The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-27
THE WAR IN ASHANTEE
FRIGHTENED THE SAVAGE TROOPS
BY DISPLAY OF FIREWORKS.
King Prempch's Soldiers Thought the
Incidents of the Campaign.
York World.

times has just closed. The ferocl0us BAR
barian king of Ashantee has surrendered TO
the British expedition. The funniest part
Of 1t all is the way the English troops
frightened the brave African monarch and
his warriors almost to death without even
firing a gun
The path from the coast to the interior
led through dense African jungle-an
ideal place for an ambush. The army en-
gineers went ahead of the troops with
corps of wood-choppers to clear the way
for the army. AS the expedition approached
the kingdom Of the brave King Prempeh
they found the woods full of armed savages.
Suddenly the engineering corps. after
darkness had settled on the forest. set of
an enormous display of sky rockets. Roman
candles. aerial bombs, pinwheels and fire.
crackers. They sent the rockets whizzing
into the underbrush and exploded the many
colored bombs among the trees. Red, blue
and yellow lights glowed here and there.
and Roman candles shot their exploding
balls up over the heads of King Prempeh's
ambushed braves.
The warriors were astonished. Their
eyes bulged with terror and in five minutes
there wasn't corporars guard of the
valiant army to be seen. The fireworks
were kept up all night and at daybreak
courier from King Prempeh crept up to the
British picket line and begged to announce
that the King was ready to agree to any
thing the English commander wanted.
quest Of Ashantee, While while the attention of
the world was directed to another part OF
Africa. Thus British tentacle in the
form of an army of conquest has stretched
out from the great central octopus and an
other kingdom is to be quietly added to the
British possessions.
slorf, fb,
dairy" of Ashantee by absorbing sucn of IT
as possesses gold fields, just as the Schom-
burgk line moved around in mysterious
manner in Venezuela until stopped by the
United States government. The purpose or
the present campaign against the k.ng OF
Ashantee. as the English allege, is to stop
the inhuman sacrifices of that funny mon
arch. AS was recently described in these
columns, King Prempeh has been main
tanning private slaughter yard for his
enemies. He has 1888 wives, and he orders
peoples heads cut off whenever IL suits his
whim. This it is true, had been going on
for good many years without the British
desiring to put stop to 1t until gold was
| discovered within Ashantee's borders.
| AS soon as the presence of the gold was
known the offenses of this inhuman mon
ster cried to heaven for vengeance.
| Clergymen all over England were
| shocked and Mortified as they read of the
human sacrifices going on in the neighbor-
| hood of Coomassie, and as rumors Of the
| new gold fields were circulated strong
| desire sprang up for advancing civiliza-
| ton" in that neighborhood.
NOVEL METHODS OF WARFARE.
| Nowhere in the history OF war. perhaps,
| is there record of a campaign so remark
able as this for the methods by which it
| has been conducted. For once the English
| nave shown great military intelligence in
| a foreign campaign.
| Perhaps the reason for this IS that they
went to Coomassie once before and that
the present comrfander-in-chief of the
British army is the gentleman who led
| was before the troops.
| He knew that large army Of invasion
would be a useless incumbrance, and the
ordinary British methods would be wholly
| out of place in Ashantee. He also knew
| that the followers of King Prempeh were
| up TO date so far as firearms were con-
cerned but that their knowledge Of sci
| ence was somewhat deficient. The Asian
tee warrior will fight when you place a
/ rifle in his hands, but when you confront
| him with kaleidoscope, a magic lantern
or a penny-in-the-slot machine he goes all
| to pieces.
| The way this war was carried out is the
| Torrance. Little nothing has been said
| about it in the English newspapers. These
and published lengthy detailed accounts O.
! the preparations as If they were directed
against real military power.
The steamer Angola left Liverpool and
arrived at Cape Coast Castle early in De.
cember with the first detachment of the
expedition. Hidden away down in her hold
| was an immense quantity OF skyrockets
| and Roman candles.
She had tons of these Fourth of July fire.
| works among her cargo OF warlike imple'
| ments. There were skyrocketS or every
kind, fire balloons. shooting stars. red, white
| and blue powders. pinwheels, snakes" and
| Chinese. firecrackers
Another ship followed the Angola simi.
| larry loaded and containing no rifles oil
| cartridges whatever. The ship bore to the
gold coast simply an enormous consignment
| of fireworks.
| Long wooden boxes that looked as IL they
| contained rifles with which to shoot dowr
the Ashantee really had within them harm
less skyrockets with patent tails that made
fiery streamers of sparks through the Afri
| can jungle and exploded in gorgeous clus
| ters of stars of every hue. Some OF the
| skyrockets released strings Of red balloons
of fire to feat serenely over the dense
| Ashantee forests
PARALYZED THE NATIVES.
Other rockets had bombs in their heads
and, would finally terminate their career
with a loud explosion far from the plac,
they had been set off. Still other rockets
that were taken along on the Ashantee ex
petition carried a curious whistle and a
they shot through the air made hdeou
noise that could be heard for miles ant
seemed weird and uncarny in the thicl
tropical forest through which the British
forces had to advance
The purpose of this enormous consignment
of fireworks carted into the very heart o
Africa was to brighten the black satrap
of King Prempeh, who have no fear o
firearms but are wholly unacquainted will
Coney island rockets The road from tn
Gold coast to CoOmassie that was cut b,
the British forces through the dense forests
| of Aashantee in 1874 had since completed.
disappeared.
| Under the fierce tropical sun, with numer
Gus rains. vegetation grows In a way to as
| tonish people in northern chimes. Tree
grow by day and night. and a path through
the forest closes up behind an army almos
| as il advances.
The King of Ashantee is reproached b.
the English with not keeping the road ope
and nicely swept for them to use. 1t
| charged that he deliberately let the tree
grow up so as to cut himself of. and tina
in fact the forest is his Monroe doctrfn
which protects him from intrusion OF TN
monarchical foot.
IL was in getting through this dense for
est that the English expected to encounte
their greatest difficulty. The Ashantee wal
riors have no love for fighting in the oper
| They appeared to rely upon picking o.
the British by sharpshooting methods In tn
Jungle The thick underbrush, the numeI
| Gus large trees and the dense foliage al
forded them every opportunity for concea
ment.
FIREWORKS BRIGHTEN THEM.
Here Ii is that the skyrockets, the pir
wheels. the snakes and the cheap Chimes
firecrackers came into play. A well-directe
rocket shooting between the tree trunks an
h,,.;re, over tho ground with its long fra