Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1899 — PRESENT DAY BARBARIANS. [ARTICLE]

PRESENT DAY BARBARIANS.

French African Expedition Said to Be Gwilty of Astonishing Crnelty. A grewsome account of the conduct of the French expedition which has just made its way to the Nile is given by one A Of its members in a private letter, says the Boston Transcript. He says they impressed all their native porters and other help by force; in brief, seized and made slaves of them. Then, if any of them tried to escape, they shot or hanged them. When they came upon a village and found it deserted they set ft afire, whereupon the inhabitants, who were hiding near by, would come back and try to extinguish the flames, thus giving the French an opportunity to seize some of them to replenish their slave train. The French would seize the chief and tie him up until he furnished the required number of slaves. If they did not succeed in calling any of the natives within reach by incendiarism or other means they simply looted the village. At night they kept as close a watch upon the slaves as possible, “but they would now and then al! ran away together, and it was not easy to kill the whole lot.”