Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1892 — Prices for Human Flesh. [ARTICLE]

Prices for Human Flesh.

The story of the Austrian missionaries who recently escaped from Khartoum, as published in the London Graphic, is one of extraordinary interest. They confirm the report that Khartoum has been practically laid waste by the Mahdists and that Omdurman, adopted as the seat of government, has now a population of 120,000. Onfy a few years ago it was a mere straggling village; now it extends for over six miles along the west coast of the Nile. Among its more ambitious public buildings art the palace of theKnalifa, the mosque, the Mahdi's mausoleum, the barracks of the Jehadieh, and the slave market. Omdurman is not the only slave market in the Soudan. According to Father Ohrwalder, one of the escaped captives, there are important markets also at El Fasher and Beni Shangul. These, however, are not so much markets as collecting and sorting stations, and the trade transacted is strictly wholesale. Thence the pick of these human chattels are sent to Omdurman, where no time is lost in offering them for sale. The market is a large stone building, situated in the busiest) portion of the town. It has a raised veranda, and an inclosed open space in front. The dealers assemble in groups on the veranda, where, reclining on straw mats, they smoke their nargilelis and drink their coffee. The prices of slaves vary according to the purposes for which they are required. Able-bodied men bring from S2O to $25, young boys from $5 to $7.50, women suitable for domestic service from sls to s2oi The highest prices are paid for young and pretty girls varying from 10 to 16 years of age.—Frank Leslie’s Weekly. ft Less than 800 persons own half the soil of Ireland. •