The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-26 00:00:00

THE MASSACRE AT JEDDAH.

The Moniteur pub:isbee the subjoined account of
• the recent massacre at Jeddah from the pen of M.
• Emerat, the dragoman and Chancellor of the French
• Consulate, whose gallant behaviour hasiearned him
. the cross of the Legion of Honour :
" ALEXAN DMA, JULIE' 9.
"Monsieur le Ministre,—On the evening of the
15th of Jime the town ef Jeddah was the theatre
of terrible scenes of slaughter ; 23 victims were
murdered by an infuriated populace, and among
• them, I am grieved to say, are the Consuls of
France and of England and Madame Eveillard.
Having escaped, by the mercy of Providence, the
blows of the assassins, I lose no time in giving your
Excellency the details of this sanguinary drama.
"For some time a revival of fanaticiem was vW.
ble at Jeddah, but no one suspected that to 1-arful
a deed was contemplated against the Christians who
bave inhabited that city for many years. Never-
theless, the plan was secretly hatched; A pretext
was found to put it into execution.
ca One Abdallah Joher hed to give an account to
the British Consulate of the employment of the
peopetty of two Indian orphans of whom he was
guardian. He asked to be placed under Turkish
protect ion, and to change the flag of a vessel of
which he was the owner. Namik Pasha consented,
and ordered' the Turkish flag to be hoisted, and
that of England to be hauled down. This was done
amid the exultation of the fanatics.
" The Euglish Consular agent was absent at .he
time. On his return, having protested in vain to
Namik Pasha, fie invoked, according to custom,
a Consular tribimil, which decided that the Turkish
flag should be hauled down.
• "Consequently, on the 15th of June, a detach-
- ment of marines from the Cyclops, which was in
the roads, seized upon the Indian vessel, hauled
down the 0 ttomen colours, and hoisted the English
flag. The news of this event created great excite-
ment in Jeddah. It was declared to be an insult
against the dignity of Islamism. But this was only
a pretext ; the real object of the a?,itators was to
take advantage of the circumstance to murder the
Christians, whose presence. in their eyes, defiled
the sacred soil of the Hedjaz, and to seize upon
their property.
- " About six o'clock in the evening, when the
population were awe- e that the boa. s crew had
returned on board the frigate, and that no help
could be given the Christian residents, a mob Of
fasatics attacked the English Consulete. On Iheir
approach the Cawa,ses took to their heels. Mr.
Page, surprised in his bed, and unable to defend
himself, was wounded seriously, and was then
pitched from his balcony and cut to pieces at the
foot of the flagstaff ; his dragoman and clerk shaeed
his fate. The house was pillaged. A considerable
sum of money must have been found in Mr. Page's
rorong box, as he was a merchant as well as Vice-
Consul.
" Cries of ' Death to the Christians !' now arose
on all sides, and the mob, thirsting f r more blood,
hastened towards the French Consu'ate.
"At about half-past 6 M. Eveillard and myself
were just returning from our usual evening stroll.
We had scarcely entered the drawing-room, where
the Consul's wife and dan,ghter were sitting, when
the Conselate,was surrounded.
"The Cewass closed the door, and kept outside
to repel the attack. The Cawass Ahmet alone
offered resistance, was wounded in his head, and
thrown back into the street, where he remained for
some time in,ensible. •
" As soon as the Consulate was attacked I went
down stairs to defend the entrance by the staircase,
Supported only by my servant, an Algerine, Hadji
Mehemet, formerly a soldier in the native Riff s,
whose devotion rn this occasion was ra-st praise-
worthy, I was aware that it would b 3 impossible to
make a long resistance ; but my object was to gain
time, in hope that a detachment of troops might be
sent• to oar aid. My (lily weapon was a cane with
a hammer to it, and Hadji-Mehemet had a club.
With the courage of despair we a tacked the as-
sailants, who faced us in b 'dies of never less than
30 or 40. Af er kneckinit down the foremost we
were obliged to dodge behind the stairs to avoid
the shots fired at us. A baud-to-hand struggee
ensued, and three times the assassins reached the
first story and were driven back. At this moment
cries of the Kaimakan is coming were raised, and
the mob for, a moment remained quiet in the cou, t
below.
" I did-not think that any one of the assailants
had reached the second story. I went np to make
au- e. I found MAdatne Eveillard lying de ad on the
the Consul wounded, and his young and con-
ous danghtet wounded in the cheek by a sabre
eoeived wh le d.-fending her fa, her. The second
had been reached by balcony of a neigh-
bouring house, and having cut down the Consul,
- his wife, and daughter, the assassins retreated.
"On leaving the saloon I heard Hadji Mebemet
crying out, 'Toe flag is attacked ; let us defend it !'
I ran up the ladder, but was hurled down. H
Mehemet then ran up it, and succeeded in throw•
ing down two of the assailants. We could net as.

certain whether they were killed or not:
"This unequal struggle bad now listed nearly a
quarter of an hour, and we expected to succumb
every moment. A man armed with a dagger came
forward and asked me if theKairoakan had arrived.
I thought he was a Cawass in authority, when I
heard Mdlle. Eveillard cry our, 'V .ke care that
man is going to sab you I' I rushed up al him to
disarm him, but I received at the same moment a
gash across my left hand from a sabre, a blow which
broke the thumb of my left hand, and a dagger-stab
through my arm. I should n;vi-ably have fall, n
without the assistance of Mdlle. Ev. illaa d, who dis-
played the most extraordinary courage aed pre-
sence of mind. I finally succeeded in disarming
my assailant, and killed nim.
" Seeing that the Kaimakan did not corn-, the
assassins, whom we bad thrice repulsed, made an-
other bold attempt to get up the stairs, urged on
by the yells of some 50 women who accompanied
them. I stood on the lowe,t step, armed w,th my
dagger. • I ran ti,rotiolk and killed the first man
that advanced, and I stabbed two or three others.
At this moment the Kaimakan arrived, followed by
two amass, and informed me that Col. Hass ,n,
who commanded the artillery, had refused to coma
to our aid, ender the pretext that he hal no orders,
and could only rcecive them from the Governor-
General.
"The Kaimakan and myself hal only the two
Cawase and my servant to suoport us ; it was be
coming 41x:rsible to hold out much longer. I there-
fore reques ed that offici3l to endeavour to c
lm
the mob ; but it only made them the teo7e violent
We want to have the Consul and his Chancellor,'
they showed ; `haul them over to us that we may
put them to clea.ih ; if you don't we will kill you
The K timakan began to filter, and WAS only pre-
vee- el from complying by my threats. Thy mob
continued to swell ; the attacks of the assailants
became more fierce; the Kaimakan was knocked
down by a blow from a club. While I was pickeig
him up I received a sabre cut and a blow from a
club on the head, which stunned me, and I fell.
The assassins then rushed into the saloon and put
M. Eveillard, already wounded, to de .th.
"My faithful Al4erine h+d never left my side,
watching his moment either to carry off my body,
if I was killed, or to take me to some place of
safety, if only wounded. At the moment I rec ived
the last two wounds the servants of the Ktimakan
were carrying off their master. Iladji Mehemet
raised me up, c incealed my face under the Kai- 1
makan's rtbes, and we were taken to the. house of
the Colonel, who had refused ns his-aid. I was
immediately sent to the military hospital, where I
did not recover my senses till after I had been
there above a quarter of an hour, and where I re-
ceived every attention.
"At the moment M. Eveillard was being mur-
dered and his house pillaged, the wife of a military
official called Mehemet Effendi, to whom some days
previously Madame and Mademoiselle Eveillard
had shown great kindness, sent one of her slaves
to save them.- Mademoiselle Eveillard was carried
off by the slave to the house of his mistress, and
thence to the Kaimakan's harem, where she re-
ceived every attention. I must also return my
thanks for the care taken of myself at the Artillery
Hospital.
"The commanler of the
Cyclops,af hat anchor in
the roadstead, could not be awe oinfw at was going
on in the town. On the morrow,
ormheaddof what
bad taken place by some Greeks wtc: sought
refuge on board, he sent boats on shore to in
As the boats approached the populace assembled on.
each side of the channel, attacked the boats, to opre-
vent the crews landing ';'he commander, who was in
one boat, perceiving the impossibility of landing,
ordered the boats to return to the ship. The crew fired
a volley, and killed tarp men, wounding others. On
his return on board the Cyclops, Capt. 'Pullen
wrot' to the Kaimakan asking news of the Consuls,
and offering his services to put down the mob. The
Governor replied that the force he had at Jeddah
was not sufficient to allow him to take the offen-
sive, that he had despatched a courier that very
evening, and that he hoped Namik Pasha would
speedily arrive. He also informed Captain Pullen
of the safety of Mdlle. Eveillard and myself. On
the morrow Capt. Pullen wrote to me, begging me
to 'indicate the means of saving us. 'He did not
think he eoeld attempt a landing begged him
ibo wait the l'‘'tah.ea are ivat
"Ou the 16th the GoVercor ordered the bodes
of the victims:4p be interred; and great was .the
astonishment of the Arabs at not finding me
the dead. A body of them waited on the Cacti to
inform him I was alive, and that it was I who bad
. t'lle • two 3tussplans.. whew b.-,dies were
notesthe Consul,te. Santence of cteeit