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Texas mayor shoots daughter, then shoots herself in shocking American killings !

Posted by 9jabook.com webmadam on July 14, 2010 at 8:06pm
COPPELL, Texas — The mayor of an upscale Dallas suburb apparently shot her teenage daughter to death before fatally shooting herself, after leaving notes at their home warning officers about the scene they would find and outlining how to manage family affairs, police said Wednesday.

An envelope taped to the front door of Mayor Jayne Peters' home contained a key to the house and a typed note advising police they would discover something unpleasant inside, Coppell Deputy Police Chief Steve Thomas said.

Three other notes contained instructions for handling affairs, such as taking care of the family dogs, but did not provide explanations for the deaths of the 55-year-old Peters and her 19-year-old daughter, Corinne.

"It appeared to me that there had been some thought," Thomas said.

Police found the bodies Tuesday after the mayor failed to show up at a city council meeting. They said the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Wednesday that the case should be officially classified as a homicide-suicide investigation.

"Forensic tests (and) procedures performed point to Corinne being the victim in this tragedy, with Mayor Peters subsequently taking her own life," police said in a statement. "Both of the fatal injuries are a result of a single gun shot wounds."

Thomas said the weapon was a semiautomatic handgun and there were no signs of a struggle.

"Everybody in the room is like, 'Did we miss a sign?'" Bob Mahalik, mayor pro tem who is now acting mayor of the city, said of council members' reaction to the deaths. "It's hard to wrap your arms around it."

Mahalik said he had a gut feeling something wasn't right when the mayor didn't turn up for the meeting.

"But nowhere in your wildest dreams did you think it would be that far not right," he said.

A small collection of flowers, wreaths and cards decorated the front porch of the Peters' 3,850 square-foot brick home, where the mayor and her daughter lived alone. A printed letter said: "Please know that you are loved no matter what happens. I know that God is with you and giving you comfort. You both are with Don, a wonderful husband and father. A family again."

The mayor's husband, Donald Peters, died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 58.

Jayne Peters was a contract software developer who served as mayor of Coppell, a city of about 40,000 located 15 miles northwest of Dallas, for the past year. Her term was to expire in 2012. She had been a council member since 1998.

"This is a tremendous loss for the city, the community and the region," said City Manager Clay Phillips.

The elder Peters attended Miami University in Ohio. In her official biography on the city's website, she said "Coppell is a community with a huge heart, and we take care of one another."

"She enjoyed what she was doing as mayor and she was good at what she did," said Mahalik, who last saw Peters waving and passing out candy at the city's Independence Day parade. "She attended almost everything, every ribbon-cutting, speaking at the schools, the chamber, regional meetings."

Todd Storch, of Coppell, had known Peters for about a year. When his 13-year-old daughter died in a skiing accident in March, Peters was there for him and his family and later took a spot on the foundation he formed in his daughter's name to increase awareness for organ donation.

"She was just one of those rocks that was always there. We kind of grieved together," Storch said.

Corinne Peters graduated from Coppell High School this year. A classmate said she was bound for the University of Texas at Austin, and neighbors said the mother and daughter seemed happy.

Her Facebook page shows a smiling girl in a white top and details her interests in movies and television comedies.

"Corinne was an outstanding student and gifted dancer with a big heart," said Jessica Doty, a spokeswoman for the Coppell school district. Doty called Jayne Peters a "dedicated school volunteer."

A close friend, Ashley Johnson, said Corinne loved animals and was a phenomenal ballet dancer. There were no signs of serious strain between Corinne and her mother, Johnson said...

"Her and her mom fought sometimes, but it was like a normal teenager and mom relationship," Johnson said. "I never would have thought this would have happened."

Neighbor Diane Ianni said Corinne was excited about enrolling at Texas and frequently donned shirts with the university's logo and colors.

She said when she last saw Corinne the teen was upset about having to miss at least two different summer orientation sessions at the Austin campus, the last time because her mom was having problems with her eye and had to go to a doctor's appointment. But she said Corinne recovered and had been back to her happy self.
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Kill Jonathan Plot uncovered in shocking revelations from Cancelled Oil Bid Saga

Posted by 9jabook.com on February 18, 2010 at 7:20pm
Fresh plot to kill Jonathan uncovered *2 ministers, 2 ex-govs implicated *Misguided elements want to pull me down - Acting President


THE Federal Government, on Wednesday, uncovered a plot against Acting President Goodluck Jonathan by some elements said to be aggrieved about his emergence.

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The office of the Acting President has confirmed that there is, indeed, a plot to discredit the acting president and pull down his administration.

Besides the anger in some quarters over his emergence, some forces were also said to be aggrieved about the decision of the acting president to cancel the proposed sale of oil wells, in another oil bid round that would have empowered some key figures in the polity.

Sources in Abuja told the Nigerian Tribune that some top security operatives had uncovered a plot by a group said to be "utterly disturbed and bitter" by the acting president's resolve to cancel the oil bid round.

The bidding was to take place last week, but the acting president stopped it.

Sources said that some of those who lost out in the bidding round were already being investigated to know their involvement in the alleged plot.

A source said that some of those who lost out in the planned oil well deal included two former governors, who had planned to take one oil well each, two ministers and a presidential aide, who is said to be interested in three oil wells and fronting for three foreign interests: a Taiwanese, a Chinese and a Middle East company.

It was gathered that some highly connected persons had concluded arrangements to ensure that certain persons grab some lucrative oil wells through the bid round and that those who had already targeted some wells were bitter that Dr. Jonathan cancelled the bid.

Sources said that a group working in and outside the government met on Monday night at a location in Abuja and resolved to deal with the acting president for "daring to cancel the oil bid round."

It was gathered that a tape recording of the discussions at the said meeting was already in possession of the government, which is already investigating those linked to the plot.

Sources said that the discussion at the said meeting dwelt on the anger of the group and the ways by which it planned to deal with the acting president.

One of those involved in the meeting was said to have said in exasperation: "We have to deal with him; we have to kill him."

It was gathered that one of the decisions was to deliberately distort information about the emerging administration of the acting president in a way that would portray him as a spendthrift and an administrator who was eager to loot the treasury.

A source said that the group plotting against the acting president had been linked with unfounded allegations that the acting president had spent N300 billion since November 23, 2009, when President Yar'Adua travelled out of Nigeria for medical treatment.

A source said that the group had also been spreading rumours that the lawmakers, who facilitated the passage of the motion that empowered the vice-president as acting president, were financially mobilised.

"We have watched these people and we have to allow the operatives to do their work. They are responsible for the lot of distortions in the land. Whereas the information we have is that those opposed to the emergence of the acting president were mounting pressures on senators not to budge and were making promises of huge financial rewards, they want to turn the information around and turn things on their heads.

"The government cannot go to sleep over this," a source said on Wednesday.
...

'Misguided elements want to pull me down'

The office of the acting president, Dr. Jonathan, has alerted the nation to a grand plan by some people to pull his government down.

In a statement, on Wednesday, the spokesman of the acting president, Mr. Ima Niboro, said the enemies of Jonathan had voted billions of naira to fight the acting president.

The statement entitled "of N300 Billion and other absurd tales!", read: "Today, the first instalment of the planned and well coordinated media onslaught against the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, was published in a national newspaper" [not the Nigerian Tribune], "alleging that he (the Acting President) approved the expenditure of a whopping N300 billion, for both pro-Yar'Adua rallies and those that were in his interest." The report also claimed that members of the National Assembly were bribed to do their patriotic duty to save the nation from drift.

"It can be recalled that a few days ago, there was an allegation of a purported release of two billion US dollars from the Excess Crude Account to governors to facilitate their endorsement of Jonathan as Acting President.

"While we commend the Chairman of the Governor's Forum, Dr. Bukola Saraki, for dealing satisfactorily with that allegation in a rejoinder, it is interesting to note that two billion dollars translate to roughly N300 billion. There is, therefore, no question that both allegations emanate from the same source.

"We know those behind these publications. Nigerians have come to know them as careerists in power. But we see them as misguided elements determined to exceed their call of duty and play God over the affairs of the Nation.

"They are wicked and ungodly and their time is up! Never, again, must we allow our nation to be strangulated by a privileged few who will rather fiddle with our common wealth while the nation burns.

"We are aware that they have set aside a huge war chest in billions of naira to bring the Jonathan Acting Presidency to disrepute by any means possible. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that as cunny as these allegations obviously sound, they still get mention in our media space. We are fully on the tracks of this so-called group; this unfortunate band of liars. In the fullness of time, they shall be brought to book.

"We find no need to dignify the N300 billion allegation with a response. What is more, those selling this lie are careful to state that the money was procured from a certain businessman, who is to be settled in a matter of weeks by "a huge oil contract."

"Three hundred billion naira sourced from one man at a go? We demand to know who this businessman is. Anyone that keeps liquid cash of N2 billion dollars to bribe people belongs only in jail! Huge oil contract? Maybe Nigerians need to ask those who have been involved in handing out such contracts how such quid pro quo deals are done.

"Let me use this medium to reiterate that we shall not be deterred by campaigns of calumny or any other method whatsoever in our collective efforts to reform this nation, and change our ways of doing things once and for all. The acting president is determined, and he is counting on the total support of all Nigerians", the statement concluded.

culled from the Nigerian Tribune
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Police find shocking clues on Dina’s murder

Posted by Paul "EFCC" Hawk Adams on January 27, 2010 at 9:09pm
Death could have been prevented if…, says vigilance group Detectives yesterday received shocking revelations, while investigating the Monday night murder of Ogun State Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in 2007, Otunba Dipo Dina. After the crack team of detectives, led by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of investigations, Mr Israel Ajao, visited the crime scene and interrogated Dina’s driver and the prophetess, who was in his car when the killers struck, the police boss said: “We have good clues to solve this crime.” When Ajao, who had earlier visited the Lagos home of the slain politician, later led a long convoy of detectives to one Odo-Ore River, at Onigbongbo village, near Atan Ota, where the prophetess, Funmilayo Olagoke, had allegedly told the police that Dina was going for a ‘spiritual cleansing’, he was told how the gunmen, after killing their victim, drove to the riverside with the driver and the spiritualist and spent over 20 minutes there before they parted ways. He also learnt that the bandits shot Dina twice, when they cornered his Toyota Camry car near the Living Faith World Outreach Ministries (a.k.a. Winners Chapel) area of the Ota-Owode-Idiroko Road, as he was trying to negotiate some speed breakers on the road. Ajao, who did not comment on the revelation, said that Nigerians should be rest assured that the police would get Dina’s killers. He also pleaded that members of the public should help the police with further information, that could unmask the killers quickly. Ajao’s tour, which began in Lagos, and ended at the riverside, followed Vice President Goodluck Jonathan’s order that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, should fish out the killers within a week. For about one and half hours at the Ogun State Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, yesterday, the DIG interrogated Dina’s driver, Tunde Oyediran, and Funmilayo behind closed doors. As the prophetess was being led away, she could be heard crying and lamenting that she never knew that things would take “this turn”. The DIG, who arrived at the state capital at about 1p.m., grilled the two suspects between 2p.m. and 3.30p.m., after being briefed by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura. The Nigerian Compass learnt that Ajao later took over the case file, after he went through it. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, denied reports that the late Dina’s vehicle, which was stolen after the killing, had been recovered. “It is not true. The car has not been recovered. But we are intensifying efforts to track down the killers,” the police spokesman stated. Meanwhile, the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Ado Odo/ Ota Local Government Command, Ogun State, yesterday, described the location where Dina was killed as a black spot and hotbed for armed robbery incidents. Addressing a press conference in Ota, the VGN Sector Commander, Alhaji Adeyemi Aiyetoto, said his association had complained severally to the police authorities about the black spot. According to him, the community opposite the Winners Chapel had for long been a notorious hideout for suspected criminals, hemp hawkers and people of questionable character. The association’s Assistant Commander (Administration), Mr. Nurudeen Serinkudi, who spoke on behalf of Aiyetoto, explained that criminals capitalised on the lack of police presence on the routes to strike. He said: “We feel that it is our responsibility, as an informal medium of security, to draw attention to the fact that the spot at which Otunba Dipo Dina met his unfortunate end has for long been a black spot and hot bed of armed robbery incidents in Ota. “Robbery attacks in that place have become a recurring decimal of sorrow and tragedy. We know this to be the fact because our vigilante teams have the responsibility to provide a level of security for the area of Ado Odo/ Canaanland axis where this unfortunate incident occurred. “Preliminary report and investigation so far indicated that the incident may be a case of armed robbery. Our interest is the wider picture of the implication of the murder of Otunba Dina and what has been happening in Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government Area in general and in particular, on the roads stretching from Sango through Ota-Idiroko and from Atan to Igbesa to Agbara axis.” Aiyetoto claimed that the Chief Security Officer of the church some months back ordered his men to vacate the church areas, over undisclosed reasons. He added that the absence of his men coupled with the security lapses at the area enabled criminals to attack innocent motorists at will. He said: “If our men were at the area, this type of thing would not have occurred because we were always on ground. When some banks in the Winners Chapel were attacked by robbers, we pursued them to Imeko and recovered the vehicles of the church used for the robbery operation. Although, we couldn’t recover the stolen money. Even the Bishop of the church gave us two jeeps in appreciation of our effort,” he said. “The Idiroko-Sango route is also a dangerous haven of smugglers and robbers. However, police presence on these routes is scanty and ineffective. It makes the Idiroko-Sango route and the Atan-Agbara route the most dangerous routes to ply in Ogun State.” He submitted that “the lack of visibility of police on these routes clearly explains why the murder of such a prominent politician was carried out with relative ease on such a busy route without any speedy response from the police”. Aiyetoto called on police authorities to mount surveillance at the noted spots and guarantee effective policing, while expressing his association’s preparedness to cooperate with the police in unmasking the killers of Dina. Meanwhile, hundreds of Action Congress (AC) members yesterday took to the streets in Ijebu-Ode, protesting the killing of Dina by unknown gunmen. Led by a close associate of the slain politician, Alhaji Rasheed Alatishe, the protesters, who first converged on the Endurance Garden, GRA Ijebu-Ode residence of the Dinas, went round the town with placards to demonstrate their grievances. Alatishe said the police authorities should not allow Dina’s death to be among the growing list of unresolved murders in the country. The AC chieftain urged the police to fish out the killers and bring them to justice to serve as a deterrent to criminally-minded people. The senators representing Ogun West and Ogun East Senatorial Districts, Felix Kola Bajomo and Lekan Mustapha, yesterday joined the list of sympathisers over the gruesome murder, describing it as “unfortunate and barbaric”. In separate statements made available to the Nigerian Compass, the two senators said the latest killing was an indication that the nation’s security apparatus needed total overhauling to cope with modern security challenges. Bajomo, in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant, Dapo Oke, said the Federal Government must address the growing insecurity in the polity ahead of the 2011 general elections. He lamented that Dina’s murder had robbed the state of one of the great future leaders of the country. Bajomo said: “The killing, to say the least, is tragic, uncivilized and quite unfortunate. Without prejudice to the outcome of police investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, I condemn the barbaric killing while leaving judgement to the All-knoweth God. “This development further raises the fear of most Nigerians on the problem of insecurity in the polity which the Federal Government must address urgently before the next general election. The fact that investigations into all the previous killings have not yielded any positive results is an indication that the security apparatus of the nation needs total overhauling to cope with the challenges of securing the nation. “I join other compatriots to mourn the demise of Dipo, a professional colleague, an astute politician and one of the great future leaders God has endowed to our dear state.” While expressing shock and dismay at Dina’s death, Mustapha, in his own statement, charged security operatives to be more determined in exposing the culprits behind the incident to serve as deterrent to other criminals, especially as the 2011 election approaches. He said: “I am saddened by the death of this dogged politician, who has impacted positively on the education and health sectors, the political terrain and also built churches for the Christian faithful, among other philanthropic gestures. “Otunba Dina had in no small means contributed his own quota to the development of Ogun State, which was why he became a household name, especially among indigent students and the downtrodden.” Senator Mustapha prayed God to grant the Dina family, his associates, supporters and the people of the state the fortitude to bear the loss. By Dipo Kehinde, Juliana Francis & Kunle Olayeni, Abeokuta
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Caged in the human zoo: The shocking story of the young pygmy warrior put on show in a monkey house - and how he fuelled Hitler's twisted beliefs

Posted by 9jabook.com on October 31, 2009 at 9:00am
His ebony skin stood out in sharp contrast to the white crowd pressing to get a better view. The young African boy bared his teeth at the men and women staring at him through the bars. They were sharpened into dagger-like points, making him appear all the more barbaric to the ignorant hordes. Above the cage hung a sign proclaiming: 'The Missing Link.' A baby chimp sat disconsolately at the bottom of the enclosure, a single companion to the boy. Exploited: Pygmy Ota Benga on display with monkeys at Bronx Zoo in 1906 The year was 1906. This was a pygmy, brought to America as a novelty to be put on display in the monkey house. The New York Times reported: 'There were 40,000 visitors to the park on Sunday. Nearly every man, woman and child of this crowd made for the monkey house to see the star attraction in the park - the wild man from Africa. 'They chased him about the grounds all day, howling, jeering, and yelling. Some of them poked him in the ribs, others tripped him up, all laughed at him.' Suddenly, the boy turned. Taking the bow and arrow given to him as an ethnic accessory, he shot at the gawpers. His arrow did no harm, but he did scare the life out of the onlookers. This was Ota Benga, a pygmy, brought from the Congo and put on display in a zoo as an example of what scientists at the time proclaimed to be an evolutionary inferior race. His story would divide a nation, and is now told for the first time in a new documentary, The Human Zoo. The programme lifts the lid on a dark period in history, where 'natives' were paraded as exhibits, fuelling the spread of white supremacism and even contributing to the rise of Nazism. Tragically, Benga became the victim of one of the most awful acts of exploitation ever seen and died a shadow of the proud young tribesman who arrived in America. So just who was he, and how did this grotesque experiment help shape the 20th century view of race? A hundred years ago, before television and mass tourism, a handful of enterprising adventurers, anthropologists and businessman decided to bring the far-flung glories of the world to life in one place. Huge fairs were held in Paris, London and America, exhibiting everything from Italian gondolas to African elephants. Having promised the world, there was pressure to deliver: people were the next quarry. In 1904, the showman anthropologist William McGee conceived the idea of a human zoo, to be held in St Louis in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was designed to be one of the largest scientific experiments ever undertaken and would be spectacular public entertainment. McGee wanted the tallest people in the world, veritable giants from Patagonia, at the tip of South America. He wanted the Ainu, who lived on an island north of Japan and were supposedly the hairiest humans. He placed an order for 300 Filipinos - there is no record of why he wanted so many. His grandson, Phillips Verner Bradford, says: 'If you told him that a place was dangerous, he'd say: "I want to go there!" He was that sort of guy.' Verner took a boat from New York to London, down the European coast and around Africa to the Congo River. Bradford says: 'He made his way up the Congo River with steamers as far as they would go. Once he arrived at the great waterfalls, he had to hire a crew of natives.' They encountered crocodiles and hippopotamuses, and deadly whirlpools that could sink a boat. Eventually, Verner made it into the jungle. He blithely walked into a village of cannibals, and found that they had captured a rival tribe who were being held in cages, ready to be eaten. More... The final proof? Memoirs that may show Hitler DID order the 'final solution' to be published after his right-hand man dies To his delight, the prisoners were pygmies, or Mbuti - just what he was looking for. He began negotiating. Talking to the pygmies in their native Chiluba, he established that they would rather be taken to America than eaten. He bought six pygmies from their captors for a roll of brass wire and some salt. One pygmy stood out. He was Ota. Photos of him taken in the Congo show a playful, chubby young man, a broad smile revealing his sharpened teeth, which were filed in his youth. He looks healthy, spirited and full of life, standing around 4ft 8in tall. He had never seen a white man before. Verner realised that he had a hugely marketable proposition on his hands, and made the return trip across the Atlantic with his human treasure. For their part, the pygmies were intrigued by everything they saw and were full of questions: how did the boat work? Was there a cage of hippopotamuses down beneath pedalling it along? Verner showed them how the steam engine functioned. Docking at New Orleans in June 1904, the Africans caught their first glimpse of America. They were stunned by the tall buildings and wide streets. The six pygmies were sent to St Louis by rail. There, they became McGee's most important exhibits, the centerpiece of the St Louis World Fair, feted by society and academics alike. Adverts proclaimed: 'They live in forests, they are extremely shy. They eat the flesh of wild animals killed with poisoned arrows. They are cruel, finding delight in torturing animals. 'They have long heads, long narrow faces and little red eyes, set close together like those of ferrets. Their bodies are exceptionally hairy. 'A pygmy has been known to eat 60 bananas at one meal, in addition to other food, and then ask for more. 'They seem to be controlled by an impulse that makes them delight in wickedness. If caught young, they are said to make excellent servants.' Scientific racism: Ota Benga's Bronx Zoo captors had an admirer in Hitler He wanted what he considered the most primitive American Indian tribe, the Cocopah in Mexico. He asked for Eskimos. But most of all, he wanted the smallest people in the world. He needed pygmies. He had heard that they were very short and very black, and he had to have one. Explorer Samuel Phillips Verner was dispatched by McGee to the Belgian Congo with a shopping list. It read: 'One pygmy patriarch or chief. One adult woman, preferably his wife. One adult man, preferably his son. One adult woman, the wife of the last or daughter of the first. One female youth unmarried. Two infants. A priestess and a priest, or medicine doctors, preferably old. All of the above to be pygmies.' Duly detailed, Verner set off for deepest Africa. He knew that this operation could be the making of him, putting him in the same league as Henry Stanley and Dr David Livingstone. As the sales pitch shows, the human zoo played into the hands of white supremacists, teaching the public that there was a hierarchy of races, with the white man at the top and all others beneath. McGee himself, in his book The Trend Of Human Progress, published in 1899, wrote: 'Those who know the races realise that the average white man is stronger of limb, fleeter of foot, clearer of eye, than the average yellow or red or black.' Bastardising Darwin's theory of evolution, McGee saw each race as a stage in human evolution - with pygmies the least evolved of the species. With his rudimentary Victorian understanding of science, he believed they were the living missing link between apes and humans. The human zoo was a fantastic success - and widely copied. Dr Sadiah Qureshi, a historian at the University of Cambridge, says: 'Millions of people went to see these shows at their peak. Originally you would get a show in a local theatre. By the late 19th century you would see hundreds, if not a couple of thousand people living on site, eating and on constant display.' Indeed, some years later, in 1924, King George V and Queen Mary inspected the live exhibits at the British Empire Exhibition, at Wembley. Some Europeans' curiosity knew no bounds, however. Qureshi says: 'The 1899 exhibition Savage South Africa held at Earl's Court in London caused quite a stir. At one point women were banned from going inside because they had supposedly been touching the natives.' For almost a year, Ota and the other pygmies lived in America as human exhibits. They were made to build native houses, perform traditional dance ceremonies, live partially naked and cook authentic food. Ota was described in the press as 'a dwarfy, black specimen of sad-eyed humanity'. With his filed tribal teeth, he was the most celebrated pygmy and dubbed 'Lord of the savage world'. He posed for photographs for 25 cents. In 1905, after they had been viewed by a total of 20 million people, Verner took the pygmies home to the Congo. Ota had planned to rejoin his tribe - but discovered that they had been entirely wiped out by Belgian soldiers. He married a girl from the nearby Batwa tribe, and appeared to settle back into life in Africa. Then his wife was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. The Batwa rejected him, believing he was cursed and responsible for the young woman's death. Ota was cast adrift, a stranger in his own land. He begged his friend Verner to take him back to America. Verner was reluctant, but eventually acquiesced, taking him to New York. The pair shared the 3,000-mile sea voyage with crates of live animals, parrots, monkeys, snakes and other exotic booty, which Verner planned to sell in America. On the ship, Ota discovered cigarettes and drink. Arriving in New York, Verner - who had business to do - bade him farewell, arranging accommodation in a spare room - this time he was not on show - at the American Museum of Natural History. There, he thought Ota would be safe. Soon, however, he came to the attention of William Hornaday, a conservationist and director of the Bronx Zoo. Collaborating with one of America's most notorious racists, Madison Grant, he conceived a plan. Grant wanted to promote 'scientific racism', talking in terms of 'purity of type', and the survival of the white master race. In 1930, after his work The Passing Of The Great Race was translated into German, Grant received a letter from an aspiring politician, saying 'your book is my bible'. The man was Adolf Hitler. He would indeed use 'scientific racism' as the foundation for the Third Reich, giving academic grounding to the Holocaust. Together, Hornaday and Grant offered to take charge of Ota Benga, who initially believed he would be looking after the Bronx Zoo's elephants. In fact, he was going to be put on public display as a living example of 'racial inferiority'. Immediately, the exhibition prompted criticism. The New York Times reported on September 9, 1906: 'The exhibition was that of a human being in a monkey cage. A human being. In a monkey cage. 'The human being happened to be a Bushman, one of a race that scientists do not rate high in the human scale, but to the average nonscientific person in the crowd of sightseers there was something about the display that was unpleasant. 'It is probably a good thing that Benga doesn't think very deeply. If he did it isn't likely that he was very proud of himself when he woke in the morning and found himself under the same roof with the orang-utans and monkeys, for that is where he really is.' The exhibition was a sensation. On a single day, 40,000 people arrived to see Ota and his chimp. The show lasted only two weeks, however, due to a public outcry, and human zoos as a phenomenon died out by the Forties. So what became of Ota Benga? After he was removed from the Bronx Zoo, there was great debate regarding his fate. African-American church ministers insisted he be released - not for his comfort, but because they wanted to convert the pygmy to Christianity. He was eventually placed in an orphanage for black children, the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, to be 'civilised'. He was dressed in Western clothes and taught how to eat, talk and behave like an American. He had his pointed teeth capped and attended a Baptist seminary, where he started to study English. He was kept out of the public eye for four years. Eventually, he moved from New York to the backwater town of Lynchburg, Virginia, where he became a local curiosity and was known as Otto Bingo. Forevermore haunted by his time in the monkey cage, he would repeatedly slap his chest, declaring: 'I am a man. I am a man.' He began to save money to return to the Congo, working in a tobacco factory. With the outbreak of World War I, this became impossible and Ota sunk into depression. He never did make it home. One evening, he went into a barn behind the village general store. He chipped off the caps hiding his teeth, restoring them to their filed-down glory, lit a small ceremonial campfire, and shot himself in the head, dying ten years after being put on display at the Bronx zoo. He was 32 years old. His story now bears testament to the ignorance of those who believed themselves superior to him. He was buried in an unmarked grave, but he left his mark on the world, exposing as moral pygmies the lesser men who would cage a human.
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