Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-08-05
AN ORIENTAL EXECUTION.
ENFORCEMENT OF A CAPITAL CON-
vICTIoN IN EGYPT.
Careful DeIiberation of the Prisoner,
AN Mohammedan, in His Last Re-
ligtous Rites.

~ N the night of December IS,
I 1890, murder of singular
Y atrocity for Egypt, was CON-
mitted in Alexandria, Egypt.
A respectable Greek, M. Limperopoulo,
his wife, and woman servant were all
murdered, the motive apparently being
robbery.
After long hunt the murderers were
captured, tried and sentenced, but, being
all Muslin for. as it turned out, it was
committed by Arabs, the trial took
place before the native tribunals, and,
under Mohammedau law, the record of
all capital convictions must be trans
mitted to the Grand Ladi for approval
before execution can follow.
The Grand Ladi annulled the sentence
because of some formal error in the ax-
animation of the witnesses, certain pro-
visions of the religious law not having
been complied with; and new trial
was ordered. This resulted, as did the
first, in the capital conviction aud SEN
tence of Bekkit Sueiman, one of the Of
tenders, and in the condemnation of the
others to life imprisonment.
Yesterday, writes correspondent Of
the Richmond (Va.) Times, the sentence
of death was carried ont at sunrise in
military parade ground near the fort
Kom. El-Dik. Up to the last the advo-
Gates aud friends of the murderer hoped
for communication, and this on two
grounds-irst, because it was the first
occasion for an execution since the in
stalation of the new Khedve; and that
fact, as well as the presumed reluctance
of a lad of eighteen to enforce the death
penalty, was thought to justify the hope
of clemency. Still greater confidence
arose from the fact that the great fasting
month of Islam had just fuished-the
month Of Ramadan--and this concludes
with feast corresponding to our Easter
in nature-called Bairam-w which is
time of joy, of universal exchange of
visits, Of ceremonial receptions, and,
with sovereigns, of clemency. The late
Khedive invariably signalized the return
of Bairam by releasing all prisoners
whose terms of punishment had nearly
expired, and often by communication.
But Suleiman did not profit by the
great festival, and yesterday morning,
just as the gray dawn was streaking the
east, he was awakened in his prison with
the news that his appeal for grace had
been refused and he must Immediately
prepare for death.
Bound aud handcured, but as imper-
turbable as the least concerned of his es-
cort, he was taken to the place Of execu-
ton, and at the foot of the gallows he
maintained the same fatalistic compo-
sure.
The prosecuting officer of the tribunal
which tried him asked if he had any be.
quest to make or desired to make any
statement. He replied with perfec.
composure:
"I am innocent aud Allah knows it.
The guilty are Abou zeit and Ahmed
Sathin."
"Then you wish nothing2"
"Yes. l want to pray and to PROSTATE
myself before Allah"
"You may"
"But can one pray who has not
washed"
A stone vessel of water was offered
him-the gulhh in which drinking
water is always kept in Egypt, They
unbound his hands, and he walked un-
der the scaffold and performed the alb
lutions that every MUSLIN observes before
prayer. He washed first his feet, then
his hands and face, and then rnsed his
mouth, refusing to let any one help him
or wait on him.
He then unwound from his waist
the shawl he used as band, and spread.
ing 1t on the ground under the scaffold,
whose floor was higher than his head, he
stood on 1t and offered up his prayer,
prostrating himself four times with his
forehead to the earth, praying to Allah
for mercy and invoking the aid and in
tercession of his Prophet.
lie drank from the gullah and said;
az am ready"
lie was then pinioned, aud he walked
up the steps TO the scaffold, and lifting
his voice, called cut;
"salaam aleikum va Islam"-peace be
to you, Muslim-and he added in Ara
bic
peace be to all men. aud the order of
Allah. Peace to the children OF Islam.
We belong to Allah, AMI TO him We re-
turn. testify that there is no God but
he alone. lie turned his face TO the east
aud bowed,
IL would be impossible To exaggerate
in description the majesty aud dignity Of
this scene, Notwithstanding ones asst
rance Of the prisoners guilt aud Of the
Justice Of his fate.
Alone aud hopeless Of aid, he turned
his face toward the glowing east aud the
holy cities, and, his last act prayer, his
last word declaration Of HE unswerving
belief, he looked out upon the thousands
assembled 10 gitasss bis end with the uH-
troubled assurance ol hls latalislio creed.
An so, as the seant rays OF the morn.
ing illumined the sad machinery Of death,
bio sas swung into eternity, solemnly
prououneng, as the cord frightened
around his neck, his ereeds defiance 10
the uubelleyeT
'il.a iilaha illalahh llhere is 40 God
but Allah aad died