Evening star., 1941-07-25
(Elerenth OF a Series.)
Ry ROBERT ]. CASEY.

fnre,en Core espondent of The Star and
Chicago Daily News
Now. concerning the matter Of the
horse and the A. r. P, of Alexandria;
You don't hear much about the
italian air force any more. You
never did hear much about it after
Balbo came to his mysterious end.
But in the days Immediately after
the French collapse and II Duce's
assumption of the toga it was the
custom of this corps d-elite to strew
bombs on the water front Of Alex
andria in the hope of annoying the
British Mediterranean fleet. 1t can
not be recorded that the feet ever
suffered much from these attentions
nor, for that matter, did the town
until the Germans came along with
the murderous technique perfected
In the London blitZ. Some OF the
rare art works OF this ancient town
were damaged as for instance fine
Egyptian Arabic filling station built
to look like a fine Americana Arabic
filling station, and sundry odds and
ends of sculpture dating from some
period quite a lot this side of the
Ptolmies =. But these things were
negligible except for the statue OF
Ibrahim PaSha, who was undoubt-
edly a very famous man and an
excellent subject for a cast-lron
likeness.
Ibraham Pasha stood looking out
at the sea from a pedestal on the
marine drive. And while he may
have looked like Suleiman Pasha or
other famous pashas he could be dis
tinsuished from his iron associates
by large plaque telling his name TO
anybody who could read Arabic. 1t
was lust beside this plaque and Just
beneath the tails of Ibrahim Pasha's
frock coat that the first bomb fell on
the evening that AleXandrines still
remember as the night of the
horse" The bomb removed the coat
tails, not to mention the seat of the
pasha's cash-iron pants. Local
artistry has since patched up the
damage with lead and stove-black-
ening. but YOU can make out the
repair work If you look closely
enough even now.
Aussies Take Charge.
To the scene of this outrage came
couple of young Australians whose
names. unfortunately, have been
lost from the record. They looked
at the havoc with the eyes of pro-
fessional artillerymen and not-un-
fortunately - with the critical ap-
probation of art lovers. But they
saw clearly enough what happened.
The modern Egyptians may have
unique ideas about sculpture but it
Is not the habit of their artisans to
portray heroes in seatless trousers.
This is terrible" said Australian
No. / If the eye-ties keep throw
ing crumps around like that, they
may do some damage somewhere"
Il should suggest" said Australian
No. 2. that we get in out of the
coup There is a good shelter
under the Windsor Palace Hotel
also a good pub Let us 60 there"
So they went. And on the way they
came upon the claimants horse.
The alert had sounded nearly an
hour before and the night was filled
with the noise Of ack-ack and ex-
ploding bombs. The blackout was
total but there was a full moon,
and that. augmented by a refec-
ton of light from the sea. enabled
the two visitors to see the cab horse
tied to lamppost not far from the
Windsor Palace. What happened
then has been pieced out from foot
notes which they supplied TO the
hall porter. the manager and GER
tain military police Australian No.
looked at the deserted horse and
felt a great compassion
Look he said The cabman
gets to shelter all right. But the
horse doesn't. He stands here and
takes it"
There is a fine shelter under
the Windsor Palace Hotel" said
Australian No. 2-"and maybe the
bartender can find some hay and
a few oats. :" So they un-
hitched the horse and led him
through the blackout curtains into
the hotel lobby.
Probably nothing much would
have come of this-for Egyptians