The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-12

half dozen times; reward of 5000 has
been offered for him alive or dead; and
vet. with his absurdly small body of fol-
lowers, he still manages to present az
he has done for the last fourteen years,
the most indomitable resistance to the
combined Egyptian and British authority.
He has crossed swords with Baker, with
Graham and with Grenfell, and although
badly SMASHED by the last-named a;
Handuk in December, 1888, he still keeps
popping up from time to time, and if
he is now offered the command at Metam-
nseh or Omdurman, he may yet cause the
Srdar more trouble than can be antici-
pated from the inert and unready Khalifa.
And vet, for one who has figured SO
prominently, very little is known OF MN
and the most contradictory statements
have been published as to his origin ana
| personality. Among a sparsely-oearueo
race he is distinguished by a growth that
has procured for him the title OF Dikn
or Dikna. 1.-THE Bearded One,'' and ms
dark beard contrasted with the COMPARE
tive lightness of his color. is said to be mis-
most noticeable characteristic on nrst
sight 1t used to be said in Suaklm tnat
| his father was a Turkish slave dealer VINO
sheikh; and it is certain that in the ~ y
he was himself a wealthy slave dealer
in Suakim, and that he possessed immense
influence with the Hadendowas and other
Sudanese tribes.
About a year ago one who progressed 10
/ possess undoubted sources of information
on the subject gave me- with assurances
| of its general accuracy, the foli0Wing out
line of the life and adventures of this re-
markable man. He is not a Sudanae ana
not a Turk, but a Scotchman, anG ms
name is George Nisbet. His father was
an adventurous Glasgow man, who, in the
thirties, found himself a merchant IN
Rouen Here his son George was born,
in 1896 and here the first ten or Twelve
years of the boys life were spent. March
revolutions and short-ived REPUBLICS We're
not, however, much to the taste or the
elder Nisbet. and hearing CT the great
things that were being done by MefHnet All
in Egypt, and of a good opening for trade
at Alexandria, he migrated to that city
in 1S4S,N only to fail victim to fever few
months after starting in business His
wife then married a Turkish trader named
Osman, man of some means, and posi-
ton, who adopted young Nisbet made
Mussulman of him. named him OsnAan Ali,
and sent him to the military schCpl at
Cairo. Here Osman Ali met and became
attached to a young "Fellah" cadet, <Ach-
met Arab, of whom Europe heard much
later on as "Arabi the Egyptian" or
Arab Pasha. Meanwhile Osman, the
Turk had settled in Suakim, had married
the Hadendowa sheikhs daughter and
amassed great wealth as a slave-dealer.
On his death George Nisbet. or Osman Ali,
gave up his military career, and as sole
heir, took over his adaptive fathers bus
mess as a slave-dealer. Now began his
grievances. against the cIvi hzation which
he had abandoned. Under English aud
French pressure the Egyptian govern
ment was making efforts to repress the
slave trade. and this tended TO ruin Os-
mans business. Then came che move
ment of his Old friend Arab az ainst, the
dual control, and finally the rising of the
mahdl, in which he has done his best to
wipe out old scores against Engia and and
against Egypt.
wonder if any of those who have been
brought into contact with the blacl beard
ed Scotchfnan Che is over 50 now and his
beard will not be 80 back as it va > car
add TO or corroborate these details. Does
Maj. Wingate, who has the dossiey' Of ev-
erybody in Sudan well noted up in ms pig
eon-holes know anything Of the 10 y? A
bright Scotch laddie Of Il must hf " got
many things into his head 5efor,- they
made a Turk Of him. Does he ctury 4
Shorter Cathechsm and a volun e of
Burns poems in his baggage? HIS he
heard of the window in Thrums? Or o Mr.
Crockett? Has he ever tasted has gis?
Docs he adhere to the frees" or the AT
P.'s'? Has he views on Mary Queen of
Scots? These are a few of the questltu's
that arise; and one can only hope th.bt
when Sir Herbert Kitchener has, finish a
his work and Osman Digna gives uD wa =
Ike ways, George Nisoet wiz return %
the land Of his fathers, and will give US
his "reminiscences in two stout volumes
Mr.. Heinemann ought to be on the look
out, for it viii be the book of the season
Walter Kennedy, a young Indiana
man, who went out to China With an
American rai,road-building syndicate. has
been appointed chief mining engineer for
the Chinese empire. He was first asked to
report on some mines, then made score
tary of the Chinese Imperial railway and