FULL TEXT: The following is taken from a New York
paper: – Any man who wants to be king of
a cannibal island, and to rule over 2,000 dusky subjects, has only to go out to
the St. John’s group of islands in the Southern Pacific, and to offer his hand
and heart to the Queen. Her name is Piea Waar. The Queen is looking for a
husband, and she is not over-particular about his qualifications. The reason
she is not married is that there is no man among her subjects, who are all
women. These astonishing facts have just been related by the captain and crew
of the American ship Bonanza, which arrived recently at San Francisco.
~ Promised a Cargo of Bridegrooms. ~
The Bonanza was blown out of her course, and put into the
St. John's group of islands for water. They
are near the Solomon Islands. The ship was invaded by a horde of dusky
beauties, who swarmed over the sides and began to select husbands from among
the crew. But for the prompt measures of Captain Bergman, in dismissing the
women and prohibiting any man from leaving the ship, his entire crew would have
deserted, and he would have been unable to navigate his way back to
civilisation. As it was, he was only enabled to get away by promising the women
of the St. John's Islands that he would ship a load of young men and return to
settle down and furnish enough husbands to go around at the rate of 1 to 16.
~ A Remarkable Queen” ~
“The Queen,” said Captain Bergman, “is a very remarkable
woman. She is tall, muscular, and of a commanding presence, and she would
attract atten tion anywhere. As she is the absolute monarch of all she surveys,
including the surrounding reefs and atolls that are unsurveyed, she would be a
great prize for the lucky man who might win her dusky heart and not bloodless
hand. Since the disappearance of all the men on the islands her nature has
become greatly softened, and she now pines, as do her maidens, for the presence
of the dear departed. It was whispered that she had made a ragout out of one or
two of her husbands who had not lived up to her expectations, but no white man
need fear any such fate. One charming characteristic of these women is the
absence among them of jealousy.”
~ Only Themselves to Blame. ~
Captain Bergman says that the women, who are now miserable
because of their loneliness on the St. John Islands, have only themselves to
blame for their plight. Queen Piea Waar ruled with an iron hand and became a
sort of amazon, waging war with woman troops upon other islands in the group.
The women always outnumbered the men on these islands, and for some reason the
female warriors were induced to make a war upon them. Only a few hundred men
were left when the natural result of this war became apparent. Then a halt was
called in this senseless war fare. The Queen had killed two of her husbands,
but every effort was made to pacify the men who were left and to make them
comfortable. Among themselves, however, they came to the conclusion that too
many women were even worse than too few, and so they took the first opportunity
of making their escape. A French barque dropped anchor there a year or two ago,
and the men on the island made a deal with the captain to take them to South America. They stole aboard one
night, and in the morning they were gone. Since then no ship has landed at the
island until the Bonanza was accidentally blown in there recently. By that
time, the women had realised the full horror of their situation, and were
willing to make almost any terms for husbands. Many of the women are said to be
beautiful.
[“An Island of Amazons – All Clamouring for Husbands.”
Hampshire Telegraph and Chronicle (Portsmouth, England), Jan. 16, 1897, p. 11;
“Bananza” in text corrected to “Bonanza.”]
***
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FULL TEXT: L. J. Reinhart, a San Francisco carpenter, is
tired of leading a hand to mouth existence in America, moreover, he is inspired
with a romantic desire to relieve beauty in distress. Therefore he is trying to
raise a body of men to undertake a novel colonization scheme. His plan is to
buy a vessel, equip it and sail to the St. John or Hermit islands, in the south
Pacific ocean, where no inhabitants are left but dusky belles killed by cannibal
wars or taken away by conscienceless blackbirders.
Most of the women are without husbands, as only a few old
men are left on the islands, and they will welcome a large number of men who
wish to leave behind them the cares of the civilized world and take up the
indolent life of an ocean isle.
Captain Bergman of the American steamer Bonanza recently
sent the news to San Francisco of the peculiar condition of affairs on the
Hermit islands. He said that his ship was blown out of its course and anchored
one day close to one of the islands. He was astonished to see none but women on
the coral reef, for it was hardly more than that.
The women swam like mermaids to the ship. They told of the
condition of affairs in the island and wanted the captain to leave some of his
sailors. They said they would heap upon them all the honors of dusky royalty if
they would but take their residence among them.
The natives of the island have always been known as
cannibals, and the sailors mentioned this as a reason why the offer was
reluctantly declined. But the visitors assured them that their days of human
flesh eating was over. Men were too scarce to be sacrificed in any such vulgar
way.
Reinhart declares that it is not the report of the
husbandless women that has moved him to project his enterprise. He says it is
dissatisfaction with the condition of the labor world and the desire to lead a
peaceful existence without having to struggle day and night for bread and butter.
He wants to form a republic on co-operative lines. He says as it is in the
south seas the islands support the natives with very little work. By combining
forces and pooling interests he believes this proposed band can have all the
comforts of life with little labor.
Reinhart, like many other carpenters, has been able to get
very little work lately, and he is disgusted with the situation. He is
uncertain what the future will bring forth, and he thinks happiness and ease
can be obtained in the manless Eden in the south Pacific ocean. He was already
secured the co-operation of several men like himself, and he expects to gain
fully 50 or more to his proposition in a short time.
The scheme is for 50 men to put up $25 each. With this money
he expects to buy a schooner and provision her for the voyage and at least a
year’s stay on whatever island it may be decided to settle upon. On first
landing they will build a fort and then take seeds in a few years they ought to
be exporting great quantities of south sea island products.
Notwithstanding his protestations to the contrary, it is
shrewdly suspected that Carpenter Reinhart aspires to the hand of Queen Piea
Waar. Her majesty, according to Captain Bergman, is a very remarkable woman. She
is tall, muscular and of a commanding presence, and she would attract attention
anywhere. As she is the absolute monarch of all she surveys, including the
surrounding reefs and atolls that are unsurveyed, she would be a great prise for
a lucky man who might win her dusky heart and not bloodless hand.
Since the disappearance of all the men on the islands her
nature has become greatly softened, and she now pines, as do her maidens, for
the presence of the dear departed. It was whispered that she had made a ragout
of one or two of her husbands who had not lived up to her expectations, but no
white man need fear any such fate. The St. John’s natives acknowledge a liking
now and then for a bit of native flesh, but white men’s meat, they say, has
such a salty flavor that it is unpalatable.
[“A Queer Expedition. – Colony of Husbands For the Manless
Isle of the South Seas,” The Atchcison Daily Globe (Ks.), Dec. 18, 1896, p. 6]
***
***
The Hermit Islands are a group of 17 islands within the
Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Their
coordinates are 1°30′S 145°4′ECoordinates: 1°30′S 145°4′E. The first sighting
by Europeans of Hermit islands was by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de
Retes on 29 July 1545 when on board of the carrack San Juan tried to return
from Tidore to New Spain. He charted them as La Caimana (a female caiman in
Spanish). When passing by, Ortiz de Retes reported that some negroes got near
the ship who flung arrows by hand without bows, that were made of flint
suitable for striking fire. These islands belong to Micronesian outliers. [Wikipedia]
For links to other cases of woman who murdered 2 or more husbands (or paramours), see Black Widow Serial Killers.
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For more cases see: Cannibal Murderesses
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[77-1/2/21; 144-9/16/21]
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