Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-11-13
HOW FRANCES BLACK men FROM.
AFRICA FIGHT THEIR BATTLES

with yellow braid, his bright red sash
and his cap like a fez without aNtassel.
His Moroccan campaigns, he said,
were mere practical jokes to the pres
emit butchery, and he told me this
story of the trenches, from which he
had just returned:
We have a hard time making the
men stay down under cover. They
want to see what is going on. They
want t o jump out and a their guns
and shout insults at the enemy oc'
c~asionally as they used to in Mo-
rocco. Our captain, who was. OF
course, a Erenchman, was as bad as
any. Except to sleep, he absolutely
refused to descend into the trenches.
He would kneel for hours on the
ground a little to the rear watching
the enemy through his glasses and dl-
recting our fire. When we remon-
strated with him be merely said, like
any M-ohammedan, that a bullet would
find him when his time came-neither
sooner nor later. But so many OF
u men paid for their temerity with
their lives hat he, too, finally con-
scented tt come down out of the hail
of bullets which had never ceased
about him. Yesterday was his first
day in the trenches. About three
o'clock in the afternoon a shell burst
overhead. A piece of it hit him on
the crown and killed him instantly.
$50 you think it was because his
time had Gomez"
What else can one think? He had
found safety in the midst of death,
but death had found him in what
should have been the midst of safety.
The captain was right. 1t is written
Think "AiPs Fair in War"
/ do not know the origin of the
proverb, "All's fair in love and war,
but it has an ancient, oriental SAVIOR
and / suspect the Turcos thoroughly
subscribe to it. These African fight
ers are the only ones among the
allies whom / have heard speak open
Iy in praise of German ruses.
They're sly ones!" say the Turcos,
and wag their brown heads and grin
appreciation. They think it a very
good scheme of the Germans not to
make any effort to bury their dead
before ~retreating from one position to
another, for thus the pursuing enemy
must either bother to do the job him.
self or else run the risk of discomfort
and even disease. They especially
admire the German trick of standing
up their dead, helmet on and gun in
hand, along a deserted trench, so that
the French will think the trench is
still defended. And the wonder to
them is, not that the Germans have
burned and slleiled towns, but that
! they have not done so more frequent
ly-
Senegaiese Worship Fetishes.
The Senegalese t1railleurs, although
resembling the Turcos in certain Of
their military ethics, are beings OF
| an altogether different order. There
is but one Allah, and Mohammed is
his prophet" means nothing to them.
They worship fetishes. They arc
black men of Timbuctoo and the
Ivory coast, where the fiery harmat
tan blows. southwestward off the Sa-
hara toward the sea.
knowing that the forefathers OF
many of our own good American ne
groes had been captured by English
and Portuguese slavers in precisely
these regions, / expected to find some
thing familiar in the aspect of the
Senegalese rifiemen. ! was destined
to disiIlusion. Three days ago on the
road to Reims, I overlook IN entire
regiment. They stood or squatted OF
sprawled for several hundred yards
along the grass at the edge of the
winding road, resting under the pop
lars, their rifles stacked, their white
officers withdrawn into groups. al
ways at some distance from the men
Save for a red sash under their tn
MICS, they were uniformed entirely il
dark blue, even to their cloth cap.
and their putties. | walked pas
them slowly, fascinated. Most wor,
shoes, some were barefooted in sand
dals, but I had to look very closet,
at the dark feet to distinguish thi
difference. They seemed very tire,
under the weight of their haversacks
Their eyelids dropped like those of al
exhausted animal or of a mar who ha
been drugged.
Their Look Causes Shudder.
1t may have been this, or it ma
have been the blodshot whites O
their eyes which caused me to shut
der slightly when n looked at me
They scarcely spoke. Some sat sta.
ing into space, bent forward eve
their long, thin legs, which extende
like poles in front Of them. A nuc
Der were bearded-that is to sA,
they had across their upper lips an
under their chins a circle of blac
hair, the center of which was a pa.
Of thick lips. When one of them too
of his cap to mop his brow l wa
amazed to see a headdress like the e,
cravings in the a~nthropolgy tex
books-a shaved head with a tuft c
top from which descended on a
!. sides little kinky strings. Some, to
4 had earrings.