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Man Eaten-By
Rumour: How
Stories Spread
INTO THIE London "Daily Express"
office one night last week came an itemi
of "news" which seemed a candidate for
the most startling story of the year.
ITS opening sentence read:
"Suspicion is mounting
in the lobbies of the
French Senate that M. Vic
tor Bia1ka Boda, member for
the Gold Coast, has been
eaten by his constituents."
The "Daily Express"
looked into the matter
more closely, and then
published this report from
S. L. Solon, in Paris:
On January 27, 1950, 36
year-old African Senator
Victor Biaka Boda, from
French West Africa, was
making a tour of his con
stituency near Bouafle, on
the Ivory Coast, when his
car broke down. Bouafle is
a built-up centre with a
hospital and a basketball
team.
While his chauffeur was
making repairs, Senator
Boda went for a walk into
the bush.
Since then Senator Boda
has not been seen, and no
definite evidence exists to
show what happened to
him.
Ten months later, in No_
vember, 1950, some dry
bones were brought in by
some Africans, who said
they were found near Bou
afle.
The bones, which includ
ed the top of a skull, were
sent to Paris and examined
by three private special.
ists. The specialists, work
ing from a photograph of
Boda and with, apparently,
no other means of identifi.
cation, said it was possible
that the bones belonged to
Bcda, but they could give
no guarantee of this.
Began As Magazine Joke
Meanwhile, a Paris poli
tical gossip weekly, "Aux
Ecoutes," given to broad
jokes, published on Janu
ary 12, 1951-a year after
Boda's disappearance - the
story that Boda had made
a macabre agreement with
certain medicine men in his
area in 1948, when he was
seeking their support.
The medicine men said to
Boda: "We will support
you, but on condition that
if you are successful, you
will give us your young
wife to eat."
According to this non
serious account, after he
was elected, Boda took his
wife to France and forgot
about his bargain-but the
medicine men did not for
get and, when Boda re
turned to Africa, they took
their revenge by turning
him into a dinner.
Soon after this version
appeared, the American
press told, with other ima
ginary details, how Boda
was caught and eaten by
irate constituents.
The story lay dormant for
a while and then was re
vived, this July, by Boda's
colleagues.
They wanted his death to
be certified by the French
Government, so that his
political party, the African
Democratic Gi oup, could
elect another candidate.
The talk among African
members of the French
Senate is how soon will it
be before another man can
take Boda's place. This is
linked with "a growing
conviction that the bones
found were Boda's, and
that he had been eaten by
his constituents."
But a spokesman for the
Overseas Affairs Ministry
told me: "The bones that
were found did not belong
to the missing Senator
paper, has been placed at our
Boda. Officially his dis
appearance is not yet ex
plained, and the enquiry is
going on."
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