Is it true that the heir to the producer of whiskey Jameson bought an 11-year-old girl in Africa and gave cannibals to be torn apart?

According to numerous publications, at the end of the 19th century, a descendant of the founder of the famous Irish company bought a girl in the Congo company only in order to draw her killing and eating by natives. We checked if it was so.

Here's what information can be found from the text, in one form or another of the walking social networks The last few years:

“In 1890, the heir to the state of Jameson Whiskey was accused of acting, which the company prefers not to mention: in 1888 he bought an 11-year-old girl as a slave, then to be able to look at her cannibals. This happened during an expedition to the Congo, where James S. Jameson signed up to provide humanitarian aid.

Already on the spot, the translator consulted with local leaders who agreed to show the process of preparing and eating human. After that, Jemeson led the girl to the shack cannibals, where through the translator he said:
- This is a gift from a white person who wants to see how it will be eaten.

Jemeson watched the process all this time and made sketches with watercolor paints. The latter, unfortunately, have not been preserved.

"Cannibal" James Slyigo Dzhemeson died of fever in 1888. "

IN some publications Additional details are also reported: for example, it is claimed that the price of a girl was six handkerchiefs. The text is also popular on separate Russian -speaking sitesand - to a greater extent - on Western resources.

Here's what is known about this confusing story today.

James Slyigo Jemeson, the great -grandson of the founder of the famous company for the production of whiskey, in 1887 joined expeditions According to the salvation of Emin Pasha (Eduard Schierir)-the Governor of the Colonial Province of the Equatoria in Central Africa, who was cut off from the British troops converted to Islam, the Governor of the Colonial Province. The expedition was led by a famous traveler and journalist Henry Morton Stanley. The second goal of Jemeson was to study the colonial territories in the Congo.

August 17, 1888 Jemeson died On the territory of the modern Congo from a variety of typhoid fever. He was 31 years old. After his death around his name, a scandal turned on the basis of the messages of the Syrian translator Assad Farran. Already in September, the first first appeared in the Scottish Aberdeen Journal note, which reported a terrible description of the bloody orgy that Farran gave. According to the latter, the deceased Jemeson watched everything with interest and asked to postpone the murder of a woman until he was a sketch.

However, in the same September newspapers Published And the text of the last telegram of Jemeson to Zhenya. He read: “Messages about me, emanating from Assad Farran, a famous translator, are false. If they become public, stop them. ”

Along with this, the Times of London came out and letter William Burdetta-Kutts, a member of the House of Commons, who stated that he was a witness to the signing by Farran "decisive refutation" of his own story. Burdet-Kutts claimed that in his personal conversation, Farran called his story a revenge for his own dismissal.

It would seem that the scandal was extinguished. However, two years later, in November 1890, a long and detailed press appeared in the press story Farran about the same events. According to the translator, Dzhemeson “really wanted to see a person killed and eaten by cannibals,” and during a stop in the village of Riba Riba, he asked one of the local leaders in a corresponding request. The Englishman in response said that to fulfill his desire it would be necessary to buy a slave, and then present to the natives as a gift. After coordination of prices in the amount of six handkerchiefs, Jemeson allegedly bought a slave, which turned out to be a “girl for about 10 years”. The girl was stabbed and eaten, and at that time Jemeson made six sketches, which he later circled with watercolors.

The next day, The Times published letter Jemeson himself, allegedly written on August 3, 1888, two weeks before his death. A letter to the newspaper was provided by his wife Ethel. Jemeson claimed that he was very scared by the scenes of violence and murder, insisted that he did not make drafts on the spot, but everything happened because of his dispute with the local Arab, who tried to prove to Jemeson the reality of the phenomenon of cannibalism:

"He, laughing, said:" Give me a little fabric and see what will happen. " I just thought that this was another of their plans to get something from me, and ... I sent for a small switch of six handkerchiefs ... Then the most terrible scene that I had ever seen in my life followed ... Little sketches were made in my house in the evening. ”

Also, to the letter, the widow of Jemeson attached the very refutation, allegedly signed by Farran in September 1888. It said:

“I, Assad Farran, who has recently worked as a translator on an expedition to assist Emin, I declare that the story of the girl’s purchase by Mr. Dzhemeson was completely incorrectly interpreted. The story is completely false, and I declare a similar accusation against Mr. Jemeson unreasonable. Six handkerchiefs were a gift from Mr. Jemeson and had nothing to do with the incident with which they were erroneously connected due to the above misunderstanding. ”

It is important to note here that the refutation of Farran partially contradicts the words of Jemeson himself, who claimed that the connection of the scarves with cannibalism still took place. In addition, a refutation of the translator was dated two years earlier than his signed statement with a “bloody history”.

In 1891, Ethel Jemeson edited and published report her husband about the expedition, consisting of various letters and diary entries. In this version, the story of cannibalism was dated May 11, 1888. In the report, Jemeson writes:

“Until the last moment, I could not believe that they acted seriously. I heard a lot of such stories ... But until the very end I could not convince myself that it was something different from the trick to lick money from me. ”

Despite the confusion of this whole story, in which only letters and recognition of two alleged defendants are the evidence, we can conclude that Jemeson really witnessed the murder of the girl by cannibals, however, most likely, this was not a “purchase of a slave to kill”. At least, the refutation of Farran himself cannot be taken into account. As for the sketches, only their alleged Copies, made by another participant in the expedition - James Bewell.

Half truth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. DID A Jameson Whiskey Heir Buy A Slave Girl to Watch Her Get Cannibalized?