ETHIOPIA: March 1, 1896

On a dusty plain in the northern Province of Wallo last week a round-eyed dark-faced kinky-haired boy of 19 stood on a rug-draped platform of dried mud. To the rattle of war drums Ethiopian chieftains with lion-mane headdresses and gold embossed shields clustered protectively about the royal youngster. Across the field rolled a white-rimmed dust cloud out of which moved a horde of 100,000 yelling black warriors. Beyond the reviewing stand the troopers halted, faced to the north, where 100 miles away lay the town of Adowa. Then to a man they let out the old war cry of their country: “Ebalgume!

Ebalgume! Cut them down! Cut them down!” The breeze shifted, carrying the echo louder to the reviewing stand, and bringing with it a great stench of sweat, steaming horseflesh, and rancid butter with which Ethiopian warriors pomade their locks. Thus Crown Prince Asfa Wassan last week reviewed the troops whose commander he had just been made, troops almost certain to be the first to oppose the Italian advance next month, and to try to repeat the great victory of Adowa 39 years ago when the cry of “Ebalgume! Ebalgume!” chilled the heart of Italy.

“Military Paralysis.” In 1896 Italy was, as she is today, attempting to wrest a colonial empire from Ethiopia. Then as now, domestic difficulties lay behind the military operations. After several years out of office, Francesco Crispi had staged a strong comeback as Premier of Italy. The new Italian colonies of Eritrea and Somaliland had just been established on the African coast. Though France and Russia were secretly negotiating with Haile Selassie’s granduncle, the potent Emperor Menelik, many chiefs questioned his authority and seemed willing Italian allies. Early in the summer of 1895 Premier Crispi had called the new Governor of Eritrea, General Baratieri, back to Italy for a conference. Between them they decided that the time was ripe for a major move. General Baratieri, an impulsive Latin, seemed satisfied that the 15,000 native and Italian troops under his command were sufficient. He did not know that during his absence in Italy Emperor Menelik had made peace with the chieftains, bought from French munitions makers field guns that out-ranged the Italians’ and was sweeping north ‘at the head of nearly 100,000 men.

Italian troops had already suffered several reverses. Early in 1896 General Baratieri cabled for reinforcements. The Italian Parliament voted money and men and appointed General Baldissera to succeed Baratieri. Furious, Premier Crispi saw his grand gesture petering out. He sent an angry telegram to General Baratieri, flaying the “military paralysis” that was seizing operations in Ethiopia.

Oreste Baratieri was a Garibaldi Redshirt and an old-school Italian with a family pride sensitive as a rabbit’s lip. Three days he brooded over the telegram from Premier Crispi, then assembled the four Generals under his command for a conference. The Ethiopian army was encamped 18 miles away in a brutal country of cliffs, gullies and thorn-covered hills. It outnumbered the Italians six to one and was equipped with artillery. Even so, all five Italian Generals voted to attack at once for the honor of their commander.

Adowa-The plan was simple. The Italian army would advance like a hand, with the three parallel brigades of Dabormida, Albertone and Arimondi for fingers, with Ellena’s brigade for wrist and support. The advance started at 9 p. m. Feb. 29, 1896. By 2:30 a. m. it was hopelessly confused. The Albertone brigade lost its way and in a narrow gorge cut across that of General Arimondi. Troops were tied up for hours. The support could not advance. Trusting in a faulty map General Albertone went too far ahead, engaged the Ethiopians alone. By the time the Italian advance was straightened out three separate battles were going on at once without coordination or contact. By 11 a. m. March i the Italians were in full rout, their dead piled high around their guns. Bugle calls for retreat were drowned amid savage cries of “EbalgumeI Ebalgume!” Behind the fanatic black warriors came their women brandishing long knives to mutilate the wounded. Killed were two of the five Generals, 4,600 Italian officers and soldiers. Two thousand were wounded, 2,000 taken prisoner. General Baratieri was court-martialed, finally acquitted. Premier Crispi resigned. The peace treaty returned a fine slice of Eritrea to Ethiopia, and the whole business cost Italy some $90,000,000 and a dirty splotch on her military escutcheon.

One of the buglers who sounded the Adowa retreat that was never heard was found in London last week in the person of Francis Pozzoli, then a young corporal, now a prosperous wholesale grocer.

“It would do me good to have another smack at the creeping devils,” said he. “The worst of it came during the retreat. Tired and thirsty, we were overtaken by mounted tribesmen who rode among us, cutting down thousands. I escaped by crawling under a heap of dead bodies. Hardly a wounded man on the battlefield escaped mutilation.”

Softly, Taitou, Leader of the Ethiopian women on that bloody March 1, 1896, was the Empress Taitou, fourth wife of Menelik II. A more polite version of her predecessor’s part in the battle of Adowa was given last fortnight by plump Empress Menen, only wife of Power-of-Trinity, as she nibbled pink iced cake and drank jasmine tea at Addis Ababa.

“The Italians laughed at Taitou at first,” said the Empress Menen, “but later they feared her more than any man. It was she who held up to our warriors the thought of what they were defending. . . . After the Adowa victory, Taitou rode between the lines of the conquered Italians, dispensing gifts, food and money. They learned to look for her visits and softly called her ‘Taitou.’ ”

Red Cross. To forestall propaganda stories of brutality and mutilation and to show that Ethiopia intended to abide by the rules of civilized warfare, smart bearded Haile Selassie last week established the Ethiopian National Red Cross Society, appointed his Foreign Minister, Belaten Gheta Herroup, its first chairman. It was an impressive ceremony. In a great canvas pavilion hung with wine red velvet the chieftains gathered to hear their Emperor explain the purposes of the Red Cross. Aides passed out little booklets stamped with a bright red cross, explaining the whole thing in Amharic and French. Mountain chieftains greeted each phrase with rhythmic handclapping, but more than a few were sorely puzzled. From time immemorial a red cross on a white ground has been sign & symbol of an Ethiopian brothel.

Tolls-One group which viewed the coming Ethiopian war with less than complete dismay last week was the international directors of the Suez Canal Co. At Port Said, official figures indicated that the Italian Government has paid the company $10,000,000 in canal tolls in the past three months and transported 240,000 soldiers and laborers through the canal. Not all the traffic was southbound to East Africa. Within the last three weeks six Italian transports have gone north through the canal carrying over 5,000 victims of malaria, dysentery and typhoid from the great adventure before a shot has been fired.