The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1902-11-27
AFR.cA'S Mad MOLLAH
influence Welded by England's
Foe n SonaIiland.
CHIEF OF FANATIC M0gLEM HORDES

How He Utilized Warship's Search
lights to Give His Followers Some
Evidence Of His So Called Miracu-
lous Power Difficulties of Cam
paigning Against the somalis.
The Mad Mollah, against whom an
other punitive expedition of British
troops is about to be started in Somali
land, in northeast Africa, has long been
an object of suspicion by the war Of
| flee, says the London correspondent of
the New York World He and his fol-
lowers have opposed the development
Of the interior Of Somaliland and have
constantly stirred up strife by raiding
and looting tribes which were under
British protection. EARLY last spring
he raided tribes within eighteen miles
of Burao, and this despite the presence
Of a British garrison, which was pow
erless to effect anything against the
moIlah's rapidly moving force
General Manning arrived at Alden a
few days ago and at once began to
| rush trained troops to Somaliland 1t
is believed that Mad Mollah has a
force Of from 1900 to $4,000 men,
many of whom are well armed and
mounted. The British cannot prompt
ly put anything like as large a force
as that in the field, but expect to send
there a brigade 5000 or 1000 mem of
troops from India.
/ Tie mollah has been preaching the
/ iehad or holy war and has thus gained
a considerable following of Moslems
crazed with religious fervor. BY his
preaching ,he has gained such an in
| fuence over the tribesmen that he was
proclaimed mahdi by the Mussulmans
and Immediately started a Mohamme-
dan uprising.
Numerous mad" mollahs have been
heard from in the last decade, the
most prominent one hitherto being a
warrior in Afghanistap. a mollah is
a Mohammedan priest or prophet, and
a particularly fanatical one easily ac-
quires the title of mad" mollah. The
Mad Mollah operating in Somaliland
is known to his followers as Hail Mu-
! hammad Abdullah and belongs to the
Habr Suellman Ogaden tribe He mar
ried into the Dolbahanta Ali Gheri,
among whom be now lives at KOb
Fardod a village inhabited by mol
labs, a days march east of Kerritt
and about ITO miles from Berbera, So
| maitland. He is a man in the prime
of life, dark colored. tall and thin, and
has small goats beard. He has made
several pilgrimages to Mecca, and
while there attached himself to the
sect of Muhammad Saith, whose dep
uty he claims to be in Somaliland
This mollah is of humble origin, but
gifted with considerable intelligence
and cunning. He claims to have been
commanded to preach the Jehad
through a divine inspiration During
the time be was melting his followers
to rebellion against the British author
fly they demanded of him some evil
dence of his miraculous power. Hav-
ing the night before seen a warship
flashing its searchlights. he summoned
his followers to the beach at night,
and, fortunately for him, the warship
flashed its s9archlights over the shore.
Illuminating the country for a great
distance. The nollah at once pro-
claimed it as testimony sent direct by
Mohammed from Mecca.
This so impressed the tribesmen that
they viii follow the mollah blindly
anywhere He has distributed among
his followers pink colored rice, which
be has assured them so long as they
fight in the holy war will render their
persons and horses invulnerable against
the bullets of the infdels. He is
past master in intrigue, and by prom
ises and gifts and by arranging mar
riages between his followers and other
tribes he has gained a considerable
following.
The difficulties which will confront
any large force organized by General
Manning will be by no means incon-
siderable. There is no definite OBJ
jective. The mollah and his followers
have no fixed place of abode, but usual
ly live in the villages of tribes they
have raided. Much of the mollahs
wealth consists of herds Of camels and
flOcks of sheep and goats, and it is
the idea Of striking and destroying
these that the expedition will have in
mind. Army officers believe the mol
lab and his followers will always be
found near the grazing grounds of
these herds.
Before any effective work can be
done the force must cross a strip of
waterless desert known as the Haud,
200 miles in breadth. Except at the
coast, no food supplies other than meat
can be obtained. The only method of
transportation for supplies, ammuni-
tion military stores, ETC., is by camel,
involving a climb from the coast to a
vast inland plateau some 5000 feet
above the sea leTel.
The SOmali is endowed with wonder
full powers CT endurance, resembling in
some respects a camel. He can make
forced marches of thirty or forty miles