Knocked Down by Policeman After His Car Runs Over Woman’s Foot.
Attack on Southard Follows Protest at Arrest of Chauffeur.
By the Associated Press.
ADDIS ABABA, Abyssinia, January 18.—Addison E. Southard, United States Minister to Abyssinia, was knocked down yesterday during an altercation with several policemen after an automobile accident.
Reports of the incident today said Mr. Southard’s car, with the Minister driving, ran over an Abyssinian woman’s foot. She was only slightly hurt, but when the car stopped and Mr. Southard was about to inquire the extent of her injuries, a native policeman ran up and arrested the Minister’s chauffeur. Southard protested and there was an argument. Several other policemen arrived and in the scuffle Southard was knocked down.
Addison E. Southard of Louisville, Ky., was appointed resident Minister and consul general at Addis Ababa by President Coolidge in 1928. Previously he was the American consul at Jerusalem.
On his arrival at his new post he was received with great ceremony and rode in a motor car provided by Haile Selassie. Emperor of Abyssinia and “conquering lion of the tribe of Judah,” escorted by 200 native soldiers.
The custom in that country is for a foreign diplomat to ride to his first audience with the Emperor on a gorgeously caparisoned mule, but Southard was given his choice between the mule and the motor car.
He was one of those who attended the Emperor’s coronation in 1930 and since then has received numerous gifts and honors, including the grand cross of the Holy Trinity and the costume of an Ethiopian warrior, with lion skin, a helmet of lions’ manes and a silver mounted lance.
Evening Star, Washington, DC, January 18, 1932