The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-09-27

may be imagined when it is said that
Lieut.. Comperat received three balls in
various parts of the body, and his SER
geant, named Clavery, was also badly
wounded. Now the tactics of the ANA
Ion warriors came into play, tho scant-
iy-attired and powerful women leaping
On the top of the breastwork formed Of
clay and branches Of palm trees, while
through the interstices of the latter the
long barrels of their rifles, of Hamburg
and London make, as It was afterward
discovered, cleaned with ominous bril-
liancy.
The Frenchmen were in Q serious d.
lemma; they endeavored to make q sor-
tie with the object of clearing the ditch
in front of the works, and in the at
tempt three men were killed and eight
placed hors de combat. The little fort
was now quite surrounded and side by
side lay the PROSTATE forms of killed and
wounded Dahomeyans and Frenchmen
The gallant Comperat rallied his entire
force, and, regardless Of his wounds,
resolved to fight it out to the death, if
need be, at the post of duty. He wait
ed-the slightest hesitation On his part
would have served to precipitate
panic. But relief was at hand Lieut..
Lagaspie, q fellow-graduate of Com
perat's at the ecole militaire, came up
at the charge with a platoon of Senegal
infantry. Day had now dawned and
the enemy fell back. They had hith-
erto displayed the most astounding
bravery, but it was of little avail against
allies. The neigh borhood of the fort
bore CHASTITY traces of the fight; every
where around the bodies of the slain,
among whom Dahomeyans vastly ex-
ceeded French, formed actual breast
works, piled one upon the other. The
black corpses of men and women, some
with and others without heads, the de-
capitated members lying around in
pools of blood with open mouths and
eyes, the former grinning hideously,
with set, cleaning teeth, and the latter
fxedly staring skyward in the CLASSY
gaze of death.
Beyond the line Of battle the Da-
homeyans were again forming them
selves into an attacking force, divided
into two separate sections. Their
tactics soon became plain enough: A
body OF ZOO warriors and 200 Anazons
marched forward against the Fort of
Comperat and another body containing
about 200 men debouched to the south
ward in the direction of the factories
and the telegraph Office. The Fetishmen
marched at the head Of each contingent
without arms, but carrying horses
tail. which they waved for the double
purpose of urging the ranks forward TO
the assault and of acting as charm
against the weapons of the whites.
The combatants carried saber in one
hand and gun in the other. They fred
wildly and without taking aim. The
slaves came along in line ready TO re-
ceive the discharged rifles and quickly
recharge them. The wounded were
a abandoned. their severed heads being
carried as trophies for future presenta-
ton 20 the king. The column advanc-
ing southwark had already begun the
attack with great vigor and driven back
our guard posted at Petite-Agore with
a loss of Ave men killed on our side.
Following up this success the savages
pressed on until they encountered Le-
MONIES company. which forced them %
retreat against the forest, where
terry OF marine artillery. under CO
mand of Capt. Sane, OF the warsh
Leopold Fournier, fastened the de-
Of the engagement At els {
a. m the Dahomeyans essayed 10 return
10 the offensive, but were again re- /
pulsed bf our artillery, and between I
80 and o'clock they vainly endeav- 4
ored TO remobilize their forces. At $50
even the most intrepid reiterated, absn- 4
doning their dead, numbering 10 war I
riors and Amazons- Our flying patrols
room brought word that tia Main hAlov .