The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-22
BATTLE TRAGEDIES.
OFFICERS WHO HATE BEEN KILL
.EDBP THEIR OWN MEN.

Cold FLOODED BIu riders by Soldiers That
Were Inspired by Malice or Spirit of
Revcnge-MarshnI Bnzatne Nearly
Net This Fate.
Tragic indeed is every incident con-
nected with the battlefield, but more so
are some of the mysterious occurrences
which have Outlines taken place during
a campaign and which might be put
down as cold blooded murders. 1t seems
a very unlikely thing that in the heat
of hard fought conflict the origin OF
a man'e death can be determined-that
is to say. whether he died by the hands
of one Of his comrades or by those OF
the enemy; consequently men with a
grievance against their officers have Of
ten made use of such opportunities to
wipe off old scores and have gone un-
discovered.
! "A notable instance of this occurred
just before the battle Of Woerth In the
! Franco-P russian war. A certain oHlcer
of considerable repute had got hlnseif
generally disliked by his perseverance
in bullying those under him "A lew
days before this, the first great battle
| Of the war, when the French We're near
ing the border.in their hopeless ondeaN-
or to reach Berlin, a rumor ran through
the camp late at night that the Prus-
slams were advancing and would short
| ly be up. Instantly pandemoniun reign
ed, and scouting parties were sent OUT
| in all directions. One of these was I'M
der the officer in question, and when
some way from comp was 1lfed upon,
the bullet bringing him down The
Frenchmen, thinking they had got INTO
an ambush, retired firing at an Invisible
foe as they did so, but as no counter
shots were received they grew courag-
QUO again and, after being REINFORCED,
advanced to the fatal spot. The body
of the officer was found, but not so that
of his assailant, who had evidently es-
capped unscathed I'M
On returning to the camp it was found
that no trace of the enemy had been
discovered. In fact, at that time the
Prussians were far away from the spot
on the other side of the Woerth Ac-
cordingly post norton examination
wae held on the officers body and q
French service bullet extracted there
from, but the murderer was never de-
tected, although he was doubtless In
the camp and had slipped out unaWares
to commit the crime.
But this Is only one of the many |
tragedies which took place during the |
war, and, 1t is said that at least per |
cent of the French officers fell by the !
hands of their own men and a little |
over half of that number in the Prus- |
elan army. In the former instance the |
crimes We're due for the most part to |
the national failing Of never forgetting
grievance and in the latter to the |
rgidity of discipline, which sometimes
amounts to bullying
Even Marshal Bazaine was nearly
murdered before he capitulated at Metz.
He was by no means popular man.
and on this account always stood in
dread of the ASSASSIN, and his fears
were not lessened when a plot was dis
covered to put poison in his food the |
scheme being Matched by his own men,
The offenders, or some of them were
promptly tried and shot before many
hours were over.
rather sad case is recorded in con-
utCtlDi WITH Tie Ildildu hlaetotVI a. FhNo7 |
wah. During the melee a man was
seen to shoot in the direction of his cap
tain, who at the same time fell mortal
ly wounded When the battle was over,
the man was charged with the crime
and after seant trial shot by his COM
rades, despite, the protests of innocence,
one of the chief reasons for his condem-
nation being that he was known to
have a grievance against the officer.
Nevertheless the affair was soon for
gotten till some nine months afterward, |
when a soldier came forward from the
same regiment self-charged with the
crime. He related the facts in detail,
giving his motive as petty tyranny on
the part of the officer some years pre-
viously, when he, the murderer, was a
and stated that he would never
have given himself up had not another
man died in his stead Needless to say,
this did not excuse him. and he perish
ed in the prison yard at Naples,
In 1899 three Spanish soldiers were
executed at Madrid for the alleged muir
der of an officer during the hostilities
in Cuba although the evidence against
them wac very meager. Sufficient was
It that subsequent to the battle of San
Juan the officer was found dead some
way from the battlefield with a Mauser |
bullet in his brain, and the three men
'eferred to were seen in the vicinity at
about the time the affair must have !
aiken place. OF course they may have
)een justly condemned, as tragedies of
his nature were especially frequent in
he Spanish army throughout the war,
1ut at the same time the authorities
allied to take into account that there
we're many so called loyal Cubans at
ached to the Spanish forces and also {
present a San Juan who had been CIV
n Mauser rifles and ammunition by
heir 'oppressors, but whose dislike to \
spanish officers, was proverbial.
Although such crimes are more COM
non in the majority Of continental ar
MES than in iur own we must not i'm
y . l