NIGERIAN TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 24 October 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

NIGERIAN TRAGEDY.

FRENCH DESERTERS AND MURDER

OF BRITISH OFFICER, Buret and Dcsemblanc, two French sorters who were condemned to death at Ji.bba, in Nigeria, for the murder of Captain Keyes in 1901, but were subsequently handed over to the French authorities tor trial, have arrived at Bordeaux. They are being detained in custody there, pending the result of the inquiry into the ease which the French Government has opened at St. Louis. The two men have been brought back to France owing to their precarious health, caused by the bad dime and their long confinement. Originally there were three prisoners implicated in the affair, but one of them, named Beudart, died ill prison at Jebba. The case. which has already aroused a. good deal of discussion in France, seems likely to end in the prisoners being' released of acquitted, public opinion in Paris being emphatically in their favour. Beudart, Buret, and Dcsemblanc were three soldiers in the sth Regiment of the Marine Infantry garrisoned at "Cherbourg. In January, 1899, they deserted, went to England, and subsequently sailed from Liverpool for the West Coast of Africa, arriving at Area in the mouth of May in search of adventures and a fortune. They were engaged in various enterprises and" expeditions until April, 1901, when they all joined a Belgian Company to go into the interior on a journey of exploration. According to the version which is current in Paris, their camp was attacked and pillaged by the natives, the Frenchmen having for the moment to take to flight. They, however, returned and seized a herd of cattle belonging to the tribe as an indemnity. It was then that the British officer, Captain Keyes, appeared upon the scene, and ordered *tho restoration of the cattle. During the violent discussion which took place between the three Frenchmen and Captain Keyes the latter was shot, it is alleged, by one" of the three deserters. They iled to the North-west of Nigeria, but upon a complaint by the British authorities Mere arrested by a French post and handed over to the British in (September, 1901, and subsequently tried and condemned to death at Jebba. Owing to the feeling which the case aroused in France, and the steps taken by the French Government, the execution was postponed, and subsequent negotiations led to the handing over of the two surviving prisoners to the French authorities. In the meantime Colonel Peroz, who had delivered the prisoners to the British authorities, was recalled. Since their arrest the men have steadiastly protested their innocence.