The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1920-08-02
IN OLD COOMAss|E,
WEST AFRICAN TOWN
Considered un 10 Date Today, II
Was Scene, Twenty Years
Ago, Of Grim Tragedy Of
Frontier Warfare

Maricrle and Alan ic,hgrldgc. ihs
special corresrondenis of the London
naliy Telegraph IN West Africa
write a. follows from cocmassie. caf,
i,al % the British coloay Of Ashan'
,iland.
Al the present day Coomasslc looks
more like an Indian town than amy
other on the coast, aud IL IL the pride
~ lts residents that socially Il IN alxo
like India. There are rcnl grass tennis
courts real regincntai hand. aad,
before tire war, there WAS the hest
pnlo team IN the coloay. Such II IL
to-day. and yet. oniy twenty years ago,
the aualnt little fort IN the center "
the town was the scene AZ one AZ the
srinlmest sieges Of Brlialns many
frontier wars.
only the fact that all eyes were
| turned on South Africa NJ that time
prevented the Siege ~ Coemassle from
! taking iis proper plare "a history nnt
we who have experienced the lnccn.
veniences and discomforts of trekkmg
de luxe" and wlo knows how mucls
is nrchrll Ia this part ~ the world
60 make llfe even bcnrahle. can apprc-
ciate somewhat the Nufferlngs borne
~ the defenders ~ the fort aud the
egoalsing suspense that they endured
until they heard the first shots of the
relieving force
The chief commissioner OF Ashanti
now lives IN the fort which gave It's
| mcnger protection 20 Captain bishop,
Lieutenant Ralph and nr. Hay. with
their i2S soldiers, during those inter.
minahlc weeks, One now has mn eve
alng gin and hitters on the very spot
from which those three officers could
see the tlres ~ burning villages aud
hear tlc wailing ot starving women
aud children. The Ashaniis themselves
seem 90 have shot their last holt In
the way of "frchifulncss. however.
aud no longer rink among the brave
tribes of the colony only one trace
Of the romance nf the past remains,
Where ~ the golden stool of Ash.
nnti 7. disappeared Ia is!N and fns
never been seen since ON II the Ash.
anti chiefs had sni and dispensed tls.lr
own peculiar form of justice from the
earliest days and, so far as Is known
II IS still concealed IN the inncrnost
rccesSos Of their land Hut II would
be brave European who opculy ne.
tempted 20 track It 10 SIS hiding place.
and there Is just possibility that II
has been pflsntely sold daring q period
of financial stress
kofn Karikari, the King OF Ashanti
Ia 1879, behaved In an oven more sac
rilegious manner. He secretly opened
the mnusolenm of his ancestors aud
robbed ilelr bodies ~ the golden or.
naments without which no Ashanti ~
amy means IS ever lowered into dhc
tomb.
II would never have been discov.
cred had not the lynx eyes ~ the
quecn-mothcr observed that the IN.
yorite wives of The king were nexpli-
cahly wearing rings and bracelets ~
antique Workmanship A little invcs.
ileation nnd she denounced him pub
licly
An admission Of his guilt wns the
only tling left FOR kiag kofe. He had
sold the major proportion Of his plun-
der, so he magnlloqucntly Informed
his chiefs that he intended 20 blow
himself and them up with gunpowdcr
IN order 20 obliterate his shame. I'VE
nre quite ready 70 die MS you request"
was their reply but blow yourself mp
first" II IN perhaps supcrfluous 20 ndd
that King kofe did nothing OF the
sort