The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-06
THE HORRORS0F MOROCCO
THE DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF
REFORM AND PROGRESS.
Sultan Says He VIII Abolish Abuses.
but Government Fattens on Them,
and Reform VIII BE Resisted.
New York Sun.

New York Sun.
The young man who is now on the throne
of Morocco is said by Europeans In that
country to desire to correct the great
abuses from which his people suffer. He
has, for example, issued edicts providing
for prison reform in all the large towns.
All travellers say that the prisons of Mo-
rocco are nothing more than damp, fetid
dungeons, horribly dirty and unsanitary,
in which prisoners are weighed down with
chains, scantily fed and kept nearly naked.
These prisons are the most abominable fea-
ture of that degraded country. Even the
Tangier prison, from whose roof the coast
of Europe is plainly in view. is vile hole
in which all the prisoners wear heavy ankle
irons though they could not possibly
cape if they were free of chains.
Another reform which the Sultan wishes
to carry out is better system of taxation.
He says the extortions practiced upon the
people by the Governors of provinces who
collect taxes must cease. OF course any at
tempt to put an end to the squeezing of the
people, by which the Governors and their
deputies have waxed wealthy. will make the
Sultan unpopular among the official class.
1t remains to be seen whether he is strong
enough to carry out any reforms. His rule,
though nominally absolute, is not so in fact,
for the powerful ministers who surround
him are able to some extent to impose their
will upon the Sultan. The Governors Of
provinces have the law almost absolutely
in their own hands, for they can usually
Illustrate any attempt on the part OF an in
jured person to appeal to the Sultan Nom
4.
but they get over this difficulty by beating
the victim to death, against which there is
no law, or by some other form of cruelty.
The number of methods of torture used
to extort money is practically unlimited.
One of the favorite forms is that called the
wooden jellabeer (shirt) This is sort of
wooden box large enough TO receive the
victim in a sitting posture. On the inside
it is studded with sharp nails. Prisoners
have been kept in this appliance for months
at time until at length released by death.
! They have been killed in this terrible way
because their friends have failed to make
up the sum of money demanded of them.
Another form of torture is an iron collar
| by which the victim is chained 10 wall
at such height as TO oblige him to stand
| on ,iptoe TO avoid strangulation.
! The cutting off of hand as punishment
| for theft, the loss of an eye in return for
! the malicious destruction of an eye, the
! amputatiOn of limb for a limb and the
] punishment of libel by rubbing the lips of
| the offender with capsicum pods are mat
| ters of daily practice in Morocco and illus
! trate the regime under which the MOorS
| live almost within sight of Europe.
All this cruelty, as practiced according TO
! the law of the land, has produced in the
| MOOrS an indifference TO life more callouS
! than that shown by most Orientals. An
! Englishman living in Tangier recently told
a story which illustrates this fact.
! He was about to leave the town one
morning by one of the gates when he found
it closed and a large crowd assem- bled be-
fore ii. A number of soldiers had pris-
| oner, a mountaineer from the Riff, with his
arms bound to his sides. His head had
been ordered to be struck off because he
had been engaged in smuggling on the Riff
| coast
A Moor, repulsive in appearance, was
the executioner. His weapon was a small
knife with a blade six inches long. A
! heated discussion arose between this
wretch and the officer in charge as to the
money he was to receive for the job. The
victim stood by and listened. The butcher
| demanded 20 francs, and after q good deal
| of haggling the officer agreed, though with
! i'll grace. Then the butcher seized the con-
demned man, threw him on the ground and
| knelt on his chest. The Englishman turned
! his head away, but heard sounds of a horri-
BILE struggle, in the midst OF which a hoarse
voice cried. Give me another knife; mine
! does not cuti' Another knife was brought
and the head was hewn from the body. The
| soldiers cried family, God prolong the life
| of our lord and master"
1t is curious fact that one of the prede-
cessors on the throne of the present Sultan
| was half white. An Irish sergeant of sap
perS, sent by request from the garrison OF
! Gibraltar died in the service Of Sultan Sidl
| Mohammed; his widow, wishing to be sent
home, sought an audience of the Sultan. 1t
was granted, with the result that Sid Mo-
manned, struck by her beauty. made her
| offer of marriage, which she accepted.
! She became the Sultan's favOrite wife, and
on his death her son Mulai-Yezid, nick
| named RED Beard" assumed power and
| was soon distinguished as being the most
| sanguinary monarch known in the annals
| of Morocco His acts of barbarOus cruelty
were innumerable and he was in the habit
| of saying that the country would never be
| well governed till blood flowed in q stream
| between the gates OF his palace and those
| of the city. He reigned in the latter part
| of the eighteenth century.
The grandfather of the present Sultan
was Sidi Mohammed Abdurrahman. who
died in 1873. One of the closing acts OF
his life may be taken as typical Of the
| benevolence of his rule. Queen Victoria
had sent him as gift small steam
launch, which he placed In a large marble
tank that was one of the chief ornaments
OF the beautiful gardens around his palace
In the city of Morocco. One day the Sultan
with two or three of his wives on
board this boat when it suddenly capsized
A soldier on duty in the gardens, out OF
view, heard the screams of the women
and, rushing up, leaped into the water and
saved the life of the Sultans favorite, his
Highness himself having. meanwhile
scrambled ashore. An hour later the gal
liant soldier was summoned to the august
You rescued my wife" said the Sultan
The soldier beamed with loyalty and bowed
Did you see her?" said the Sultan.
The soldier off his guard replied: Il saw
her"
The Sultan beckoned to an officer, muir.
INJURED the simple words, His head" and
fell back among his cushions. This was
the reward given for a gallant act in 1873
and within a distance of $50 miles from
Gibraltar.
The present Sultan is the latest of
| dynasty that has ruled uninterruptedly
in Morocco since the days of Queen Eliza
beth, who sent an embassy in 1873 TO The
first Sultan of this family, Muflai-Abd-el
AZiZ, who is about twenty years old
seems TO be the beSt-hearted and most re
| spectacle representative of the long lin,
of Sultans. If he do even a little L
improve the condition of his country, hi
name will be in better odor than that of am
of his predecessors, who have been nOteC
chiefly for cruelty and avarice.
THE FLAG AS AN ASSET.