Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1907 — SHIPS SHELL A CITY. [ARTICLE]

SHIPS SHELL A CITY.

MOORISH TOWN OF CASABLANCA , BOMBARDED.French and Spanish Cruisers Open Fire Following; Battle with Trlbesnen—Holy War Declared to Be Begun—Two Nation* Land Troop*. French and Spanish warships bombarded Cnsablanioa as the result of Moorish tribesmen tiring ujkid troops landed to protect tihq French Consulate. Many casualties are reported. The French Admiral ordered 150 sailors co go ashore from the cruiser Galilee to protect the •“ French consulate. The Moorish troops and tribesmen looked upon the landing of the men as an invasion and opened fire upon them. Besides many casualties among the Moors, it is reported that five French officers and six sailors fell In the opening of host! 1 itles. __— , When the shells began breaking over the town, the Moors quickly fell back and the French sailors were able to rake up the wounded and care for them. The Moors are aroused as they never were before, and, spurred on by their fanatic fears that invasion of their —. . A-- . -. L. ct A 1* .-v /-..S zl tjotn.trry oy rnrri^u*»s ihvuils me. euu jtf their rule, they are preparing themselves for a stubborn defense of what they deem their rights. A dispatch from Tangier describing the bombardment of Casablancasays that the French cruiser Du Chayla and the Spanish gunboat' Don Alviara de Bazan participated with-the Galilee in the bombardment of the villages surrounding Casabla noa, which were destroyed by the fire-of the warships. During the bombardment large relnforeements of tribesmen came up. and

many of them killed or wounded. The Casablanca battery Joined in the Oring on the foreign warships, whereupon the guns of the French and Spanish cruisers were turned on the battery, which soon caused the Moorish cosntnander to send a messenger to the French admiral requesting his pardon. This was refused, ami the admiral sent a peremptory order to the Moorish commander to surrender himself to the French consul. Morocco lias warned all foreigners to leave Rabat, the seaport on its west coast, as a massacre is believed to be Imminent- Eurojieans are terrorstriven because of the throat of the Mbors that all Christians are to be massacred in what is believed will be the greatest holy war in the world's history. ■ -» Orßica in Holy War. The declaration of war such as has just broken put , iri T'asSUlabea, Morocco. with the murder and torture of a number of Christians, or Nazarenes. as the Mohammedans derisively call the whites, is a periodical event in northern Africa. It is always attended with fanatical orgies of the wildest kind, and the life of a Christian falling int<y the Jiands of the religion's crazed mob is not worth a straw. Death is not enough, either, aad the most atrocious indignities are visited upon the bodies of the "intid ’l." Travelers who have witnessed the beginnings of "holy wars” say that the scenes attending them are weird arid thrilling. The white-robed fanatics, with coal black faces, blazing eyes and bared, white teeth, dash hither and thither through-the narrow streets, sometimes •bricking curses at Christians and their religion, changing to a ehaut of passages from the koran and finally throwing themselves to the ground with their faces to the oast, and praying to Allah and Mohammed bis prophet. In these frenzies there is no deed that they will not perform: a holy war enthusiast,would alone charge a regiment of white soldiers and die. with a smile of Joyous happiness.