“MAD ENGLISHMAN" OF LEGION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 123, 22 April 1927, Page 5

“MAD ENGLISHMAN" OF LEGION.

DASH TO BEACH UNDER FIRE,

ESCAP 1 BY SWIMMING TO SHIP.

LONDON, March 6.

Knov i as the “Mad Englishman” of the ] rench Foreign Legion in North Africa, Franklyn Brook, a Halifax man, t» Js a thrilling story of his deserti< a and escape under rifle fire by swii ming to a ship. The fe story of a man who served successi rely in the Royal Marines, the Guards and the Foreign Legion of the Fr nch Army—his record including tei _ years with the very pick of British infantry regiments and service all thr. ugh the Great War—should providi material for a book of experience ai d adventure that might become a boys’ classic, especially if the author were a >le to conclude it by describing how tl e hero, deserting the Foreign Legion escaped from Africa by swimming t > a trading steamer in which he was sn iggled back to his own country.

That is, apparently, a brief account of the main events in the history of Frank m Brook, a native of Halifax. Unfort mately there were in his career incidei ts of a less creditable character, ai d as these included the neglect of his wife and three little children, he is now serving a sentence of six month ’ imprisonment passed upon him b, the magistrates of his native town.

Altl >ugh Brook was described as a labour :r when he was brought before the ju tices, he was employed in Bradford s i an advertising agent for some time fter his discharge from the Guarc i.

SOMETHING SNAPPED

In August of last year he told his wife 1 lat he was going to give up his rooms as he had obtained others which were *oth cheaper and better, though he oo Id not get possession of them imme< iately. He had arranged for her and t le children to live in the meantime rith his mother at Halifax. Brc >k saw them off from Bradford statio i, the arrangement being that his w re should return two days later by a certain train, which he would meet.

Mr Brook made that second journey, >ut her husband was not at the static 1, and after waiting for two or three hours she went back to Halifax. She < id not see her husband again until he was in the dock at the police court this week, when he was evidently anxic is to avoid meeting her eyes or those of his mother, who was with her. Mr. Brook, thrown upon her own resou -ces when in delicate health,, and witi three children aged 4, 3 and 1J yean dependent upon her, had to appeal to the guardians. At >ut two months after her husband s last disappearance Mrs Brook recei ed from him a letter that had been posted at Tunisi, on the north ooEst of Africa. He told her that he did tot remember going to Africa—“son ething had snapped in his head” —nn l that he was serving in the First Reg- nent of Cavalry in the Foreign Legi in.

MAD ENGLISHMAN.

H asked his wife to write soon, as he « spected to be coming home shortly. His letter went on:—I have been in a tion against the Druses. We had 78 3 len killed out of my squadron. The; call me “the mad Englishman.” The e are none—only me. They are Fie; ch, Germans, Spanish and Russian I-only get 2}d a day and have to nve a fortnight to buy stamps fo- me letter. I would like to send a p lotograph, but it would take me thri ) months to save up mv pay. .Ti this letter in which he gave his regi nental number, Brook signed himse.f “your unfortunate husband.” Mrs Bio k answered the letter, giving him her new address, and the fact that he sub 3quently wrote to her at Groveto :i :ce satisfies her that he was actually i jrving in the Foreign Legion. 0 l February 19 6he heard from him aga n. This time he wrote from the Gl’a gow Free Library. He told her tl.a after being transferred from the ct.v dry to the infantry of the Legion boc iuse ho had given trouble, he and a ( erman, unable to endure the life, doc ded to desert. They eluded the gai rd and made their way to the slio e, where they entered the water int uding to swim to a vessel that was lyii g off the coast. They were pursue l by soldiers, who opened fire upon the n, and the German was shot. 1 rook managed to reach the ship'and wa taken on board and hidden by tw sailors. They provided him with foe 1 during the day-time, in return for which he used to emerge from his hie ing place at night and do odd jobs for them. The boat was bound for Gls sgow, where he left her..

MISSING LETTERS,

, irook told his' wife that when he rei ched port he had only a pair of ridia| breeches and a shirt. He begged he to help him, saying that he had be n walking about the streets. If he dit not hear from her by a specified fir e, he said, he would know that he we; not wanted at home. He had be n to blame for what had happened nil 1 he would disappear and not wrong liii wife again. Ipook told the magistrates that the Fi inch authorities gave him to under-<-t: nd,. when he enlisted under them, lih .t he would be able to send a docent ul! nvance home, but when he arrived in Africa they told him he was in the reign Legion and that his pay was {,. a day. *He declared that ho .had written to his wife six or seven times ind as she had not received more ± m ono letter from him, he could 01 ly suppose that the others had been iiu by the censors.