‘Pour les tuer,’ said a soldier, smiling; ‘Pour les tuer,’ repeated the others, looking at me to see if I smiled.
I shook my head in pity, for the doomed men were ignorant, pitiable creatures.
A hundred yards beyond us were a clump of dwarfed trees and some patches of dry grass, like an oasis among the rolling, almost barren, hills; and for this spot the Moors were headed. Mechanically I went on eating, undecided whether to follow, for I did not want to see the thing at close range. I thought the Moors would be lined up in the usual fashion, their sentence delivered, and a moment given them for prayer. But suddenly, while their backs were turned, just as they set foot upon the dry grass, quickly a dozen shots rang out almost in a volley, then came a straggling fire of single shots. The single shots were from a pistol, as an officer passed among the dying men and put a bullet into the brain of each.
A young Englishman, the Reuter correspondent, rode over to me from the other side and asked what I thought. It seemed to me, I said, rather brutal that they were not told they were to die.
‘I don’t know,’ said the Englishman. ‘I should say that was considerate. But the thing isn’t nice; it isn’t necessary.’
The Goumiers set fire to the grass about the bodies, and soon the smoke and smell, brought over on a light Atlantic breeze, caused us to move away.
Across the dusty, shimmering plains signal fires began to send up columns of smoke, warning the Arabs beyond of our approach. But we were going no further.
There is no censorship of news in England, but the English press often decides what is good for the public to know and what it should suppress. In my opinion the above affair, reported to the London papers by their own correspondents, who were witnesses, should have been published. But the papers either did not publish the despatches, or else, as in the case of the Times and the Telegraph, which I saw, they gave the incident only the briefest notice, and placed it in a more or less obscure position in the paper. This, on the part of the London editors, was no doubt in deference to the British entente with France. The question arises in my mind, however, whether a paper purporting to supply the news has any right to suppress important news that is legitimate.
The shooting of prisoners continued until I left Morocco; and I am of the opinion that it goes on still. The French did not hide the fact; as I have said, any of the officers would tell you that they took no prisoners in arms. The Arabs opposing them, they pointed out, were murderers who had looted Casablanca, attempted to slaughter the European residents, and failing, had turned upon each other to fight not only for plunder but for wives. What would have happened to the European women, the Frenchmen asked, had the consulates not sustained the siege? What happens to French soldiers who are captured? They argued also that drastic methods brought submission more quickly.