MOORISH REVENGE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 December 1927, Page 4

MOORISH REVENGE

SMARCH FOR ABDUCTED 01RI.S. CASABLANCA (Morocco). Oct. 14. A .Moorish tribesman’s revenge, it is now discovered, was responsible lor the tragedy in which three French colonists—two of them women—wore killed near Kenitra last Sunday and two little girls abducted. Further remarkable details ol the crime have now been gathered, partly from the evidence ol one ul the victims before she died and partly from police researches. M. Arnaud. a road engineer at I'JBordj, had been paying a visit, to Kenitra and left the cantonment there after dark on his way home, contrary to the strict orders issued by the military authorities prohibiting journeys after dusk without an escort. He was driving an English dog-cart with his wife a friend (Mine. Sompeyrae). and his two little girls, aged 10 and l.‘i. Mine. Sompeyrac made the following statement to a surgeon just before she died : "We were about 5 miles frorp Kenitra. when we met a native on horseback accompanied by three men on loot. The man on horseback had a rifle; the others seemed to he unarmed. He trotted up to the dog-curt and asked M. Arnaud to give, him a match. •‘4|. Arnaud curtly refused and made as if to drive, off. when the

horseman drew up right across the road and demanded money. M. Arnaud angrily replied : ‘Get out of my way; you will have nothing.’ NATIVE HIT. “The native then shouldered his rifle and fired. His horse moved, however, and this first shot missed M. Arnaud and hit in the foot one of the other natives, who was hanging on to the dashboard of the dog-cart. “M. Arnaud tried to whip up his horse, but a second shot struck him and .Mine. Arnaud also fell, with n bullet in the head, j tried to jump down from the trap and drag the children out, but one of the men on foot .stabbed me and 1 fell into a ditch. “I crawled from the ditch and shouted to the girls to jump and run. I thought, perhaps they would gain time and somebody would come up. But. the poor things were terrified and were quickly seized by the natives. The horse was taken from the trap and the girls were picked up by two of the men. T saw them disappear and I''eii I became unconscious.'’ Police inquiries reveal that the native accidentally shot by his companion was a man who had been reprimanded by M. Arnaud and bit by him for insulting his wife. The man went away muttering threats. The police and military have scoured the district, for the missing girls. French political officers are sending secret envoys in all directions to offer substantial ransom for their return unharmed.