Selim Aga - Death

Death

Selim Aga spent at least nine last years of his life, 1866–1875, in Liberia. He was engaged in searching for mineral resources, surveying the previously unknown Cavallo River valley. Selim's arrival in Liberia coincided with the beginning of clashes between inland native Africans and the coastal immigrants from the United States. In 1871 secretary of state, Edward Wilmot Blyden, was forced into exile; president, Edward James Roye, was deposed by the mob. Selim was murdered four years later, at a time when he served as an assistant surgeon and was not involved in active politics. According to an obituary published in Liberian Independent December 23, 1875, the Grebo mob leader allowed him time for a Christian prayer, then "chopped his body all over, cut off his head, which he took to his town, and threw the body with a gift into the field."

Read more about this topic:  Selim Aga

Famous quotes containing the word death:

    Voice number one says,
    “I am the leaves. I am the martyred.
    Come unto me with death for I am the siren.
    I am forty young girls in green shells....”
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    For in the word death
    There is nothing to grasp; nothing to catch or claim;
    Nothing to adapt the skill of the heart to, skill
    In surviving, for death it cannot survive,
    Only resign the irrecoverable keys.
    The wave falters and drowns. The coulter of joy
    Breaks. The harrow of death
    Depends. And there are thrown up waves.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    Yet the wound, O see the wound
    This petrified heart has taken,
    Because, created deathless,
    Nothing but death remained
    To scatter magnificence....
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)