NORTHERN NIGERIA.

Evening Star, Issue 12163, 6 April 1904, Page 6

NORTHERN NIGERIA.

FURTHER DISASTERS

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright,

LONDON. April 5. Heavy fighting has occurred at Bassa, in the province of Northern Nigeria, The natives broke through a square formed by the expedition which had been sent to punish the murderers of Captain (TBiordan, the Resident at Bassa, The expeditionary force lost- many in killed and wounded, hut no Europeans were among the number, [On January 26 news came to hand giving details of a disaster in Northern Nigeria in which Captain D. S. P. O’Riordan and Mr C. Amyatt-Bumey, district superintendent of police, were killed, and the greater part of the escort cut up. The officers were not engaged on an expedition, as the accompanying force only consisted of fifteen soldiers Mid thirty-seven police. The party, it was thought, had started from Dekina, the chief post of the Bassa province, on a patrol among the Okpoto people. As to the purpose of this patrol or the particulars of what happened nothing was known beyond the fact that only fifteen of the men succeeded in escaping to Lokoja, the two officers and thirty-seven of the escort being killed. When the news reached hcadquare ters preparations were made for despatching a force of 300 men to the scene of the disaster, where heavy fighting was expected. Bassa is a little-known and very wild province, inhabited by extremely truculent tribes, such as the Okpotos and Munchis, who practise barbarous rites, and are continually guilty of outrages,]