The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-18
TWELVE YEARS
He Endured Unheard Of
TortureS.
The Thrilling Story OF Charles Neu-
feid's Experiences a R.tatedat
the Savage Cub.

The small band of journalists who
/ met Charles Neufeld at Charing Cross
one evening last month and promptly
| carried off that hero TO the Savage
Club TO be fed were rather unexpect-
eddy rewarded by hearing him outline
| in a series Of terse, picturesque SEN
! fences the history of his fearsome i'm
! prisonment. The expectation was
that Neufeld would plead his obliga-
tions to the Wide World Magazine
as an excuse for discussing personal
| sort He talked with the utmost free
! dom, and the editor of that periodical.
! who was present, seemed TO approve.
Mr.. Neufeld is a tall, thin. brick
red man with huge cigar ever in his
mouth and an indescribable accent:
Il suppose" he began, the world
knows how in 1887 | set out from Wa
dy Halfa for Kordofan, in order to
collect some valuable merchandise that
was lying there. My caravan, howev-
er, was unfortunate almost from the
very beginning; and after wandering
hither and thither in the desert wa
terless and almost distracted. we were
betrayed by our treacherous guide in
to the hands Of the Dervishes \ few
days later | was taken before the re-
doubtable Emir Wad Nejoumi, who
was at Dongola. By the way he gave
me lectures in Mahdieh, and | retort-
ed with object lessons on the might of
Great Britain, comparing firSt-class
battleship with Nile dahabieh. Pres
emily | found myself marvelling at
the interest they all seemed to take in
me-
Il soon found out, however, that my
captOrS We're under the comic impress
sion that / was high fighting pasha
of the English Government, and all
protestations to the contrary were re-
ceived almost with derision.
MY entry into Omdurman | am not
likely to forget, for | was exposed for
hours to the fury of the populace, and
my sufferings were so intense that
frequently endeavOred to throw myself
onto one of the brOad-bladed spears
with which the Dervishes menaced me
in play They designed: indeed some
nice little diversions at my expense;
these included blowing the two great
ombeyehS, or war-hOrns made from
elephant tusks, right against my ears,
driving me almost to madness. and
oiujnC no nj crh nj
aches. Then presently, | was led out
to be hanged, and, indeed, was only
too eager to place my head in the
moose that dangled above the anga
reeb on which | squatted. | was. how
ever, pardOned at the last moment,
thanks to the mercy of the Khalifa
and taken to the dread Safer prison.
which formed so conspicuous an object
in the Mahdist capital.
LAS all the world knows by this
time, the Safer was presided over by
one Idris, the head gaoler, who was
quite a character III his way. He ap-
peared to SubSiSt mainly on money
squeezed out of the unfortunate under
his charge, and was not even above
levying toll upon the food sent in by
friends to these poor wretches. Indeed,
my own Abyssinian servant, Hassee-
lowing ruse in order to smuggle. in
enough food to keep me alive. The vic
tuals really intended for me were car
ried in a bag concealed beneath her
dress. whilst on her head she would
carry another parcel of food by way
Of a sop to the thieviSh Safer gaOlerS.
This would be promptly seized upon,
and THEREAFTER much Shrieking on
her part-Hasseena would be allowed
to pass inside empty handed-at least
so they thought.
AS to the memory of the nights
in the Umm-Hagar, or stone-jug, with
in the Safer, this will probably be a
nightmare to me for the rest of my
life. There was no ventilation what
ever, and not even the remOtest ap-
proach to sanitary arrangements, not
withstanding that the prisoners were
so packed into the place that, in order
to introduce newcomers, the gaolers
had to hurl armfuls of lighted grass in
among the struggling mass of human
ity. and ply their hippopotamus-h hide
whips on the reeking bodies of the
men farthest away.
The howls and shriekS through the
long, SWeltering Nubian nights. the
throwing about of filth. and the groanS
of the dying as they lay upon the vile
saturated. and verminous floor made
up an experience such as no man is
ever likely to forget. Later on, how
ever, | acquired little mud hut of my
own inside the prison walls.
of course | was not in prison for
the whole twelve years. | was in
deed, constantly devising means of
working outside, for in this lay my
only chance of escape Mention of es-
cape, by the way, brings me to the ex-
traordinary series of failures which
marked all attempts on my part to
get away from the accursed city of
hideous tyranny and death. But it is
a long and strange story Naturally,
after Slatin Pacha's escape. stricter
watch than ever ever was kept on us
And yet the Khalifa was easily
imposed upon. l remember an impos-
tor-one Shwybo-turning up in ON
durham, and declaring that he could