The name Jameson is instantly recognizable on bar shelves worldwide, associated with a vast Irish whiskey fortune. However, in the late 19th century, James S. Jameson, a direct descendant of the company’s founder, ventured far from the distilleries of Dublin to the dense jungles of Central Africa.
What transpired there in 1888 remains one of the most disturbing chapters of the colonial era. During the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, Jameson did not merely observe the local customs; he actively facilitated a gruesome display of violence involving a young girl, six handkerchiefs, and a horrific act of cannibalism.
A Price Paid in Cloth
Jameson joined the expedition led by the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley, ostensibly to rescue Emin Pasha, a stranded governor in Sudan. By June 1888, the group reached Ribakiba, a trading post in the Congo known for its cannibal population.
Here, Jameson commanded the rear column and engaged with Tippu Tip, a notorious slave trader. According to sworn affidavits later published by The New York Times, Jameson expressed a specific curiosity: he wished to witness cannibalism firsthand.
Assad Farran, a translator present during the events, recounted that Jameson entered negotiations with local chiefs through Tippu Tip. The price for the spectacle was settled. Jameson provided six handkerchiefs to purchase a 10-year-old girl. The chiefs presented the child to the villagers, announcing that she was a gift from the white man who wished to see her eaten.
The Silent Tragedy at Ribakiba
Witness accounts describe a scene of chilling detachment. The girl was bound to a tree while villagers sharpened their knives. Farran testified that throughout the ordeal, the victim remained eerily silent. She did not scream or struggle, even as one of the men stabbed her twice in the abdomen.
Jameson stood by and watched. In his own diary, he recorded the events with clinical precision, noting how three men began to dismantle the girl’s body, eventually severing her head. He wrote, “The most extraordinary thing was that the girl never uttered a sound, nor struggled, until she fell.”
While the violence unfolded, Jameson did not intervene. Instead, he took out his sketchbook. He produced rough drawings of the slaughter as it happened. Later, he retreated to his tent to finish the sketches in watercolors, preserving the massacre in artistic detail while the memory was still fresh.
Claims of a Misunderstood Joke
When word of the incident reached the wider world, it ignited a scandal. In his written records, Jameson attempted to frame the transaction as a misunderstanding.
He claimed he believed the negotiation was a joke and that he never imagined the villagers would actually kill and consume the child. However, this defense failed to address why he provided the specific payment of six handkerchiefs or why he calmly sketched the murder rather than attempting to stop it.
Jameson never faced a court for his actions. Shortly after the accusations surfaced, he contracted a fever and died in 1888. The full extent of the atrocity was largely suppressed by his prominent family and Belgian officials eager to protect colonial interests, leaving the story as a stark record of unchecked power in the Congo.
James Jameson, heir to the Irish whiskey empire, didn't just explore the Congo in 1888, he bought a nightmare.
In a trading post deep in the jungle, he paid six handkerchiefs for a 10-year-old girl, not to save her, but to watch her be eaten alive…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/Dlc4rgXJf6
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