Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-09-23

with. tho fully admitted responsibility Of
Mr.. Giadstone's Government. He vent with
the declared purpu1e u restoring peace ana
| order to the gondan and with the solemn
promiso OF assistance from tho Ministry
Right where the White and Blue Niles
| Join TO form tho mighty river famous In
| history lies KhartouIn. a city OF perhaps
| 10000 people. II was, when Gordon reached
II with a slender forcs IN the spring or
! 1884. garrisoned by about 1900 Egyptian
and English soldiers. IL had In addition
| Meet OF seven protected river ateamers In
good condition. and was amply supplied
| with provisions and ammunition. It's In
habitnnts were supporters Of the English.
Encounterlng but little opposition Cen
eral Gordon entered Khartoum He was
besieged by the Mahdi but In the many en-
| counters with tho latter's forces was sig
nallY successful. So confident was he OF OBJ
talning the promised assistance that be DIS
patched Ave Of his steamers TO other Tor
ti1dd places on tho river. 1t should be ex-
planned that at any time during the carly
part OF his occupation be could have cut his
way through the Mahdi's army and made
his escape In safety. To have done THIS,
however. would have left the city 10 the
mercy OF the fierce soldiers OF the Prophet.
And this he declined to even consider.
For 3i9 days Gordon remained prisoner
In -Shartoum. From the first he urged me
sending Of strong relief expedition. But
Ht' AfE1hAa hIal lH-l NAfhs EtNAA
TO timo bis letters would reach London,
showing without exaggeratlon his dire need.
But the answers OF the Government were
trinlng. fault-fndlng and evasiye.
Provisions at the end Of six months be-
gan 70 run short In the beleaguered town.
Coin had long since vanished. and It's place
was supplied by script Issued by Gordon
himself The force Of soldiers was reduced
nearly one-half and the merchants Of khar-
tour were Obliged to man the detensea
themselves. Many times was General Cor
don ontreated TO leave the city and save
himself, but he resoluteIy refused. ,,ss
That he realized the dcsperats hpure Of
mo situation fully was shown by the lot
tera sent out In tho latter days Of the siege.
In the last bundle OF papers which got
through the enemy's Lines was noto dated
Dec. IA, 1884. which was addressed to Col
onel Watson. an old comrade-in-arfns and
devoted friend, which Is as follows;
My dear Watson; think the game Is UP ana
rgnd Mira. watson, yourself and Graham my
adleus. We may expect catastrophe in tho
!oNn IN, or alter ten dhYa. This would not
have happened II our people had taken better
precauilon a. TO Informing Us o. their move
menu, but this Is split milk. Good bye.
c. @. GORDON.
The catastrophe came. though not as
soon as General Gordon had expected On
the morning u Jan. 20, 1855. tho garrison.
weariod by constant fighting and reduced
10 a more skeleton Of IT, former self, gave
way after a furious assault by tho bulk o,
tho Mahdist army. The rebels streaiucd
Into town. piliagnE. rayishing, massacre
Ing. AZ the gate ~ the palace ChArlea
George Gordon was wantonly shot dowa and
killed.
The only authentic account OF his death
was given months afterward by servant
In the employ OF local mAgnatc. He
raid.
Hearing the noise tthc shouts OF the
Mah1lat soldiers) | got my masters donkey
and went with him 10 the palace. We met
Gordon Pasha at the outer door Of the
palace. Mohammed Boy Mustapha, with !
my master, lbrahlm Bey Rushdi and about |
twenty cnvaBaes then went down with Cor |
don toward the house Of the Austrian Con-
sui liHnaall near the church, when we met |
some robclB In an open place near the outer
cute OF the palace. Gordon PaAha was |
walking IN front leading the party. The |
rebels fred volley and Gordon was killed |
at once, nino Of the cayasses. lbrahim |
hey Ruahdl and Mohammed hey Mustapha |
were Killed. the rest ran away"
II was said afterward that GordOn's head |
was cut OF and exposed on pole but this |
was never proven There were q number |
OF Europeans. including about forty nuns. In |
the town. when Il was captured. Some OF |
these werc made prisoners and afterward |
escaped. Many were put to death In awful
WAYS.
Public sentiment in England had been
worked mp to such pitch ere this that tho |
Government was finally compelled to send |
out relief expedition But Il was too late,
When the soldiers reached Cairo thoy were |
told that Khartoum had fallen and that |
Gordon had perished-murdcred by the Gov |
ernment which had pledged Itself TO save |
him, Little wonder that the English people |
then arose aud swept that Government out
OF power.
Since then the Eastern soudan has been
the scene OF almost unremittlng warfare.
II was reported many times that Mohammcd |
Achmet was dead, but II this be so, Osman
Dlgna and Wadel-N'iuma his principal
generals, have carried on tho nsht with re-
lcntless ylgor. The latter invaded Abyssinla |
In 1883 and In short campaign defeated |
and killed King Johannes, Many times did |
tho Mahdists suffer defeat themselves. hut |
they wore always able TO collect frcsh armies
aud supplies. as though by magic,
Millions OF treasure, as has been said. and .
the blood Of thousands Of brave soldiers have
been expended ON the Eastern soudan. WIN .
II ever be rcconquered7