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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-08-30, Page 7• Killers Wear Leopard 'Skin*' As the assistant distrtet com- missioner went into his office his native clerk :greeted him with: "'Boss, a leopard has killed a boy In the Imperri chiefdom. Bad. business, boss!" The A.D.C. looked at the man's rolling eyeballs and slumped Into his creaking chair. Well, he considered, there were plenty of bush leopards in the vicinity. He'd seen the traps himself -- some with leopards caught in them. But still, in the Imperri,coun- try there were leopards of an- other sort that also killed. Human leopards. He decided to investigate. Eight—years in Sierre Leone had taught the A.D.C. a good deal about the ghastly aspects of native superstition and voo- doo. He knew all about the secret society initiated by medicine amen which needed human fat for a revolting fetish called B,or- lima. Each member of the soci- ety possessed a bag containing dried cock's blood, the white of an egg, parts of both a man's and a woman's bodies and hu-" man blood, all' ceremoniously mixed and wrapped in a leather ease. Borfima was supposed to bring good fortune to its possessor and misfortune to his enemies. ' But after a time Borfima was con- sidered to lose much of its power —and that meant the leopard men had to go out killing again to get fresh human fat to re- store its vitality. The killers usually made a meal of the re- mains of their victims. The A.D.C. also knew about the fiendish Tongo Dancers who claimedto have the power of discovering criminals by magic ritual and crazy dances. The A.D.C. soon had the story from the villagers. Late one night a terrible moaning roused the sleeping village. And soon every- one was yelling murder. For there, before the door of his hut, lay Yagba, nephew of one of the village headmen. Had a leopard done it? Some villagers had got a glimpse of the killers—two men disguised in leopard skins. They had scur- ried into the bush at the first scream of alarm, abandoning the body of their victim, which they had intended to cut up xo re- plenish their Borfima bags. What was the story behind this new crime of the human leopards? As he finally got it out of an informer, with many bribes, it was a tale of horror such as to shock even the hardened A.D.C. The year of that dreadful Im- perri case was 1912. It was a July day when a santiggi—a human Leopard Society messenger — came to the village and spoke to one of the headmen before departing at a trot. The messenger had left word that the president was calling a large meeting for that night in the Porro bush outside the vil- lage. Near midnight the president, a tribal chief, had arrived with his staff in the bush clearing. There was only the moon to light the large squatting assem- bly of human leopards. "Borfima," he announced, "is hungry. Borfima needs human fat and human blood. If Borfi ata does not get these, there will be no more magic.". That was the crux of it—who should be chosen for human ,sacrifice to Borfima? "I say Yagba," suggested• one of the company. "You say Yagba?" protested the village headman, "but Yagba Is my nephew!„ 'ab,r. Swings a 64,000 MARJORIE (BABE) IN ARMS: •Morton Garmise holds the .seven-year-old "Babe Ruth" con- testant for a family conference with her broth er, Andy, 11, and her mother, Felicia Garmise. by Dick Kleiner NEA Staff Correspondent Stalling off bedtime is an old trick for kids. But Marjorie Garmise used the time she pro- moted so well that she became the youngest contestant ever on "The $64,000 Question". She's just seven. Marjorie is an active little girl — "Tomboy is an under- statement," says her mother— with a baseball -happy 111/2 - year -old brother. Ordinarily, she'snot much for books and reading. When she `reached the that she wanted to stay up "just 10 minutes more", she began using the dodge that she'd like to read. Her mother would say it was all right if she actually did read. So Marjorie had ,to ; find a book. And it was only natural that she'd dip into her brother's baseball books. The one that fascinated her most was a story about Babe Ruth—"she's literal- ly read it 30 or 40 times," says Mrs. Milton Garmise. In fact, she's virtually memor- ized the entire book. "She would follow me around the house," Mrs. Gamise says, "offering -to recite parts of the book. Honestly, it got aggravat- ing .I'd- try to introduce her to little girl things, but she just wanted to read that book about Babe Ruth." • She read other baseball books, too. And one night her parents were joking about how much baseball she knew. Mrs. Garmise said she thought Marjorie knew more than some of the contest- ants on "The $64,000 Question". Garmise wasn't so sure. One led to another and pretty soon Mrs. Garmise was writing a postcard to the program in New York. "It was strictly a joke," she says. And then they were called down to New York for an inter- view and it wasn't a joke any more. "At first we had our doubts about her as a contestant," says Mert Koplin of the . show's pro- duction staff. "We felt she might be too young. But she has so much poise that we figured we'd take - a chance. We might have forgotten her, though, except she almost ' gave us all the measles." It turned out shp was getting the measles when she came in for the first interview. Mrs. Gar - mise, a day or so later, wrote to Koplin thanking him for his courtesy and saying that if any of them got the measles, it would be a gift from Marjorie. Nobody did, though. . Marjorie was "the calmest one in the theater" the night of her first appearance. She sat in the consolation Cadillac in the wings before she went on for a while. Then she discovered that some of the stagehands were watching a ball game on TV, and she went over 'and watched someof that. The Garmise family went out ,to dinner just before show time; none of, them felt much like eat- ing except Marjorie who tore into a steak. At this point, Marjorie has two ambitions. She wants to play Little League ball; she thinks it's unfair that they only let boys like her brother, Andy, on the teams. She hopes ,maybe her TV appearance will wake them . up to relaxing the rules. Her other ambition is to meet the members of her favorite team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. She saw her first game this spring. When the schedule first came out, she studied it carefully and checked off the game she wanted to see. It was a game against the New York Giants. Mrs. Garmise -put her on the train to New York and an aunt met her and took her to the game. Marjorie had picked a dilly — it was the day Carl Erskine tossed a no-hitter. Even before she began read- ing about Babe Ruth, Marjorie was on her way to being a base- ball student. Andy started her off. He collected baseball cards and would give his kid sister his cast-offs. Then she began her own collection. "My house is just full of those cards every- where," Msg. Garmise sighs. Mrs. Garmise knows nothing about baseball; in fact, she's never even seen a game. The kid's father, an engineer now working as an estimator with a sheet metal firm, likes the game but admits his children know more about it than he does. Both of them say they'll be happy when Marjorie turns to more normal pursuits for a girl. Her tomboyness—she's an ex- cellent swimmer and likes most sports, besides baseball—is ome- thing they are sure will pass. But meanwhile it's pretty strong- ly entrenched. At the moment, she figures when she grows up she'll be a ball player. • "I suppose," Mrs. . Garmise says, hopefully, "she'll get over it." "You like to take his place?" suggested the president. Before that threat the uncle stood down. After all, he had taken the fearful oath of the society. It was a pity, for Yagba was a nice lad, but there it was. And so Yagba was found dy- ing that night before his hut. He had been stabbed in the neck, But the job had been bungled. His death moans had aroused the village. The A.D.C. had enough to go on. There was a mass arrest, followed by a mass trial. Six of the Human. Leopard Society were convicted of the murder of Yagba and hanged, the rest' were sentenced to life imprisonment. In the Freetown United Breth- ren in Christ Mission, one of the most eloquent preachers was a native of the colony. He had been converted and sent to Eng- land to study for the ministry and had been ordained. He re- turned to become a shining light in the religious life of the capi- tal. • One day in 1909 word came to Freetown from the Yandehun chiefdom of yet another human leopard murder. This time the victim was a little native girl. She had been lured into the bush, killed and cut up. Many Borfimas needed, replenishing. Every member departed with his piece. put there were other members not present whose Borfimas needed human fat and blood. And presently sweating runners arrived in Freetown, carrying leather bags slung over their bare shoulders. One went to the house of the native 'schoolmaster; another called at the residence -of the native parson. Was that possible? Could a CUNARD TO EUROPE LATE SUMMER AND FALL SAILINGS TO BRITISH PORTS: At Thrift -Season n R zfes TQ FRENCH PORTS: : First Class from $200 ROUND TRIP FOR AS LITTLE -AS First Class from $207.50 Tourist Class from $145 $290 Tourist Class from $150 VESSEL From MONTREAL To VESSEL From NEW YORK To SAXONIA SCYTHIA tVERNIA CARINTHIA ASCANIA SAXONIA IVERNIA SCYTHIA CARINTHIA SAXONIA ASCANIA NERNIA CARINTHIA SCYTHiA SAXONiA HERNIA ASCANIA CAR SAXONIA SCYTHIA IVERN CARINTHIA ASCANIA SAXONIA IVERNIA NONRA A Fri. AUG. 24 *Wed. AUG, 29 Ni. AUG, 31 Fr). 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No one can terve au tette! q Your ata/atfves or ftlet7d yV125Y ►1tb"1:::::951 i/1sr twroreEurope.sAND S✓CUM ARD LINE imitate -thotrp to ConadgaboutCaaadlonGovarntneal7AEY1TEttRAJlsaisted posseThAt t4 EAiYIOConnie' &tar & wellington X18., Tow % Cine ge Lbo8 5ehcine tel. EMpire 214e1 man who had been ordained as a Christian minister still adhere to the Human Leopard Society? Was there a Borfima hidden in the parson's home? Incredible as it seemed, it was true. The Church had ordained into its ministry an active mem- ber of the Human Leopard So- ciety! Spies and informers were the chief instruments of the white man's administration of the col- ony. A certain man under suspicion of being a human leopard was spied on. The spy reported that he had seen the man's wife leave the hut at dawn carrying a large pot. He said he had startled her, when she had dropped the pot, which, he found, contained the gruesome Borfima mixture. An A.D,C. had the man brought in for questioning. A human leopard? He denied it emphatically. But what about the pot? "I am a sick man," he ex- plained. "I had a dream that made me sick. A snake swal- lowed me up to the waist. In the - morning I couldn't move, I was like that for four years. Legs no use. I heard of a Mori man. I sent for him. He made me this fine medicine for £3. That is what was in the pot my wife was carrying, Ah! If the Mori man was not now dead, he would tell you, white daddy," It was a clever invention. But it didn't wash, for the Mori man's medicine was identical with the Borfima medicine. The ghastly ingredients included hu- man remains. And so another human leopard went behind bars. When too many villagers dis- appeared at night to be blamed on the bush leopards, the word always went round that the Human Leopard Society was re- sponsible. But who could tell who among the villagers were members, since the society was top secret? On such occasions the vil- lagers called in the Tongo Dan- cers. 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How Handel Wrote Greatest Work Two hundred years ago in London, a mansat in the study of his Brook Street house writing, A heavily built man in his middle fifties, he had hard- ly paused in his toil for over three weeks. The scattered sheets of music paper around him still bore traces of the sand with which they had been so hastily blotted. Even so that hand could scarcely keep pace with the powerfully driving imagination, and the music notes leaned forward • on the pages with an almost symbolic urgency. At one moment a ser- vant, tiptoeing in with a tray of chocolate had ifound his mas- ter weeping. The tray was noiselessly placed on the table and the servant glanced at the page moistened with tears. Un- der the notes were written the words "He was despised and re- jected of men." , Only twenty-four days earlier PATENTS THE RAMSAY Col1'MPANY, Patent At, torneys, 273 Bank Street, Ottawa, of fere to every Inventor full informattota free, on patent procedures. RERSTONI4AUGR & Company, patent Attorneys Established 1890, 600 University Ave., Toronto, Pateati all .countries, PERSONAL POWER OVER FATE. Amazing book Explains REINCARNATION, PATH TO SUCCESS, HOROSCOPE for 12 signs Superstitions. Dreams. Daily fortune cards or dice. P.P. $1. Fantasy Line, P.O, Box 75092 L.A. 5, California. $1.00 TRIAL offer. Twenty-five deluxe personal !requirements. Latest cats Logue included, The Medico Agency, Box 22, Terminal "Q", Toronto, Oak ARE YOU DEAF? MANY types of deafness and head noises have been helped by Leonard's Invisible Ear Drums. Send $10 fou complete kit or ask for free inform*tion. A. O. Leonard Company, Dept. 4 Box 306. Station F. Toronto 5. SWINE WE have one of the largest and besi herds of Imported Landrace Swine is Canada weanling sows and boars, alss guaranteed in -pig sows for sale Folder. FERGUS LANDRACE SWINE FARM FERGUS ONTARIO Handel had headed his first page with the words "Messiah, an Oratorio" and date it "22 August 1741." Now, as he ended his task, he added the final dates, which tell of the compo- sition being completed on Sep- tember 12 and the instrumenta- tion finished two days later. Two hundred and sixty five pages of score lay before him, most of them without a single correction or sign of indecision . If we listen to Messiah with the musical ears of two hun- dred years ago, we can better understand how unconvention- ally yet surely Handel designed his masterpiece. The omission of the traditional final minuet to the overture, and its replace- ment by the accompanied reci- tative "Comfort ye" must have been completely unexpected to audiences of his day. The await- ed entry of the chorus in "And the Glory of the Lord" adds to its dramatic effectiveness . It was a work apart — some in- ner urge had compelled him to write it. And so his last thought was to perform it for his own monetary gain, though at no other time in his career had he more need to recoup his finan- cial losses. He had, however, re- ceived an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to visit Dublin, and had been specially asked to compose a new work to be performed for charity. At that time all the principal musi- cal societies al Dublin gave their performances for charitable ob- jects, and Handel therefore got in touch with the charity "for the benefit and enlargement of poor distressed prisoners for debt in the several marshalseas of the city of .Dublin." There is something at once pathetic and inevitable that the bankrupt Handel should give his master- piece for his fellow -sufferers, for the crime of insolvency of- ten received the harshest pun- ishments in those days. But Messiah was rarely to be per- formed for Handel's own bene- fit. It was his gift to the poor and oppressed of this world. And so in November 1741 Han- del set out on his journey to Dublin, staying at Chester until the winds became favourable for the crossing. —From "Messiah," by Julian Herbage. Quotes — Wise And Otherwise Nothing is more difficult not to say than 'I told you so!' * * * A bargain is something you cannot use, at a price you can- not resist. * * * Chairman—man who finds a solution to every difficulty. Lawyer—man who finds the difficulty to every solution. * * * Women have lost another ad- vantage. Men can now travel faster than sound. * * * Used cars are not always what they are jacked up to be * * * You have reached middle -age when all you exercise is caution. * * * Modern Child's Alphabet .. q r s T V w .. . * * * There's no fool like an oiled fool. BACK", C is r;. Backache is often rained bt lazy kidney action. When kidneys get out at order, e11Cess acids and waste, remain In the system. Then backarhedisturbed rest ea that lited-out and heavy -headed feeling may soon tottery that s the time to take Dodds Kidner t'i!!s llodd'a simulate the kidneys to normal action Then you lee! better *sleep better --.work better. Get Dodd's Kidney Pills now. St ISSUE 35 --- 1954