Crawford avalanche., 1899-11-09
HORRORS OF THE SUDAN.
THE DEBT CIVILIZATION OWES TO GREAT
BMTAIN'S VICTORY.

Some DiaboIIcal CrueliIes that We're the
Daily Psstime Of the Dervishes Be-
fore the Roat Of the khallfa--.
Mr.. Neufeld's Revelations
After the first rejoicings In England
over Lord Kitchener's victory at Om-
durham there was the usual period Of
criticism, during which the peace-at-
any y-price party bewailed the wholesale
slaughter OF the dervishes and called
the Sirdar to account for the murder Of
the wounded. 1t was said that the
English themselves acted like savages,
and many a homily was preached on
the brutalizing influence of war.
But people who had read Slatin
Pashas story of fire and sword In the
Sudan must have felt little sympathy
for the Khalifa's followers or their
English advocates, and Charles Neu-
fields relation Of his twelve years of
servitude to the Mahdists will confirm
them in the belief that the march of
civilization upon barbarism cannot
proceed too rapidly. "Chains and
Slavery at Omdurman" is the title Of
the work whose revelation of horrors
seems well-nigh incredible.
Cruelty was pastime Of the der
wishes, the sport of their daily life un-
der tyranny which kept all men
trembling, whether they were Mad
hists or not. The favorite of to-day
might become the victim of to-mor-
row If the jealous fears of the Khali-
ia were aroused. For all those who
had incurred his displeasure there was
the prospect of torture and death.
Slatin tells Of a common punishment
which consisted in looping off the arm
on one side, the leg on the other and
leaving the mutilated suffered to die.
Neufeld supplements this with story
which rivals those of the black hole of
Calcutta. In cell less than 80 feet
square from $50 to $50 prisoners were
kept at night, not once only but re-
peatedly throughout periods that ex-
tended over weeks
ANY prisoner who went down on
such night never got up again alive;
his cries would not be heard above the
pandemonium Of clanking chains and
bars, imprecations and cursings, and
for any one to attempt to bend down
to assist If he did hear only meant his
going under also. In the morning,
when we were allowed to stream out,
five and six bodies would be found on
the ground with the life crushed and
trampled out of them.'
A vivid description of one night in
particular helps TO more perfect
realization of the scene. On that oc-
casiOn one of the prisoners was Ibra-
him Pasha Fauzi, an old officer of Cor
don's. He had been shackled like the
rest, and between the pain and the
stencil of the place had swooned. AS
he lay on the ground four Sudanese
sat upon his legs, and Neufeld deter
mined to go to his rescue. A desperate
fight then ensued, which resulted in
his release, but more horrors followed:
AT midnight the doors Of the cell
were thrown open again and about
twenty men, each wearing shayba,
were thrust into the place. "a shayba
Is kind of yoke fastened to the neck
and the extended arm in such a way
that to move the arm throttles the
wearer) Practically there was no
room for them, but they had to be
driven in by some means. To make
space for them the gaolers resorted to
their favorite device of throwing into
the cell handfuls of blazing straw and
nA &I,a To-
about the bare heads and shoulders of
the prisoners with their whips"
Prior to this experience Neufeld had
been led out, as he supposed, to exc
cution, but he was tortured instead
with all the devilish ingenuity of
American Indians. Spears and swords
were thrust into his side and he was
given to understand that the final blow
was to be delivered by one big fellow
who kept making passes at him. But
each time the fettered man was jerk
ed back by the chain which bound him,
to the great delight Of the thousands
who were watching the play.
Neufeld is German, Slatin is an
Austrian, but both glory in the ad-
vance Of the British which saved the
former from captivity. They have seen
and felt too much of dervish cruelty to
mourn with the English peace party
over the fall of detestable despotism.
Neufeld goes so far as to defend open
ly the killing of wounded dervishes on
(he ground that this was the only way
to prevent the treacherous murder even
Of those who went to succor them.
But whatever may be said of the de-
bate on this point, there can be no
doubt that there is an infinitely better
rule now in the upper Sudan than
there ever was before. Kitchener's
coming was the whole peoples saliva
tlon.-Chicago Times Herald.