New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-09-12
IS OSNAN DIGNA 4 SCOTCHNiN?
A STORY THAT THE AFRICAN CHIHP-S
REAL NAME is NISBET

From The st. Jamess Gazette.
The news that Abdullai. who has beer s'ag
as a kind OF deputy Mahdi since the q i'l Z
the original Mahomet Achmet in jun 80.
has sent for Osman Digna, revives inte.
the most striking and mysterious hguTe ne
whole Mahdist movement: Osman mas '--.e'
in some eight pitched battles in the Suak'" Dis
trict; he has been reported dead hall q zen
times; reward of 5000 has been Offered for
him alive or dead; and yet, with MS aosu!ly
small body Of followers, he still manages = pre-
sent, as he has done for the last fourteen teaEA
the most ndomitable resistance 70 the CON-
bined Egyptian and British authority H. mas
crossed swords with Baker. with Graham ana
with Grenfell and although badly "smasned
by the last named at Handuk in December $50
he still keeps popping up from time to tme
and if he is now offered the command a. Ne
tammeh or Omdurman he may yet causa The
Sirdar more trouble than can be anticipate from
the inert and unready Khalifa
And yet, for one who has figured So promi-
nently, very little Is known Of him, and the H2st
contradictory statements have been puh.shed
as to his origin and personality. Amons
sparsely bearded race he is distinguished ~ =
growth that has procured for him the ut~ o.
Dikn or Dikna, The Bearded one, and ms
dark beard contrasted with the comparative
ightness of his color. is said 70 BE- me mos.
noticeable characteristic on first sight J. +'ei
to be said in Suakim that his father was
Turkish slave-deaer. who married the d'l-i,er
Of a Hadendowa sheikh and it is certain that
in the seventies he was himself wea my Save
dealer in Suakim, and that he po-s NJ
mcnse influence with the Hadend'"-- ''h''
Soudanese tribes.
About a year age one who lrote-sed o. pos
sess undoubted sources Of Information on me
subject gave me. with assurance oi us genera
accuracy, the following outline OF inc ire anu
adventures Of this remarkable man. lie is not
a Soudanese and not a Turk, but a Scotcnnah'
and his name is George Nisbet HIS rather va
an adventurous Glasgow man. VINO IN inc lhf-
ties found himself a merchant ~ Eouen het'
his son George born in 1896. and here me
first ten or twelve years Of the boys IRE We're
spent. March revolutions and sh0rt-NFed re
publcs were not, however. mucu u IN. taste O.
the elder Nisbet and, hearins Of the great thing
that were being done by Mehmet All in Egyp-
and of a good opening for trade al Aexandria'
he migrated to that city in 1873 only 10 laiI =
victim to fever a few months after starting IN
business His wife then married a Turkish
trader named Osman, man OF some means ara
position, who adopted young Nisbet MADE q
Mussuman Of him, named him Osman All ind
sent him to the Military School at Cair0. Here
Osman Ali met and became attached Z young
"Fellah" cadet, Achmet Arab, of who Europe
heard much lateI on as Arab the ptan.
or Arab Pacha Meanwhile Osmar fha Turk.
had settled in Suakim. had mar -t. tIa-
dendowa sheikh's daughter and a 20
wealth as a slave dealer on his
Nisbet, or Osman Ali gave up hi
reer, and sole heir took over l.s
fathers business as a save-d dealer. >.. '
his grievances against the civlizat "n..t .'
had abandoned. Under English a.i French
pressure the Egyptian Government was making
efforts to repress the slave trade. and this tan.
to the ruin of Osmans business Tn. cane
the movement Of his old friend Arab nst
the Dual Control: and finally the rsin- ' the
Mahdi, In which he has done his bes- Old W.oe
out old scores against England and iHst
Egypt.
l wonder If any OF those who hdv. been
brought into contact with the black aarted
Scotchman Che Is over sixty now. and 8 beard
VIII not be so black as II was) can a. - 20 ~
these details? Does Major Ningate.
who has the dossier Of everybody i'm u. Sludan
we'll noted up in his pigeon-h holes. know dny thlng
Or the story? bright Scotch ad5ie ~ w. re
must have got many things into his f"'' -
Tore they made Turk OF him Does '.
shorter Catechism and a volume M Bur.
poems In his baggage? Has b. ard le
window in Thrums? Or OF Mr. Crockett as
ne ever tasted haggis? Does h. adhere ne
Frees OF the ~. PSI? Has he Vows on
Nary Queen IF Scots? These ar a far OF the
questions which arise: and one can Only hope
nat when Sir Herbert Kitchener ha- finished
lis work and Osman Digna gives up his Warlike
ways George Nisbet will return &, the l.nd
If his fathers and will give his reminiscences
n two stout volumes. Mr.. Heinemann ought to
De on the lookout. for IT will be the book ~ me
season