Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-06-02
CORPS OF ROGUES
French Foreign Legion a Unique
Military Body.
CRIMINALS FILL ITS RANKS.

Il Gathers Recruits From the Social
Outcasts of All Grades of Al! Other
countries-Iron Discipline and Bru-
tai Punishments.
The French Foreign Legion Is
organization like it ON earth. 1t 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 is always placed in the
forefront Of the fight.
The Foreign Legion exists but to
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, it has to be completed in
one stage. Forty miles, fifty, sixty
no matter-it is done straight off the
reel, with, Of course, brief halts for
rest. But there is no general halt
until the whole distance Is completed.
If a legionnaire faints On the march
he is tied to q 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 it
brutal, but later l learned to under
stand the reason for it," said one who
had served in it's 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 in the sand, and, with shrieks
of fiendish delight, proceed to torture
and mutilate them before killing them
outright.
A legionnaire's pay is only a half
penny a day. True, wine in Algeria
costs only a penny quart. and tobac-
co threepence to fourpence pound.
But-a halfpenny a day!
His rations, too, are of the scantiest.
Two meals a day only are served
breakfast at 10 o'clock in the morning
and supper at 4 in the afternoon.
Each meal is exactly alike, consisting
of thick soup made up of meat anu
vegetables, with bread, and every 9th
er day a small quantity of wine.
to- ,1tbInsS II, IL
ity; the punishments are cruel in the
extreme. For grave OffenSes. like de-
| sertion, INSTRUMENTATION or striking a
superior officer, death is frequently in
ficted, or, failing that, the offender is
sent to serve in the penal battalion Oh
the edge of the Sahara desert. This
nearly always means a slow and pain
full death in place of a quick and COM
paratively painless one.
Minor offenses are punished with
from twenty to hundred days in
prison or with 'cellule,'' which is soil
tary confinement in the dark plus star.
walton. l 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 We're in vogue
the "silo" and the "crapaudine." The
silo was just deep hole in the ground
shaped like a funnel, into which the
victim was cast. He was given nc
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 silo sloped
to n point. He just crouched, bud
died heap, until not infrequently deatt
mercifully relieved him from his suf
ferings.
The crapaudine consisted in. trusting