Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-05-09
AiHEATHEN PROPHET.
BILL Nye Gives Isis Opinion of Ell
Mahdi.

This great heather and full-blowr
prophet was once a Loor boy, without 3
dollar in his pocket. Years AGO when
little Mahdi used to snare suckers along
the White Nile, no one thought that tc.
cay he wOnld be the champion heavy
weight prophet Of the known world. |;
shows what can be done by brave,
courageous little boy, even in foreign
land
In app arance he is brunette of abou,
the style of the successful mecrschau,u
pipe. lie does not dress as we 10, hut
wears white tnbln that Look, some
like an Etruscan hens nest. On chilly
days he add8 other articles of apparel II
this tprban, though during the summer
months that is sufficient for evening
dress. In the morning he puts on his
turban, buckles six-shooter around his
waist and he is dressed. 1t doesn't take
Mahdi long to make his toilet.
Years ago be decided that he would
retire TO lonely island in the Nile and
put himself in training for prophet, so
he crawled into cave and lived there
on whatever he could get holdo of. While
others were down at khartoum, having
a good time at the skating rink. Mahdi
remained in his gloomy cave, setting up
the rins to go into the prophet business
and murder the kings English.
Soon people began to hear of Ell Mahdi.
end as he put card in the morning pa
pers Of the SOudan, he at once had all
the prophesying he could do and had to
hire an amanuensis or assistant prophet
tc help him out. During the HOLIDAYS.
when trade was brisk, the Mahdi had to
sit up and prophesy till ten or eleven
O'Clock at night.
His real name i3 Mohammed Achmed,
and be was the son of petty sheik,
whose name i have forgotten. This man
vas an inferior person and a .ery crdi-
nary sbiek, | am told-just such a shiek
as YOU could 90 in and find on the ten
cent counter of the Soudan anywhere.
Mohanmed Achmed fora long time
showed one ofthe prevailing character
istics of tramp, and so they began to
educate him as fakir A fakir is man
who has permission to ramble through
the country, chiseling people out of mon.
ey and groceries in the name of relig-
on. He is sort of Oriental gospel bum.
whose business is to 90 around over the
country weeping over the sins of people
who are too busy to be hypocrites
These fakirs are always Gevout, hungry |
md sad. They yearn for bright i'm
but they are in no great rush |
,b0ut acquiring it. They are perfectly |
willing to wait till the Egyptian pullets |
'un out: am glad tha. we have no
akirs in America.
BY and by MOhammed Achmed got a |
call TO rise up William Riley and gath
II the clans of the Soulan together. He
vent to them and told them in conf
lence that he was the only genuine, all
WOOL prophet on the Nile, and if they
wanted some fun, to get their double |
,arrel shot guns and join the gang.
hey did so. None of them ever did |
nything at home to obtain a livelihood,
o they could 60 away on the warpath
ii summer and their business wouldn't
ntfer at all.
They then proceeded to murder the
,ing's English, who had come there to
onquer and acquire their sand pile.
The Arabian style Of warfare is pecul-
ar. 1t consists largely in drinking
kali water on their part and in requir-
ne their enemies to do the same for
linety days. So it becomes simply a
uestion of who has the frmest and
most durable Bessamer steel bowels.
No one but a Bedouin would have
hought of such a style of warfare. 1t is
ot, therefore. question of courage or
verlasting justice, it is question of
ghe can drink concentrated I've all sum
1er and take his alimentary canal home
nth him in the fall.
In battle, the Arab charge is peculiar
Il the extreme. The Arab does not
tand UP in line of battle for an hour
lille the commanding officer gallops up
nd down the line on heavy" horse
nd the enemy pours CALLING fire into
Is ranks. He sails up toward the enc
ly, waves his Oriental night shirt in
le Egyptian air, shoots some one and
Des away. When the battle ground is
on the following day, it is dis
1vered that eight hundred brave and
andsone English soldiers are killed
I'd one old moth-eaten Arab has step
ed on his Gothic shirt tail and sprained
Is ankle
Ell Mahdi IS not a bad looking man AT
/, and the report that he has lost his
eth, so that when he gives his orders
e has to gun Arabic, is not true.
BILL NYE.