(1.) The cause.
(2.) The manner in which it was conducted.
(1.) The natives never had obeyed any other man than their own Chiefs.
When Leopold II became their King they were not aware of the fact, nor
had they any hand in the making of the new arrangement. Demands were
made on them, and they did not understand why they should obey the
stranger. Some of the demands were not excessive, but others were simply
impossible. From the G H* people and the O* group of towns large demands
of rubber were made. There was not much within their reach, and it was a
dangerous thing to be a stranger in a strange part of the forests. The
O* people offered to pay a monthly tribute of goats, fowls, &c., but M.
N O would have rubber, so they left. The G H* had to bear the scourge of
war frequently and many were killed. Now they supply what they probably
would have supplied without the loss of one person, kwanga and fresh
meats, and roofing materials and mats. Rubber was demanded from some
others and war resulted. These are now providing the State with fish and
fowls.
Another fertile source of war lay in the actions of the native soldiers.
Generally speaking their statements against other natives were received
as truth that needed no support. Take the following as an example: One
morning it was reported that State soldiers had shot several people near
the channel leading from H K* to the Congo. Several canoes full of
manioc had been also seized, and the friends of the dead and owners of
two of the canoes asked that they might have the canoes and food, and
that they might take the bodies and bury them. But this was refused. It
was alleged the people were shot in the act of deserting from the State
into French territory. The Chief who was shot was actually returning
from having gone with a message from M. O P to a village, and was killed
east of the camp and of his home, while “France” lay to the west. The
soldiers said that the people had been challenged to stop and that they
refused, and that they had been shot as they paddled away. But really
they had landed when called by the soldiers; they had been tied hand and
foot, and then shot. One woman had struggled when shot, and had broken
the vines with which her feet were tied, and she, though wounded, tried
to escape. A second bullet made her fall, but yet she rose and ran a few
steps, when a third bullet laid her low. Their hands had all been taken
off--_i.e._, the right hand of each--for evidence of the faithfulness of
the soldiers. M. O P shot two of the soldiers, but the leader of the
party was not shot, though the whole matter was carried through by him,
and he it was that gave M. O P the false report.
A Chief complained that certain soldiers had taken his wives and had
stolen all of his belongings that they cared to have. He made no
complaint against the “tax” that the soldiers had gone there to secure,
but told of the cruelty and oppression of the soldiers carried on for
their own gain. The white officer kicked him off the verandah and said
that he told many lies. The Chief turned round with fury written on his
face, stood silently looking at the white man, and then stalked off; two
days later there was a report that all the soldiers with their wives and
followers had been killed in that Chief’s town. A little later the white
officer who refused to set matters right, along with another Belgian
officer, were killed with a number of their soldiers in an expedition
for the purpose of punishing the Chief and his people for killing the
first lot of soldiers.
After the rubber demand was withdrawn, in some places labour was
demanded. A very large proportion of the women from this village had to
go to P* every week and work there two days. They returned here on the
third day. Nearly every week there were complaints made that someone’s
wife had been kept by a soldier, and when it was suggested that the
husband should himself go and report the matter to the white man, they
would reply: “We dare not.” Their fear was not so much of the white man
but of the black soldiers.
(2.) The manner in which this war was conducted was very objectionable
to any one with European ideas. The natives attacked P* and O*, but that
was only after numerous expeditions had been made against them, and the
whole population roused against the “white man.” In 99 per cent. of the
“wars” in this district the cause was simply failure on the part of the
people to supply produce, labour, or men, as demanded by the State.
There was the long struggle with L L L in his long resistance to State
authority; but he at first was known as a quiet man who tried to please
the State, and he only started on his career as a fighting man after he
had been out to help M. N O. After the departure of M. N O to
Coquilhatville, he went back and made demands and fought the people as
he had done with M. N O as his Chief.
When this matter was reported to M. N O, he was angry, and called the
Chief a “brigand,” and said that he would be punished. For numerous
offences he was put “on the chain,” and some time after his release the
fight occurred (in which fight the two white men were killed) and he
joined with others in an ineffectual attempt to drive out the white man.
In most of the fights then the natives were merely trying to defend
themselves and their homes from attacks made on them by black soldiers
sent to “punish them for some failure to do their duty to the State;”
and if the cause for war was weak, the way in which it was carried on
was often revolting. It was stated that these soldiers were often sent
out to make war on a village without a white officer accompanying them,
so that there was nothing to keep them from awful excesses.
It is averred that canoes have been seen returning from distant
expeditions with no white man in charge, and with human hands dangling
from a stick in the bow of the canoe--or in small baskets--being carried
to the white man as proofs of their courage and devotion to duty. If one
in fifty of native reports are true, there has been great lack on the
part of some white men. They, too, are accused of forgetting the
subjects and conditions of war.
Statements made to me by certain natives are appended.
Many similar statements were made to me during the time I spent at Lake
Mantumba, some of those made by native men being unfit for repetition.
_Q Q’s Statement._
I was born at K K*. After my father died my mother and I went to L L*.
When we returned to K K* soon after that P Q came to fight with us
because of rubber. K K* did not want to take rubber to the white man. We
and our mothers ran away very far into the bush. The Bula Matadi
soldiers were very strong and they fought hard, one soldier was killed,
and they killed one K K* man. Then the white man said let us go home,
and they went home, and then we, too, came out of the bush. This was the
first fight. After that another fighting took place. I, my mother,
grandmother, and my sister, we ran away into the bush. The soldiers came
and fought us, and left the town and followed us into the bush. When the
soldiers came into the bush near us they were calling my mother by name,
and I was going to answer, but my mother put her hand to my mouth to
stop me. Then they went to another side, and then we left that place and
went to another. When they called my mother, if she had not stopped me
from answering, we would all have been killed then. A great number of
our people were killed by the soldiers. The friends who were left buried
the dead bodies, and there was very much weeping. After that there was
not any fighting for some time. Then the soldiers came again to fight
with us, and we ran into the bush, but they really came to fight with M
M*. They killed a lot of M M* people, and then one soldier came out to K
K*, and the K K* people killed him with a spear. And when the other
soldiers heard that their friend was killed they came in a large number
and followed us into the bush. Then the soldiers fired a gun, and some
people were killed. After that they saw a little bit of my mother’s
head, and the soldiers ran quickly towards the place where we were and
caught my grandmother, my mother, my sister, and another little one,
younger than us. Several of the soldiers argued about my mother, because
each wanted her for a wife, so they finally decided to kill her. They
killed her with a gun--they shot her through the stomach--and she fell,
and when I saw that I cried very much, because they killed my mother and
grandmother, and I was left alone. My mother was near to the time of her
confinement at that time. And they killed my grandmother too, and I saw
it all done. They took hold of my sister and asked where her older
sister was, and she said: “She has just run away.” They said, “Call
her.” She called me, but I was too frightened and would not answer, and
I ran and went away and came out at another place, and I could not speak
much because my throat was very sore. I saw a little bit kwanga lying on
the ground and I picked it up to eat. At that place there used to be a
lot of people, but when I got there there were none. My sister was taken
to P*, and I was at this place alone. One day I saw a man coming from
the back country. He was going to kill me, but afterwards he took me to
a place where there were people, and there I saw my step-father.... He
asked to buy me from this man, but the man would not let him. He said,
“She is my slave now; I found her.” One day the men went out fishing,
and when I looked I saw the soldiers coming, so I ran away, but a string
caught my foot and I fell, and a soldier named N N N caught me. He
handed me over to another soldier, and as we went we saw some Q* people
fishing, and the soldiers took a lot of fish from them and a Q* woman,
and we went to P*, and they took me to the white man.
* * * * *
(Signed) Q Q.
Signed by Q Q before me,
(Signed) ROGER CASEMENT,
_His Britannic Majesty’s Consul_.
_R R’s Statement._
I, R R, came from N N*. N N* and R* fought, and they killed several R*
people, and one R* man O O O took a man and sent him to L L L to go and
tell the white man to come and fight with Nkoho. The white man who
fought with N N* first was named Q R.* He fought with us in the morning;
then I ran away with my mother. Then the men came to call us back to our
town. When we were returning to our town, as we were nearing, we asked
how many people were killed, and they told us three were killed. Q R had
burned down all the houses, so we were scattered to other places again;
only some of the men were left to build again. After a while we returned
to our town and began to plant our gardens. I have finished the first
part of the story.
We stayed a long time at our town, then the white man who fought with N
N* first went and told R S that the N N* people were very strong, so R S
made up his mind to come and fight us. When he came to O* we heard the
news; it was high-water season. We got into our canoes to run away, but
the men stayed behind to wait for the soldiers. When the white man came
he did not try to fight them during the day, but went to the back and
waited for night to come. When the soldiers came at night the people ran
away, so they did not kill anybody, only a sick man whom they found in a
house, whom they (the soldiers) killed and disfigured his body very
much. They hunted out all the native money they could get, and in the
morning they went away. After they went away we came back to the town,
but we found it was all destroyed. We remained in our town a long time;
the white man did not come back to fight with us. After a while we heard
that R S was coming to fight us. R S sent some Q* men to tell the N N*
people to send people to go and work for him, and also to send goats.
The N N* people would not do it, so he went to fight our town. When we
were told by the men that the soldiers were coming, we began to run
away. My mother told me to wait for her until she got some things ready
to take with us, but I told her we must go now, as the soldiers were
coming. I ran away and left my mother, and went with two old people who
were running away, but we were caught, and the old people were killed,
and the soldiers made me carry the baskets with the things these dead
people had and the hands they cut off. I went on with the soldiers. Then
we came to another town, and they asked me the way and the name of the
place, and I said “I do not know;” but they said, “If you do not tell us
we will kill you,” so I told them the name of the town. Then we went
into the bush to look for people, and we heard children crying, and a
soldier went quickly over to the place and killed a mother and four
children, and then we left off looking for the people in the bush, and
they asked me again to show them the way out, and if I did not they
would kill me, so I showed them the way. They took me to R S, and he
told me to go and stay with the soldier who caught me. They tied up six
people, but I cannot tell how many people were killed, because there
were too many for me to count. They got my little sister and killed her,
and threw her into a house and set fire to the house. When finished with
that we went to OO*, and stayed there four days, and then we went to P
P*, and because the people there ran away, they killed the P P* Chief.
We stayed there several days; then we came to P*, and from there we came
on to Q Q*, and there they put the prisoners in chains, but they did not
put me in chains, and then he (R S) went to fight with L L*, and killed
a lot of people and six people tied up. When he came back from L L* we
started and came on to Q*.
* * * * *
My father was killed in the same fight as I was captured. My mother was
killed by a sentry stationed at N N* after I left.
(Signed) R R.
Signed by R R, before me,
(Signed) ROGER CASEMENT,
_His Britannic Majesty’s Consul_.
_S S’s Statement._
S S came from the far back R R*. One day the soldiers went to her town
to fight; she did not know that the soldiers had come to fight them
until she saw the people from the other side of the town running towards
their end, then they, too, began to run away. Her father, mother, three
brothers, and sister were with her. About four men were killed at this
scare. It was at this fight that one of the station girls P P P was
taken prisoner. After several days, during which time they were staying
at other villages, they went back to their own town. They were only a
few days in their own town when they heard that the soldiers who had
been at the other towns were coming their way too, so the men gathered
up all their bows and arrows and went out to the next town to wait for
the soldiers to fight them. Some of the men stayed behind with all the
women and children. After that S S and her mother went out to their
garden to work; while there S S told her mother that she had dreamed
that Bula Matadi was coming to fight with them, but her mother told her
she was trying to tell stories. After that S S went back to the house,
and left her mother in the garden. After she had been a little while in
the house with her little brother and sister she heard the firing of
guns. When she heard that she took up her little sister and a big basket
with a lot of native money[22] in it, but she could not manage both, so
she left the basket behind and ran away with the youngest child; the
little boy ran away by himself. The oldest boys had gone away to wait
for the soldiers at the other town. As she went past she heard her
mother calling to her, but she told her to run away in another
direction, and she would go on with the little sister. She found her
little sister rather heavy for her, so she could not run very fast, and
a great number of people went past her, and she was left alone with the
little one. Then she left the main road and went to hide in the bush.
When night came on she tried to find the road again and follow the
people who had passed her, but she could not find them, so she had to
sleep in the bush alone. She wandered about in the bush for six days,
then she came upon a town named S S*[22]. At this town she found that
the soldiers were fighting there too. Before entering the town she dug
up some sweet manioc to eat, because she was very, very hungry. She went
about looking for a fire to roast her sweet manioc, but she could not
find any. Then she heard a noise as of people talking, so she hid her
little sister in a deserted house, and went to see those people she had
heard talking, thinking they might be those from her own town, but when
she got to the house where the noise was coming from she saw one of the
soldier’s boys sitting at the door of the house, and then also she could
not quite understand their language, so she knew that they were not her
people, so she took fright and ran away in another direction from where
she had put her sister. After she had reached the outside of the town
she stood still, and remembered that she would be scolded by her father
and mother for leaving her sister, so she went back at night. She came
upon a house where the white man was sleeping; she saw the sentry on a
deck chair outside in front of the house, apparently asleep, because he
did not see her slip past him. Then she came to the house where her
sister was, and took her, and she started to run away again. They slept
in a deserted house at the very end of the town. Early in the morning
the white man sent out the soldiers to go and look for people all over
the town and in the houses. S S was standing outside in front of the
house, trying to make her sister walk some, as she was very tired, but
the little sister could not run away through weakness. While they were
both standing outside the soldiers came upon them and took them both.
One of the soldiers said: “We might keep them both, the little one is
not bad-looking;” but the others said “No, we are not going to carry her
all the way; we must kill the youngest girl.” So they put a knife
through the child’s stomach, and left the body lying there where they
had killed it. They took S S to the next town, where the white man had
told them to go and fight. They did not go back to the house where the
white man was, but went straight on to the next town. The white man’s
name was C D.[23] The soldiers gave S S something to eat on the way.
When they came to this next town they found that all the people had run
away.
In the morning the soldiers wanted S S to go and look for manioc for
them, but she was afraid to go out as they looked to her as if they
wanted to kill her. The soldiers thrashed her very much, and began to
drag her outside, but the corporal (N N N) came and took her by the hand
and said, “We must not kill her; we must take her to the white man.”
Then they went back to the town where C D was, and they showed him S S.
C D handed her over to the care of a soldier. At this town she found
that they had caught three people, and among them was a very old woman,
and the cannibal soldiers asked C D to give them the old woman to eat,
and C D told them to take her. Those soldiers took the woman and cut her
throat, and then divided her and ate her. S S saw all this done. In the
morning the soldier who was looking after her was sent on some duty by C
D, and before the soldier went out he had told S S to get some manioc
leaves not far from the house and to cook them. After he left she went
to do as he had told her, and those cannibal soldiers went to C D and
said that S S was trying to run away, so they wanted to kill her; but he
told them to tie her, so the soldiers tied her to a tree, and she had to
stand in the sun nearly all day. When the soldier who had charge of her
came back he found her tied up. C D called to him to ask about S S, so
he explained to C D what he had told S S to do, so he was allowed to
untie her. They stayed several days at this place, then B D asked S S if
she knew all the towns round about, and she said yes, then he told her
to show them the way, so that they could go and catch people. They came
to a town and found only one woman, who was dying of sickness, and the
soldiers killed her with a knife. At several towns they found no people,
but at last they came to a town where several people had run to as they
did not know where else to go, because the soldiers were fighting
everywhere. At this town they killed a lot of people--men, women, and
children--and took some as prisoners. They cut the hands off those they
had killed, and brought them to C D; they spread out the hands in a row
for C D to see. After that they left to return to Bikoro. They took a
lot of prisoners with them. The hands which they had cut off they just
left lying, because the white man had seen them, so they did not need to
take them to P*. Some of the soldiers were sent to P* with the
prisoners, but C D himself and the other soldiers went to T T* where
there was another white man. The prisoners were sent to S T. S S was
about two weeks at P*, and then she ran away into the bush at P* for
three days, and when she was found she was brought back to S T, and he
asked her why she had run away. She said because the soldiers had
thrashed her.
* * * * *
S S’s mother was killed by soldiers, and her father died of starvation,
or rather, he refused to eat because he was bereaved of his wife and all
his children.
(Signed) S S.
Signed by S S before me,
(Signed)
ROGER CASEMENT,
_His Britannic Majesty’s Consul_.
_T T’s Statement._
States she belonged to the village of R*, where she lived with her
grandmother. R* was attacked by the State soldiers long ago. It was in S
T’s time. She does not know if he was with the soldiers, but she heard
the bugle blow when they were going away. It was in the afternoon when
they came, they began catching and tying the people, and killed lots of
them. A lot of people--she thinks perhaps fifty--ran away, and she was
in the crowd with them, but the soldiers came after them and killed them
all but herself. She was small, and she slid into the bush. The people
killed were many, and women--there were not many children. The children
had scattered when the soldiers came, but she stayed with the big
people, thinking she might be safe.
When they were all killed she waited in the grass for two nights. She
was very frightened, and her throat was sore with thirst, and she looked
about and at last she found some water in a pot. She stayed on in the
grass a third night, and buffaloes came near her and she was very
frightened--and they went away. When the morning came she thought she
would be better to move, and went away and got up a tree. She was three
days without food, and was very hungry. In the tree she was near her
grandmother’s house, and she looked around and, seeing no soldiers, she
crept to her grandmother’s house and got some food and got up the tree
again. The soldiers had gone away hunting for buffaloes, and it was then
she was able to get down from the tree. The soldiers came back, and they
came towards the trees and bushes calling out: “Now we see you; come
down, come down!” This they used to do, so that people, thinking they
were really discovered, should give themselves up; but she thought she
would stay on, and so she stayed up the tree. Soon afterwards the
soldiers went, but she was still afraid to come down. Presently she
heard her grandmother calling out to know if she was alive, and when she
heard her grandmother’s voice she knew the soldiers were gone, and she
answered, but her voice was very small--and she came down and her
grandmother took her home.
That was the first time. Soon afterwards she and her grandmother went
away to another town called U U*, near V V*, and they were there some
days together, when one night the soldiers came. The white man sent the
soldiers there because the U U* people had not taken to the State what
they were told to take. Neither her own people nor the U U* people knew
there was any trouble with the Government, so they were surprised. She
was asleep. Her grandmother--her mother’s mother--tried to awaken her,
but she did not know. She felt the shaking, but she did not mind because
she was sleepy.
The soldiers came quickly into the house--her grandmother rushed out
just before. When she heard the noise of the soldiers around the house,
and looked and saw her grandmother not there, she ran out and called for
her grandmother; and as she ran her brass anklets made a noise, and some
one ran after and caught her by the leg, and she fell and the soldiers
took her.
There were not many soldiers, only some boys with one soldier
(_Note._--She means a corporal and some untrained men.--R. C.), and they
had caught only one woman and herself. In the morning they began robbing
the houses, and took everything they could find and take.
They were taken to a canoe, and went to V V*. The soldier who caught her
was the sentry at V V*. At V V* she was kept about a week with the
sentry, and when the V V* people took their weekly rations over to P*
she was sent over. The other woman who was taken to V V* was ransomed by
her friends. They came after them to V V*, and the sentry let her go for
750 rods. She saw the money paid. Her friends came to ransom her too,
but the sentry refused, saying the white man wanted her because she was
young--the other was an old woman and could not work.
* * * * *
(Signed) T T.
Signed by T T before me.
(Signed)
ROGER CASEMENT,
_His Britannic Majesty’s Consul_.
_U U’s Statement._
When we began to run away from the fight, we ran away many times. They
did not catch me because I was with mother and father. Afterwards mother
died; four days passed, father died also. I and an older sister were
left with two younger children, and then the fighting came where I had
run to. Then my elder sister called me: “U U, come here.” I went. She
said: “Let us run away, because we have not any one to take care of us.”
When we were running away we saw a lot of W W* people coming towards us.
We told them to run away, war was coming. They said: “Is it true?” We
said: “It is true; they are coming.” The W W* people said: “We will not
run away; we did not see the soldiers.” Only a little while they saw the
soldiers, and they were killed. We stayed in a town named X X*. A male
relative called me: “U U, let us go;” but I did not want to. The
soldiers came there; I ran away by myself; when I ran away I hid in the
bush. While I was running I met with an old man who was running from a
soldier. He (the soldier) fired a gun. I was not hit, but the old man
died. Afterwards they caught me and two men. The soldiers asked: “Have
you a father and mother?” I answered, “No.” They said to me, “If you do
not tell us we will kill you.” I said: “Father and mother are dead.”
After that my oldest sister was caught, too, in the bush, and they left
my little brother and sister alone in the bush to die, because heavy
rain came on, and they had not had anything to eat for days and days. At
night they tied my hands and feet for fear that I should run away. In
the morning they caught three people--two had children; they killed the
children. Afterwards I was standing outside, and a soldier asked me,
“Where are you going?” I said, “I am going home.” He said, “Come on.” He
took his gun; he put me in the house; he wanted to kill me. Then another
soldier came and took me. We heard a big noise; they told us that the
fighting was over, but it was not so. When we were going on the way they
killed ten children because they were very, very small; they killed them
in the water. Then they killed a lot of people, and they cut off their
hands and put them into baskets and took them to the white man. He
counted out the hands--200 in all; they left the hands lying. The white
man’s name was “C D.” After that C D sent us prisoners with soldiers to
P* to S T. S T told me to weed grass. When I was working outside a
soldier came and said: “Come here;” and when I went he wanted to cut my
hand off, and so I went to the white man to tell him, and he thrashed
the soldier.
On our way, when we were coming to P*, the soldiers saw a little child,
and when they went to kill it the child laughed so the soldier took the
butt of the gun and struck the child with it, and then cut off its head.
One day they killed my half-sister and cut off her head, hands, and feet
because she had on rings. Her name was Q Q Q. Then they caught another
sister, and they sold her to the W W* people, and now she is a slave
there. When we came to P* the white man said to send word to the friends
of the prisoners to come with goats to buy off some of their relatives.
A lot were bought off, but I had no one to come and buy me off because
father was dead. The white man said to me, “You shall go to....” The
white man (S T) gave me a small boy to care for, but I thought he would
be killed, so I helped to get him away. S T asked me to bring the boy to
him, but I said: “He has run away.” He said he would kill me, but....
* * * * *
(Signed) U U.
Signed by U U before me.
(Signed)
ROGER CASEMENT,
_His Britannic Majesty’s Consul_.
Inclosure 4 in No. 3.
(See p. 34.)
_Notes in the Case of V V, a Native of L L* in the Mantumba
District, both of whose hands have been hacked or beaten off, and
with reference to other similar cases of Mutilation in that
District._
I found this man in the ... station at Q* on [blank space in text], and
learned that he had been kept by the missionaries for some years, since
the day when a party of native teachers had found him in his own town,
situated in the forest some miles away from Q*. In answer to my inquiry
as to how he came to lose his hands, V V’s statement was as follows:--
“State soldiers came from P*, and attacked the R R* towns, which they
burned, killing people. They then attacked a town called A B* and burned
it, killing people there also. From that they went on to L L*. The L L*
people fled into the forest, leaving some few of their number behind
with food to offer to the soldiers--among whom was V V. The soldiers
came to L L*, under the command of a European officer, whose native name
was T U. The soldiers took prisoner all the men left in the town, and
tied them up. Their hands were tied very tight with native rope, and
they were tied up outside in the open; and as it was raining very hard,
and they were in the rain all the time and all the night, their hands
swelled, because the thongs contracted. His (V V’s) hands had swollen
terribly in the morning, and the thongs had cut into the bone. The
soldiers, when they came to L L*, had only one native a prisoner with
them; he was killed during the night. At L L* itself eight people,
including himself (V V) were taken prisoners; all were men; two were
killed during the night. Six only were taken down in the morning to Y
Y*. The white man ordered four of the prisoners to be released; the
fifth was a Chief, named R R R. This Chief had come back to L L* in the
night to try secretly to get some fire to take back into the forest,
where the fugitives were hiding. His wife had become sick during the
heavy rain in the forest, and the Chief wanted the fire for her; but the
soldiers caught him, and he was taken along with the rest. This Chief
was taken to P*, but he believes that on the way, at Z Z*, he tried to
escape, and was killed. V V’s hands were so swollen that they were quite
useless. The soldiers seeing this, and that the thongs had cut into the
bone, beat his hands against a tree with their rifles, and he was
released. He does not know why they beat his hands. The white man, T U,
was not far off, and could see what they were doing. T U was drinking
palm-wine while the soldiers beat his hands with their rifle-butts
against the tree. His hands subsequently fell off (or sloughed away).
When the soldiers left him by the waterside, he got back to L L*, and
when his own people returned from the forest they found him there.
Afterwards some boys--one of whom was a relation--came to L L*, and they
found him without his hands.”
There was some doubt in the translation of V V’s statement whether his
hands had been cut with a knife; but later inquiry established that
they fell off through the tightness of the native rope and the beating
of them by the soldiers with their rifle-butts.
On the 14th August, I again visited the State camp at Irebu, where, in
the course of conversation with the officer in command, I made passing
but intentional reference to the fact that I had seen V V, and had heard
his story from himself. I added that from the boy’s statement it would
seem that the loss of his hands was directly attributable to an officer
who was apparently close at hand and in command of the soldiers at the
time. I added that I had heard of other cases in the neighbourhood. The
Commandant at once informed me that such things were impossible, but
that in this specific case of V V he should cause inquiry to be
instantly made.
On my return from the Lulongo River I found that this remark in passing
conversation had borne instant fruit, although previous appeals on
behalf of the boy had proved unsuccessful. The Commissaire-Général of
the Equator District had, learning of it, at once proceeded to Lake
Mantumba, and a judicial investigation as to how V V lost his hands had
been immediately instituted. The boy was taken to Bikoro, and I have
since been informed that provision has been made for him and a weekly
allowance.
When at the village of B C*, I had found there a boy of not more than 12
years of age with the right hand gone. This child, in answer to my
inquiries, said that the hand had been cut off by the Government
soldiers some years before. He could not say how long before, but
judging from the height he indicated he could not then have been more
than 7 years of age if now 12. His statement was fully confirmed by S S
S and his relatives, who stood around him while I questioned him. The
soldiers had come to B C* from Coquilhatville by land through the
forest. They were led by an officer whose name was given as “U V.” His
father and mother were killed beside him. He saw them killed, and a
bullet hit him and he fell. He here showed me a deep cicatrized scar at
the back of the head, just at the nape of the neck, and said it was
there the bullet had struck him. He fell down, presumably insensible,
but came to his senses while his hand was being hacked off at the wrist.
I asked him how it was he could possibly lie silent and give no sign. He
answered that he felt the cutting, but was afraid to move, knowing that
he would be killed if he showed any sign of life.