Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-01-30
BY
GREAT MEN
Ext Congressman Tracey as a
Papal Zouave.

x-Congressman Charles Tracey, from
the Albany district Of New York, long known
As one of President Cleveland's intimate
friends has consented to tell the story Of mis-
service as a member of the Papal zouaves in
Italy.
sin 1870" said Mr.. Tracey recently,
s'the Italian government determined to take
possession of Rome. was then at home in
New York, but left for Rome in August and
arrived at Civita Vecchia, the port Of Rene
the very day it was taken by the Italian
forces. There met Reyes O'Cleary, who
had been with me in the z~ouay~s; a MIR.
KENYON. another gentleman who desired to
enter the papal army, and young Hemans, a
son OF MIS-. Hemans, the poetress. O'Cleary
had passed through Paris on his way to
Rome, and the papal nuncio there had piven
him a..packet Of letters and papers for French
men in the zouaves. These he had brought
in a satchel. That night, after everybody
in the hotel had gone to sleep, he and l got
up and went through the packet, burning all
the papers and making the letters up into a
smaller parcel, which we put back into the
satchel. Next day we four-O'Cleary, Ken
yon, Hemans and myseli-took a carriage
and followed the Italian army toward Rome.
We were stopped by General Bixio Of the
Italian forces AMI informed that no one
would be allowed to enter Rome until the
city had capitulated. This did not suit us
at all. We were eager to JOIN the zcuaves
in order to take part in the defense of the
Holy City and determined to try to get
through the Italian lines.
"Driving back out of sight of the soldiery,
we left our carriage, got into a ~ravine, stole
along past the nearest sentries and then
started on a dead run for Rome, II miles
away. O'Cleary was carrying his satchel,
and after WI had gone some distance he said
was tried and passed it over to Hemans. As
we logged along, Hemans in front, O'Cleary
touched me on the arm, and with q signi-
fcant wink and gesture toward the satchel
whispered: 1T takes an Irishman to make
himself as safe az possible under all circum.
stances. If we are caught, it will be Hemans
they will hang and not mel Bul we were
not caught. We passed safely through the
Italian lines, and on explaining to the out
posts Of the papal troops who we were and
what our mission was we were allowed t.
enter the city. Here we were separated
from Hemans, who was correspondent for
some London papers, and who wished to
remain outside the C ty in order TO observe
the expected engagement. The three of us
went at once to the headquarters of the col
onel of the zouaves and enlisted for two
years. The next morning the city was bonn
barded and two days later was surrendered
to the Italian army.
"The zouaves were sent to Civita Vecchia
and kept in prison for several days. The
terms of surrender included the right of the
foreigners in the army to return to their
homes. There we're 2,5oo Of zouazes in
Rome. Our company was composed of
about one half gentlemen and one half SER
wants who did our work and attended to our
wants for pay. Whenever we heard of a
fine gentleman recruit we always sent him
an invitation to join our company, and in
this way many OF the FIRST families of Europe
and America were represented in our ranks.
'sOne day, while we were in prison
st Ciyita Vecchis, Captain darcy, my com.
mander, came up with some of the officers
of the prison and said, come and 60 out
with u.s.
awe did so, and after strolling about for
awhile the party turned back toward the
prison. They though Twas following them,
but | gave them the slip and made 1 dash
for a small boat not far away and succeeded
in reaching a French frigate lying in the
harbor. 1t turned out that l had taken this
risk unnecessarily, for the next day permis
sion came for Darcy, O'Cleary and myself
to leave Italy, and we took passage fou
Genoa in an Italian warship.
"While we were lying in the harbor Of
Genoa and waiting for arrangements to be
made to send us ashore there occurred 4
very interesting incident. Though we were
FIRST class passenger, there were q number
of the poor zouaves down in the hold. II
was dreadfully hot there, and they had nc
water and were suffering 70 much that
D'Arco made bold to let cans of water down
to them through the hatchways. The Ital-
ian marines did not like this and gave ii
some fierce looks. Growing out Of this If.
fair On argument occurred at dinner between
the captain Of the guards, . pretty decen
sort Of fellow and darcy. The latter
said the captain was not . good Catholic be
cause he had teen fighting against the pope.
The captain maintained that he was 4 good
Catholic, but that it was his duty to uphold
his government and obey military orders.
The argument was good natured enough,
but the stewards who had overheard 1t e
ported the conversation TO the guards, and
next day, while the captsin of the guards
was on shore, leaving q sergeant in charge,
the guards got hold Of some liquor and Be-
came tipsy and ugly. I overheard them ut
tering threats against darcy.
presently u Of the tipsy guards came
to me demanding to know where my captain
was, and ! told him be was on deck. A
quickly q / could I hunted darcy and
OI.leary and told them that the guards
meant mischief and urged upon them the
necessity Of keeping cool and quiet under III
circumstances. Darcy replied that he
thought he could keep his temper, but inst
the same he went down 10 His cabin, took /
revolver out Of his satchel and kept il in hia
hand IN the outer pocket Of ! rack coat
which he was wearing ct the time. VIZ
were walking up and down the neck when !
party Of the guards came up and marched