The Washington bee., 1912-01-20
CORPS OF ROGUES,
French Foreign Legion a Unique
Military Body.
CRIMINALS FILL ITS RANKS
Ii Gathers Recruits From the Social
Outcasts OF All Grades of All Other
countries-lron Discipline and 8ru-
tai Punishments.

tai Punishments.
The French Foreign Legion is
| unique. There is no other military
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 fan out on
! the march is the one objectionable
sin in 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 a baggage cart which
rolls OH. He then either has to march
or he is dragged along. Seeing this
! done for the first time, l thought it
/ brutal. but later I learned to under
/ 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 a dreadful death in this way. The
| Arab women pOunce upon them, lying
! helpless in the sand, and, with shrieks
Of fendish delight, proceed to torture
! and mutilate them before killing them
outright.
/ A legiOnnaires pay is only a half
penny a day. True, wine in Algeria
! costs only penny a quart, and tObac-
co threepence to fOurpence a pound.
But-a halfpenny 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 in the afternoon.
Each meal is exactly alike, consisting
of a thick soup made up of meat and
vegetables, with bread. and every 9th
er day a small quantity of wine.
The discipline is ruthless in its sever
ity; the puniShments are cruel in the
extreme For grave Offeuses, like de-
Sertion. INSTRUMENTATION or striking
superior officer, death is frequently in-
fiicted. or. failing that, the offender is
, sent to serve i'm the penal battalion on
the edge of the Sahara desert. This
nearly always means slow and pain
ful death in place Of a quick and com
paratiyely painless one.
Minor offenSes are punished with
from tWenty to d hundred days in
prison or with "ceIlule," which is soil
tary confinement in the dark plus star
vatiOn. I have seen strong, robust
men so reduced after doing thirty days
ceHuIe 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" and the "crapaudine" The
silo was just d deep hole in the ground
! shaped like a 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 silo Soped
! to a point. He just crouched. ii hud-
| died heap, until not infrequently death
| mercifuIly relieved him from his suf-
| ferings.
| The crapaudine consisted in grussing
a man as a fowl is truSSed his hands
and feet being tied together on his
, back In such manner that they form
: ed a sort Of semiciTcIe
This resulted i'll such frightful
cramps that The pain sometimes drove
/ men mad. Both the Silo and the era
: paudine. however. have now been
! abolished But in the field and on the
march an offender is still punished by
/ being 'SpTeadeagled" and bound TO
four stakes driven into the ground.
/ To escape from these tOrtures men
( mutiIate themselves. usually by cut
ting off one or more fingers, or they
) will purpOsely make themselves III.
One favOrite trick is to take a drink
from the sewers under the Arab pris-
on. This loathSOme draft almost In
. variabIy brings on an attack of ty-
, phoid Of peculiarly malignant type.
Others. more enterprising. try TO de-
sert. hut they rarely succeed. Most
" they meet with dreadful deaths at
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 Off
GERS in some other army. These are
usually made corpoTals on enlistment
and afterwaTd sergeantS. But even
under the most favorable conditions
life i'm the legion is the life of a dog
- M