' Selim joined the Monrovians during the Grebo
war as an assistant-surgeon, his object being to mitigate the horrors of
the campaign; and he met his death on October 9, 1875, during the
mismanaged attack on Grebo Big Town. Captain A. B. Ellis, in his amusing
and outspoken 'West African Sketches,' quotes from the 'Liberian
Independent' the following statement: 'Mr. Selim Agha was also overtaken
by the barbarous Greboes, and one of them, "Bye Weah" by name, after
allowing him to read his Bible, which he had by him in his pocket, and
which he made a present of to the barbarian, chopped his body all about,
chopped off his head, which he took to his town with eighteen others, and
threw the body with the gift into the swamp.' The account sounds
trustworthy, especially that about the Bible: it is exactly what the poor
fellow would have done. But many have assured me that he was slaughtered
by mistake during the rout of his party. R.I.P.
Another reminiscence.
Although it has melancholy associations, I can hardly remember without a
smile my last visit to good Bishop Payne. He led me to the mission-school,
a shed that sheltered settles and desks, tattered books, slates and
boards, two native pedagogues, and two lines of pupils sized from the
right, the biggest being nearest the 'boss.
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