MAN WITH THE BRANDED BROW.

Taihape Daily Times, 25 April 1919, Page 6

MAN WITH THE BRANDED BROW.

THE SPIRDER OF DEATH. Somehow or other, through quite a common-place source, I tad heard of a soldier living in London who bore upon his forehead a, brand that had been tattooed during his captivity in an enemy country. Rumours of some such fearful shame having been put upon certain of our "brave- fighting men had, of course, come to me before, but somehow I could not believe such a thing possible, so I made up my mind to find out for myself just how much truth was attached to these tales. Through various channels I managed Id discover the name and address of this branded man,. His name is Roughton, and he was living, ah. frtie tinre that I talked to him, in a miserable slum near Waterloo. After considerable delay -I made up .appointment to see him, and he arrived on a dull, dank afternoon —December at its worst in London. I was seated at my desk when I heard a i curious clumping tread coming up the j stairs —the thump ,of a stick and the ! heavy sound of weary feet. When I j opened the door in response to a knock j I found a man standing on the- thres- ! hold whose appearance gave me a thrill. " THE HORROR OF THE BRAND. , He is worth describing, because perhaps, you may be able to feel some thing of the strange* sensation his ap- , pearance gave me. Imagine, then, a

figure bowed at the knees and back,

clad in khaki regimental breeches • and puttees and a rough dark grey ■coat hanging open over a woollen .waistcoat and a thick grey neck scarf. Had he been upright, he would have stood considerably, over six feet # He was leaning on a stick, and he wore a hard black hat pressed low .over his eyes. This he did not Immediately remove. He just stood there and looked at me. I knew at once that he was the man I was seeking, and invited him to come in. Then he removed his hat, and with difficulty I repressed a nervous shudder, for I was looking at a disfigurement that seems almost unbelievable in these days of so-called "civilisation.' 5 THE SHIELD OF BULGARIA

This man's head is covered with short stubbly grey hair, and his iiaT? urally high fine forehead gives" plenty of room for a sinister sign that stretches from temple to temple, and from the arch of each eyebrow to the edge of the acalp. It is a heavilytattooed design of a huge crab-]ike creature which he afterwards told me" is called "The Spider of Death,'? >or. "The Scorpion." In some xxorrible frenzy of imagination .of this creature which had been pricked with blue, red and green inks upon his forehead, has been given three bodies. One lies over the other, and each outline i s clearly shows first the shield of Bulgaria, above that the military drum of Germany, and, super-imposed upon these, the fez, the star, and the crescent of Turkey. On either side stretch eight human booted legs, while on the middle or head of this horror, hangs a ring showing that th c man branded thus is the property of the Turks for eternity. ■ , - ■

"Yes, that is what I have to show for my share in the Great War," fhc Branded Man told me.

"•I have seen a lot in my life. I was

born fifty-seven years ago in Chicago, and I guess there are a good many men there yet who remember the name of Houghton, famous for feats of strength and physical endurance right through from Main e to alifornfa.

MASTER OF TWELVE TONCUES "My life has always been one of adventure. I have been a 'strong man' and an acrobat in circuses. I have circled the world with a herd of Esquimaux dogs—l guess there ain't much in the wild adventure line that I haven't done! I have been mixed up in British wars for the last twenty years—in the Soudan, the Boer •war, and now this greatest war of all time. "Way back in 19.13 I think there must have been some, sort of idea going round the military heads of nations that, sooner or later, there was to be a big bust up. Just about that time —April 27th, 1913, to be exact—General Sherman, knowing my record gave me a letter to Mr. Tumulty, President Wilson's Secretary at the White House recommending me as ' an interpreter. Here, lady, you can see the letteif' and with a. bent and scarred forefinger. Routhfon underlined the words of a, letter from the general, saying that: "Mr A. Rough ton possesses unusual qualifications as an interpretar. He gives me to understand that he speaks twelve languages -with facilty." "Well, anyhow—that was in 1913 and then came 'l4, and with it war. Me and war was old acquaintances, and we j&L*(3»*??t had to get together, so I joined up .:'wit%,. a regiment of Royal Engineer;! w-fTH being recruited in the States,

and over I come to the fighting front. A MONS MAN. "People have asked mo why, if I had to be a soldier, I joined the British Army. "Well, what would you have .me do. They wouldn't take me in thc United States' outfit. I was too old—and, anyhow, I wasn ? t going to wait until President 'Wilson gave thc word 'Go.' So over I came, and with the sappers laid mines and built bridges, and put down barbed Wire in France for a spell. *f| » "I was at Mons—yea; ma-am, I was at Mons, and I got flTy ribbon right here." And again thc rusty leather wallet was produced and thc little blurred ribbon was shown. "But I never wear it," he proceeded. "No, nor my Queen Victoria five barred medal, or my King Edward two bars, and now I've been fighting for King George.

"After I'd finished with my Second Army in France, I was moved on to Salonika and then to Mesopotamia, and that's where .1 got caught. "It was while I was doing some work with barbed wire one night ttlono out under the stars in that 'blessed land' of Mesopotamia that I got done in. They got me, but it took a lot of them to do it, and I accounted for a fair number before I was bound and tortured and smashed into unconscious-

ness. GUARDIAN OF THE HAREM. "I was put to work, and I tried to escape, and I was caught and put

through more torture, and then one day Ift Turk, under the direction of a German officer, put this upon me,'' and the man smote his forehead with a terrible gesture. "If you ask me, of the Bulgars, the Turks, or the Germans, which are the worst, I will tell you that there is nothing worse than any one of the three. They're all alike, except in colour. The 'blende beasts,' and the 'black beasts,' they have no hearts, and their souls do not exist.

"By-and-by, over there in Turkey, i my captors realised that my physical ! strength was beyond the ordinary, and j I was turned over to a pasha, who ' bought my body for his service. I : was put to work pulling a plough— ' oxen were scarce in those days of the war—it was in December, 1917 i—and I dragged this plough across the land, i and when I didn't cover enough ground ' or the furrows that I made were crook* ' ed, I was beaten with a leather eat-o'-' nine tails that had nails at the end of each throng. j "Then fhc great potentate for whom ! I worked seemed to realise that lie Avas ' westing -good material in rough, un- ' skilled labour, and after many weary ! punishments, lie placed me (with tliis I badge of shame upon my brow, and the j price of ;1000 marks upon my head ! should I try to escape) as the guardian j of his harem. ' A TERRIBLE TRIAL. I

"Among the many women slaves in this place there was a young Arabian girl who had been stolen and sold to the man who was our master. She was unhappy to the verge of madness, and the honors through which she went on many occasions nearly drove me out of my mind. I witnessed things done to women that arc past belief, and I was helpless, a branded prisoner with a price upon his head. By methods that are too long to tell you, this Arabian and myself plotted and planned together and succeeded in escaping. Finally we managed to get in touch with British troops. "Let me tell you that no imagination can do full justice to what I have been through during the time of my imprisonment in Turkey.

Before I left, I asked Mr Rough ton if there were many cases of branding such as his, 'and he told me that the particular Brand of the "Spider of Death" was not usual in Turkey. It was done only in the case of men who were considered of special danger to [ the community, and upon the head: of whom a price was set. But in Turkey j the "Spider of Death" was a mark of Tearful significance, and its gruesome *

character makes it terribly trying. It is very hard for a man not to be able* to take off his hat in a cafe or public building without seeing people shudder.

"I don't believe that the mark can ever be taken away. I am told that some men who have been branded are having skin grafted over the marks, but it seems to me that the, sear will be almost as bad as the mark itself."

Mr Eoughton has a daughter, a girl of twenty-two, who has been nursing with the Red Cross in France. She was badly injured during the bombardment of one of the hospitals by the Germs||, and she has now returned to EngrJKd with her father. W