The Portland daily press., 1894-12-15
MYSTERIOUS DIsAPPEARANCEs.
Old Friends Believe Chinese Gordon
to be Alive.

Behind the Bars of Iudian Zenanas-
A Gallant French Officer Known to be
Alive Amoung the Touareg Arabs.
Only those who can recall the sensation
created at Paris in 1881 by the news of
the massacre in the Soudan of the ex-
petition commanded by Colonel Flatters
will be able to appreciate the effect OF
the startling announcement just made
that the gallant officer SO long mourned
as dead is still in the land of the living,
though held in captivity and bondage by
the Touareg Arabs, writes "EXAttache"
in the New York Tribune. 1t may be
rememb ered that when the relief party
reached the scene where Colonel ,Flatters
andshis Rmen had been drawn into am
bush by the enemy and cut to pieces
the group was found covered with dead
bodies, from among which, however.
that of the colonel himself, as well as
those of his two chief lieutenants, was
missing. 1t was believed at the time,
that the remains had been carried off by
the bioodthirsty Touares as trophies of
their victory, and no doubt whatsoever
was entertained with regard to the Col
oneI's death, the ten survivors of his
expedition having all declared that they
had seen him fall before effecting their
escape. But new the well known official
scout of the army interpreter, Djebari,
who enjoys in French Africa much the
same celebrity as was formerly possessed
by Buffalo Bill in the eastern States of
this continent, declares that not culy is
Col. Flatters living, but that he has seen
him, although not permitted to speak
to him. Djebari has just returned from
eminent to the district lying Immediate
IL to the north of Lake Tchad. and he
discovered the Colonel and three other
French survivors of his Inflated expe-
dition in the hands of the Hoggar
TRIBE OF TOUAREGS.
According to the story related to
Djebari by Hadji Beiho, the sheik of the
tribe, Col. Flatters Ehad displayed such
magnificent gallantry at the time of the
massacre that, when he sunk to the
ground covered with wounds after hav-
ing killed with his own hand no less
than seven of the Touaregs the chief
now dead--had covered him with his
own body and saved his life, az well as
that of three of his companions, being
moved thereto by admiration of their
bravery the quality priced more highly
than any other by the fierce and fanatic
Arabs.
To those who have shown any DISPOSE
ton TO question the authenticity of this
story Djebari points out with considera-
BILE force that no trace of the dead body
of Colonel Flatters was ever found. and
that the only evidence sof his death was
that of the ten I urcos who said they had
seen him fall, but who ran away before
the end of the fight, leaving their COM
rades in the lurch. Their testimony,
therefore, is open to suspicion. And
he adds that the reason why nothing has
ever been heard of the Colonel until
now is that the Touarags are the most
fierce and fanatic of all the nomad tribes
of the great Sahara Desert, that their
movements are characterized by the ut
most mystery, not only the women, but
also the men, always keeping their whole
faces, save their eyes. concealed by thick
yashmaks, even when fighting, and that
there is no race on the face of the earth
concerning which SO little is known by
the civilized world as these Touaregs,
who scour the desert from the eastern
borders of Morocco to the western 'front.'
iers of Egypt. Finally DjeDari concludes
by declaring that, no matter how much
one may hesitate to believe that Col.
Flatters is still alive, he himself has
seen wsth his own eyes four French
officers held in bondage by the Touaregs
and acknowledged by the latter to have
been mem bers of the Flatters party.
Now the evidence with respect to the
death of the English General "Chinese"
Gordon at Khartoum in 1885 is Identical
ly Of the same character as that of the
alleged killing of the French Colonel
FlatteIs-that is to say, it is exclusively
native testimony, and therefore of an
unreliable character, neither Asiatics
nor of Africans having any regard for the
truth. If, therefore,. Colonel Flatters is
still living, there is no earthly reason
why General Gordon should not be alive
too. There are many who, like myself,
have never believed in his death, and
have been disposed to give credence to
the native rumors according to which
he 10 still in existence somewh here in the
mysterious recesses of that great un-
known Central Africa which has SO
Justly been named the Dark Ointment,
1 knew Gordon we'll, and was one of the
last to bid farewell to this lifelong
friend and old schoolmate of my father
when he left Cairo in January, 1854, on
that
HATEFUL JOURNEY TO KHARTOUM
from which he has never since returned.
I cannot forget his frequent ratings
against the hypocrisy and shamEof mod
ern civilized existence, his yearnings for
a life of complete seclusion, or else
among untutored and simple savages;
and judging from remarks which I, like
others of his friends have often heard