blessmycottonsocks
Antediluvian
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- Dec 22, 2014
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- Wessex and Mercia
This remarkable and gruesome story appeared in today's Quora.
The claim?
That James Sligo Jameson, tycoon and heir to the Irish Whiskey dynasty, was morbidly interested in the practice of cannibalism and, when travelling in The Congo, purchased a slave girl as a gift for a cannibal tribe so he could witness and sketch the ensuing carnage.
What is known?
In 1888, James Sligo Jameson was certainly a witness to the brutal murder and cannibalisation of a young girl in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was at least partly instrumental in causing it to happen.
It is alleged that Jameson expressed incredulity as to whether cannibalism were still practised. One of his party - sometimes quoted as his Arab interpreter Assad Farran, said "give me some cloth and you will see". Jameson handed over a set of red handkerchiefs and the man returned soon after with a slave girl aged around 10.
The party headed out into the bush and, on encountering the Manyemas tribe, the interpreter handed over the girl declaring her "a gift to you from the white man".
Now we're back into the realms of conjecture:
The girl was apparently tied to a tree and Jameson realised he did not have his sketching materials with him, so asked that the natives did noting until he had them fetched.
He then gave his nod of approval and the ghastly feast commenced, while Jameson sketched away.
The sketches, on which Jameson later based some watercolours, still exist:
The denial:
Jameson himself realised the full enormity of what had happened and was worried that notoriety would damage his family's reputation and wealth.
His final telegram to his wife (Jameson died from fever later that year) read "The reports about me, emanating from Assad Farran, a distinguished interpreter, [are] false. If made public, stop them.”
He also wrote in a letter that he had been horrified by the murder and mutilation of the girl, insisted that he did not sketch the scene until later on, and said it had come about because he had been dismissing the accuracy of various stories about cannibalism, which he told an “Arab” man present he “did not believe could happen in any country in the world,” such was his revulsion and disbelief.
In contrast, Assad Faran had testified that "Jameson was very anxious to see a man killed and eaten by cannibals and declared "I should like to see it done.”"
The truth?
Very hard to establish over 130 years after the events.
Subsequent to Jameson's death, a friend of his, William Bourdett-Coutts, an American-born Member of Parliament, declared that Farran had fabricated the story and had retracted his original statement. Whether bribery or coercion were involved is obviously not stated.
A full exploration of the facts and conjecture is given here (including a graphic account of the cannibalism):
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jameson-whiskey-slave-cannibal/
So, it appears that this conspiracy may be at least partially true.
Something to ponder next time you raise a glass of Jameson Whiskey - sláinte!
The claim?
That James Sligo Jameson, tycoon and heir to the Irish Whiskey dynasty, was morbidly interested in the practice of cannibalism and, when travelling in The Congo, purchased a slave girl as a gift for a cannibal tribe so he could witness and sketch the ensuing carnage.
What is known?
In 1888, James Sligo Jameson was certainly a witness to the brutal murder and cannibalisation of a young girl in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was at least partly instrumental in causing it to happen.
It is alleged that Jameson expressed incredulity as to whether cannibalism were still practised. One of his party - sometimes quoted as his Arab interpreter Assad Farran, said "give me some cloth and you will see". Jameson handed over a set of red handkerchiefs and the man returned soon after with a slave girl aged around 10.
The party headed out into the bush and, on encountering the Manyemas tribe, the interpreter handed over the girl declaring her "a gift to you from the white man".
Now we're back into the realms of conjecture:
The girl was apparently tied to a tree and Jameson realised he did not have his sketching materials with him, so asked that the natives did noting until he had them fetched.
He then gave his nod of approval and the ghastly feast commenced, while Jameson sketched away.
The sketches, on which Jameson later based some watercolours, still exist:
The denial:
Jameson himself realised the full enormity of what had happened and was worried that notoriety would damage his family's reputation and wealth.
His final telegram to his wife (Jameson died from fever later that year) read "The reports about me, emanating from Assad Farran, a distinguished interpreter, [are] false. If made public, stop them.”
He also wrote in a letter that he had been horrified by the murder and mutilation of the girl, insisted that he did not sketch the scene until later on, and said it had come about because he had been dismissing the accuracy of various stories about cannibalism, which he told an “Arab” man present he “did not believe could happen in any country in the world,” such was his revulsion and disbelief.
In contrast, Assad Faran had testified that "Jameson was very anxious to see a man killed and eaten by cannibals and declared "I should like to see it done.”"
The truth?
Very hard to establish over 130 years after the events.
Subsequent to Jameson's death, a friend of his, William Bourdett-Coutts, an American-born Member of Parliament, declared that Farran had fabricated the story and had retracted his original statement. Whether bribery or coercion were involved is obviously not stated.
A full exploration of the facts and conjecture is given here (including a graphic account of the cannibalism):
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jameson-whiskey-slave-cannibal/
So, it appears that this conspiracy may be at least partially true.
Something to ponder next time you raise a glass of Jameson Whiskey - sláinte!
