THE MOORISH OUTBREAK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8537, 18 September 1907, Page 3

THE MOORISH OUTBREAK.

MASSACRE AT CASABLANCA. A London paper gives the following particulars concerning the masfc'aae of Europeans at Casablanca, a Moorish coast, town, on Tuesday, July 30th:—The victims comprise live Frenchmen, three Spaniards, and one Italian. The whole of the French > icolony, with the exception of six persons who have taken refuge in the Consulate, have embarked on vessels in the harbour. The tribes in the ■neighbourhood of the town have for some time shown strong objection to the new harbour works which are being constructed there under the auspices of the French and German Governments. The chiefs of the tribes entered the town on July 29th, and demanded of the Bashaw the immediate stoppage of the harbour ; works. The Bashaw replied that the work was being done with the con- • sent of the Sultan. The chief then declared that the Sultan no longer existed, as he obeyed the Christians, and the Governor, to gain time, asked them to return the following morning. As they did not return it was believed that their threats were exaggerated. in the course of the morning, however, several mounted natives appeared. They rode about the streets preaching the holy war, and bidding ail Mussulmans leave the town, as the tribes were coming to exterminate the Jews and Christians. At one o'clock a locomotive used on the harbour works left.the harbour for a quarry a thousand yards distant. After it had parsed a band of Arabs broke up the line a short distance from, the harbour, and a European who came up was stoned. He tried to flee, but was knocked senseless by the blows and his body was hacked to pieces.. Another passing European met the same fate. The perpetrators of these murders were inhabitants of the town, but they were led by emissaries from the tribes. When the locomotive returned the driver found his passage'' blocked by an obstacle on the line. The crowd surrounded him, and he was killed and cut to pieces, a native assistant on the engine striking • the first blow. At the sight of the six bodies lying in.a heap the Frenchmen could not restrain their anger, whereupon the Moorish soldiers threatened to shoot them. They fled, pursued by the crowd, btft succeeded in escaping. The Consul assembled ■ all the French residents at the Consulate and begged Dt. Merle to go to Tangier and ask for the cruiser Galilee to be sent immediately. Accompanied by the Spanish Consulate and some soldiers, Dr. Merle went on beard a German ship, which they found crowded by terrified Jews. On their way to the vessel they were insulted and jeered at by the native women and children, but the French Consul returned to his residence without being molested. On the ship Dr. Merle was told that eight men had been killed, including two Frenchmen, and that the number of victims was possibly still greater. Two European on horseback were attacked at one spot. A workman who tried to escape by swimming was followed by a horseman and killed. The workmen's huts at the harbour were set fire to, and the bodies of the victims burnt. When Dr. Merle embarked the soldiers of the escort detained his boat until the money they demanded for escorting him had been paid.

One man, who says lie was an eyewitness of the events, states that .the tribes invaded the town proclaiming a holy war, afterwards murdering several men on the'harbour works. The natives then pillaged the European shops. The refugees say that they got away by bribing the soldiers guarding the harbour and the town gates. The foreign refugees, to the number of 400 or 500, crowded on to the German steamer Moyador, and have reached Tangier in safety. The cause of the -trouble is thought to be the building of a pier. The Moors believed that it was intended for a wireless telegraph installation, and took violent fanatical objection to it-on that account.