Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1895 — ITALIANS MASSACRED. [ARTICLE]

ITALIANS MASSACRED.

A Serious Defeat for the Arma of King Humbert in Africa. Another tragic chapter is added to the bloody history of European colonization in Africa by the defeat and almost annihilation of five companies of Italian troops, under Maj. Tosselli, by a large force of Abyssinians. The Italian troops were surrounded by 25,000 of the enemy and fourteen officers and 700 of the rank and file perished, leaving the fate of Maj. Tosselli and 300 more unknown. A force has been sent by Gen. Baratieri, commanding the Italian forces in Abyssinia, to the relief of Maj. Tosselli, but the prospects are that the Major and the remnant of his troops will have been exterminated before the arrival of the reinforcements. The soldiers who fell with the exception of the officers belonged to the colonial army. The disaster is the result of the efforts of Italy to establish a protectorate over Abyssinia. Those efforts date back to 1889, when Italy, in accordance with the provisions of the Berlin conference, notified the powers of Europe of a treaty concluded with the King of Abyssinia, by which the latter country and all hei dependencies were placed under Italian protection. Since then there have been rebellions and Considerable fighting, with the Italians generally coming out the victors. The defeat just sustained is the only serious one in the entire campaigns.