The record-union., 1897-05-22
SAVED BY A SONG.
How Colonel POs6 Escaped From the
Oriental Plague.
Never Had the Traveller Tried so
Hard to Be t1ospitable
Thrilling Adventure.

James, Colonel John Hay, once paid
Colonel William Perry Fogg the COM
pliment of declaring that in his story
of his escape from an Oriental quaran-
tine there was enough of exciting ad-
venture to form the basis of an eX-
tensive novel.
Both men were Cleveland writer's who
achieved renown through their literary
| works. Colonel FOgg'S account appears
in his book of travels printed in 1919.
as ''Arabistan" While the churches OF
Cleveland are collecting donations to
| be sent to the thousands and MILLIONS
| facing death from starvation and the
plague in India, the tale from the pen
of the Cleveland ex-newspaper man is
timely, and an extract from the book
will be read with interest.
He tells of starting out from Bagdad
to visit the ancient city of Babylon.
Sending his interpreter to the Governor
for certain favors, he returns with the
startling news that the Governor has
| just received telegram from Bagdad,
declaring Hillah in quarantine, as the
| plague has broken out in that town.
But l might go as far as Kerbella,"
says the author, that place being out
side the Gordon sanitaire. Here wa
dilemma. Prudence dictated an INN le-
diate return to Bagdad, but pride and
| a desire and hope to see Babylon Ol y
posed that course" The latter counse i
prevailed, and the boat was soon being :;
| towed along the river by a row OF
Arabs On the way he soliloquized over
the terrible plague of 1881 and 1872,
which killed thousands in a few
months.
| OF his waking the next morning he
wrote: ITO my surprise I found we
had already reached Kerbella My mar
| hallah was moored alongside many
other boats of various kinds" Follow
| ing a description of the ancient city,
he said: I'VE will return to the mar
hallah, on which l was slowly retreat
ing towards Moseyib. I was
suddenly aroused by Yusef, who point
ed to a large boat, rowed by six men,
on which l could see officers and SOL
diers in uniform coming rapidly down
| towards us. Yusef, in evident alarm,
told me that it was the Governor of
Moseyib. I quickly aroused myself as
! the boat came alongside, and the Gov
ernor stepped on board my marhallah.
| He held in his hand a dispatch which
he read, and Yusef translated. 1t was
from Bagdad, and contained the alarm
| ing intelligence that Kerbella had been
placed in quarantine and directing him
to turn back all boats coming from that
place. l felt that my affairs had now
reached a crisis. Inside the quaran
| tine, shut up for an indefinite period,
with no countrymen or European near,
but the terrible pestilence all around
me, and no communication with my
friends in Bagdad or at home.
''The captain of my boat, in obedi
/ ence to the Governors orders, was de-
| taching the tow rope, and l began to
feel desperate. But / could not give
up without an effort / showed him
my letter from the Pasha of Bagdad
and he then recognized me as the trav
eler who had applied to him for a
boat He could speak only Turkish.
so that our conversation had to be in
terpreted by Yusef I would have CIV
| en- all l know of other languages lex
| cept the vernaculaD if 1 could only
have talked with the Turk in his own
language and try my powers of per-
su;,sion and eloquence. We had been
stan ding in the hot sun, and 1 invited
him 20 a seat beneath my awning.
Then. with the instinct of hospitality
I asked him if he would drink some
English Leer The Governor shrugged
his shoulders and nodded assent. A
bottle had teen towing astern to COOL
which Yusef quickly opened, and filled
large glass. The Governor took it
down at a gulp, and held out the glass
for more.
Now, theoretically, at least, no Mus
SULLIVAN can drink wine, beer, or spir-
it's: but the Turks are not very strict
observers of the Koran in this respect
Ii was plain that my guest was no as
cetic. In reply to his inquiry L told
him that I had two more bottles OF
beer and one of brandy, all of which
We're at his service. A happy thought
seemed to strike him. He called his
Secretary, and after a short cousulta-
tion announced that he would return
to Moseyib in my marhallah, and send
his own boat on to Kerbella, which was
but a few miles distant, with letters
a nd dispatches. His soldiers and SER
va nts, carpets, cushions, etc, were
ira nsferred to my boat, and four Arab
idlel g, who had collected on the bank,
were impressed in Turkish style, to
man n extra tow rope.
I'VE were soon spinning along tow
ards Nc G'seyib at a rapid rate, with the
prospect of reaching that place before
dark The Turk now made himself
comfortable. 1t was awfully hot, so
he doffed his military coat, rolled up
his shirt sleeves, kicked off his patent
leather CATERS and squatted on his
cushions which had been spread under
the awnings. / did the hospitalities
to the best of my ability.
Perhaps never before did exert my
self so m uch to please a guest made
Yusef spread out the remains of yes
terday's lunch. to which I added the
basket of .sweetmeats sent me by the
ex-Queen, and another bottle of ale
With the sec ond bottle the Governor be-
gan to melt, and asking to see the
Pasha's letter, he apoogized for not
calling upon me when 1 was in Nose
yib, and invited me to dine with him
that evening. The third bottle made
him quite sociable. He repeated his
apologies. renewed his invitation to
dinner and said he would manage some
way to get me Though the quaran-
tine.
Il exerted all my powers to please
and entertain him. / showed him my
pictures, my little revolver. which he
admired very much, and I thought serf-
ously of presenting 1t to him on the
spot. But we were getting on swim
mingly now, and 1 held it back in re-
serve for an emergency. Having fin
ished the ale he signified wish to taste
the English arrack which told Yusef