Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1883-01-19
The sultan's Insanity.

| The Sultan's Insanity.
e A. - IE4
The prediction of DIR. Ki9tibian, the
most distinguished physician in the
| Turkish Empire. has been verified. Sui
4 tan Abdul Hamid's terrible malady
makes rapid progress AS DIR. Kiati-
bian formally announced respecting his
! father ju t before his tragic death, the
7 Sultan is suffering from softening of the
brain. Numerous recent occ rrences
go prove that he is, without doubt, a
very crazy man-as crazy as his father,
who died thinking himself pursued by
cats; or. his brother Nlourad who daily
reviews his Invisible cohorts in his pal
ace prison, sai'-a. g. '1a, .... u -,
One of the latest exhibitions of the
Sultan insanity was the causeless mur-
der of a.. un 'oittnate tnbinkidr. The
tdblatidr is one who bears on his head
a waiter, on which he carries the vari-
Gus d shes that make up meal. All
the officials of the palace, all the in
mates, male and female, from the
Grand Marshal Osmnn Pasha, down to
the humble bek1,'i, or sentinel receive
their food twice day on walters borne
by tdbldkiarS. The meal is unloaded,
the official eats, the tdbld6iar gathers up
the remnants and he empty dishes. and
takes them to the kitchen, away off mt
the base of the mountain in the village
Bechikiash, No cooking is done in the
palace, except for the Sultan. himself
| Every day, at . variable hour in the
morning and for two hours before sum
set, you will see marching toward the
palace long line If men in blue, bear
ing upon their heads the wooden walters
three feet across, containing prepared
food for the palace fllnctionaries
and the officials and others occupying
the outlying buildings. These men
travel about mile and half; and you
must know that there are fully 1000
persons, civil and military, male and
female to be fed. The tabtrki0s march
like soldiers. and the food they carry is
kept warm by o pieceso cotton cover
ing the waiter. But am not engaged
in study of manners and customs.
The particular hblafidr of whom /
wr tie not having been paid for his serv-
ices7-it seems to be the rule of the
Empire that the Sultan shall be lodged,
fed and clothe \, but may let his sub
jects whistle for their remuneration
W IeWtTQeu HIS
labor, thought to profit by his acqliaint-
ance with an Off ial high in position
who served near the Sultan's person.
He had prepared mo est petition to
be conveye by this 'quaintance to his
august debtor, and was about to take
the document from the pocket of Ii s
vest when Alb lul Hamd, who Stood
near by, drew his revolver AMI shot the
fxytV Tl,A
monarch, haunted by the constant fear
of assassination, thought that the man
was feeling for weapon with which to
kill him. The body OF the murdered
man was removed and stripped. His
clothing was searched. but nothing was
found in his pockets except the un-
lucky pet ton. Hia siu
Friday before last the Sultan rode
out to the mos ue of the Medjidie at
the foot of the mountain, about mile
and a half from the palace. His horse
was somewhat spirited. The Sultan
being but an indifferent horseman, the
officer commanding the escort thought
it prudent to take the animal by the
bride so that his Majesty might re-
main safely seated. The Sultan imag-
ined another attempt upon his life.
Calling another of his guard. he ordered
the thoughtful officers arrest, and the
poor fellow is still behind the bars.
Touching the famous denunciation by
Mehemet Pasha, whose first victim was
Fuad Pasha, the youngest an .bravest
of the Marshals Oft the Empire-and Fuad
is still prisoner-I must correct an er-
I ror made in former letter. In it | told
you that the second victim was Ahmed
Mouktar, Pasha. This is wrong. The
second victim was another Mehemet
Pasha, cousin of the mischief maker
He is u General of division and a son of
Shamyl, the old Circassian chief. He
has been placed in confinement with
Fuad Pasha and others Everthing re-
lating to public affairs and public men
is kept SO secret here that it is easy to
make mistakes in regard to names. es-
pecially as so many prominent persons
bear the same name.
Since the denunciation of Fuad, Me-
hemet, and others, the Sultan's delu-
sions have shown no sign Of abatement.
In fact, he is in condition of perma-
nent mania. His suspicion falls upon
everybody. The prescription lists con-
tain the most heterogeneous collections
OF names names of men of doubtful
character, and, side by side with these.
the names of others honored far and
, wide for their services, who have been
denounced by this Mehemet Pasha and
, by others also. IL is no secret that the
! Mehemet denunciation has developed
the disease to such an extent that it has
assumed dangerous importance. The
natural fear of the monomaniac has
been heightened and intensified by the
, contradictory whispers of Jealous and
envious intimatcs, who have kept up {
constant fire upon him to serve each hi,
, own ends. "Do not listen to whai
Mehemet tells you," says one; "there'
nothing in it.' "There is no smok,
, without fire." says another. and so OF
/ until finally the Sultan. seeing conspir
, acy everywhere. refuses to go out at all
On Friday. contrary to custom, ih,
D Sultan did not goto the mosque. He i
/ afraid of the troops. On the evening
4 of the day on which ] wrote you last
/. he was suddenly seized with dread o
: his Circassian guard-l16 Daghestanli
Q drawn expressly from Daghestan
s mounted, accoutred. rationed ant
I trained by one of the officers o. his bod
: guard. He would see only these men
he swore by them. He had built TO
' them in the interior of the palace a bar
I rack, hardly yet finished. Within TWEEN
q ty minutes after mani esting his fear O
' the Daghestanlis, he had discharge
: Them. paid them. and shipped them 70
/ heir own country, or elsewhere. w