Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-09-29

SUDAN.
charges being that they had wantonly
set fire to villages and had condemned to
death in a horrible manner those natives
who made any resistance, sparing nei-
ther women nor children. These rumors
were confirmed by Lieutenant Peteau, a
member of the mission, and thereupon
the government ordered that an officer
of superior rank be sent after the mis-
sion 70 institute an inquiry and to arrest
the officers if the charges were substan-
tiated.
Lieutenant Colonel Klobb was selected
for this delicate task, says the New York
Herald, and he left Hayes, with Lieuten-
ant Meynier and an escort of 20 men, on
April / of this year. On July IA the par
ty overlook the mission at Timber, near
Domanger, and klobb at once made his
presence known to Foulet, who replied
that he would shoot him if he advanced.
This threat had no effect upon Klobb,
who continued to advance in spite of
Voulet's repeated threats that he would
shoot him if he did not halt. Finally,
when Klobb and his party were within
$50 yards of Youlet's troops, the latter,
in compliance with their captains order,
fired three volleys, as a result of which
klobb and Meynier were killed. Klobb
was wounded in the leg by the first vol
ley and was subsequently dispatched by
being shot in the head.
Voulet then ordered bayonet charge,
and the remaining members of Klobb's
party fed, carrying their wounded with
them and leaving, besides the two OIL
GERS, nine dead. The survivors, ten of
whom were wounded, reached Qosso un-
der the command of a native sergeant.
As for the Voulet-Chanoine mission, it
took to the bush, and no one knows at
present just where its members are. The
French government, however, will soon
know, for it has taken steps to arrest
Voulet on the charge of numbering Klobb
and Meynier, and it has. instructed the
other French missions in Africa, the Fo-
reau-Lamy and the Gentil-Bretonnet
missions, to hunt for him at once. That
they will succeed in capturing him is by
no means certain, as he may try to es-
cape arrest by taking to the Sahara, and
if he does that he and his companions are
sure to die of starvation and thirst
In regard to the motives for the crimes
attributed to Chanoine anG Voulet, those
of cruelty toward natives and of assas-
sinating their brother officers, there has
been and still is much speculation. n. J.
Cornely, distinguished French journal
list, attributes Voulet's action to alcohol
ism and declares that this is the only pos
sible extenuating circumstances that can
be invoked in favor of the criminals,
whose sanguinary deed, he says, perhaps
excites more sadness than horror. On
the other hand, it is said that Captain
Voulet often spoke of founding vast
African empire. over which it was his
ambition to reign.
When news of the tragedy first reached
Paris, the general impression was that
Foulet and Chanoine must have been suf-
fering from mental alteration, as other
wise they would certainly not have acted
as they did. Several newspapers express
ed this opinion more or less forcibly, lay
ing particular stress on the fact that for
elgners, unless thoroughly acclimated are
apt to suffer in this way if they are oblig-
ed to stay long in Africa 1t soon ap-
peared, however, that this theory was
hardly tenable. In the first place, the ac-
cused officers are not strangers to the Su-
dan, since they have already spent a con-
siderable time there and have won much
distinction by their services in that re-
gion, and, in the second place, the letters
which they have written home to their
relatives during the last year not only
show no signs of mental alteration, but,
on the contrary, seem to the casual read |
er strikingly lucid and concise
Furthermore, mans relatives are pre-
sumably better judges as 70 his mental
condition than the general public can pos
sibly be, and it is worth noting that the |
relatives of Voulet and Chanoine are not |
only ready to vouch for their innocence.
but also insist that .they have never man
ifested the slightest evidence of insanity. |
Here are the arguments of these reia-
tves: They say that klobb could not |
have been murdered by Voulet. for the
simple reason that it was a physical i'm |
possibility for him to make the journey |
to Timber in the time specified. IF he |
has been murdered" they say, 'it is most |
logical to suppose that he and Meynier |
were massacred ON their journey by a |
band of Touaregs, and this is the more |
probable because the natives had then an
excellent opportunity to take revenge for !
the many losses which they had suffered |
through the French" Finally they main |