If you drink whiskey, or even if you don’t, you’re likely familiar with “Jameson Irish Whiskey.” John Jameson was born in 1740 in Alloa in Scotland. He began his career as a lawyer, but after he married Margaret Haig in 1753, his future would be forever changed. Margaret just so happened to be the daughter of John Haig, the famous whisky distiller in Scotland. In 1774, John joined the Convivial Lodge No. 202, of the Dublin Freemasons, and by 1780 his Irish whiskey distillation began. He worked for the next 41 years, building up the business, then passed it on to his son, John II in 1851.
John Jameson II married, had children, and continued the family business. By the turn of the 19th century, Jameson Irish Whiskey was the second largest producer in Ireland, and one of the largest in the world, producing 1,000,000 gallons annually.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the Mahdist War was being fought between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the “Mahdi” of Islam (the “Guided One”), and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, which consisted of the initial and later forces of Britain. In 1885 the Mahdists captured the city of Khartoum, effectively collapsing the administration of Sudan and cutting off Equatoria, the extreme southern province. This posed an issue for Emin Pasha, an Ottoman doctor who had been appointed to the role of Governor of Equatoria. He was still able to send and receive letters, and by February 1886, had been informed that the Egyptian government was going to abandon Equatoria.
In July, 1886, Emin Pasha was encouraged to invite the British government to annex Equatoria itself. Unfortunately, the British government was not interested, but the people were. That’s when Scottish businessman and philanthropist, William Mackinnon, came into the picture.
Mackinnon had been involved in various colonial ventures during his time, and by November 1885, he approached Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh journalist, explorer, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician, about leading a relief expedition. Stanley was ready, so Mackinnon approached J.F. Hutton, a business acquaintance, and together they organized the “Emin Pasha Relief Committee.” The Committee raised a total of about £32,000.
Stanley was still in the employment of Leopold II of Belgium, and had to get permission to go on the expedition. Leopold II agreed, with the stipulation that the expedition would take a longer route up the Congo River. To ease widespread public acclaim in London, Stanley declared:
“The expedition is non-military—that is to say, its purpose is not to fight, destroy, or waste; its purpose is to save, to relieve distress, to carry comfort. Emin Pasha may be a good man, a brave officer, a gallant fellow deserving of a strong effort of relief, but I decline to believe, and I have not been able to gather from any one in England an impression, that his life, or the lives of the few hundreds under him, would overbalance the lives of thousands of natives, and the devastation of immense tracts of country which an expedition strictly military would naturally cause. The expedition is a mere powerful caravan, armed with rifles for the purpose of ensuring the safe conduct of the ammunition to Emin Pasha, and for the more certain protection of his people during the retreat home. But it also has means of purchasing the friendship of tribes and chiefs, of buying food and paying its way liberally.”
— Henry Morton Stanley, in Joel Headley, Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa
The Relief Committee received over 400 applications from expedition hopefuls. From these, Stanley made the decision whom he would take. Among the applicants was James Jameson, grandson of John Jameson, and heir to the whiskey empire.
By June 1888, Jameson was in command of the rear column of the expedition at Ribakiba, a trading post deep in the Congo, known for its cannibal population. He began to deal directly with Tippu Tip, a slave trader and local fixer. Ever curious, Jameson expressed his interest in seeing cannibalism first hand, leading Tippu Tip to speak to local chiefs of the village. They produced a 10 year old girl, for whom Jameson paid six handkerchiefs.
There are varying accounts of what happened next, from Jameson’s diary, his wife, and even a translator who had been on the trip with him. According to the translator, Assad Farran, upon presentation of the girl, the chiefs said to their villagers, “This is a present from a white man, who wishes to see her eaten.”
Farran continues, “The girl was tied to a tree. The natives sharpened their knives the while. One of them then stabbed her twice in the belly.”
Jameson recounded in his diary, “Three men then ran forward, and began to cut up the body of the girl; finally her head was cut off, and not a particle remained, each man taking his piece away down the river to wash it.”
Both Jameson and Farran agreed, the girl never screamed. “The most extraordinary thing was that the girl never uttered a sound, nor struggled, until she fell,” wrote Jameson. “WHen I went home I tried to make some small sketches of the scene while still fresh in my memory.
According to Jameson’s wife and diary, he had only gone along with the proceedings because he believed it to be a joke. He couldn’t believe the villagers would actually kill and eat her.
Jameson was never held accountable for his actions. By the time the story reached Stanley, Jameson had already died from a fever he had contracted. His wealthy family, along with the assistance of the Belgian government, was able to hush any mention of the atrocities committed.
