent to an important and educated member, who was represented at the
feast, but who did not wish to be present himself. The more important
persons present named in turn the particular piece of flesh they wanted,
and the remainder of the body was divided among those of lesser
importance. A fire was lighted, over which a certain quantity of flesh
was cooked, but a number of the members appeared to have vied with each
other in seeing what quantity of raw flesh they could eat. The bones,
after being picked clean, were left lying near the spot, and the “empty
skull” was thrown down an incline towards a stream some twenty or thirty
yards away.
On the 30th May, as near as could be calculated by the phases of the
moon as described by the witnesses, the Lavari of the second accused
approached him and mentioned that he had a matter to discuss with him in
the presence of the other big men of the town. A meeting was immediately
called, and those summoned assembled under a cocoa-nut tree near the
compound of the second accused, who, as has been already stated, was
Mahawuru or sub-chief of Kabati village. The Lavari, who was an old man
and of some importance in the village, said that he had summoned those
present, as it had been brought to his notice that the girl Mini was
missing; that apparently no effort had been made to find her; that
trouble had been caused in the past by persons disappearing; and that as
they did not wish to be viewed with suspicion by the Government
Authorities they should make every effort to trace the missing girl. The
second accused said that it was true that his niece was missing, but
that he did not know that there was any occasion for alarm, as the girl
was crazy, and that she had disappeared before and had been found
without much difficulty; that she had probably gone to her parents at
the town of Yandehun; that he was quite able to look after his own
affairs, and that if he had wanted the help of the people of the town he
would have asked for it; that he looked upon it as officiousness on the
part of his Lavari to have interfered in a matter connected with his
household; and he added that there was nothing they need do but “beg
him” (apologize to him) for making a lot of unnecessary trouble. That
evening he left the town and was absent for some days. On his return he
summoned the people together to the village court barri and said that
some one, whose name he had not yet been able to ascertain, had been to
the village of Makelpe and had spread a report that he had sacrificed
his niece, and he angrily asked who had done this. Of course every one
denied having said anything, and some discussion arose between the
people and himself as to why he had not told them at the time of the
disappearance of his niece. One of those present expostulated with him
for his callous conduct in not having caused a general search to have
been made immediately after it was noticed that the girl was missing. To
this he replied that he had told certain persons; but these persons, on
being referred to, stated that it was not till after they had commented
on the girl’s disappearance that he had mentioned anything about her
being missing.
At this meeting it was decided that all the young men of the town should
search the fakais (farm villages) round about, and search-parties were
then and there formed. It should be mentioned in connection with this
meeting that a rumour had reached the town that the disappearance of the
girl had been reported to the Government, and this probably accounts for
the strong action taken by the people in expressing dissatisfaction with
their Mahawuru.
Towards the evening of the same day, whilst the people were searching,
the sound of “bugles” was heard, and two paramount chiefs arrived from
opposite directions with their followers simultaneously in the town. One
of these was the Mahawa or paramount chief of Imperri; the other was the
Mahawa or paramount chief of Jong, and was the first accused. It was
about this time that the third accused disappeared from the town. The
two Mahawas (to give them their native titles) announced that they had
been sent by the District Commissioner to investigate the circumstances
connected with the disappearance of the missing girl, and they said that
they had been instructed to see that a proper search was made. Before
the Special Commission Court witnesses swore that both these Mahawas
were actually present at the murder, but the people of the town of
Kabati at that time seem to have had no suspicion that either of them
was in any way connected with the disappearance of the girl, or that
they were members of the notorious Human Leopard Society. The Mahawas
then ordered the arrest of all the big men of the town, who, including
the second accused, were detained in a barri whilst the remainder of the
townspeople were instructed to continue searching; but no trace of
deceased was found that day.
[Illustration: PALM FOREST, SIERRA LEONE.]
The next day search was continued and some bones were found. The Mahawas
went to see these bones, which were less than half a mile from the town,
and every one appears to have agreed that they were the bones of the
missing girl.
Some of the people appeared to have had information that the Assistant
District Commissioner was on his way from the town of Victoria, which
was then his headquarters, to visit the town of Kabati, and he arrived
there soon after the discovery of the bones. He was taken to where the
bones were along a path that had been newly cut through the bush, but he
noticed what looked like an old path leading from the place where the
bones were found, and that the bush round the spot appeared to have been
cleared at some recent date; this, however, was explained by pointing to
a farm on the other side of the stream, and by saying the people had
probably come there to cut sticks to build a farm-house. He noticed a
black patch about a yard in diameter, and remarked that there had been a
fire there, but one of the Mahawas (the first accused in the case)
remarked that that was where the body had rotted.
The Assistant District Commissioner stated in his evidence that on one
side of the black patch were some bones which looked like leg bones, and
piled on them were other small bones, and he said that from their
position they must have been so placed by human agency. They were just
as if people had been gathering sticks. There were other bones scattered
about within a radius of fifteen yards; the bones were dry, and he found
no marks upon them; he thought that the thigh bones were attached to the
pelvis, and the greater portion of the spinal column was intact. He made
a careful search for clothing and beads, but there was no trace of any.
He said that on the way to the bones the first accused told him that the
girl was crazy and had gone into the bush and died.
After seeing the bones and ordering them to be collected, the Assistant
District Commissioner asked for the skull, and was told that it was at
the foot of the hill near a stream just below the bones. He went there
with the first accused and others, and found the skull at the edge of
the stream in a spot so exposed that it was visible for about twenty
yards inside the farm across the stream. The skull was absolutely clean,
bleached, and “perfectly dry.” At the top of one jaw, level with the
ear, the bone was broken. There was no doubt in the minds of any of the
witnesses that these were the bones of the girl Mini. No further trace
of her was hinted at and no cross-examination was directed to that
point.
The Assistant District Commissioner then released all the villagers who
had been arrested except the second accused, the uncle of the deceased.
He also held an inquiry into the circumstances of the girl’s
disappearance, and, as the result, took the second accused in custody to
Victoria. Being unable, however, to obtain any evidence to connect him
with the death of the girl Mini, the Assistant District Commissioner
placed the matter in the hands of the Mahawa of Jong, the first accused,
who found that his Mahawuru, the second accused, had failed to report
the disappearance of his niece, and fined him fifty pounds and deposed
him from his office of Mahawuru. There, for the time, the matter ended.
In July, 1912, the Imperri murder already dealt with took place. The
murderers were disturbed at their work, and one of their number on whom
suspicion was cast when called upon for explanation admitted that it was
a leopard murder, and mentioned the names of several persons who were
implicated. He was brought to Gbangbama on the 15th July, 1912, having
previously confessed to being a member of the Human Leopard Society and
as having been present at the meetings where the murder was arranged. A
number of names were mentioned by him in connection with this murder,
and amongst them was that of the second accused. Facts with respect to
previous murders were then elicited; but although he mentioned a great
many names he did not mention those of the two Mahawas or paramount
chiefs as having been present at any of those murders.
This mentioning of names continued up to the 25th July when his various
statements were reduced to writing. This writing was witnessed by the
two Mahawas concerned, who, up till that time, had retained the
confidence of the Government Officers. On Monday the 29th July the
District Commissioner had an interview with the informer for the first
time without the presence of the Mahawas, and something was said which
induced the District Commissioner to order forthwith the arrest of one
of them, the first accused. At once Court Messengers were sent to search
his quarters in Gbangbama town. They found in a box in his house a
chewing-stick of a peculiar kind, a cap with sebbehs (charms), and an
envelope containing human hair, and in a gown hanging close to his bed
they found a small packet containing nine parings of human nails. His
house at Mattru was also searched, and there was found a firi (i.e. a
horse tail with cloth wrapped round the handle) and another packet
containing eighteen parings of human finger and toe-nails. All these
articles he admitted were his property, with the exception of the sebbeh
cap.
In this case, too, evidence was given as to the alleged leopard marks
upon the three accused. But this evidence as to marks broke down. In the
first place, the witnesses were not in agreement as to the alleged
leopard marks upon the accused; secondly, the medical evidence was not
convincing; thirdly, some other prisoners were produced by the defence
with a number of marks which to the ordinary eye more or less
corresponded with the so-called leopard mark, one of these men being
literally covered with small-pox marks, some of which were not unlike
the so-called leopard mark; fourthly, a mark produced by the Government
Medical Officer, in accordance with the directions of one of the expert
witnesses, was quite unlike the so-called leopard mark; and finally a
number of girls and boys, whose ages ranged from seven to sixteen years,
were produced by the defence with marks,[14] as far as the ordinary
person could judge, exactly corresponding with the so-called leopard
mark.
There is little doubt that members of the Human Leopard Society are
marked on entering into the Society, but such marks are so like the
marks left by wounds caused by accident or disease that it is not
possible for any ordinary person to distinguish, with any certainty, the
difference between them.
The defence of the first accused, the Mahawa of Jong, was that the story
of the informer, so far as he was concerned, was absolutely devoid of
truth, and that at the time of the alleged murder he was suffering from
the effects of boils under his arm so that he was unable to move about;
he gave evidence per-porting to show that the possession of the firi,
the chewing-stick, the nails and hair was perfectly lawful, and stated
that the sebbeh cap was neither his property nor was it found in any of
his boxes; whilst he produced official testimony with a view to showing
that he was earnestly striving to eradicate cannibal murder from his
chiefdom.
Furthermore he alleged that the chief witness had a special ill feeling
towards him because of a land dispute between the Kabati and Imperri
people, and that he had only mentioned his name in connection with this
matter after compulsion on the part of the District Commissioner. He
further stated that some time after his election as Mahawa certain
villages, including Kabati, which had been a part of Imperri Chiefdom,
were transferred to his Chiefdom. He stated that it was well known that
cannibal murder was rife in these villages, but that it was unknown in
the other parts of his chiefdom. He pointed out that to put a stop to
cannibalism he had made certain rules with regard to strangers reporting
their presence in villages, as to people not sleeping outside a house,
as to proper doors for houses and such like. He had also assisted the
Government in the Mochach murder about September, 1910, and in the
Sawura murder in 1911, and had done what he could at the request of the
District Commissioner to elucidate the facts in this very case. He drew
attention to the fact that the second accused had been handed over to
him to be dealt with in accordance with country law, and that he was
sent for by the Government Authorities to assist in the Imperri case,
when he did all he could to elicit information from the very informer
who was now giving evidence against him.
The firi, he stated, was an heirloom and appurtenant to his office, and
witnesses for the prosecution admitted that big Mahawas do possess
firis, which are used as the credentials of important messengers. He
explained that the chewing-stick was a present from a Muhammedan to whom
he had rendered some service, and that the Arabic text found in the
wrapper was nothing more than an invocation that none but seasonable
words might drop from the lips of him who used it.
[Illustration: A NATIVE VILLAGE.]
As to the hair found in his house, it seemed clear that many persons,
even educated persons in Freetown, have a superstition about their hair
being left about, and take precautions to have it disposed of in such a
way that nobody can get possession of it. Strong “medicines” are
supposed to be made with human hair, and with this “medicine” injury can
be inflicted on the person from whom the hair was obtained. He said that
soon after he arrived at Gbangbama he had his hair cut and that he kept
it pending his return to Mattru, where he intended to have it destroyed.
Finger and toe-nails also appear to be capable of malevolent use, and
should not be left lying about; he said that he had cut his finger-nails
just before he left Mattru, and had put the parings carefully in his
gown, intending to get rid of them later, but forgot about them, and
that was how they came to be in the pocket of his gown when his quarters
were searched. As to those found at Mattru, he stated that the wife who
assisted him when cutting them must have put them away in the small box
in which they were found, that that box used to stand upon his table,
and that his wife must have forgotten them, but that they were quite
safe, as the box was the one in which he used to keep his pocket cash
and was usually locked.
The sebbeh cap he denied the ownership of. He stated that it belonged to
an Aku or Yoruba medicine man who came to Gbangbama about the same time
as himself, that this man placed the box containing the cap in his
house, and that the cap was not found with his things, but in another
box altogether. This statement was to some extent supported by the fact
that the sebbehs when opened did not, as was expected, contain Arabic
texts, but only black powder and tree bark, and he called as his witness
the Yoruba man to whom he alleged the cap belonged.
The defence of the second accused, the girl’s uncle, was that Mini was
of weak intellect, and that during a period of insanity she had wandered
into the bush, and, not being able to find her way out, had died there.
He stated that she first became insane after the birth of her second
child, and that she became so violent that she had to be put in the
stocks. He said that he obtained and had given her some sacred water and
a charm which cured her for a time, that she subsequently lost the charm
and became insane again, and could not be made to wear any clothes, that
he was absent from Kabati at the time she disappeared, and that on his
return he had made every effort to find her.
The third accused’s defence was that he had left Kabati about six weeks
before the girl’s disappearance and was absent in another chiefdom at
the time of her disappearance; that on the 10th June, 1911, he arrived
at Yandehun, where he had a “wife,” and then for the first time heard of
what had happened in Kabati, whither he immediately returned.
The prisoners were defended by counsel, and forty-five witnesses were
examined in the case.
The chief witness for the Crown was the accomplice who had turned
informer. His evidence on one or two points one could not help regarding
with suspicion, though on the other hand he gave his evidence freely; he
was quite open, there was little hesitancy, he did not shelter himself
under generalities, but was always prepared to go into details. In view
of the fact that he had given evidence upon so many different occasions,
and that he had to keep in mind so many different meetings, one was
struck with the small number of inconsistencies, and every now and then
it was noticeable how two unconnected details fitted in with the rest of
the evidence; then the further he was cross-examined the more truthful
did his narrative appear, matters which seemed doubtful at first were
cleared up, and at the end his evidence seemed stronger than at the
beginning, and formed a marked contrast to the evidence of many of the
other witnesses. Finally an inspection of the _locus in quo_ tended to
confirm his testimony. But this witness being an accomplice,
corroboration of his evidence as to each of the accused was necessary
before the question could be considered as to whether or not the accused
were guilty of murder. There was ample corroboration as to the
circumstances of the murder, and that it was committed by members of the
Human Leopard Society, but in addition to this it was necessary that
there should be corroboration of the evidence of the accomplices as to
the identity of each of the persons charged.
On the question whether it was proved that the first accused, the Mahawa
or paramount chief, took part in the murder of the girl Mini the Court
was divided and the majority were in favour of a verdict of NOT GUILTY.
This man was, however, deposed from the chieftainship, and has, on the
recommendation of the majority of the Court, in accordance with the
provisions of the Special Commission Court Ordinance, been expelled from
the Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone.
There was ample corroboration as well as strong circumstantial evidence
against the second accused, the uncle of deceased, and he was found
guilty of murder and publicly executed at Imperri on the 2nd June, 1913.
There was some doubt as to the identity of the third accused. Another
person of the same name appears to have figured prominently in the
conferences of the Society. He was therefore found not guilty and
discharged.
-----
Footnote 14:
Not artificial marks, but scars, the result of ulcers induced by larva
of the tumbo fly or of bruises obtained when working in the bush.
CHAPTER VI
THE YANDEHUN CASE
This case was one which created exceptional interest locally by reason
of the fact that the accused was a minister of religion and a man well
known in the Colony and Protectorate. He was connected with the United
Brethren in Christ Mission and had been a minister of religion since
1878.
The accused, who was defended by four members of the Freetown Bar, was
first charged with the capital crime of murder, but after some evidence
had been given the Crown Prosecutor realized that he had not sufficient
evidence to secure a conviction on that charge, and intimated that he
proposed to call no further evidence, whereupon a formal verdict of Not
Guilty was recorded.
The accused was then proceeded against on the following charges—(i) of
being a member of the Human Leopard Society on or before the 5th
November, 1912, the date of the Human Leopard Amendment Ordinance, 1912,
and (ii) with having taken part in the operations of an unlawful society
on the 17th October, 1909.
The accused had apparently been well educated, and whilst he was in the
witness-box it was difficult to conceive how a man of his stamp could
possibly be connected with a cannibal society; on the other hand, it was
undisputed that he had permitted himself to be elected Mahawa (paramount
chief) of one of the chiefdoms in the Protectorate, and had acted in
that capacity from 1899 to 1905, which connotes much; and he stated that
he only ceased to be Mahawa after his trial upon a charge of cannibal
murder which took place before a judge and jury in Bonthe in 1905.
The case for the prosecution depended chiefly upon the evidence of two
informers. Upon the depositions their testimony was corroborated by the
evidence of two witnesses, one of whom was a petty trader and the other
a teacher in another branch of the United Brethren in Christ Mission,
but, as these witnesses when before the Special Commission Court swore
that their previous statements were false, the case for the prosecution
was left to depend almost solely upon the evidence of the two informers.
These two informers stated that towards the last quarter of 1909
(cutting-rice time) a meeting of the Human Leopard Society was called
near Yandehun for the purpose of arranging for a certain newly appointed
Mahawuru (sub-chief) to provide a victim to celebrate his appointment.
At that meeting a number of important persons were present, and it was
settled that the Mahawuru should give a girl to whom he stood _in loco
parentis_, and that the murder should take place on the evening of the
fourth day from that.
[Illustration: A SELF-CONFESSED CANNIBAL.]
On the evening arranged the two informers and many others arrived at the
appointed place, the Mahawuru enticed the girl to the spot, and he and
his Lavari set upon her and killed her. Her body was divided up and one
of the informers was despatched with a portion of the girl’s flesh to
the accused and another member who had not attended the meeting. He
handed over this flesh to this other member and asked him to give the
accused his portion.
The next morning the informer went to the town of Victoria and saw the
accused at the French Company’s Factory, and informed him that he had
been sent to ask him whether he had received a share of the “meat” that
was sent for him, to which the accused replied that he had received it.
The informer stated that the accused then said, “All right, I am now
going. I only came for that purpose,” and that the accused then took the
road leading in the direction of Mobundo (New London), which is situated
farther down the river and is one of the starting-places when going by
water to Bonthe.
If that story was true, there could be no doubt that the “meat” was a
portion of the body of the murdered girl, and an admission by the
accused to a member of the Human Leopard Society that he had received
such “meat” would have been conclusive proof that he was a member of
that Society.
Both the informers also stated that they saw one of the witnesses, a
petty trader, at the French Company’s Factory on that particular
occasion, and also the school-teacher referred to. That was practically
all, apart from proof of the girl’s disappearance at the time in
question, that the prosecution could prove at the trial.
Upon the depositions, however, the case was much stronger. At the
preliminary investigation in the District Commissioner’s Court the
previous September the petty trader referred to stated that about two
and a half years before September, 1912, early one morning he saw one of
the informers and the accused coming out of the French Company’s Store.
He further said that he got the school-teacher referred to to write a
letter to a person at Moyamba, but he did not actually connect this
letter with the day on which he saw the informer and the accused
together. He admitted that the school-teacher had written a letter for
him, that he took this letter to a person at Moyamba, and that just
before he started for Moyamba with that letter he went to the French
Company’s Store to get some provisions; but he denied, when before the
Special Commission Court, having seen either the informer or the accused
there.
The school-teacher in his depositions at the preliminary investigation
in September, 1912, gave important corroborative evidence. He there said
that the accused came to Victoria on the 17th October, 1909, and stayed
the night with him; that the accused went out about 9 p.m. and returned
about 10 p.m. with two persons (who had since been executed for leopard
murder), and that these two stayed with him for about a quarter of an
hour; that next morning the accused went to the French Company’s Factory
and came back to the house; that he asked the accused to stay and preach
for him, but the accused said “No,” that he was in haste, as the
Government, since his previous trial, never allowed him to come to
Victoria, and the witness fixed the date by saying that the petty trader
came to him the same morning to have the above-mentioned letter written.
This letter was produced and identified, and was dated 18th October,
1909. At this preliminary investigation this witness, when
cross-examined by counsel for the accused, said further, “I am certain
that the accused slept at Victoria on the night of October 17th, 1909.”
He also said in cross-examination that he was certain that accused came
there only for the purpose of collecting subscriptions for the Mission
to which he belonged, and that on this occasion he got a subscription
from at least one other person besides himself. But before the Special
Commission Court all this was changed. The keystone of the accused’s
defence was that his collections at Victoria were made on or about the
17th December, 1909, and that he only paid this one visit to Victoria
during the year 1909, and these two witnesses, when before the Special
Commission Court, made their evidence fit in with this defence.
The school-teacher witness was married to a niece of the accused, and
both he and the petty trader witness admitted having gone back on their
statements about seeing the accused in Victoria in October, 1909, after
an interview with the son of the accused—who was also connected with the
United Brethren in Christ Mission.[15]
The introduction of outside influences to vary the evidence of important
witnesses for the prosecution gave rise to grave suspicion, but the net
result so far as the actual charges were concerned was that the
prosecution was left without corroboration of the evidence of the
accomplices.
Had the only issue before the Court been the charges recorded, it is
possible that counsel for the defence would not have called any
witnesses, but would have claimed a verdict upon the evidence; but the
Court drew attention to Section 11 of the Special Commission Court
Ordinance, 1912, which declared that notwithstanding an acquittal, if
the Court is of opinion that it is expedient for the security, peace, or
order of the district that the acquitted person should be expelled
therefrom, the Court shall report to the Governor, who may expel such
person from the Colony and Protectorate accordingly.
Counsel for the defence therefore decided not to let the matter rest
there, but to call evidence so as to exonerate the accused completely if
it were possible to do so.
The accused himself first went into the witness-box and proved by
letters to persons connected with his Mission in Freetown that in
September, 1909, he had arranged to make a tour of his district early in
October. He gave evidence to the effect that he started on the 20th
October, proceeded up certain rivers some distance from Victoria, and
that he remained in those parts preaching and giving magic-lantern
entertainments, with the object of obtaining subscriptions for his
mission, until early in December, when he came to New London (Mobundo),
which he reached on the morning of the 7th December, 1909.
[Illustration: A WATER-SIDE VILLAGE.]
He related how he had gone to the school-teacher’s house at Victoria and
then to the French Company’s Factory and then to one King, and how he
had got subscriptions, only spending an hour or two at Victoria. He
stated that he then walked to the outlying villages and obtained
subscriptions from persons named Nicoll and Cole, that he then returned
to New London, where he picked up his boat and started home for Bonthe,
which he reached early on the morning of the 8th December. In
corroboration of his story he produced the subscription book which he
kept during the tour, and in which there can be little doubt that the
names of King, Powell, Nicoll, and Cole written by themselves appear in
their due places after the subscriptions given during the earlier period
of the tour.
These subscriptions seemed to be perfectly genuine, the entries of the
names seemed perfectly genuine, the whole book bore every appearance of
being quite genuine. King and Nicoll, two respectable traders, proved
their signatures in the book and said that they put them there in
December 1909. In some details the evidence of King was inconsistent
with that of the accused and his boatman, but this pointed to little
more than that there had been no collusion.
Several servants of the accused were also called as witnesses for the
defence, and a number of discrepancies were found to exist in the
various accounts given of the circumstances connected with the trip to
Victoria—a matter not without importance, as one at least of these
servants would probably have accompanied the accused if he visited
Victoria in October as well as December.
One thing was quite clear: viz., that the accused was at Victoria in or
about December, 1909, and that he then collected subscriptions. The
question therefore naturally arose as to whether his presence in
December was inconsistent with his presence there on the 17th and 18th
October. There could be no doubt that it was not. It is true that he had
produced evidence that he was only at Victoria once during the year
1909, but this evidence was not of high value. There was nothing to
prevent the accused having been at Victoria on the 17th and 18th
October. His letters to Freetown showed that he had intended to begin
his tour early in October, but his start was delayed until the 20th. The
first Human Leopard meeting at Yandehun was, according to the
prosecution, on the 13th October; prominent members of the Society would
have had notice of this meeting prior to the 13th October. Assuming that
the accused had such notice, he would have received it just about the
time he had originally meant to start, and this would account for his
start being delayed until the 20th of October. And the view that he made
a surreptitious visit to Victoria for unlawful purposes was strongly
supported by the fact that the witnesses for the Crown who testified to
his visit had been tampered with. Then the chain of facts worked out by
the prosecution connecting the witnesses and the letter of 18th October
with the accused’s visit, though not sufficient to be of itself
corroboration, was significant confirmation of the story of the
informers.
The Court in giving judgment stated that, as the accused was a man of
education and a minister of religion connected with a Missionary
Society, they had been slow to form an opinion adverse to him, but that
after careful and anxious consideration they were unwillingly forced to
the opinion that he was so connected with the Human Leopard Society that
it was expedient for the security, peace and order of the District that
he should be expelled from the Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone;
and this was accordingly done.
This man, who was born in America, successfully raised his American
citizenship on the previous occasion when he was indicted for cannibal
murder. The trial of a person residing in the Protectorate for an
indictable offence ordinarily takes place before the Circuit Court Judge
and assessors, who take the place of a jury, the assessors being usually
native chiefs who sit with the judge and advise him on questions
concerning native law and custom. At the close of the case the judge
sums up to them as he would to a jury, and they individually give their
opinion as to the guilt or otherwise of the person being tried. The
judge, although he is not bound by their opinions, naturally attaches a
good deal of weight to them, but the final verdict is left entirely with
him. Non-natives, however, have the right, when charged with a capital
offence, to be tried by a judge and jury in the Colony instead of the
Circuit Court Judge and assessors, and the plea to the jurisdiction was
successfully raised by counsel when the accused was before the Circuit
Court, on the ground that he was an American subject and therefore a
non-native so far as the provision regulating the trial of natives of
the Protectorate was concerned. The case was then transferred to Bonthe,
where he was found Not Guilty by a jury of educated natives. After his
acquittal he rejoined the United Brethren in Christ Mission and went on
a lecturing tour through America on behalf of the Mission. One of the
European members of the Mission who was present during the trial of the
case before the Special Commission Court stated that he had heard him
lecture in the United States, and that by his eloquence and interesting
description of Sierra Leone he drew large audiences and was successful
in collecting a considerable sum of money for Mission purposes. He is
also known in England, where he had many friends; on several occasions
he has been the guest of persons in high position, to whom his trial
upon a charge of cannibal murder must have come as a most unpleasant
shock.
-----
Footnote 15:
These two witnesses were subsequently prosecuted for perjury before
the Circuit Court and found guilty.
[Illustration: HINTERLAND TYPES.]
CHAPTER VII
BORFIMA AND MEMBERSHIP CASES
The first of these cases was one against an important person who held
high office in the Imperri Chiefdom. The charge against him was that in
or about the month of July, 1912, he had in his possession without
lawful authority or excuse certain articles, to wit a native medicine
commonly known as “Borfima,” and a “kukoi” or whistle, contrary to
Section 2 of Ordinance No. 28 of 1909 (The Human Leopard Society
Ordinance) as amended by Section 7 of Ordinance No. 17 of 1912. There
were two other counts charging him with (i) the custody and (ii) the
control of the “Borfima” and “Kukoi” mentioned above. The accused was a
man of striking personality, and appears to have exercised a great
influence in the Imperri Chiefdom.
The facts of the case were simple. In July, 1912, it was stated by
members of the Society who had turned King’s evidence that he had been
present at several meetings of the Human Leopard Society and had taken a
prominent part in the preliminary arrangements for securing various
victims, and that he had at these meetings produced the “mother” Borfima
of the Imperri Chiefdom. In these circumstances he was arrested and his
houses at Gbangbama and Victoria were watched by Court Messengers.
Early one morning the senior Court Messenger saw one of the accused’s
wives leave the house at Gbangbama with a bundle. He followed her, and
when she saw that there was no escape she threw the bundle down and ran
away. This bundle held, amongst other things, an iron pot containing
“medicine.”
The accused admitted that the “medicine” was his, and made a statement
as to how it had come into his possession. This will be best described
in his own words: “I am a sick man. My sickness arose over a dream. A
snake swallowed me up to my waist. I screamed and then awakened. In the
morning I was unable to move. My legs and body up to the place where the
snake had swallowed me became ‘dead.’ I remained like that for four
years. I heard that there was a Mori Man at a town called Behol, and
sent a messenger for him. I employed this man to make a medicine for me
and I paid him £3 for it. That is the sebbeh (charm) which was in the
pot which the Court Messenger took from my wife. The Mori Man told me
that I would not dream again, and that the lassimo (medicine) would ward
off ill-health and bad dreams so long as I always kept it with me. Ah!
if he were not dead I would not be here” (meaning that had the Mori Man
been living it would not have been in the power of the white man to
interfere with him).
The accused caused some amusement in Court by describing how the senior
Court Messenger brought the sebbeh to Gombo-kabbo (“Fire in the grass,”
the native name for the Assistant District Commissioner), and how he
heard him shout out in a triumphant voice, which he imitated, “I have
brought Daddy Borfima—come and see!”
He likewise imitated the voices of the two ex-members of the Human
Leopard Society who were witnesses against him. One of these men had a
deep voice and the other’s voice was just the reverse, but this did not
appear to present any difficulty to this extraordinarily good mimic.
Evidence was given that he bore the mark of the Human Leopard Society.
His retort was that even in England people have marks. He went on to say
that the people were beginning to say that the white man “is bad,” but
that it was not altogether the white man’s fault, as he was being misled
by the persons who said they had been members of the Human Leopard
Society and now, to save themselves, gave evidence for the prosecution.
He gave one to understand that words failed him to express his contempt
for these persons, and that if they had to deal with them under native
law they would know what to do.
He described how the District Commissioner had forced him to throw the
Borfima into a fire made for that purpose; and how he had protested
against this, stating that he had lost good money over its destruction.
He went on to pay a subtle compliment to the Court by saying, “We were
thinking in this country that there were no judges in England until you
‘daddies’ arrived.”
Although the accused very ably defended himself, there was no doubt from
the evidence of the witnesses that the medicine in question was Borfima.
It was also proved very clearly that he was one of the leaders in the
Human Leopard Society. Found Guilty, and asked if he had anything to say
why sentence should not be passed on him, he replied: “I am the cow with
the short tail, God will drive the flies away. The Judges, you,
represent God. You didn’t believe when I spoke of those men who said
they belonged to the Leopard Society. I see the result now.”
A sentence of fourteen years’ imprisonment with hard labour was passed
on this man, who, even after the passing of the sentence, had a last
word of protest and pathetic appeal. As he was leaving the Court, he
burst out, “I am an old man, fourteen years is a longer time than I will
live: Judges, if you must have my life take it at once; the soldiers are
there with their guns to shoot”—the military guard round the Court-house
when the Court was sitting.
It may be mentioned in connection with this case that the prisoner,
without any family influence, had gained an ascendancy over the people
of the Chiefdom unequalled by even the Chief himself. Some years ago he
was tried for Leopard murder, but was acquitted, and from that date he
appears to have been marked out as a person of distinction. It was
asserted that his “medicine” was sufficiently strong to guard him
against all bad trouble that might be put upon him, and he was selected
as the custodian of the chief “medicine” of the Human Leopard Society
known as the “Mother Borfima.” When fresh Borfima was made it was
necessary that a small portion should be taken from the parent Borfima,
and this formed the foundation for the new Borfima.
[Illustration: WEST AFRICAN SOLDIERS.]