Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-27
THE HERO OF SHIPKA PASS.
Suleiman Pssha, whose Charges A-tonislred
the World. Dies at ConstantinopIe.

the World. Dies at ConstantinopIe.
From the Philadelpha Press
Suleiman Pasha the luckless hero o. Shipks
Pass, whose death at ConstantinoTle was an
nounced in the columns Of the Press yester-
day. was born in Rounelis in 1888 and began
life as IA stndent of theology. Aban, 1863 ne
deserted the school for the camp. studied for a
time at the military school at Pankaldi and
then entered the army. in which his rise Was
quite rapid. even at the start tie held the
rank Of major at the end Of 1870. when the
Yemen expedition aas undertaken. On his re-
turn he Was appointed subgovemor and later
governor Of the military school A Pankalli
from which latter Office he was removed by
Redif, who ordered him to the comm and Of one
Of the expeditions which invaded Montenegro
early i'm 1877.
Montenegro was invaded from three points,
Ali Saib, with $4,000 men and thirty-six guns,
penetrating the little principally from the
southeast; Mehemet Ali. with IS. 600 men and
twelve guns. from the northeast and Suleiman
with $4,000 men and thirty guns, from the
northwest. Opening his campaign early in
Nav, Suleiman defeated several small bodies OF
Montenegrins. and then made his famous pas
sage Of Duga pass. HE fighting in this diff
cult defile lasted five DAYS, and Suleiman lost
over 1000 men. while the Montenegrin loss was
but 200. He joined Ali Saib in the heart of
Montenegro. but deemed il best to abandon his
contemplated advance upon Cettinje. the capt.
tai and in the middle of July started on his re-
turn to all intents and purposes defeated.
Suleiman marched his shattered force into
Roumelia. with the intention of preventing the
Russian general Ghourko from crossing the
Balkan range. But Ghourko had ALREADY
crossed the mountains and seized kezzanlik. at
the outlet of the Shipka pass. suleimans ap-
proach forced him 20 retire from the open
country. and in August took place a struggle
for the possession of the Shipka pass which hos
few parallels in military history. Gen. Dero-
jinsky. with but 5000 men. was in possession of
the pass and was ordered to hold il at anv sac
rifce. Opposed to him was the whole Of Sulei-
mans army. then $4,000 strong. The attack
began on the morning OF August p and was
continued for three days and nights with unin-
terrupted iInpetuosity. The losses on the Rus
sian SIDE were very great. but the slaughter of
the Turks. who had TO climb up the PERCEPTIONS
mountain side by a crcuitous road. was fright
full Twelve thousand men estimated to
have fallen in this terrific onslaught. Russian
relays OF troops then began TO arrive. and not
withstsnding the fact that the Turks were re-
inforced and succeeded in planting siege guns
on the heights around Fort st. Nicholas. the
pass remained in possession of the invaders
On the 4th OF October Suleman was ap-
pointed to succeed Mehemet Ali as commander
Of the main Turkish army to the north of the
and Suleimsn could do nothing more than Me-
hemet Ali to relieve it. He was finally de-
feated on the 18th OF December by the Russian
Grand Duke Vladimir near Metchka after des-
perate engagement which lasted seven hours
In February, 1878. Suleiman was relieved Of
his command and came to Constantinople un-
der arrest. He was sent TO st. Jean dAcre
but permitted to return to Constantinople in
less than month. and in April was placed on
trial before a court-martial The INQUIRY into
his conduct during the war was not terminated
until December, when he was convicted Of gross
incompetency and Encouragement and sem
fenced to be degraded from his rank and con-
fined in a fortress for fifteen years. i
Suleiman Pasha was described as a most un-
ostentatious and reserved man. He was tall
and strongly built. with rude and wrinkled
face and q short red beard and mustache lie
spoke q little French, was simple and self-re-
liant, slept on the ground under piece of can
vass stretched over two sticks, had only two
attendants on has staff, and Jared like his men.
Owing TO his extreme strictness as a dis
ciplinarian, and to the severity, often amount
ing to cruelty, with which he punished all
odenses, be was no favorite with his soldiers
and was actually disliked by his officers, espe-
cially by those of the higher ranks He was
undoubtedly a man Of courage and Of resources
but he was vain of himself and jealous OF eyerv-
body, and was thus never ready to cooperate
with any other commander and his nery tenn
per and headstrong will never permitted him 20
count the cost Of such desperate operations a.
his reckless charges in the Shipka pass.