The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1895-12-19
THE SULTANS DEVILS CURRENT;

and swift from the Black sea past the
! gilded minarets of COnstantinople.
there is one dread ribbon through its
entire length known as the Devils
Current" says the " orld. With in
conceivable rapidity the water rushes
madly down to the Mediterranean
leaving fan behind, as king Of racers
distances his tieetest runners, the fly
ing currents on either side Redden-
ed with tragedy. this ribbon of water
has long been the scene of the most
dastardIy. cowardly and always silent
crimes OF the world, 1t has been the
pet Of successive sultans, the shifty
stage Of Turkeys bloodie7t dramas.
The Golden Horn, that famous,
broad bosomed harb0r Of the nearby
| Orient, divides Constanople, or Istam
| bCul. as the Greek church called the
historic metropolis, into two sections
Two bridges Of iron bind together the
two halves of the sultan's town To
the northeast is Pera, the foreign
quarter. the city, as good Mnssu)mans
term it, Of the Franks. Across the
Horn is Noslemdon, properly STAN
boul. and on the great rounded point
where Horn and Bosphorous meet
are the many palaces of his majesty.
the Padishah Abdul Hamid, sultan,
among them his seraglio Of white and
gold. that vast harem at which the
entire civilized world looks askance.
Most prominent Of all, survival of the
old Church Of Byzantium, though
now Mahomet's temple, the golden
minarets of the Mosque of st. Sophia,
visible far away on the Bosphorus.
! glitter at eventide from the rays of
the setting sun.
SeragIio Point, on whose shore.
Horn and Bosphorus mingle their
waters. is but a few rods distant from
| the Devils Current" which at this
point nears the land, as if by some
| dread design. In the dead of night,
! It's waters lit only by the pale stars.
|time and again swift. long black
cpiques have ghded ont with mutfied
oars pulled by black garbed servants
bent on their masters cruel bidding
| Here crimes Of horror that is hard
t. picture nave been perpetrated IN
Witnessed Plash, down IN the deep
dark waters, struggling, but v)iceless,
unwept, uncottined and unsung, form
after form has gone to death because
Of the caprice or hatred of the fretful,
dark eyed man in the palace on the
heigh5.
Red With Innocent Blood
More corpses Of men and women
this grim current has borne upon its
| breast than any other stream in all the
region Of the globe. As watery
cemetery of slaughtered innocence
has been its history All who have
SINK into It's tide Of death Will never
he known, but the ghastly whims of
the commander Of the faithful have
thrown to it dainty women. valiant
soldiers. ardent statesmen and youths
whose only fault was that they loved
their country too well. In the embrace
Of this cold current has been stilied
forever a large share Of Turkeys ga
triotism, ability and womeny lowell
| ness
Abdul Hamid. though he seems
| from his presence to be the most re
/ lentlees OF all the eultans. is but follow
ing in the footsteps Of the paaishahs
that haxe gone before him These
crimes have been going on silently,
-tealthily, tiandishly for centuries.
| But Abdul Hamid his hands already
stained with the blood Of Armenians
and other lawIess acts committed in
his domain, put the final touch, which
has aroused the whole civilized world,
when by his express orders within the
past month, he deliberately drowned
Like dogs a score Of brilliant and pa
triotic Youths whose one aim Vas the
hetterment Of their country, and whc
belonged to that fearless. thoughtful,
earnest band, the young Turkish par
| ty
! Though the Mus5ulman potentate
! now cringes feverishly at the feet OF
all The powers Of the cid world, asking
pardon for bis iniquitjes and promis
ing lavish reforms, there is little ques
t0u that during the past few years
wholesale sacrifices to the Devils
cmrant' have been going on with
the virulence Of seventy years ago,
when. with one fell swoop, the Jani
zaries We're wiped off the face of the
earth. That wes a crime some de
tails of which have gone down to his
tory.