River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-07-06
a REMARKABLE ARMY.
Brave Men who All Have Pasts They
Want TO Rury.

want TO bury.
Probably the most remarkable army
division in the world is the Foreign
Legion of France. II is this legion
which is invariably sent into the great
est danger. As rule, il heads the for
lorn hope. Whenever there are hard
ships to be borne 10 which the French
authorities do not care to expose the
regular troops the Foreign Legion is
invariably designated for the purpose.
Naturally the question arises. why is
this so?
TIL e character of the men who fill its
ranks is me explanation.
Almost without exception they are
men who, while brave beyond cues
ton, have a past which they wish TO
bury. Many of them are serving under
incognitos, and place no value upon
their lives Fully fifty per cent. are
fOreigners-adven and refugees.
A writer states that in one company
he has found Roumanian prince who
was under suspicion of having muir
dered his brother; an Italian lieutenant
colonel of cavalry. bearing an illustri-
Gus name, who had been dismissed from
King Humberts army in disgrace in
consequence of being found cheating
at cards; a Russian nihilist. who es-
capped from Siberia; an ex-canon of the
cathedral of Notre Dame, at Paris. who
had been suspended from his ecclesias-
teal functions in consequence of an Of
Tense committed against public moral
ity; an English ex-captain of the Rifle
brigade, and German count who had
not only served as lieutenant in the
First regiment of Guards at Berlin. but
who had also held a position on the
military staff of the late emperor of
Germany.
All these men were serving as simple
privates in the ranks, and were sub
jected to iron discipline for which this
corps is celebrated.
In no other European army are the
punishments so severe as in the Foreign
Legion of France.
Composed as it is almost entirely of
social outlaws, men who have broken
with their past. and who have in many
cases a criminal record behind them. il
is not astonishing that the utmost Sc
verify is needed to render them sub
servient to orders The slightest Of
Tense or act of aggression against SUI
perior officer is punished with death,
and during the Tonquin war there were
as many as eleven members Of one regi-
uent court-martialed and shot in one
day. The minor offenses are punisha-
BILE by the so-called ''silo," which con
sists of burying the prisoner in the sand
for hours, leaving only his head ex-
posed to the rays of the sun by day and
to the stings of insects by night; and
the ''crapaudine, IN which the man is
bound hand and foot and left for hours
nay, sometimes days-on the sand.
lying helpless, somewhat in the posi-
tion of a trussed fowl.
Many of the most famous names OF
France have figured at the head OF
these regiments.
Among those who have held the rank
of colonel of the foreign legion are
found, for instance, the names of Mar
shall Bazaine, Gen. de Negrier, Gen.
Dupin, who so distinguished himself
by his cruelty during the guerilla war
fare in Mexico, and last. but not least.
Tho last had in his younger days
been one of the gayest and most popu-
lar officers of the Tuileries and a par
ticular favorite of the Empress Eu-
genie.
Having. however. contracted some
horrible malady which had practically
eaten away almost one entire side of
his face, he asked for and obtained the
command of regiment Of the Foreign
Legion. anxious to serve his country
and yet to withdraw sufficiently
from the world to be no longer
exposed to the looks of horror,
disgust and pity which the appearance
of his face excited. not only among
strangers, but even among former
friends. lie would arrive on the
parade ground with the hood of his
military mantle drawn over his head
even in the hottest weather. in such a
manner as to shroud and almost entire
ly conceal his face. Indeed, one could
see little else but his brilliant, steel
gray eyes piercing through the gloom
Ills lips rarely opened save to or
der some more or less severe punish
ment.
Very different was Gen. de Negrier
who was beloved rather than feared 10y
these strange troops. of whom it ha'
been said with some justice that they
were a strange mixture of the chival
rous and high-minded gentlemen O.
birth, breeding and honor and the
most criminal blackguards. N. Y
| Raeprdar