Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1903 — THE MAD MULLAH AGAIN. [ARTICLE]

THE MAD MULLAH AGAIN.

Overwhelms a British Force and is Afterward Defeated. i Another British column in Somaliland ■bas been defeated by the forces of the Mad Mullah. The overwhelming of a force of 220 men by an attacking column 'of 10,000 does not rank very high . as. a military exploit, but the fact that a force led by one of the most experienced officers tn Africa was ambushed and all of tire officers and 180 of the native troops; slaughtered will have a depsessing effect among the natives loyal to the British. The defeat of the British under Col. Plunkett, however, will have less influence tlinn the defeat of Col. Swain iu 1901, because the supporting forces were not so far from the scene of the battle. The main column, under Col. Cobbe, from which Col. Plunkett was detached, wns in a fortified camp, well supplied with provisions and ammunition and forces were soon hurried forward to re-

Here, the garrison. Brig. Gen. Manning, after an engagement with.the Mad Midlab's'fbrces, relieved Col. Cobbe, near Gumbprrrf,- Somaliland, forty-five miloa weedward of Galadi. About 2,000 of tha Mullah’s men were killed. The British,, -loss is not known. “ T Last year the Mad Mullah’s forces were defeated by the British and again by the Abyssinians, and there. is now, as there was last year, a heavy Abyssinian force flank of the Mad Mbllah's irrmy. "in this campaign the Brit-* iah have taken the initiative because Italy and Abyssinia have copiplaiiftid that the Mad Mullah übcs British Somaliland as a base -for operations against Abyssinia and Italian territory* As. a matter of fact, however, Italy and Abyssinia have as much at stake in driving the Mad Mullah from tbe field as has Great Britain. The War Is of the Same character as that against the Mahdi in the Soudan. An army .representing civilization is warring against the hordes representing barbarism.