National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1876-07-18
TURKEY.
Graphic Account Of the Assassination Of the
Minister'S by an Eve Witness.


The Copstaptinople correspondent of the New
York Times thus details the killing of several
members of the Turkish cabinet by brother-in-
law of the late Sultan Abdul Aziz: This affair
has been yariously recounted, and, save as to the
general story, no two newspapers have published
the same version. l will tell the tale as it was
told to me by an eye witness; it is probably the
correct one. First, however, let me give short
sketch of the assassin and Of his antecedents
Hassan Bey was by birth Oircassian, brother
of the Princess Yanem, third wife of Abdul Azlz
and mother of Prince Mehmed Ohevket. She died
on Sunday last. Educated atthe military school,
from which he graduated about three years ago,
he was rapidly promoted tethe rank Of major and
attached, as aide-de-camp, to the person Of the
Sultan's son, Yussuf Izeddin Efendi, who COM
manded the Imperial Guard. With the fall Of
Abdul Aziz, his brotherin-law, Nissan was re-
lieved from duty and ordered to rejoin his regi-
ment at Baadad. This he refused to do, and was
ut once placed in close arrest, from which he was
however, released on Thursday morning ut his
own request, and upon q written promise to leave
the capital by the Fridays steamer. Hassan was
about twenty-three years of age,
VERY TAIL AND POWERFUL,
and had rendered himself notorious by his dissi-
pated habits, by the frvolity of his character and
by his attachment, expressed on all occasions in
public. to the memory OF his deceased benefactor,
Abdul Ariz. As soon as he had left his prison
Hassan procured caique and proceeded to the
YAH OF HusseIn Ayni Pasha, at Seutari, where he
was informed that the Seraskier was engaged
with the council of Ministers, but that he could
be found at the eonaq of Midhat Pasha, in STAN
any further the Circassian had good dinner and
drank a bottle Of brandy. Thus fortified, he pre-
seDted himself at the door Of the conaQ and de-
manded Of the officer on duty an immediate inter-
view with the Minister of War; to whom, he said, he
had an important communication to make. His
appearance at the conaq excited no remark as he
Wnr his aidp-de-camn's uniform. and known
to the Agha, who was ignorant of the circoun-
stances Of his removal from office. However, he
was told that the Seraskier was in council with
the other Ministers, and that he must wait. but
that his arrival on business should be announced
ns
Hassan. prOiting by his absence, entered the
room where
THE PAsHAs WERE ASSEMBLED,
locking the door as he did Sc, and throwing off
his cloak, beneath which were concealed a Cir
cassian hdndjdr and a brace of revolvers. His
first act was to upset q large candelabrum stand
ing on table in the middle of the room, which
was thus plunged in Obscurity, except in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the Ministers. Then, draw
ing his knife and a revolver, he called out, .'Se
rdSkicr PGshd, ddTrGni," that is to say, minis
ter of War, take care of yourself at the same
time firing his first shot Although wounded in
the chest, Hussein Avni rushed at and grappled
with his aSsailant, who struck him repeatedly
with his hand jar across the face and throat, unt
at last, the Pasha fell with his head half severed
from his body Meanwhile, surprising that it
Ministers rose from their divans and fled into an
adjoining rO0m-all with the exception of Rachid
Pasha, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was
too badly scared to do any thing but hide his head
under the sofa cushions and moan piteOusly, and
of the Captain Pasha, or Grand Admiral, who
rushed brayely to the assistance Of his colleague
but was summariIy disposed of by pis:Ol-bullet
in The left shoulder and hdndjdr cut across the
right arm. These two done for, Hassan quietly
walked across to where Rachid Pasha lay trem-
bling with fear, and shot him through the head
proceeding next to
CUT OUT THE HEART
of the dead Seraskier While engaged in this
operation Achmet Agha, Midhat's orderly, threw
himself on the assassin's back and tried to pinion
his arms. Let me go, Achmet Agha, or shall
be obliged to kill you, too" said Hassan, and as
twisted one Of his arms back and shot him in the
ear. There were now four corpses on the floor,
but the bloody work was not complete, and al
though the whole thing had not taken five min
utes, there was no time to be lost for the noise Of
the firing had alarmed the servants and squad
of soldiers could be heard ascending the staircase.
Turning then his attention to the Trail barricade
which the other Pashas had erected behind the
door Of the room in which they had sought refuge,
he first set fire to the curtains AMI then called
out to them that he wanted Mdhat Pasha's life;
that he would not harm the others If they would
let him in, but that if they refused he would
smoke them out or burn them like the unbe-
leving dogs that they were. 1 DO not suppose
that the trembling old gentlemen who were within
would have been Particularly sorry to lose their
colleague, but they had no great confidence, on
the other hand, in the promises of the desperate,
SO they declined, and while the discussion Was
going on help came in the shape OF
CAPTAIN cHUBERI BET, Who SABRE IN HAND
and at the head Of dozen soldiers burst openthe
outer door and rushed into the rOOn-to drop stone
dead with bullet in the forehead before ne had
taken ten steps. Hassan then sawthat there was |
no hope of escape for him, and SO commenced "to
fire free as they used 70 say in Arkansas going
in bravely with his knife as Soon as he had emptied
his revolver. In this last phase OF the action he
added three more victims, but the bayOnets were
to much for the hdRdjdr, and in a veryssoft time
he was lying bound hand and foot by the side of
his victims; he had several bayonet wounds in the
back before they could master him, for the Grand
ViZier expressly forbade the soldiers to fire. 1t
was hoped that there would be some revelations
made-perhaps there wereIas the police are max;
the late Egyptian Prime Minister Nubar, and he
may be concerned in the conspiracy, for no one
believes that this wholesale massacre was die
tated, as the newspaper, inspired by the Govern
ment, pretend, by mere sentiment of personal
vengeance toward the Seraskier. There was, in
arrest Of one Ofthe equerries fthe Sultana Vaide
while en- his way to the Palace ofTcheragan with
ever so many
MURDERoUs WEAPONS IN HIS POSSESSION.
This is probably fiction, but in well-nformed
Turkish circles, whenever they express an opinion
on the subject, 1t is to the effect that this fierce
old lady was at the bottom of all the trouble and
that poor Murad will have a hard time Of 1t
until she has been persuaded TO make use of q
pair of embroidery scissors, or some equally handy
weapon, after the example Of her defunct son.
IL is lndI VI tHe
Osmandi show but one instance in which elem
ency was extended to a dethroned Sultan by his
successor, and even that experiment was an I'M
successful one, for, after fair trial of kindness,
duling nearly six years, Mahmoud was obliged
to send the traditional bUwstring to his Uncle
Selm. who could not be persuaded that his
nephew had an invncible repugnance to poisoned
coffee. We shall probably hear in few days of
more sudden deaths, and then, when all the dis
cordant elements are at rest, there will be 4 com
mencement of reforms and new short lease OF
life granted to the Turkish Empire, W hose faith
full guardians in the shape of foreign irOn-cads,
lie at anchor in Besika bay, ready TO steam up
into the BoSphOrus upon any delay of fifteen min
utes in the reception of the official telegram,