The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1918-08-29
Gabriel d. Annunzio
By Frederick J. Haskin

Wnich the war has worked, Capt.
Gabriel d. Annunzio of the Italian Fly
ing Corps, who recently crossed the
Alps with squad of planes to drop
warning in the streets of Vienna, is
certainly one of the most remarkable.
Before the war d'Annunzio was widely
famed as poet and esthete, a ladies
man and an autocrat with a fine scorn
for what he termed democratic mud"
When the war broke out he enlisted in
the flying corps, won rapid promotion,
and has been many times mentioned in
dispatches. He is further reputed to
have renounced his autocratic philosophy
and to have endorsed in his speeches
the principles advocated by President
Wilson.
To thus leave life of esthetic ease
for the hardships and dangers of battle
and TO renounce lifelong contempt for
the principles of democracy by going
forth to fight for them, would be suf-
ficiently remarkable in a young man.
But Gabriel d'Annunzio is 81 years old.
According to members of the Italian
War Missions here in Washington, the
message which d'Annunzio dropped in
Vienna the other day was as follows:
ITO the people of Vienna: We could
drop tons of bombs, but We Italians do
not make war on women, children and
old men-only on your blind, obstinate,
cruel government, which cannot give
you either peace or bread. but feeds
you on hatred and illusions
Gabriel d'Annunzio has none of the
conventional characteristics of the
Greenwich Village type of poet. To be-
gin with, if compelled to live in Ameri-
ca, d'Annunzio would not live in Green
witch Village at all but on Riverside
Drive. He likes all the Injuries of life.
His clothes are immaculate, his finger
nails deliberately manicured, and his
hair-well, what there is of it is short,
but he is mostly bald.
He is described as a little thin man,
with fair hair and short Van Dyke
beard, with large gray eyes and rather
thick, sensuos lips. He is famous in
Italy for his love affairs and his dramas
He long professed the belief that the
morals made for ordinary men should
be disregarded whenever they interior
ed with art. Thus in his great tragedy.
THE Triumph of Death" produced by
Sarah Bernhart at the Renaissance
Theatre in Paris, we find d'Annunzo
announcing through the lips of Ales.
sandro that everything must be sacri-
feed to genius. Alessandro is in love
with young girl. Blanca Maria, and,
according to the above stated principle,
pushes his suit in spite of the fact that
he has devoted blind wife
AS personality study alone, dan
nuzio is among the most interesting of
the worlds literati. He is so varied.
In addition to his literary activities he
has raised family of several boys, to
whom he is devoted. He keeps a ken
mel of racing dogs, which he used to
take to Paris every so often to compete
in dog races. And he has quite repu-
tation as hunter of Italian foxes. His
horses are all thoroughbreds, and be-
fore the war he used to ride horseback
every morning. He is also said to be
very fond of swimming and fencing
When the motor-car came along dan
nunzio Immediately bought one and
went in for motoring, and with the in
vention of aeroplanes he Immediately
became an aviation enthusiast. 1t is in
teresting to note that d'Annenzio' S
first flight was made with one of the
Curtis brothers in 1910, and now in 1918
Hugo d Annunzio, his son, is here in
America showing an American plant
how to make Caproni aeroplanes.
D'Annunzio, here entered the Italian
aviation corps at thea beginning of the
war as a reconnaissance expert. He
does not Iun his own machine, but
choosing the most daring of the pilots,
flies oyer the enemy's lines and spies
upon them. He has uncovered in this
way a great deal of important informa-
ton about the enemy and prevented at
least one large disaster. 1t was his
idea to fly over Vienna two years ago,
dropping words of wisdom on the Vi
ennese, but the commander of the Italian
aviation corps refused to permit him.
They needed him at home. he said
Before the war d'Annunzio was one
of the greatest disciples of autocracy.
In one of his novels he speaks of the
mud of democracy" which was de-
stroving the fine tradition of the Italian
nobility. Since the war. however, he
is great exponent of the Wilsonian
democracy. In the first year of the
war he made one of the most stirring
war speeches that has been made in
Italy-a speech which is said to have
had more effect in deciding Italy to join
the Allies than any other one thing.
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side of Bayard county Road and of tie