DEATH BEFORE SURRENDER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 307, 24 June 1912, Page 5

DEATH BEFORE SURRENDER

WIRELESS HEROES' BATTLE WIT! MOORS. : A thrilling story of how the threi French wireless operators in Fez loi their lives during the massacres on Apri 17 lias been received in Paris. It wtf told by one of the three, a man namoi Rebout, on his deathbed in hospital. B died a few minutes afterwards. 'i The three men were at lunch at halj past one when the fanatics attacks their house. The shut themselves j an upper room, barricaded themselves and determined to sell their liraa a dearly as possible. They had orfy 0] revolver, but had plenty of cartridges. They fought all through the afternofl until half-past six, shooting throuj the window and killing 15 of their awe ants, but all three were badly wound® Then the besieging party climbed -fl the roof, made a hole in it, and afty pouring oil into the room, set it aligljt The three Frenchmen, seeing that'f c&pe was impossible, made up their mini to die then and there, rather than Buff capture and mutilation. They dirt lots, and it was Rebout's duty to »ho< his comrades dead and then kill himat} He shot his friends, and then faintei When he recovered he found that t£ Moors had gone, and he staggered out < the burning house into the wliei he was picked up and taken to hospita He died next day. A letter from one of the dead ope ators, Charles Ricard, is published to-da; It was written to his wife on April I and was received just after the news < his death. ■>; "We are living like princes," be sal "in a great house with beautiful most and a fountain. Our room, our dinin room, and, even the kitchen are paw with beautiful mosaic. "We have a man cook and a wonty to look after us, a magnificent garde and an orchard full of apricot tw orange trees and fig trees. The gardj is full of geraniums, lilac, and all kizM of rose trees. It would be paradise": you and the children were with me." a Although order has been restored. •• Fez. and the rebels have been put ; prison, it is stated that there are renei ed disturbances in the interior, and th| the French Government has decided • despatch reinforcements. The Djibala are said to be imarchii against the Sultans' troops. Capt. Vai who is in command of the Royal troo; encamped at Souk-el-ATba, has appeal for help again, and wires that the w of immediate reinforcements is v« pressing. All the Europeans in the Gh&rb d! triet have fled to the coast. Somethi like a holy war appears imminent.