The Globe-republican., 1896-01-09
Where the Sultan browns He Victims
In the Dark Waters Of the Bosphorus
Horrible Night Murders OF Men and
Women.
LONG EUROPE'S
m ost terrib l e
stream, the Bos-
phorus, Fl o " i n g
dark, deep and
swift from the
Black sea past the
giiGed minarets of
C O. S t a n tin0ple,
there is one dread
ribbon through its
on tiro lon a 4 n

entire len I n
known as the Devils Current" says
the World. With inconceivable rapidi-
ty the water rushes madly down to the
Mediterranean, leaving far behind, as
king of racers distances his fleetest
runners, the flying currents on either
side. Redeemed with tragedy, this rib
bon OF water has long been the scene of
the most dastardly, cowardly and al
ways silent crimes of the world. It has
been the pet Of successive sultans, the
shifty stage of Turkeys bloodiest
dramas.
The Golden Horn, that famous, broad
bosomed harbor of the nearby Orient.
divides Constantinople. or Istamboul,
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 Mussulmans term it, of
the Franks. Across the Horn is M0slem-
dunn, properly STEAMBOAT, and on the
great rounded point where Horn and
Bosphorus meet are the many palaces
OF his majesty, the Padishah Abdul
Hamid, sultan, among them his sera-
Clio 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 Byzan-
tium, though now Mahomet's temple,
the golden minarets OF the Mosque Of
st. Sophia. visible far away on the Bos-
phorus, glitter at eventide from the
rays of the setting sun.
Seraglio Point, on whose shores Horn
and Bosphorus mingle their waters, is
but 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 caiques have glided out with
muffled oars pulled by black-garbed
servants bent on their masters cruel
bidding. Here crimes of horror that
it is hard to picture have been perpe-
trated unwitnessed. Plash, down in
the deep, dark waters, struggling, but
voiceless, unwept. uncofined and un-
sung, form after form has gone to death
because of the caprice or hatred of the
fretful dark-eyed man in the palace or
the height.
More corpses of men and women this
grim current has borne upon its breast
than any other stream in all the regions
of the globe. AS watery cemetery OF
slaughtered innocence has been its his
tory All who have sunk into its tide
of death will never be known, but the
CHASTITY whimes of the commander of
the faithful have thrown to it dainty
women. valiant soldiers, ardent states
men and youths whose only fault was
that they loved their country too we'll.
In the embrace of this cold current has
been stifled forever a large share OF
Turkeys patriotism, ability and wom-
anly loneliness.
Abdul Hamid. though he seems from
his presence to be the most relentless
of all the sultans. is but following in
the footsteps Of the padishahs that have
gone before him. These crimes have
been going on silently, stealthily, fiend-
ishly for centuries. But Abdul Hamid,
his hands already stained with the
blood of Armenians and other lawless
acts committed in his domain, put the
final touch. which has aroused the
whole civilized world. when by his ex-
press orders within the past month he
deliberately drowned like dogs score
of brilliant and patriotic youths whose
one aim was the betterment of their
country, and who belonged 10 that fear
less. thoughtful, earnest band, the
young Turkish party.