, 1889-07-30
CAPTIVE TO KING JOHN.

Col l. Il Mitchell, who has been in the ser-
vice Of the khedive OF Egypt for ten years,
was attached to the staff of Stone PashA, gem
eral Of the Egyptian army, where he won
fame as the foremost geologist 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 tho
cablegrams from Europe announced that Col.
Mitchell had hcen captured by the Abyssin-
ians near Massowah and killed He WINS not
killed, but suffered two months Of brutal and
cruel captivity He hns given the following
account of his capture and sufferings,
My capture came about In this way. Gen.
C r. Stone, then chief of staff OF the Egyp-
tim army. ordered me TO go as far rs As
mara, in the province OF Hamhsoen, to exam
me carefully and report upon the Hot Springs
at Ailet; to make n geological examination
OF the route from Massowah to Sanhiel, and
finally. to examine the geological and min
ernlogical structure Of the country In the
vicinity Of the last named place King John
forcibly occupied the province of Hhmnseen
with his troops, and | could not carry out
my instructions to the letter. However, a
brisk traffic bad sprung up between the peo-
pie Of MnsSowah and the Abyssinians in
Hnmhseen and peace seemed practically as
sured- | had bsen at Ailet some weeks,
making explorations and important topo-
graphical and geological examinations, when
two-thirds OF the men under me became III
with fever. Very soon became III too, but
with n robust constitution and proper care 1
began to get well. The men in my party
were recovering, too, although still quite
weak Ailet, as l understood it then, be-
longed to Egypt, and | had no special cause
to fear an attack from tho AbyssiniAns.
On the evening of the 3lst of january l
was planning and had arranged to strike
tents on the ID of February, and moved down
the valley to Ain, n station in the Massowah
md Sanhiel route About 10 O'Clock OF the
evening mentioned my guide, Techlahnima-
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 tho Abyssinian
troops stationed on the plateau intended TO
raid Ailet. While | had been In TINT country
! had heard 50 many wild rumors that !
placed little credenco in the story OF the two
Abyssinians | have regretted bitterly my
skepticism on that occasion. My guide agreed
with mo, and we somehow felt no great
alarm.
shall never forget that night preceding
my capture. There is nothing supcrstitious
about me, but / remember that | went to bed
shortly after midnight and tried to sleep,
but could not. l got up and walked out into
the cool plight air. A sense of impending
danger now and then seized me, and repeat
edly | was on the point of arousing my men,
loading the cnmels and starting the caravan
en- route for Sahorti; but the perfect quiet
that reigned in tho village, and tho sense of
security that seemsd to dominate the minds
Of all, checked my impulse to retreat. In
the early morning my guide, Toc~hlahaimanot,
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
tho Abyssinians IL 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 0
O'Clock | took n cup Of coffee and was wait
ing for my breakfast, when suddenly my
guide rushed into my tent and exclaimedi
"The battle is beginningin At that instant
! heard the crack OF a rife ON tho north side
Of town. The village was taken by surprise,
tho AbysiniRns coming from the north in
stead Of the south. / wished to remain and
receive the AbyssiniRns in my camp, and, rs
i was not at war with them, negotihte 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
ny ulpuI NJ puCo L lOlu UNI tnht We tnust
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
tho camels passing at full speed by my tent
At the sound of the first gun the drivers bad
mounted and started to the mountains.
My next thought was to save my men. l
started them in the direction Of Sahorti, but
they were III from fever and could not run. |
glanr,l aud ,,r-al shnr, far.~,-I ~. ID-4 4
might. We climbed the mountains until my
Soldiers became exhausted, and were lying
down or seated on rocks Suddenly n terrific
yell reached us from below, and | knew that
we Ind 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 ut 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 a handful of feeble
soldiers There vas one exception to the
feeble soldiers, and his name was Bayouui.
he stood near me, erect, calm, coda true
soldier. He cooked his gun ready for a deadly
Rim and quietly asked me: "Mr. Mitchell, is
it necessary TO iref' / told him no.
The Abysinians called to US: "Dahan, da-
han; amAn, aman," which Bayoumi sid
means Good, good; peace, peace" In other
words, that if we surrendered We should not
be harmed We surrendered, and although
not subjected to any bodily injury, wo were
relieved Immediately OF all the valuables In
our possession The cook and mining corpo-
raj escaped and nine Of US were captured and
marched back TO Ailet TO lind the town sacked
and burned. | was Immediately conducted
into the presence of ono OF the Abyssinian
chiefs, whom l found upon the ground With
& crowd Of soldiers around him. In their
midst stood a half emptied bottle which they
were eying with looks OF great curiosity and
distrust. The chief said that SOM of his
men had been drinking from the bottle, and
he was afraid they were going to die. He
wanted to know II the huid was ''arakee," a
name given by Abyssinians to all intoxicat
ing or distilled liquors
| at once recognized it as a bottle of con-
rentric nitric, or sulphuric acid, which had
belonged to my chemical chest, and told the
chief that II he wanted to die he might drink
the liquid He wanted me to cure them. and
was escorted to my tent to find my medi
cine case. Ny camp had been p~lundered and
avarvfhfav fak.u 50 I told the -btaF 70 an