Evening Star Newspaper, December 27, 1925, Page 72

THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, D. ¢. DECEMBER 2 5— 19 PART 5. Physician Contends With Queer Superstitions in Sunny Islands Panic Develops When a “Dead Girl™ Returns to Her Vil lage—Tribal Beliefs in Sicknessand in Death—The Figure on the Funcral Pyre —Using a Potent Charm to Thwart a Witch Doctor. The Wizardry of a Murderous Chief. Dr a member of the Department of Health of the Commonwezlth of Australia. has had many vivid experiences among the primitive inhahitants of the South Sea Islands. Re sinning with the dayvs imme diately following his graduation in medicine, when he shipped ax a sailor on a trading veseel traversing equatorial waters, he has heen in close conthet with these peoples. Last week Dr. Cilento re counted the plight of a tax-col Jecting expedition when their boat was stranded on an un charted coral reef. Suddenly they realized that they were without ammunition and at the merey of ike natives who completely surrounded them. It required considerable diplomacy to extricate them from a.difficult n Cilento, BY R. W. SILENTO. AEWIENG Inoks out from the of New Ireland. in the k Archipelago straight into the Pacific. just helow the equator. A low xand dune i set inland a few hundred vards from the shore Behind that. a swamp runs back to the west for some 20 miles, and east ward lies Kaewieng, near an old tribal battleground. To the northwest many small islands, a larze number of them nameless, are scattered over the ocean months New Ireland isma there that I spent several chief medical officer and the adjacent islands And there. as 1 came in contact with the nati 1 hecame familiar with their strange customs. their supersti tions, their tribal beliefs. These are| impressed upon one particularly in times of sickness and of death One of the most striking and memo. rable incidents illustrating the extraor- dinary and, to the Occidental mind, barbarous customs of the natives came as an aftermath to an epidemic of influenza which, affer sweeping the nearby islands, spread to New Ireland There it was as a pestilential scourge About 90 per of the inhahitanis of Kaewieng and the & vil ages were sick. and v of these died With inadequate accomm the hospitals and with stock of medicine. Tavlor lian and 1 demic, bhut e or s smemed hopeless. We with the whole proj a while we just watched die. There was nothing else One morning. while in mood. 1 noticed that dow heach half zen natives w point depositing three they had brought in. Anather dozen e weeping copiousl The sick natives were an young man and a younz The two men were prefiy but the girl looked 7 <he ht have at least a chance. She fine specimen. tall for a Melanesian and of fair complexion, and she had go0d eves—clear hrown—rather common su aune v a tions at A depleted my oA epi fed up nd after assistant ht to do. depressed on the sre on the streichers half w@n un in A native worth the effort it would take ta save her. I had a native nssistant wrap her in a blanket and bring her up to my own house. where I could look after her At the xame time other hospital hoys vere xorting the dead from among the | dving and carrginz them off to be| buried, and it seems. thouzh. of course I knew nothing of this the time. that a report circulated. and eventu ally traveled hack the village of Ngawelus, from which Lawisa—that was the girl's name—had come, that #he. too, had heen taken away and buried *HE SUDDENLY FOUND HIMSELF 1 TI( After about ghree days Lawusa began to show improvement, and in another two weeks she was able to| get up. The two men, her father and husband, had died. A s0on as Lawusa learned that she wag the only one from her village left In the hospital. she insisted on starting hack immediately. She was still a scarecrow with hardly any flesh on her hones. But haggard and sick eas ®he looked, she stuck a flower in her short, fuzzy bair and tried to make herself beautiful according to native ldeas She was in no condition to under- lake the journey back to her village, wnd 1 did my best to keep her from zoing. But she said that if she were not allowed to go. she would run away, and finally she started off. pad-| dling along the road down the coast with a stick, planning to make Ngawe. s by going short stages each day. It %o happened that Lawusa was al moat our last influenza case. The epi- demic had about run its course, and soon after she left Kaewieng I pro nosed to Taylor that we get a launch and go down the roast for a bit of & blowout. We certainly needed one. Taylor was only ton glad of the pros. ect of a little rest, and we started off aceordingly. One afternoon ahout while | | | standing | ihe R suddenly struck me thatighe wast {in | |an we were working our way down the coast, in no particular hurry to get anywhere, we suddenly heard the heat ing of a tom-tom. it was the bush telegraph working furion 1 knew | that some kind of a message was go ing out; for the tom-tom sounder as an accompaniment to dances has a very different note. What's the message, asked my hoy ‘Me think it some feller finish."” was his laconic reply. We crossed the reef and heached the | hoat and then hurried up to the vil | lage. half hidden among the palms | All the natives were there in the clear | inz between the houses. dressed up in | everything they could put on, and there was a deeply religious atmos phere about the gathering. We understood the reason when we | saw a huge funeral pyre built up. It | was so high that we could just get a slimpse of a stff figure sitfing there the hack turned toward us, and the hands stretched out in an unnatural way. All the people were zathered wround ’ UST then they touched off the pyre. Half the population crowded up as far ax they conld climbh. Then they hted the wood from the four ners and one or two persons remained fie: it was borning well, for it £1Catl¢ to the credit of the person who i~ the last to jump down Tavlor and I walked aroupd the pile examining it with interest and watch e the natives eve longingly the cop per jewelry that custom decreed sheuld be burned with the corpse Wher we got to the front and were iere, looking up at it, Tay lor suddenly gripped my arm. “ICs thai darned girl we had. the one vou took care of at your house,” he satd We were in Ngawelus. and the fig ure on the pyre was Lawt Her face was painted vermilion. Nhe had her hest clothex on and her hair was niously hedecked. 1 shall alwavs remember her expression at that mo ment. Her eves were staring out into vacaney and fhere was the most pe culiar twisted smile on_her dead face if_she had rounded the circle of life and wasx contemptuons of everything ¥ thix time the flames were leaping rd the sky and the smoke curled un in thick black clonds. The huired quickly. It no secmed, hefore a sudden spouc-of fire sent up a shower of sparks shot down in the collapsing pile viih that little smile of disdain on her tace. Laier Maanga told as hc had gathered it vitlagers. It had returned that Maanga?" | he die R wond was time, it the real = from the ¢ seems that her the carriers Ngawelus with 1 Lawusa and h ela had died. When they brought this nevs back the village set in to do t 1roper thing. 1 decrees that an efhz=y of any one who died away home must be built out of wood ated with little bitsx of green and wool and then burned on a pyre. seems isto husc I that these three perso: had no immediate heirsat-law, so their property was distributed generally village. The old man, who. was & hrother of a former chief, had & rumber of pigs. of which property on island chiefly and it was considered the right thing 1o do to kill these pigs and hold a hugze fo.: three or four days. On the fc dar. when the mourners were Ning to recover from the feasting wilhed Lawusa. proclaimed dea heking ale ax a ghost Corsternation seized the people and tioy ran in all directions. Gradually a1l the village returned. They touched Lawusa and found she was real and mesently there was gireal rejoicing over her unexpected reappearance. All went well until she learned that her consists, feast itk OOKING LARLY -LOOKING NATIVE. property had bheen disposed of. Then | what had bheen a heautiful scene of rennion turned into bitter vitupera- | tlon from her and silence on the part | of all the people who had eaten her pigs. ok ok x T was a new experience in Ngawelus | for the dead to he resurrected i pecially so soon after the funeral Moreover, if Lawusa were alive, they | had to hand back her property. It | was easy enough to return ornaments | ana clothes, but unfortunately many | of her pigs had already been con- | sumed. | So the old men, who, according to the patriarchal system, are the final | arbiters on all matters of religion, cus- tom and anything connected with the destiny of the tribe, went into session. They had a hevd time in arriving at sort of agreement. Among the villagers was a one-eved ! chap named Gomulu, a hard-featured old fellow who had been in Queens- land. where he had worked for a| number of years. When he finally re- | turned to New Ireland. he had lost many of his native scruples and had acquired a peculiar brand of mixed native and white cunning. The rest of the village had come to rely on him to_find the way out of whatever difficulties arose. But he had not taken HT DOWN THE MU 77 | more days to live. any active the dis. cussion. At e sembly. As asked him where part in present Tast got = he walked up and left the a off somebody he was going. and 1 he ws sing into the jungle is son Kamubut, in hope that through communion with the spirft there a proper solution would he vouchsafed to him. Then the two men went off past Lawusa's house, on the far side of the village In about half an hour, Kamubut came back alone. The women were preparing the vams and the men were desultorily talking. By tacit understanding, they were waiting for the return Gomulu that he would what do ahout the proper When the the clearing he sa with them sure saw Kamubut stride inte ey called out, “Where Fush found? tound ven back?” we into the solution been The solution has heen eed the property he The property need Lack But Lawusa? Does There is no disagreement.” Kumu answe but do not mention name of dead. The name of taaboo, she agree?” bt the the n dead And Gomulu” is they asked. startled When the proy n of days is wecomplished. he will return Ka mubut replied quietly Then, realizir that auived, Gomulu 1 bush to purify himself for having killed one of the tribe, they gazed silently at Kamubut in the fading light. as custom zon re * x % % AL of psychological brought on merely by the helief an evil spell has been lald upon tain person by a powerful witch are common enough through out the ixiands. 1'ntil 1 ually deaths of this I thought the reports of them were more o “faked that death was due to arvation some equally specific deaths that a ce doctor, sort o I am easiest now thing conyinced that it is the in the world for a hys terical native to die of fright, and at deaths from this con tribute not a little to the rapid falling off of the Melanesian race. You have E OF A RIFLE HELD BY A PAR- only to tell A man that he has an in- curable disease and he will lose 28 pounds in the next fortnight. Or tell him that something is go- Ing to cause his death in 10 days, and in 10 days he dies. All resistance ix gone. Partly through neurasthenia and partly through mental depression, which makes him unable to eat, he {simply dies at the appointed hour. When the occasion warrants ft, myself lay claim to being a_witch. doctor. The following story will illus- trate my method of procedure. Once, when I was stationed in New Ireland, a native “boy” came to me about breakfast time, looking hollow- cheeked and haggard and just about as white as a native can look when he is frightened. When I asked him what the trouble was, he told me that he had only si “One feller Mar: —the sorceress in his village—had put a puri-puri on him. He implored me recharm him, expressing in fatter- ing terms his conviction that I was much more powerful than the sor- ceress in question. 1 could see mo genuine ailment of any sort that was affecting him: so 1 pretended to take serious thought. Fi- naliy I announced that I would take his case into consideration, but that T needed more time to think it out. Then the | 1) | 1 iold him to go and draw a ring round himself with a stick. wait until his shadow went inside the ring and | then come to me again. I requested him to bring hix brother with him In the meantime | began prepara | tions for his next visit. I got out a | very powerful emetic. wrapped up four ordinary dosex in a bit of paper, put thix inside one of the big blue bells that grow on the island and then wrapped the whele thing up in a| sheet of banana leaf. Then I put on a kimono and tucked the powerful charm I had into one of the xieeves * ok % ABOUT h midday I saw the two fel- swa helping each other up the to my bungalow 1 announced o them that the matier was far more serious than I had thought. 1 had consulted my familiar spirit, and 1 had found out that the name the witch who had placed the charm on the victim standing before me wa. so-and-<o. of the village of so-and s I had. of course. previousiv ordered one of my own * to find out whe the fellow was and what wax the me of the witch-woman in his vil luge “You probably not know." 1 went on, “that she ix in league with {the sun and the moon. She draws her power from the xun. Hul the | moon is the wife of the sun, from whom he has no secrets 1 went on to expiain that the best time in which to work was afier the | «<un had gone down and before the moon had yet risen. At thisx time therefore, the unfortunate man now suffering from the machinations the witch was to go with hix brother into the bush, on the sunset side of the village, and when he came to (he | first clearing. he was to ligh® a rire At this moment 1 broke off my in structions to take counsel with m: familiar spirit and gazed fixedly into space, repeating in all solemnity xome verses from “The Hunting of the nark.” 1 had planned to swing my | kimono sleeve up and suddenly pro {tend to catch my banana leaf parcel out of space, but an unexpected hitch loccurred in the proceeding when m ht-of-hand trick failed to work ! Finally I had to make bhoth “hovs™ ilvhn around several times, as i they | were taking part in the ceremony, so that I might fish the package ont when they could not see me. The: were properly astonished at sight of the miraculonus object in my kands “Ha,” I exclaimed, “the Charm has arrived! Now take this precious ar ticle and remember all that 1 told you before. When vou have lighted the fire, see that vour hrother sits on one side and you on the other. Then very carefully’ unwrap the leaf that yvou see here. remembering all the time that vou are handling magic, and that any mistake on vour part will destroy | the efficacy of the charm. “Inside vou will find a crumpled | flower. Drop the leaf into the fire and cait until the smoke has cleared. | Then open the flower. I think you | will find a_ tiny white object inside. | Rurn the flower and wait until you see the swirl of sparks disappear and | something like a_pit come in. the cen- ter of the fire. 'Then take vour broth- | er's hand and swallow the white charm aquickly, and very s=eon the devil will rush out of you. When vou feel well enough.” 1 concluded, “get a large stick, .one that reaches from the ground te vour | armpit. Go back to vour village and | heat that witch solidly and scientific- ally, until you are tir Then inform her that the big white doctor on the coast can destroy any charm she ever | puts on anybody again.” * ok ok ok INEEDLESS to say, they followed my directions to the letter. The devil was driven forth, the witch was | soundly beaten and lost so much | pretige in the village that she event- | nally had to leave. When she died of | influenza soon after, this event was | taken as a signal proof that she had | completely lost her powes One of the most remarkable stories { illustrating the subjection of the New | Guinea native to his belief in super natural forces as exercised through | witcheraft came to my attention | when 1 was attached in a medical | capacity to military forces stationed away up the coast in Dutch New | inea. Somewhere in the locality | | there wak a certain subchief called | | Futia. | " All of a sudden he ran amok in his | { village and killed four persons, one a wife of his own and the three other | { apparently not connected in any way | | either with her or himself. Having | finished this piece of work, he took to the jungle and disappeared. He was | unarmed _and was caught quickly enough and brought back to the head station, where he was put into a little | hack of galvanized iron hardly big- | ger than a sentry-box and provided with a strong, double-bolted door, | while he awaited trial. Futia had the reputation among the ~villagers of being a great wizard,and a sentry was placed on guard outside | the shack with instruction to bayonet him it he attempted to get away. The following morning, to the amazement of the garrison, the sen- try appeared, without his bayonet and rifle, and reported that during the | night Futia had escaped. When he was questioned as to how this possi- bly could have occurred. he told a story of holts and bars suddenly dropping off and Futia, in writhing flames and varlous other hobgoblin embellishmente. bureting out, stun- ning him, seizing hix rifie and bayo- net, and disappearing into the jungle. | | i |associating himself |«s he had so far “IN WALKED LAWUSA, PALE AS A [ It was obvious that the story was a | manufactured one. I determined to | elucidate the mystery. The sentry was not to be shaken in his testimony and kept .insisting that Futfa was no natural man, and that he actually had escaped hy witchcraft. Presently 1 saw that it would be useless to ridi cule this assumption. As soon as I accepted it the man became more communicative, “I was standing outside the sentry post and it war late in the night.” he sald In substance. “It was the time when the first light heging to come in | very | | the sky and evervthing ix very, quiet. Perhaps 1 was asleep. not know. Suddenly hody calling my name. | “It was Futia’s voice calling me, ! Mystery (7)waivsappea THE PEOPLE.” SHOST. “RNATION SEIZED but Futia was in the cell, and tne voice came out of the cell. It came out of the cell and stood on my shoul der and called my name right into my ear. ‘I was frightened. T tried to force the voice away, but it would not he forced. The voice said, ‘Come closer.’ I did not move. Then suddeniy the voice grew stern and said, ‘Come lose.” And 1 came close until I was right against the door of Futia's cell ‘Open the door.’ said the voice. hands were not my own hands. Sud denly the door opened and Futia came out “He was tall. IHe was not man. Fight feet tall he was. He looked like a cocoanut palm, and he shadowed me over and I felt small be like a My | | neath him. 1le laughed and fire out of bix mouth. “You to do what he said use I am a wizard. if vou had not done what I asked you to ou would have died. If you follow me to the jungle now you will die. As perhaps vou will live 10 days Then he took my rifle and 1 looked { him and he was gone. Then sud denly I became awake and 1 saw that truly he was gone, and that I had let him go. And his charm is upon me and in eight davs more I must die.” “When he came out of the door, was e standing very strafght? 1 asked | 1T 2 man stands on his toes his legs look far straighter than they do other- wise. ! “Yes,” he said. “he were very straight.” “itow did he have hiz hands?" asked IHe thought for answered: “His ne I wanted,’ was. His legs 1 minute and then hands were raised that they reach as high as a coco- nut palm. He looked like a coco- palm, leaning over a hut. * ko ox HUS did Futia vanish into the jun gle, and thix time he was gone | #% conepletely ax though indeed he had heen a sorcerer. He had vanished like a jungle mist, and. strange as it may seem, the sentry developed a listless. ness from which we could not rouse him and died a few days later. Then, as tigie went on, tales began te come in frém quite distant places of a wan | dering warrior who burst into villages, |armed with a rifle and bayonet, de manding and obtaining whatever he wished. Sometimes, in wanton cruelty, hay- ing terrified a village and taken every ‘lhinx he wanted. he shot the old chief, ‘Iua\'lnc with some dire threat of occult revenge to he visited upon any one | foolish enough to attempt following him. One day he’was here, and the next he gimply was not, and a week later somebody suspiciously like him | the identifying feature was alwavs the | rifie and bavonet- would turn up in | auite another district . | Many moons afterwards one of the | officers of the Australian military ad ministration was Investigating the condition of villagi in one of the re. mote hill fastnesses of an i nd off the coast, nearly 700 miies from the jocality where Futia nad fir into the limelight in Dutch New Guinea. Zntering a village late one afternoon he happened to netice » carelessly constructad and insanitary shack a little to one side of the cen tral clearing The shack rather spoiled the neat appearance of the village, and turning | 1o the old chief. Lebincus, he asked why a chief should permit a miser able little hut like that to destroy his | record for having the cleanest and best-lookinz village on the island. The old man, somewhat ill at ease, replied that it had nothinz to do with him or any of his villagers. The inspector walked over and en tered the hut. There was no one in | side. but he had a sudden feeling that some one was watching him through the thin attap that formed the back wall. He went out by the front door and walked quickly areund io the hack but maw nothing of a disturbine nature. A he turned to retrace his steps he suddenly found himself looking straight down the muzzie of a rifie | beld by a particularly savagelooking native. who was just about to prems the trigger. Apparently the man had been concealed behind the trunks of some cocoanut trees. There was no time for the officer 1o take action in self defense, but his wit saved his lifs “Right. you fellows:" he called out coolly, addressing a preiended cen- pany of scouts located to all appesr |ances Just behind his adversary's shoulder. “This s our man® Fasten him up.” As the savage wheeled with an ex clamation of alarm. the officer man aged to catch him a blow behind the ear that brought him to the ground Holding him there with one arm twisted up under him. he shoutsd lustily for help. The village =quare by thix time was filled with natives babbling and velling with excitement Very few minutes passed before the intruder, who was. of course. Futia. was mecurely trussed up and on his way under guard to the island head quarters, where. for hix long seriag of crimes, he was sentenced to serve eightesn vears of imprisenment. rance in Mexico Of Former D. C. Man Believed Solved BY GEORGE F. WE | NE of those mysteries with | which the history of our own Far West, as also of Mexico, is replete, was the ultimate fate of Ambrose Rierce Pacific coast writer. who had lived for a long period in JVashington and had many friends here Ambrose Bierce was a native of Ohio, gained the rank of major in the volunteer xer during the Civil War, and made his name of wide spresd fame as author of “Cobwebs From an Empty Skull” “The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter.” RBlack Beetlex in Amber, and va rious her weird and interesting works of the type established by Ed. zar Allan Poe, ax well asx by hix con- tributions for a long eriex of years to a variety of publications. The memory of his pungent The Passing Show"” will be long cherished by his throngs of adimirers. In the latter part of 1913 movement ainst Victoriano under whose leadership I ident dero was deposed and slain, was gain- ing steady momentum until jt finally swept him from hix blood-stained seat Bierce arrived in Kl Paso from Cali fornia, and remained there for a while with newspaper correspondents from all parts of the country at one of the hotels of the which was their favorite gather in place and source of news from across the river.” When the opposition to Huerta was daily gaining strength. Rier decided to engage in the actual contest. just been taking part in the literary portion thereof. So he went to El Puso. as the nearest point where he could get into personal touch with any of the revolutionary leaders. After several days passed fn makin acquaintances and gathering infor mation, he announced his intention to cross over into Mexico, to seek out Pancho Villa. who had but recently executed the coup that gave him pos xession of the City of Juarez, and to tender his personal services as one| possessed of a certain amount of mili tary knowledge and experience that might be of use. Those with whom he conversed in Paso afterward declared he said that he intended going into Mexico. offer his services. and hoped he might | give hix life in_defense of the liber ties of the people of that country. If refused. and in default of anysoppor- tunity to do this, he intended to ‘crawl into xome quiet. out-of-the-way hole In the mountains, where he could live his few remaining davs in peace. »nd then pass away in due season.’ It was plain to those whom he mat that he was tired of living. S0 he crossed the Rin Grande one day-—and then dropped out of sight. Never again was he seen on the American side of the river and nnth ing more was ever heard of him agaio with certainty. He did not communi cate with any of his old or new ac- quaintances. when the Huerta, Mal * ok % o PARTY of American newspaper correspondents. Among them the writer, had heen detailed to accom- pany Villa in his progress southward through Chihuahua from Juarez in the Spring of 1914. These writers returned to El Paso from the City of Chihuahua during a period of mili- tary activity. in order to recuperate from the hardships of the campaign. They were occupying a ‘“side-door Pullman” with the Mexican military trains—in other words, a plain, ordi nary, evervday box car, which they had equipped with bunks, tables, a cook stove, etc., including a Chinese cook, and in which they could live after a fashion while in active cam- paign. But they lost no opportunity to enioy a recess from such ‘com forts” and their visit to El Paso w: for a few days' stay among modern fmprovement When they encountered some news- paper acquaintances In the city one of the first questions asked them was as to whethgr they had seen anything of Ambrose Blerce. The detalls of his arrival at El Paso and his de- parture into Mexico werk recited. This had taken place between the |time of the correspondents’ original departure from the horder and visit paid several weeks later. None of the campaigning corre- spondents had at that time even heard of Bierce's arrival at the bor- der or of his purpose in coming there, and their interest was at once aroused. Of one thing they were certain, and this was that Bierce could scarcely have joined Villa's m- mediate personal staff, since they were at all times in contact and daily touch with the leader and his head- quarters entourage, while every one of the few foreigners in any manner | connected therewith was well known | to them. Nevertheless, on their re. turn to the front they made earnest | and careful inquiry, but were unable ! to learn anything whatever regarding the missing man or of any one whé resembled him. Bierce was not one to have attempted to hide his identity by | assuming a name other than his own. There was no reason for so doing. though an abundance of forelgners ‘. {10 the appen can be found in Mexico who have | done that Followine t at lengtr attendant the cities and T the day = their El Paso visit came the thiee weeks of fighting upon the final of of Gomez P'alacia. Lerdo eon. On the afterncon of hsequent to the fall of the laxt mentioned piace one of Villa's officers, a colored man well known to the writer and who had been a res taurant keeper in that city. visited the correspondents’ car for the pur pose of reporting to them that during the severe fighting of the previous day an American. whom he believed to be a newspaper correspondent, had been killed in a remote and ad vanced portion of one of the dry irri sating canals that ef fectively as trenches be- siegers Ax eight cur was missing, served for most the none of the party correspondents occupying the the thoughts of all at once turned toward Bierce, and the idea wax aflvanced that perhaps he had attached himself to some of the ther zenerals in command of corps of Villa’s army, and had thus remained aloof from the latter's central head of seven auarters and hence out of the ken of | the other Americans The officer was closely questioned as ance of the dead Ameri can. but his description did not corre spond with that of the missing man, although it was somewhat vague in some respects, as the body was in such a condition when it was seen that an accurate description was diffi cult. However. the locality was indi cated with sufficient definiteness, and on the following morning at an early hour a party of the with a guide set out to investigate They found the spot indicated by their informant. but to their disap pointment learned that the dead had heen gathered in piles, as wns tomary, combustibles placed over and around them. oil poured over all. and they had been changed into unrecog nizable masses having littie enough resemblance to humanity * o x % JFOLLOWING this event occurred al constant ness for any and persistent watchful evidence of Bierce's whereabouts. American newspaper men who had visited Mexico at the special invitation of Huerta and had been carried about that portion of the | country still under his control in Pull man cars chanced to be in Torreon | during the early days of the attack by Villa. They had been assured the in teresting spectacle of the complete, absolute and very sudden annihilation of that leader and of his troops, and awnited the sight with interest and enthusiasm. But when, afier a few days, it hecame apparent to the fed eral commander that the —perform ance would again have he post poned, that the shoe was, in fact, very much upon the other foot, and that his own defeat was only a matter of a short time. a quite short one, it proved, in fact, the visitors were hur- ried away. but®not until the federal commander had. with his own hands killed one of his subordinates who had held an outpost against five repeated or | correspondents | assaults of the enemy doned the place serted him—1that vere left alive One of the co and only aban. when his men de is, those few who spondents who tried i0 send a dispatch to his newspaper presaging the forthcoming defeat the Huertistas was put under arrest at Hipolito, a desolate in the desert, was taken under guard from the train, and imprisoned in a filthy hovel for over a week. almost foodless ind waterless, then found and released by the Constitutionalists in their prozress toward Saltillo, in pur suit of the fleeing federals. The writer inspecied his place of confinement and found it a t of shelter for even the swine of the camp. Half a dozen others of the “guests of Huerta were transferred from their omfortable Pullman cars to the de idedly uncomfortable cells of the penitentiary ai Saltillo, lest they, too, <hould essay to send out damaging but entirely truthful reports of actusl {conditions, and were kept there sev- eral davs under threats of death. They ilxo were released when the advance forces of the Villista troops took the city from the Huertistas. who fled, leaving a number of their dead in the covered and locked reservoir on the hill that supplied the place with drink ing water. and where they were not found until after the commencement of an epidemic of poisoning started in investigation 1t was thought that perhaps Bierce ight in some manner have joined forces with the aforesaid guests of | Huerta, but careful inquiry did not develop any facts or reports to sup- port this idea * x % x IVE years passed, and the fate of Rierce still remained the writer, after service Mexico Ambrose Then interesting unsolved some in | City with the committee on public in- | | formation of the American Govern- ment during the European war, found himself, after the declaration of the rmistice, engaged in the publication of a magazine in that place. Associ ated with him was a_bright voung man from Durange, Don Edmundo Melero. who had been educated in Philadelphia institutions, spoke and wrote English to perfection, and had a good knowledge of newspaper and magazine work In the course of conversation one day Don Edmundo chanced to men- | tion that he had heen an officer in one | branch of Villa's forces during the | | early portion of the revolution. He had held this position in 1913 and the | early portion of 1914 ing the latter part of 1913 and ear! portion of 1914, 1 said, “T wond | by any possibility you ever ran aci | or heard anything of an American newspaper man and author named have heen with the Copstitutionalist forces about the time vou mention. He has heen missing ever since and 1 have tried in every way possible to learn something of his fate.” “Ambrose Bierce! Did I know AMBROSE BIERCE, THE AUTHOR. IN UNIFORM. THIS 1S THE PHOTO- GRAPH USED IN THE IDENTIFICATION BY A SOLDIER WHO SAYS HE WAS PRESENT AT THE EXECUTION. “If vou were with Villa’s army dur- | Ambrose Rierce, who was supposed to | | him I rather think I did’ Why, we | were good friends—the hest of friende’ We used to talk together by the hour He could speak no Spanish and | was the only one with that corps (that of Gen. Maclovio Herrera) who spoke English. and we became fast friends He was never weary of asking me questions about Mexico and the revo ! lution. and I was never tired of giv ing him information and talking with him on all soris of subjecte. 1 never met & man whom I liked hetter Did you ever know what hecame of Bierce finally 1 asked ‘His friends bave never heard a word about him “vom that time to this. and they are “onvinced he must have lost his life No, I never knew what became af bim finally.” replied Don Edmundo, | “Not long after that I left the Villa | movement and went slsewhere. But he w with one of Villa’s corps when | T et Melero identified Rierce’s photo graph. and. indeed. there could hae heen no possible doubt as to the ac- curacy of his recollection, | B | SEVERAL months later Ton Ed- | ™" mundo came into the office one | ax in & condition of considerable ex- citement | “I can tell you now what became of Ambrose Biarce” “Last evening 1 met on the strest an old acquaintance who had heen a sergeant In Gen. Tomas Urhina's forces under Villa. T took him intn A cantina. as he was hard up and | hungry, and hought him ieed and | drink. | “After I had descrihed Bierce 1o him minutely. he said that he mizht have known him: that he was pres- ent when a strange American had been executed by Urbina. and that his recollection corresponded tn my description. There could scarcely he any mistake, for the snow-white hair | and mustache and strongly marked face and commandinz presence of Bierce were ax clear in the sergeant’s recollection as they were in mine “The sergeant said that after the break between Villa and Carranz in the Summer of 1914, Gen. Urhina | was makirg a forced march to head | off or defeat a bhody of Constitu- | tlonalists opposed to Villa. which | wax then at Icamole. 2 small place | he anneunced between Monterev and Saltille. re- spectively the capital cities of the states of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. While on this march thex met pack train of mules carrving cases of arms and ammunition whose desti- nation was the place mentioned. and which were heing hurried thither for the use of Villa's opponents. All the armed men with the train sue ceeding In escaping. except one Mexican and one American—the nne whose description exaetly corre- sponded ta that of Bierce. They were taken hefore U'rhina and ques- tioned. The Mexican admitted his identity and explained his pressnce with the pack train as merely an em- plove to help care for the mules and not as a soldie He was nnarmed and had made no attempt to escape, as had the soldiers. “The American. however, did not [ ungerstand anyvthing that was sald {to him, and only_shook hix head | when addressed. None of Urbina's i men could speak English. so no cem munication was possihie. Urbina | promptly ordered both men to be shot | —their presence with an enem: |ammunition pack train being regarded | as ample warrant for summary execi- | tion. With an army on foot and mov ing rapidly from one place to another. | there was no time for delay in such | matters and no provision for the i care of prisoners. So the two suf- | ferers for the acts of others were { xtood up before a firing squad with- out_delay. “The Mexican fell on his knees and extended his arms, beseeching the executioners first for hix life for | the sake of his wife and littls ones, {and, when he saw this was fruitiess, { begzing them not to mar his face | with bullets—the same request that is almost invariably preferred in lke | circumstances. The American also { for gome reason assumed a knseling | attitude and also extended or raised ! his arms, but said nothing. Both he i and the Mexican were told to stand p. but neither did so. whereupen the - to fire wax given and both fell | “The tiro de gracia (revolver shot of mercy) was administered by the | commander of the firing squad, a shal- low hole was dug by the side of the road, the bodies dumped into it, and { Urbina_resumed his march with his | troopa.” And this was undoubtedly the fate of Ambrose Bierce—exactly the fate he had exprested a deaire to meet. And as this is the only account of any kind that diligent search has revealed, it may safely be taken as |an accurate statement of his end. Don Edmundo afterward brought the sergeant to see the writer, and | ne repeated his account as already { siven, also identifying a photograph which was shown him as that of the American whem he saw 50 summarily executed on his knees.