The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-05-13
Moussa Bey. One of the Most
Accomplished of Villains,
is A PRISONER IN SAN sTEFANo
In ROme-His Accomplishments and Polished
Manner His Crim,s, Conspiracies,
COMBINATIONS and Escapes.

the northeastern portion of the African
continent. Strikingly handsome, refined.
highly educated he is as much at home in
the salon of the French grande dame, the
Doudolr OF the demi- mondaine or in the
smoking room of the exclusive METROPOLITAN
club as in the tent of the desert chief. in
the mud hut of an Abyssinian general or
IN the imposing Sultan Ell Hassam mosque
at Cairo. His knowledge of the word NAV
be gagged by the fact that for fifteen years
he has been accustomed to transmitting all
his 1ll-gottcn wealth to England. and that
the whole of his large fortune is in the safe
keeping OF the Bank of England. 1t is
extremely doubtful, however, if he will
ever be able to derive any personal benefit
from the result Of his foresight in money
matters, for he arrived here heavily chained
on board an Italian man of-war and now
lies In one of the terrible circular
cells of the great San Stefano prison,
where he is to spend the remainder of his
lie IN solitary confinement. There are
many who freely wager that within few
years he will find some means or other to
recover his liberty and return. They base
tnef opinions on the matter in the wonder
full manner in which he has always, until
now, been able to wriggle out of Difficult
ties, even of more serious nature than
those IN which he now finds himself.
Born about 43 years ago at Alexandria.
the son of wealthy Egyptian land owner
and merchant, and nurtured in all the vice
OF that most wicked of Levantine cities, he
1rst attracted public attention IN '73, when
ne was accused Of having poisoned rich
uncle with the assistance of the latter,s
Wlfe whom he subsequently married, and
OF having, after few months of welded
life, put his fair confederate to death also.
Inc evidence against him was overwhelm-
ing and he was condemned to death. A
ludlc1ous use of backsheesh among the
authorities led to his sentence being com
muted to Punishment to F'osanghli, on the
frontiers Of the Soudan. Two years later
Nubar Pasha, with whom he had been on
terms OF intimacy, became prime minister
and was impelled to interest him
half. Nubar pointed out to
khedive Ismail that Moussa was far too
clever william to be permitted to waste
MS energies and talents at Fosanghli, and
that he might be far more proftably en-
ployed at Cairo Or Alexandria Khedive
lsmall could naturally afford to regard with
indulgence the offense of young Moussa
The latter was, therefore, quietly pardoned
and recalled to the north where he was at
once employed by both Nubar and Khedive
on missions of nature most likely to be
entrusted to man of Moussa's record. So
great was the satisfaction which he gave
his masters that by 70, when Nubar was
dismissed and Ismail deposed, Moussa had
risen to the rank of a hey of the first class.
During the years which followed he con-
tinued in the service of Khedive Tewfk.
but at the same time drew pay from the
deposed.ruler Ismail at Paris and also from
the pretender Prince Hahn at CONSTANT
nople, for advancing their interests against
those of Tewtik's government He like
wise plotted with Arab Pssha while CON
tlnulng on the most friendly terms with all
the European element in Egypt. He PLAYED
his cards so cleverly that on the lombard
ment of Alexandria in 'S2 he was regarded
by foreign consuls and merchants as the
principal native parsonage on whom they
could rely and to whom they could confide
both their property and the safety of their
lives, while on the other hand Arab
and his followers were convinced that
Moussa was devoted heart and soul to their
cause. The later supposition proved cor
rect, for it was ne who melted and directed
the massacre OF the Europeans which
marked Arabps rebellion. 1t was he who
led the mob of fanatics that looted Alex
andrla. After the capture of Alexandria
and the restoration of order in Egypt. he
fled into the Lybian deseret, intending to
make his way to Tripoli, but being pursued
he boarded fishing boat and went to Crete.
where he was handed over to the British
authorities. He was tried with his friend
and confederate Soliman Pasha, and both
were sentenced to death. But when the
day set for the execution arrived only
Sol1man appeared on the scaffold It was
then learned that Moussa had obtained a
communication of his sentence to Punishment
at Massowah in consideration of his having
turned states evidence and betrayed the
names OF all the other leading native per-
sons who had taken part in the instruction.
When the Italians stationed themselves
at MassoWah in 1885, he at once became a
man of great Importance The Italians
awarded to him the contract for supplies
Tor their troops; entrusted to them all ne
gotlations with friendly tribes. and they
even went so far as to appoint him Judge of
the local supreme court At the time of
the Nongali massacre, when regiment of
Italian troops fell into ambush and were
slaughtered to the last man by the Abys-
sinlans, he opened with contribution of
SoOO public subscription for the erection
OF a memorial to the victims, although it
mas been demonstrated since that it was he
who furnished the Abyssinians with the
information that enabled them to surprise
the unfortunate Italians. short time
after this he visited Europe. While at
the King and Prime Minister Signor Crispi
and was also invested with the cross of the
Royal Order OF st. Mark and st. Lazarus.
Just after his return to Massowah the
Italians arranged to march to fAdoah. and
to effect a meeting there with the Emperor
Menlek. The latter owas to have
arrived there at the same time. The
Italian army reached Adouah in safety, but
found that Menelek and his army were still
hot r1lo
twenty four hours, however, the Italians
left the city without waiting for his arrival
and were skurrylng back as fast as they
could to Massowah. The cause of the sud-
den and uneXpected retreat was message
which had been received, to the effect that
a conspiracy had been discovered which
aimed at the massacre of all the foreigners
at Massowah and the surprise and annihil-
alton of the Italian army on the way back.
On the arrival at Massowah General Orera
found that Moussa was prisoner heavily
shackled on board the man-of-War Carl
baldi. IL appeared that couple of DAYS
after the departure of the general to meet
Menelek, an Arab had been arrested by
Italian gems d'armes for some petty offense
Finding that the man cast anxious chances
at an amulet ON his arm, the suspicion of
the gems d'armes was aroused and they at
tempted to take it from him. In despair
the Arab thrust it into his mouth and tried
to swallow it, but was prevented and the
amulet secured by the Italians. Itcon-
tanned letter addressed by Moussa to the
hostile Abyssinian chiefs informing them of
the best time and place to surprise the Ital-
ian army on tits march, and also stating
that all arrangements had been made