The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-05
RESCUED FROM CAPTIVITY.
A Black Girl Who Was the Talk of
Paris Ten Years Ago.

NNtSNNNN
of the French Congo country, was well
coined home to Paris with all the hon
ors and attention that the French be-
stow upon their successful men, He
brought with him a young black girl
and the French were entertained by her
novel and romantic story. Newspapers
and magazines published pictures OF
Paul Crampel and Niarinze, the bright,
jolly girl of the Pahoulns, the greatest
tribe In West Africa.
Three weeks ago the French newspa-
pers printed long accounts OF the over
throw of Sultan Rabah. who for years
has been master of the Central Coudan.
They told Of the killing Of this powerful
potentate and OF the establishment of
French authority where he had ruled
supreme; and the long story contained
one little paragraph which seemed not
to have attracted much attention. It 10
said that the negro girl Niarinze, who
had accompanied Crampel back to AZ
RIGA, and who for years had been a
captive In the hands Of Rabah, was
found among the women who surround
ed his tent as the French soldiers
marched up to the quarters Of the fall
en- Sultan. These soldiers were greatly
surprised to be addressed in French by
81 woman of the thong. 1t was Mia
riEze. Her days of captivity were over.
The story of this girl is most unu-
sual one. About 1887 Crampel liver for
months in the unknown east part Of
| tho Erpnrh Cnnrn a ndara1 fn,o,1
chief to chief of the great Pahouin
tribe, that numbers at least a million
souls. One day a chief surprised the
young explorer by remarking:
II am astonished that you have lived
to come through all this country. The
chiefs have treated you badly, and now
! you say you will return among the
whites. A great man like you ought to
take home women from all the nations
he meets. Now ] am going to show
you that l am the friend of the whites
1 will give you one of my daughters to
take home with you
The explorer protested in vain that
he did not desire such present. He
told Chief Igue that he had left a young
wife at home and that among his peo-
pie a man has only one wife But the
more they talked the more certain it
was that the chief would be offended
If his present were rejected Crampel
had only a small following, and he
could not afford to turn friend into an
enemy. So he said he would accept the
present.
The next day at large meeting Of
the people the chief appeared leading
Niarinze by the hand. The girl was
then thirteen years old. When her
father had brought the child before
Crampel he said to the smiling little
Great ure:
Now you have no longer father or
mother or brothers or sisters. You be-
long to the white man and you are go
ing to his country
Thus 1t happened that this little girl
was taken from her native forests and
introduced to the wonderful sights Of
Paris where she was soon placed in
school. Crampel and his wife expected |
that she would learn to read and live |
out her years in France. But one day |
the plans for Niarinze's future were |
suddenly changed. Crampel had re-
ceived a commission to go to the region
between the Congo and Lake Tehad.
He was to make treaties with the chiefs
of the tribes and place them under the
protection of France. In fact, he was
to be Frances representative in the race
for Lake Tchad in which England and
Germany were participating. Crampel
greatly needed an interpreter to accom-
pany him on his journey. 1t was be-
lieved that the influence Of the Pahou-
ms extended there and that the tribes
probably understood this language
He needed a Pahouin interpreter.
There was no time to be lost, for his
required celebrity. The young
girl coming her French lessons was an
to his hand, and so it hap
pened that she went with him back to
Africa. The last their friends saw of
them was as they stood on deck wav-
ing their handkerchiefs as the ship
bore them out Of the harbor.
Crampel had not heard of the con-
quering advance of Rabah in the Sou
dan and he approached his destination
little dreaming that he and his small
party were at the mercy Of a powerful
foe. Rabah was informed of every
step the explorer took. He permitted
him to advance until the little party
had entered the southern part of Wa
lila, on the southern edge of the Saba
ra. Then he sent a party to meet
Crampel with orders to kill the intrud-
ing white man. One day a crowd of |
apparently friendly Mohammedans sud
denly overpowered and disarmed the
Senegal soldiers while at the same mo-
ment another throng attacked Crampel
and his Arab interpreter and stabbed !
them repeatedly with knives. Then as
The dying men lay on the ground the
Arabs shot them through the head. All
heir clothing was stripped from the
he scrub and abandoned by the muir
bodies, which were dragged through |
1erers. The black members of the ex-
petition Wore kept as slaves. One of |
hem escaped and he told his story of /
he part Marine had taken in the fear
ul scene.
He said that when the attack came,
rs unexpected as q thunderbolt on a
sunny day, the young girl seized a gun, =
lhot dead one of the men who was
;tabbing her master and moment |
alter she too fell dead with bullet
through her body
But Mr.. Dybowski, who led the
search expedition which France sent
tut to ascertain what had become of !
srampel, returned home with another
tory which he believed to be the true
me. He said that all the native and
Np A1,n off l., l,1