The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1921-09-16
PIRATES LAIR
SCENE OF FIGHT
Spanish Battle on Scenes OF
Centuries OF Conflict With
Tribesmen.
NOTORIOUS BARBARY COAST
Made Famous In Present Generation
BY Operations Of the chisftaIn
Muial Ahmed RaIsull-ReeaIIs
Famous PerIeardis Case.


called the Spanish zone, where SPANS
troops have just suffered disastrous
reverses at the hands Of the Moors
with the loss Of thousands OF men and
thousands Of square miles OF terri.
tory, Is part OF the notorious Barbary
coast whose pirates preyed on Euro
pean commerce for many years and
carried Europeans into slavery.
In the present generation II has
been made famous by the operations
OF the chieftain, Mulai Ahmed er-Rai-
suli, who captured and held for ran
som Ion Perdlcaris, an American citi-
zen. In 1905. This was I'm the admin
istration OF President Roosevelt and
evoked from Secretary Hay the his
toric phrase demanding "Perdlcarls
alive or Raisuli dead" 1t resulted In
the almost immediate release Of Per-
dicaris.
Three Races In Land.
Three races inhabit Morocco, the
original Berbers, or mountaineers,
who conquered Spain on three differ
ent occasions; the mixed race OF
Arabs and Berbers known as Moors
both Of which races are generally Mo-
hammedans; and the colonies Of Jews
which inhabit the coast cities and
control the majority Of the countrys
commerce.
The Spanish zone. where the fight
Ing Is now In progress. is a narrow
| strip Of land along the northwestern
coast fronting on the Mediterranean
| sea. 1t extends from Algeria. under
control OF the French, to the Atlantic
ocean on the west. It does not, how
ever, include the extreme northwest
ern tip OF land on which Is located
the city OF Tangier.
Spanish troops have fought the
| MOors for centuries, but IL was only
In 1912 that the northern littoral OF
Morocco was assigned to Spain under
the terms OF the Franco Spanish
treaty signed In that year. Since then
Spain has been engaged at intervals
In sporadic attempts TO maintain her
authority, with varying success and
| failure.
Want More Order.
Both the French and Spanish gov.
| ernments decided In January, 1920, to
| make military demonstrations In their
respective zones for the purpose OF
preparing the way to more orderly
government. The French zone was
| soon pacified. The Spanish territory,
which is administered by Gen. Dana
so Berenguer as high commissioner.
was not so submissive
Spanish troops at first made their
base on the Atlantic coast of Morocco
at El-Arish, also known as Laraiche
From there they penetrated well into
The Interior and captured a number OF
| Moorish strongholds, including the So
| allied secret city of Sheshawan For
some time little activity has been re-
| ported in that western district Of Mo-
| rocco.
The Spaniaris, however, sent an
other expedition under the command
of General Silvestre. who established
a base at Melpla. midway on q prom
ontOry which extends from the east
ern end OF the Spanish zone north
ward into the Mediterranean. From
that point. General Silvestre's troops
attempted TO penetrate southwark into
the interior. Early successes were
reported, but last spring the Span
iards encountered strong native troops
and hostile tribesmen. estimated to
number 10000 and said TO be we'll
armed and equipped with artillery.
The present reverses of the Spanish
forces had their beginning early in
Iune