San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-08-02
CAPTIVE TO KING JOHN.

Col. l.. II. MITCHELL who has been i'll the ser
vice of the khcdive of Egypt for ten years,
was attached to the staff of Stone PaSha, gen
eral of the Egyptian army, where he won
fame as the foremost geulogist and mineralo-
gist of the Orient. He was for a long time
chief of primary triangulation, and was for
the past year or so specially engaged by the
Egyptian government to search for petroleum
near the Dead sea. Some years ago the
cablegrams from Europe announced that Col.
Mitchell had been captured by the Abyssin-
ians near MasSowah and killed. He was not
killed, but suffered two months of brutal and
cruel captivity He has given the following
account of his capture and sutferings:
Ny capture came about i'll this way Gen.
C. p. Stone. then chief of staff of the Egyp
tan army, ordered me to go as far as As.
mara, in the province of Hamaseen, to exam,
inc carefully and report upon the Hot Springs
at Ailet; to make a geological examination
of the route from MasSowah to Sanhel, and
finally, to examine the geological and min
eralogical structure of the country in the
vicinity of the last named place King John
fOrcibly occupied the province of HamaSeen
with his troops, and | could not carry out
NV instructions to the letter. However, a
brisk traffic had sprung up between the PEG
pie of Massowah and the Abyssinians in
Hamaseen and peace seemed practically as
stlred. | had been at Ailet some weeks
making explorations and important topo
graphical and geological examinations, when
two-thirds of the men under me became Ill
with fever Very soon became i'll too, but
with a robust constitution and proper care
began to get we'll The men in my party
we're recovering, too, although still quite
weak Ailet, as | understood it then, be
longed to Egypt, and | had no special cause
to fear an attack from the Abyssinians.
On the evening Of the 3lSt of January
was planning and had arranged to strike
tents on the ID of February, and moved down
the valley to Ain, station in the Massowah
and Sanhiel route About 10 O'Clock of the
evening mentioned my guide, Techlahaima-
not, informed me that two friendly Abys-
sinians had just come down from the plateau
of Hamaseen and reported to the people of
the village that they thought the AbysSinian
troops staff oned on the plateau intended &c
raid Ailet While | had been in that country
| had heard so many wild rumOrs that
placed little credence in the story of the two
AbyssinianS | have regretted bitterly my
skepticism on that occasion. My guide agreed
with me- and we somehow felt no great
alarm.
shall never forget that night preceding
my capture. There is nothing superstitious
about me, but remember that went to bed
shortly after midnight an6 tried to sleep,
but could not. | got up and walked out into
the cool night air. A sense Of impending
danger now and then seized me, and repeat
edly l was on the point of arousing my men,
loading the camels and starting the caravan
en- route for Sahorti; but the perfect quiet
that reigned in the village, and the sense of
security that seemed to dominate the minds
of all, checked my impulse to retreat. In
the early morning my guide, Techlahaimanot,
| called my attention to a crowd of villagers
on the south side of the town. | found about
eighty of them armed and ready to receive
| the Abyssinians if they came in that direc
| ton. They were in the most exposed posi-
| ton for an attack. However, they consid
| cred the chances of danger very remote.
returned to camp and gave directions to
the camel drivers to hold the camels in readi
| ness for an immediate departure. About {
o'clock took a cup of coffee and was wait
/ ing for my breakfast, when suddenly my
| guide rushed into my tent and exclaimed:
| The battle is beginning!S At that instant
| [ heard the crack of a rifle on the north side
| of town The village was taken by surprise,
! the Abyssinians coming from the north in
stead of the south. | wished to remain and
receive the Abyssinians in my camp, and, az
| was not at war with them. negotiate with
| them to save my expedition.
My guide said that they were bent on
| plumber, and would listen to no overtures of
| any kind. He said we must save ourselves
by flight at once. | told him that we must
save the government chests containing the
instruments apparatus, etc, and went out
to order the drivers to load the camels with
them. was just in time to see the last of
the camels passing at full speed by my tent.
At the sound Of the first gun the drivers had
mounted and started to the mountains.
My next thought was to save my men.
| started them in the direction of Sahorti, but
| they were i'll from fever and could not run.
cheered and urged them forward as best
might We climbed tho mountains until my
soldiers became exhausted, and were lying
down or seated on rocks. Suddenly terrific
yell reached US from below, and knew that
we had been discovered knew that could
have escaped, but my men were too weak to
run, and so | remained with them. The min.
ing corporal was in a small valley at the right
|. of our little group, and the cook had just dis
| appeared over the crest of the ridge in front
Of US 1t WAS useless to fight a horde of well
armed AbysSinians with handful Of feeble
soldiers There was one exception to the
feeble soldiers and his name was Bayoumi
He stood near me, erect, calm, oool-a true
soldier. He cooked his gun ready for deadly
aim and quietly asked me: "Mr. Mitchell. i:
it necessary 10 liref' told him no
The Abyssinians called TO US: "Dahan, da
hon. o,Dou ouoD which RayCurr,i On IL