St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-07
AN AFRICAN TRAGEDY.
The Bloody Fate Of Paul CrampeI
and His Exploring Party.

and His Exploring Party.
The New York Sun has obtained some
further particulars of the fate OF Paul
Crampel. who met his death over year
ago while pushing his way toward Lake
Tchad in Central Africa. There is
region about this lake which has not
yet been explored or appropriated. even
on the map. by any European country,
and race for the possession has been
going Oh between France, Germany and
England. 1t turned out last autumn
that England mad come nearer sue
cess in this race than either Of her
rivals, for it was then learned that an
expedition sent out by the Royal Niger
company the previous winter had
reached Bornou, Mohammedan king
dom of 5.000.000 people lying west Of
Lake Tchad, but after two months Oflne-
rOtiatiOns. had been compelled to return
with an unsigned treaty. having been
plainly told by the king that no
European nation could secure footing
in his realm without fighting for it.
The increased knowledge of Western
civilization obtained by pilgrims to
Mecca, who lave of late years taken
the Cairo route, and the influence OF
the SenOuSSi sect of the Central Sou
dan, have had the effect of creating an
intense opposition to European ideas.
Before anything was known of the
English expedition. Crampel had left
BraZza vile, on the French side Of the
lower Congo. with the object of advanc-
ing toward Lake Tchad from the south.
There has been talk OF securing route
of communication from the French
Congo across the Lake Tchad region
and the Sahara to Algeria. and rail-
way line-from Algiers to BraZZaville has
even been been proposed. Crampel,
who was not thirty when he was killed,
had been BraZZa's secretary, and had
afterward explored the heretofore
wholly unknown region III the eastern
part of the French Congo. On his re-
turn to France in 1883 he had taken
with him little girl named Marine.
the daughter of a Paflouin chief,
who had presented her with much cere-
mOny to the unwilling explorer. Cram
pei had not dared to refuse the embar-
rassing gift, and the little creature at
tracted much attention in France. When
he went back TO Africa to undertake his
fatal journey Marine accompanied
him as an interpreter. Departing from
BraZZavile. his party asceDded the Mo-
bang river, large northern tributary
of the Congo. and i'll January, 1891,
STATED overland, probably with the in
the Shari river and descending 1t to
Lake Tchad. He had difficulty in Sc
curing enough porters to carry his
goods. and leaving his four white COM
paniOns to push these Oh as best they
could, he advanced with twelve Sene-
gall soldiers and forty pOrters.
The Suns story of CrampefS fate has
it that one of his associates was an Arab
who had been released from all Algerian
prison to go on this expedition because
he was familiar with the country. and
that this man sent word ahead to his CO.
religionists that the little party might
be easily OverpOwered. April 9. when
Crampel with his advance guard was in
the southern part Of the country known
as Wadal, near the headwaterS of the
Shari river and about 800 miles from the
Mobangi, they were suddenly attacked
by the hitherto friendly M0hammedans.
Two of the white officers had died of
fever, and the two others were in the
rear one, Biscarrat, twenty five
miles away, and the other. Nebout.
still farther to the south. Some
of the aSSailantS overpoWered and dis
armed the handful of Senegal soldiers,
while others stabbed and afterwards
shot Crampel and his Arab Interpreter.
A Senegal who escaped says that the
little girl seized a gun and shot dead one
of the men who were stabbing her mas
ter, and was at once herself shot. But
another French officer, DyboYski. who
was leading a second and larger eXpedi-
tiOn in the wake of Crampel. and who
afterward had pitched battle with the
Arabs 100 miles sOnth of the place where
Crampel was killed, was told by all the
persons from whom he sought infOrma-
ton that after Marine had killed the
Arab she was knocked down and dis
armed, and that she lived TO be carried
off as slave.
The original story was that Crampels
body was eaten, but this is not true, ac-
cording to the present information.s 1t
was stripped and left in the bush, while
the Arabs pushed on, and May 25 at
tackled and killed Biscarrat and made
slaves of his soldiers and porters. Ne
bout heard rumors of what had hap
pened. and fell back. He reached the
coast with fifteen men, all that were
lett of the expedition. In the battle
which DYbowski had with the Arabs he
killed fifteen and took number Of
prisoners, whom he executed. BE
found in their possession many relics Of
Crampel's party, and some of them adj
mltted their share in the slaughter.
Dybowski has been strongly reinforced,
and directed to push on toward Lake
Tchad.