The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-23
THE SIEGE OF KHARTOUM.
scenes Within the City just Previous to It's
Fall-Graphic Story of One of the Be-
sieged-The Traitors in the


An Egyptian soldier, who had been
through the siege of Khartoum, re-
Gently related the following incidents
OF the affair to the military correspond
ent of The London Daily NeOs at Korti.
His story is continuation of one al
ready published:
''We were besieged thrice, and thrice
we defeated the enemy. We killed
many when we attacked Omdurman,
but more came on like swarms of flies.
Having killed some, their numbers
were forthwith trebled.
81 forgot to say how Omdurman
was taken from us. 1t was thus:
Hicks Pasha built big trench round
it-well, perhaps, it was there when
you came. Gordon built an inner one; !;
or perhaps it was the reverse. At any
rate there were two rings. The rebels
crept in between the two and we've
thus protected. Then they cut off the
little garrison water. Thus was Om-
durman taken.
''Gordon lived alone with his servant
in his palace. Power Bey lived in the
Genesi (church of the Roman Catho-
lie mission). to guard the ammunition
which was kept in the cloisters. He
superintendent the making of powder.
Col. Stewart used to superIntend the
taking out of the powder and it's dis
tribution; and was also engaged in
looking out. Such was our daily oc-
cupation in that city, whose kismet
was already written.
Eyes; they used to fish, as in your
time, with hooks and nets, and catch
those great fish with heads like cats
and long whiskers--the kakaross.
''We still had tobacco and shoes, for
there were shoemakers in the CITY,
We strolled when off duty through the
bazaar as usual. Some would gam
BILE with dominoes; some drink meris-
sa, and the young men would dress to
please the young girls-with cane
under arm and cigarette in mouth.
Bargains would be struck, and houses
sold, as if the end was not. am told
it has been so with great cities in time
OF siege. 1t was SO, jew told me,
with his city in Syria. Do not blame
me when l dwell on this; l am a diff
ferent man. Have not lost a wife-I
had only one-and childrenp With
the young girls, too, there was plating
of hair and amounting with butter, and
ornamenting necks, ankles, and arms
with gold chains and shells. They
would sit in the bazaar selling onions
and eggs and melons and butter and
sweet-meats up to the day [ left, and
would laugh and joke with their ad-
mirers, and courtship would go on, like
butterflies, needless. We went to
mosque, too, crowds of US, and the
'zlkkah' was said (n remembrance.
We pray for departed spirits that
they may be in luxury. Why no5P
Gordon's paper notes went round like
cash. They were looked upon as
money. They were mostly l. piastre
notes; others for and 10 piastres Ga
All mine are gone. l spent them in
the desert, where l would buy water,
a cup for 10 piastres. The schools
went on as usual, Mohammedan; also
at the GenesI, till the priests Qtalian)
left.
"The little German tailor, Klein,
renamed till the last; twenty-five
years had he resided in KhartOum.
His wife and four daug hters remained,
too. They did not go with Stewart,
1 am sure. There were several white
women there when 1 daughters
of Europeans by Abyssinian wives,
whom they had bought. There were
two or three ladies at the Austrian
consul's. 1 think all these had SO
many families ties that they would
not leave; besides, Gordon always said,
The English are coming" | do not
know that your coming would have
altered matters: for this l tell you
advisedly-the will of God says it.
"There were traitors in our midst;
they met and took counsel together
against Gordon Pasha. He was warn
ed, but said Suffer it to be so The
plan was to deliver over the city
whenever the English drew near. The
number of traitors increased daily as
they got hopeless. Another thing, and
this decided many: After the battle of
Aboo-KIea the rebels went down and
collected all the helmets they could
find. They showed these to as, wav-
ing them outside the trenches, and
saying: Thus and thus have we eaten
up the Feringhees." Thus even faith
tul nlen were sorely tempted and be-
came sick at heart. At might the en-
emy used to be often at the south end,
at speaking distance and we used to
revile each other. We were called
the cursed rebels who speak evil of
the fathers and mothers to the third
and fourth generation. We would
call them .'sons of dogs and shout:
''Allah bou rou Gehenna, ye rebellious
ones; maledictlon on your fathers; de-
part to Gehenna;' and they would
make answer: 'Ye are slaves OF the
infdels; ye, too, are infidels. as you
do not believe in our book. We will
eat you up and wipe you from the
face of the earth of Allah" Thus and
thus did we call out to each other
during the long night. The English
stayed too long at Metemneh; per-
haps had they gone on at ouee the
gates would not have been opened;
but still tell you treachery was plan
med long before. The rebels came
over at night; OF at any rate before
dawn, when Tenza and another
opened the gate. 80
1.-The last river trip was made up
Tajerar Mahaba. He had ON board
two Krupp guns He started at a.
M; at 10 he me6 a nugger fall of
rebels. They had gun. They fired