The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1911-07-11
CORPS OF RoGuEs
French Foreign Legion a Unique
Military Body.
CRIMINALS FILL ITS RANKS.
n Gathers Recruits From the Social
ovtessts Of All Grades Of All othsr
Ceuntriss--lron Discipline and Bru.
tsi Punishnsrts.

| tsi Punishnsrts.
The French Foreign Legion is
unique There Is no other military
organization like 1t on earth. Ii was
FIRST raised In 1881 for service In the
then newly conquered colony Of Al
geria. The officers are French officers,
OF course. but the ranks are made up
OF outcasts Of all social ranks of all
other countries. 1t Is understood that
recruits are simply seeking refuge
from the arm of the civil law. The
corps has done excellent work against
the Arabs and il always placed In the
forefront of the fight.
The Foreign Legion exists but to
march. To this one end its whole
training is devoted To fall out on
the march is the one objectionable
sin In a legionnaire. The system Of
marches Is brutal. No matter what
the distance, 1t has to be completed In
one stage. Forty miles, fifty, sixty
no matter-it Is done straight OF the
reel, with, of course, brief halts for
rest. But there is no general halt
until the whole distance is completed
II legionnaire faints on the march
he is tied to baggage cart which
rolls on. He then either has to march
or he is dragged along. Seeing this
done for the first time, l thought 1t
stand the reason for It," said one who
had served In Its ranks.
The legionnaire who struggles In the
desert is lost. Hundreds Of men have
died dreadful death in this way. The
Arab women pounce upon them, lying
helpless I'm the sand. and. with shrieks
Of fiendish delight, proceed TO torture
and mutilate them before killing them
outright.
penny day. True. wine In Algeria
costs only a penny quart, and tobac-
CO threepence to fourpence a pound.
But-a halfpenny a day!
His rations. too, are Of the scantiest
Two meals a day only are served
breakfast ut 10 o'clock in the morning
and supper at 4 I'M the afternoon.
Each meal is exactly alike. consisting
OF a thick soup made up Of meat and
vegetables. with bread. and every 9TH
err day small quantity of wine.
The discipline Is ruthless In it's sever.
ity: the punishments are cruel In the
extreme. For grave offenses, like de-
sertion. INSTRUMENTATION or striking Il
superior officer. death Is frequently in
flicted, or, falling that, the Offender IL
sent 10 serve In the penal battalion OH
the edge of the Sahara desert. This
nearly always means II slow and pain.
ful death in place of quick and com.
paratlvely painless one.
Minor otfcnses are punished with
from twenty to II hundred days in
prison or with "cellule." which is soil.
tary confinement in the dark plus star
walton. have seen strong. robust
men so reduced after doing thirty days
cellule that they have hardly been able
to stand. yet they had TO resume their
ordinary duties nevertheless.
Not long since two other dreadful
forms of punishment were In vogue
the "silo" aud the ''crapaudne." The
silo was just deep hole in the ground
shaped like funnel, into which the
victim was cast He was given no
blanket or other protection from the
weather.
| The sun beat upon him by day; the
cold night mists penetrated to the mar.
row OF his bones. He could not lie
| down, for the bottom of the sllo sloped
to point. He just crouched, a hud-
died heap, until not infrequently death
mercifully relieved him from his suf
ferlngs.
The crapaudine consisted in trussing
a man as a fowl is trussed, his hands
and feet being tied together on his
back In such a manner that they form
ed II sort of semlcircle.
This resulted In such frightful
cramps that the pain sometimes drove
men mad. Both the silo and the era.
pauline, however have now been
abolished. But in the field and on the
march an offender is still punished by
being "spreadeagled'' and bound to
four stakes driven into the ground
| To escape from these fortunes men
mutiiate themselves, usually by cut
ting of one or more fingers, or they
will pnrposely make themselves H.
One favorite trick Is to take drink
from the sewers under the Arab pris
on. This lOathsome draft almost in
rarlably brings on an attack OF ty-'
phoid OF n peculiarly malignant tyre
Others. more enterprising, try ~ IL,
sert, but they rarely succeed. Most
ly they meet with dreadful deaths M
the hands of the wild Arabs OF the
desert. The only class of recruits who
are treated with special favor are
those who have previously been OH.
GERS In some other army. These are
usually made corporals on enlistment
and afterward sergeants. But even
under the most favorable conditions
life in the legion is the life OF a dog.