Human Leopards

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.