“And whereas many murders have been committed by men dressed so as to resemble leopards and armed with a three-pronged knife commonly known as a leopard knife or other weapon:
“And whereas owing to the number of these murders, and the difficulty of detecting the perpetrators of the same, it is expedient to amend the law:
“Be it therefore enacted by the Government of the Colony of Sierra Leone with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof as follows”:
Then followed provisions making it penal for any person without lawful excuse to have in his possession or keeping any of the articles mentioned in the Schedule, viz.:
“(a) A leopard skin shaped so as to make a man wearing it resemble a leopard;
“(b) A three-pronged knife; and
“(c) A native medicine known as ‘Borfima’”; and under the Ordinance the police were given powers where there was reasonable ground of suspicion to arrest and to search without a warrant, and heavy penalties were imposed for obstructing the police.
On the 9th October, 1896, a Protectorate was proclaimed over that portion of the Hinterland of the Colony of Sierra Leone which had hitherto been merely under the control of the Colonial Government.
Up to this date, for more than half a century, the Government of the Colony had claimed and exercised the right of intervention in disputes which led to intertribal wars or which interfered with the trade routes from the interior, but beyond this and the efforts made to stop slave-raiding there had been very little interference with the Hinterland natives.
During the same year it was found necessary further to strengthen the hands of the Executive in dealing with crimes committed by members of secret societies, and the Human Leopard Society Ordinance of 1895 was added to, provision being made whereby any chief who was proved to have permitted or who failed to report within a reasonable time any celebration of Human Leopard Customs which had occurred in any place under his control was liable to heavy penalties.