But the Government could not view with indifference such a crude and barbarous administration of justice, and on the 5th May, 1892, issued the following proclamation:
“Whereas from time to time in the Imperri Country and elsewhere within the Colony of Sierra Leone there have been native plays or dances commonly called or known as ‘Tongo Play,’ whereby some of the inhabitants of the said Colony have been accused of and denounced as being ‘Human Leopards,’ or as guilty of various crimes and misdemeanours, and upon such accusation and denouncement they have been unlawfully burnt to death or otherwise illegally punished:
“Now THEREFORE His Excellency the Administrator of the Government of the Colony aforesaid doth hereby publish, proclaim, and make known—
“That from and after this date the play or dance of the Tongo People commonly called and known as ‘Tongo Play,’ being contrary to law, must at once cease throughout the Colony.
“That every Tongo person is hereby enjoined and required to quit the Colony within twenty-one days from the date of this Proclamation on pain of being arrested, detained, and deported as a Political Prisoner:
“That every person taking part in any ‘Tongo Play’ or action resulting thereupon will be prosecuted and punished according to law:
“And all the inhabitants of and sojourners in the Colony are hereby enjoined to govern themselves accordingly.”
With all dread of the Tongo players removed, cannibalism burst out afresh towards the end of 1894, and at the beginning of 1895 a number of murders took place. It was then definitely ascertained that these murders had been committed by members of a society which afterwards became notorious as the Human Leopard Society. To deal with this extraordinary class of crime the Government of the Colony of Sierra Leone decided that drastic and exceptional legislation was necessary, and a Bill entitled the Human Leopard Society Ordinance, 1895, was introduced and passed as Ordinance No. 15 of 1895.
The object of the Ordinance was set out in the preamble, which read as follows:
“Whereas there exists in the Imperri Country a Society known by the name of the Human Leopard Society formed for the purpose of committing murder: