LEOPARD MEN OF AFRICA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5312, 27 January 1947, Page 2

LEOPARD MEN OF AFRICA

GRU'ES'OME CRfMES APRICAN POLICE ATTEMPTS TO KILL SOCIKrY. "Human Leopards," the terror killers of West Africa, have been. running- amiuk in recen£ montjhs. This ancient secret society, whose » murderous rites and feestial orgies have cast a pall of fear upon many primitive comipuiiities, has . been . throwing the more badfeward natiye tribes into panic. In the cnu.de mud-and-thatch villages alohg the torrid, steamy hanfcs of the River Niger death has ibeen striking at night as the Htrnian Leopards — dressed in leopard-skins to imitate that savage beast — leaped, and in less than a year over 2'00 mutilated victims have paid toll. .Recently 18 of the killers met their deserts. They swung in Ahak Gaol, .Nigeiria, six each for three days, as retrihtuion for ' their crimes. Their end was watched by locg.1 chiefs, who carried the news of the executions far and wide over the countryside to the tribes «upon whom the murderers had descended. But these cowering people are hard to convince. Seeing is believing with them. They 'believe that the eLopard Meh are supernatural bdings whom it is impossible to kill in the ordinary way. The dozen and a half murderers were condemned to death by the Nigerian High Court, but many members of the Legislative Gouncil believed that hanging them within a gaol was wrong. They ought to have met their end in publie to prove that their activities are capable of being put a stop to by the aufchorities. Wide Police Search. Some dozens of other slayers are awaiting their fate and, in a campaign to wipe out the gangs, large numhers of extra police have been drafted to the affected areas by the Nigerian Government, and C.I.D. men have also been ftown there. Every man will be needed before the slayers are eradicated because of the wide raminfications of the society and the fact that such is the awe they stri'ke into the tribesmen's hearts that natives refuse to give infqfrmatiori for fear of the ghastly revenge that might be meted out to them. The Leopard Men compose one of the most terrible and most dreatd secret societies in the world, one which for the past quarter of a century had been driven underground, but has been able, because of war eonditions — j shortage of administrative staffs, the absence of police, nrnsettling reports , from the'outside world— to reassert i'tself. The bodies of the Human .Leopards' victim.s are revoltingly/ mutilated, and from evidence which has ben aceumulated durihg the last feyz months, it is evident that the * murders have been carried out .with all the attendant and gruesome rites that markedi their excesses in the past. Neither olH age nor youth ' escapes their cold-blooded savage ery. When !N:egley Earson, the traveller. and writer, was crossing from Sou.thwest Africa to the Gold Coast, via the Belgian Congo, the Governor of Stanleyville passed on his experiences of the activities of the Leopard Men. At the time he was speaking half a dozen were awaiting death by shooting, and he told Farson that in 1938 no fewer than 400 native women had been dorie to death in the Wamba region alone. One Leopard Man brought to hook took the white police to 38 bodies— all with their breasts cut off and their hearts cut out. The Belgian authorities were no't so susceptible of the killers' tender feelings in their last moments nor of upsetting the natives' nerves by staging public executions by hanging or shooting. The executions took place early in the morning, being witnessed by such ofhcials as the District Commissioners, the Public Prosecutor, tbe Territorial Administrator and army officers, besides large numbers of natives. There is no doubt that these procedings had a salutary effect on the activities of the dead men's compatriots. Of course, leopard societies are no new institutions, and, indeed, various versions of them are met with all over the world. The slayeis' idea is to make their victims ibelieve that they have been able to transform themselevs into some type of carnivorous animal, usually that of the most feared and formidable wild beast of the country. Ninety People Burned Alive. The Leopard Men .society has probably come . down from very early times, and so powerful is the hold it has that, whenever the opportunity occurs, it reveals itself in repellent form. Just over half a century ago the Leopard iMen carried out one of their most revolting crimes in West Africa. This was when they murdered people by burning them alive. This was at the time when _ larg£ territories in West Africa tvere coming under British sway. The leading flgure in crushing these crimes just before the First World War was the late Sir WSlliam Brandforth Grifftth, who was Ohief Justice to- the Gold Coast. He died at the age of 80' at the beginning of 1939. The "ieopards" were keeping many tribes in a constant agony of fear in a territory remote from communication and little known to white men. The ^ropic (heat, unpathed jtuu^les, and jmyriad insect pests turned the country into a fiery hell for any white man, but Sir William 'Griffith refused to be daunted. For weeks he trekked on, at one time being badly hitten by ants, but in thie eild he /eached the headkquartedrs ko — o v4sujiffi .thhhh quarters and arrested the ringleaders. Surrounded by the tribes, he staged a trial in the Iheart of the country, presiding over a special court. He condemned the murderers to death and hanged them on the spot. This stern strOke of justice quelled

he society for a time, but so strong *s the hold the cult has that it re•ived. Horrible Initiation Rites. The initiation rites are of the most '.lorrible form, and not all would-be Leopard Men suceeed in passing the rovitiate. One of the first things the initiate •viust do. to prove his stealth -as a hunter — and thus later murdefer— is or enter a village, go to a certain hut described, and steal an object from some selected person who is asleep — , "vithout being de'tected. That first step Is not very difficult, for if the sleeper vakes he or she is swiftly dspatchd before getting a chance to raise the ilarm. The second step, however, is a lot more risky for the apprentice. He has o enter by night a village guarded y Leopard Men hidden in unknown ;pots . If detected the chances are .hat a spear pierces his back or a dagTer is thrust between his ribs. If ;.e succeeds, all's well for a time and Ne is one more step on the way to '"ull membership. When the novice has .passed all the ' ests successfully, he is admitted into he cult. His badge of membership is x leopard's claw, and during the rites bis forearm is slit and the beast's )lood is mixed with his own. When out on the murder path the Leopard Men cover tljemselves with he skins of slain animals and wear sets of small knies on the palms of heir hands. These blades are razor •harp and make wounds which resmble those made by a beast's claws. When a victim has been marked down escape is almost impossible. For the Leopard Men believe they have mbibed'the animal's .strength and ferocity wtih its blood and they trail down their prey with jungle cunning, savagery and callousness; The society has its • %w,n Vre- . monial and all the chief actors are given special names. Their ceremonial place of ipeeting is laiown as Mashunda and every year an ergy with the foulest rites is staged. This is called a Korbangai. The chief iof the murder gang is the Buamor 'Neppor and as a syrnhol of his ghastly oifice he carries a staff around which the skins of beasts are wrapped. It is surmounted at the top by a circle of iron spikes. His assistants are named Aka wa (Big Thing) and B.ojuwa (Great Thing). These rnen carry .medicine horns. Even in primitive communities there is little to be said for this type of cannibalism and witchcraft, practised by the Leopard iMen. In the 20th cenT tury it is absolutely vital that it should be eradicated ruthlessly. Difficult as the tasfc is, the West African authorities are determined to use every means to stamp it out.