A FRENCH FRONTIER INCIDENT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4541, 17 May 1889, Page 3

A FRENCH FRONTIER INCIDENT.

„.- . M ... A story was recently circulated m Paris that ft battalion of soldiers at Lohgwy had deserted to Belgium. Tho following may bo taken ai an accurate narrative. A. body of neventy-one men of the Chasseurs loft the barracks without taking any arms, There wore no noc-ooinoiissioned officers among them, They marohed out of the town m good order, past the Porto do Bourgogne,and without incident reached Halenzy, tho first village over tho border. Being safe hero, they went into a cafe to take, rest and refreshment. A lioiitennul who had been sent after them found them here, and tried to prevail on them to return to Longwy j but they wete obdurate. They declared that they would not go back to the regiment until a captain and an adjutant, against whom they had ground for complaint, wero removed. Finding argument useless, tho lieutenant gave them up, and a few moments Inter the seventyone men took train for Mousson, tho station beyond. The Burgomaster and tho villagers qfforjjea tl)em gqod. entertainment and v nisht'» real. This broujjht them into a more dutiful framo of mind, and before dawn thoy wero on their way back, and by fix had returned (o Longwy. Tho excitement which had been roused by tho event was somewhat allayed. After this tho men wore piaced under arrest, and General Varaigno came from Mezii'res, his head quarters, to commence an inquiry. Tho chief grjevi-ncr* of |hp soldiers were that they were ill-fed, illolothod, iil-iroatcd, and subjected to execsiivo duty. — Daily JS'tiios.