The evening times., 1898-09-05

fire of 1000 men at close quarters.
In the charge they lost two officers and
twenty men killed and four officers and
twenty-one men wounded.
The point gained by the coup of Gen.
Kitchener resulting in the capture of the
Madhis stronghold is of the greatest
value to England. Not only is II a matter
OF great strategic Importance, but it is
likely TO open UP vast commercial posi-
bilities
Seated at the confluence of the Blue
Nile and White Nile, the city is bound
to be a great emporium of trade 1t is
shaped like the head of an elephant,
from which il derives its name. In the
old days it was very beautiful, with
white walls and domes and minarets
g.eam!ng through green palm groves. But
/ the Khaiifa's wild followers have prob
i ably made the city desolate.
The city has had an eyentful history
since 1882 Raouf Pacha was governing
the Isle of Meroe for the khedive in
that year. News was beginning 10 ar
rive of a certain dervish wandering in
the Soudan, who was drawing all the ma
tives To him, and especially those Arabs
who lived by the slave trace, which Gessi
Pacha had been extirpating.
This derYish. MCiammed Ahmad by
name, coGld isSn, ii is said. all govern
ment bUlletShto water. and had, in
! truth. once and again defeated Egyptian
troops sent to arrest him Then, hecOm-
/ ing bolder. the pretender of sudden
| openly called himself the Mahdi a name
! derived from a word in the opening chap
! ter Of the Koran. He shortly afterward
started to lay seiee 10 FL Obeid
a Kordofan Arab Of the desert type
| his outward appearance, we are told, was
| strangely fascinating. He was man Of
| strong constitution, very dark complex
| DON and his face always wore a pleas
I ant smile. Under this smile cleaned a
set of singularly white teeth and be-
tween the TWO upper middle ones was d
| N-shlped space. which in the Soudan Is
considered a sign that the owner of It
will be lucky
AS a messenger of God. he pretended
| to be in direct communication with the
! Deity. All orders which ne gave were
| supposed TO have come TO him by inspira-
| ton. and Ii became. therefore, d sin to
refuse 10 obey them. Disobedience to the
| Mahdis orders was iantamount To re-
! sistance to the will Of God and was there
fore punishable by death
He called himself Mahdi Khalifat er
! Rasul Cttha successor of the Prophet'D J.
while his adherents called him Sayid
c'the Master'D; Savid ma el Mahdi (.'Our
| Master, the Leader"). This trouble
| some and extraordinary person, with no
| drill or military science no weapons to
speak of. but plenty pf ferocious follow
! ers, principally of the Baggara race,
! marched through the towns and villages
Of kordoran, and with 30, 900 men beseig-
ed FL Obeid and took the town after one
repulse. cruelty numbering its brave de-
| tenders, whose last days had been sus-
tanned upon tree gum and the food laid
| up in the nests OF white ants.
! That conquest increased the name and
| fame of the Mahdi, who settled down like
| a king at FL Obeid, while preparing for
| further advance to khartoum. By this
| time he had infiamed with his preaching
and success the whole of Korfodah and
of Sennar, except that corner where the
| city of khartoum sits upon the junction
| of the White and Blue Nile.
Before he could master this central DO
sition he had to confront the expedition
| under Hicks Pacha, sent by the Egyp-
| tion government at Rahad. EvGybody
| knows the miserable issue. The Mahdi
cut that force to pieces, so that hardly a
man escaped, and by this victory gained
| almost the entire Soudan, and opened the
way TO the conquest of Khartoum.
Darfur fell; Slatin Bey surrendered,
and after that terrible butchering of Bir-
ket, the Mahdi was looked upon as di-
vine. The Arabs declared they had seen
the angels Of God fighting on his side
and the water in which he washed him
| self was sold III the bazaar as a precious
| antidote against all sorts of disease
AT the beginning of 1854 Gordon arrived
at khartoum, a solitary and HELPLESS
man, sent out to perform an impossi-
! bility. From his palace in the city the
| lonely dreamer offered the Mahdi all the
! Western Soudan as his own territory
" ,e-al IL
| bitter reply the Mahdi sent him back a
| complete set of dervish garments
| 1hen the victorious fanatic and pious
slave dealer set out for Khartoum, where
| the hapless people. deceived by the hope
of English help, had fingered to welcome
Gordon. No notice was taken of that
hero's prOclamations to the Soudanese.
His communications were cut with the
north, and very soon a horde numbering
10000 swarmed at the heels of the Mahdi
into Omdurman and the outskirts of
hhartoum. This was in October 1894
The low Nile left a part of the ram
parts broken and indefensible The vast
mass of assailing dervisnes made there
by their rush, in two bands. just before
the British relieving force came in sight
of the white walls and green palm groves
of the city
How Gordon died at his hopeless post
is thus related:
'One party dashed along the paraDet,
breaking down all resistance and
siaughtering the soldiers in all directions:
the other party made for the town. The
inhabitants, reused from their sleep by
the shouts of the Arabs ana the din of
rifle shots, hurried out.
Like pent up stream suddenly re-
leased more than $4,000 wild dervishes
with hideous yells. rushec upon the 1000
inhabitants of Khartoum, besides the
5000 soldiers-all that We're left of the
5000 at the commencement of the siege
THE surging mass threw itself on the
palace, overfiowed into the lovely gar
den, and burst through the doors in Wild
search for their prey; but Gordon went
alone to meet them. AS they rushed up
the stairs he came toward them and tried
to speak to them; but they Gould not or
would not listen, and the first Arab
plunged his huge spear into his body
He fell forward on his face and was
dragged down the stairs, many stabbing
him with their spears. and his head was
cut off and sent to the Mahdi.
"On Gordon's head being brought to
the Mahdi he appeared to have been
much displeased at his Geath-not be-
cause he felt pity for him, but believed
4 1itrl,f in;,, ,, ,iO