The Washington times., 1935-10-16

slaughter him with swords and
spears.
Whether this is feasible after
the Italians thoroughly fortify
Aduwa with plenty Of barbed wire
Is doubtful in the view Of neutral
military experts, but that an
Ethiopian attack will be made is
considered probable.
Treachery Admitted
Treachery of the blacklist va
riety was officially admitted today
when a government spokesman
sorrowfully declared that Ras
Halle selassie Gugsa, lord Of q
part of Tigre Province, had sold
out to the Italians.
Ras Gugsa'S treachery had al
ready been announced by the
Italians, but nobody here would
believe it.
It took the government a week
to learn the details, because RaS
Gugsa stole about 100 miles Of the
only telephone line connecting his
section of the front with Adds
Ababa, and that is the reason that
Adds Ababa has had no news
from the north all this time.
Contrary to Italian official COM
muniques boaSting that RaS Gugsa
took thousands of men, including
important chieftains, with him,
the Ethiopian government informed
international News Service that
Ras GugSa had only 100 followers,
the majority of them members OF
his household.
Left at Midnight
According to this official state
ment, Gugsa sneaked of last
Wednesday at midnight.
Avoiding his own camp, Ras
Gugsa marched all night long and
was received by Italians at an
outpost which had been appriSed
in advance, and which gave him
q welcome tempered only by any
soldiers contempt for a traitor.
With an Italian escort, RaS
Gugsa then proceeded via Aduwa
to Asmara, where the Italian gen.
eral headquarters are located.
Emperor Halle Selassie is sore
and bitter at RaS Gugsa's be-
trayal, and International News
Service was officially told that
the death penalty for contumacy
has already been passed against
Ethiopia's Benedict Arnold"
The Emperor hotly resents
italy's claim to set up GugSa as
q pretender to the throne, merely
because he is a great-great-grand-
son of Emperor John. A govern
ment spokesman said:
"The men Of Tigre and every
Ethiopian great and small have
nothing but the keeneSt con-
tempt and deepest disgust for
this mercenary traitor.
ITO think Of him as a human
being is hardly possible now
much less to think of him as .
king!
This low creature betrayed
his country for money, not for
politics, since even he, who
would stoop to anything, had
sense enough to know that his
pretenSion to the throne could
only be laughed at and spat
upon.
A POOR GENERAL
''Now we know what hap
pened when the traitor last
April went back to his home
in Tigre by Sea and then
through Eritrea, and stayed in
Asmara for some time.
"The Italians got to him then,
and offered him great rewards,
probably millions Of lire.
"The deSerter was a poor gen.
eral, diSliked by all.
Remember, he had married
the EmperOr'S daughter four
years ago. That gave him a dis
tinctiOn necesSitating that he
should have q command, but
we never had any confidence in
him.
"About a year after they
were married, his wife died, and
after that the Emperor dropped
him.
"He was nearly OstraciSed
from court, and that probably
made him disconnected.
Then Ras Gugsa wheedled
permission from the Emperor
to go to ASmara and get treat
ment at a hospital there. That
visit, plus one last year, were
certainly the times the Italians
hpihaH Ioi,a