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Eventually the parade reached the Italian legation where Marshal Badoglio set up his headquarters. Everywhere streets were deserted, houses burned, shops looted. Hundreds of bodies littered the roadway, stiff, stinking, crawling with flies. Some had been hideously mangled by wild dogs and hyenas, which skulked in from the eucalyptus forests every night to scavenge.
Major-Mayor— The reason General Badoglio did not move into Haile Selassie's Imperial Palace was that it was already pre-empted by a mere major. One of the most potent of Fascist bigwigs is Major Giuseppe Bottai, 40. A War veteran with a brilliant record, he later edited various nationalist papers, joined Benito Mussolini before the March on Rome. So quick was his rise as a party politician that at the age of 34 Giuseppe Bottai was Fascist Minister of Corporations, wielding more power than Il Duce thought good for him. Soon he was kicked upstairs to be Fascist Governor of Rome. When the African adventure developed, Fascist Bottai packed his kit without a word of protest, sailed for Ethiopia as a simple major of the line. For being a good boy, he had his reward last week when he was made civil governor of Addis Ababa.
At first the major-mayor had little to do but try to make his new palace habitable. Marshal Badoglio, delegating none of his powers, went about restoring Addis Ababa's water, light and telephone services. Small bands of bandits still lurked in the outskirts. Italian patrols were busy mopping them up. One hustled around to the U. S. legation on an SOS from Minister Cornelius van H. Engert. Plucky Mrs. Engert took time off to tell reporters how during the days of rioting she sat knitting, with a loaded revolver in her overcoat pocket.
"There were four persistent shooters," said she, "whom we named George, Edward, Mabel and Bertha—she was the loudest. Whenever anyone showed himself or a light was lit, they would fire."
Marshal Badoglio caused a great stir in Paris when he announced that he was taking over the French-owned railroad from Addis Ababa to Djibouti (see col. 3). Before long normal rail service to the coast was restored.
Fall of Harar. All the excitement was not limited to Addis Ababa last week, Doggedly Italy's southern army under General Graziani plowed ahead toward Harar, Jijiga and Diredawa, key cities of the southeast. Only nature opposed them. At Harar, second city of the defunct empire, news that its defender, Ras Nassibu, had also fled the country caused another outbreak of rioting and looting almost as severe as that which shook Addis Ababa. Soon the Italians marched in, put down disorder with a heavy hand.