The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-12-09
TURKEYS ARMY.
Talk with Capt. C1nudfus on IT'S Con
dition and the Porte's Resources.

dition and the Porte's Resources.
ST. LOUIS, Dec. S-Captain Carl Claud-
lus late of the United States engineer
CORPS has just returned to America, after
a three years sojourn abroad. principally
at St Petersburg and Vienna. He has been
visiting friends in this city and Is now the
guest of Mr.. II. ]. Mcclure. on Forest Park
boulevard "I was in Constantinople as
late as the middle of September last ne
said to a reporter, "and in common with
every other military man, took a keen in
terest in the defenses Of the city. The
Turks keep their secrets very jealously,
however, and it with the utmost difficulty
that anything can be found out especially
by Americans. We have no very close in
terest in this question and will not go 10
the lengths to get information that Russia
and England have gone.
II don't know how much the English have
secured, but l am satisfied that there are
more accurate maps OF all the forts on the
Dardanelles and the Bosphorus in the IL
brary of the staff college at petersburg
than at the Turkish headquarters in STAN
boul. You see, Stamboul Is mania with
every Russian soldier, and their agents
have money TO spend. All through the
country are Greeks and Armenians, who
owe no allegiance to the Turk. anyhow,
and who would sell their souls for money
Distance is the only thing that lends any
enchantment to the Armenian When you
see him close up he is not nice.
Both England and Russia have been for
years in the market buying state and mil
itary secrets from these people and very
large fund of it has accumulated | saw
some of the results at Petersburg and they
startled me. When you get such accurate
plans of an enemy's works that you can
even dot in his torpedoes you have pretty
nearly everything; and the work is prose-
cuted with zeal and enthusiasm:
"In the Russian capital L made the ac-
quaintance of an officer who is a major in
one Of the crack regiments. OF course. |
will not give his name. but can assure you
that he comes of a noble family, is OF great
wealth and favorite at court In Septem-
ber / met him face 10 face on the Galata
bridge, dressed in rags and carrying a
heavy bundle. Our recognition was mutual,
but he passed on without speaking. l fol-
lowed him until he turned into a wretched
little cafe on the waterside and there had
quite chat with him, 10 the wonder of sew
'"Their curiosity was eased, however. by
my ostentatously giving the major couple
of pennies. He dined with me at my hotel
that night in the usual garb of civilization.
and he told me frankly about his work. He
had volunteered for service in the Intelli-
gence Bureau ant was gathering facts about
the forts beyond Pera, which are just now
being greatly strengthened. OF course, his
life would not be worth five minutes pur-
chase Il he were discovered. And he is only
one of many trained observers
He told me that with the exception of
| the works Immediately about the strait at
the Black embrochure and the ports at
Sedl Behr and Kale Sutanich on the Oar
danelles, the defenses are exactly as they
were left at the close of the last with
Russia. Sedl Behr is lined with Krupp guns,
and the armaments Of the other places
mentioned are modern-but the othe forts
! have defective guns, some OF them actually
two hundred years old, and not one in
| twenty made since the Crimean war The
! earthworks are on old lines, probably laid
out in some instances by John Justiani.
when Mahomet III took the city, and any
thing more quaint or useless you could not
conceive.
"Curiously but consistently enough, just
when you have estimated a series of re-
doubts as beneath contempt, you will come
upon an outwork that would do no discredit
to the neighborhood of Cronstadt or Cologne
engineers. Still, as this officer told me, and
as could see very plainly for myself. the
Turks depend almost wholly on their tor
1 pedoes to defend the capital. They never
did do their best fighting behind earthworks,
anyhow, with the exception of the engage
ments at Plevna and in the battles in the
| Balkan passes"
What do you think of their arny?"
Properly armed there would be no better
soldiers in the world. There is a belief
| here. even among military men, that the
Turkish army is disorderly. unorganized
horde. They are nothing Of the sort. Some
of their generals of pure Ottoman blood are
as good tacticians and as skilled soldiers as
any in the world. Take the defense OF
| Plevna for an example of what the Turk
can do. There was not mistake made
that any critic can point out. and Osman
Pasha did it all himself. There is a big
leaven of European officials in the. army
too, and the rank and file is of splendid
material.
1.-The blight on the empire begins in the
| palace and rots everything from there out
wardly.- Man for man. the Turk is the
! equal of any other race, and his courage is
| proverbial. But their armament is absurd.
| / saw soldiers at Pera who carried bows
| and arrows. Some of the irregulars have
| the ld-fashioned flint lock muskets still
| The troops garrisoning the Armenian towns
| are very generally equipped with muzz.e-
loading guns. / am told. The jezail. or a
! gun very much like the jezail, is common.
| And right side by side with these antigua
! ted weapons will be found the very latest
! type of repeating rifles.
Batteries of Maxim and Hotchkiss guns
! are in evidence, and half an hour later you
| will happen on the old nine-pounders of
| the 1905 and '20's. 1t is all a warlike jum-
| bile, and yet, somehow, they pull it into or
| der and shape when they must, and put up
| a fight that one can't help respecting. Still.
| the conditions would be enough to drive an
| American officer crazy"
sDo you think there will be war?'
There is more apt to be a massacre than
| a war. The Sultan must yield TO the pow
ers, and then there will be mad outbreak
| could force the straits alone. Turkey s only
| hope is that the European concert VIII
! somehow be broken. l don't know-nobody
| knows-what the end will be. but do know
| that IL once Russia comes within sight OF
| the minarets of Constantinople again ali
| Europe will not be able TO hold her back.
| know something about the Russian army.
| was given every facility to study it, for an
American is at home everywhere in the
| empire and / consider it the most terrible
fighting machine of modern times. / know
| a little about the other continental forces
| but all things told, Russia is undoubtedly
| more formidable than any other single ma
| ton IN the world"
Over IOO,OOO Armenians Killed.
| MEMPHIS, Tenn, Dec. S-The relatives
\ of Mrs Helen Royster Bliss who reside in
| Memphis are in receipt of a letter relative
| to the Armenian outrages. Mr.. and Mrs
Bliss are natives OF Memphis and are con-
nected with the American Bible Society In
| Constantinople. Mrs. Bliss says: I'VE are
/ having an anxious time here and know not
| what to expect. At Harpoot all but -four
| of our missionaries houses have been de-
stroyed, and these were looted At Erie
| rum 10000 armed Armenians were killed In
| less than ten days. There Is no doubt al
| all that all these outrages are committed
| rarian massacres were but a drop In the
| bucket OF course, there was the same
| fiendish cruelties at the time, but not TO be
| compared with this in extent over 10000
| Armenians have been butchered, mostly
| men leaving women and children in awfu
noverty with winter upon them None OF
| the ambassadors have recommended their
| Communities TO leave the city, and that gives
| us hope that we Will be SAFE
FIFTY CENTS A LETTER.
| x..r<n. n~vaou Nfuers Pn~ In,