The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-11
BY ORIENTAL EXPRESS
A RATHER UNPLEASANT JOURNEY
FROM SOFIA TO CONsTANTINOPLE.
The Only Passenger, n Woman, Has
Some Unusual Experiences on
Miss stones Ground.


CoNSTANTINOPLE, Sept. 25.-Your cor
respondent reports her safe arrival on the
Oriental express-probably the last that
will be run for some time. At Mustapha-
Pasha, Turkish Bulgarian frontier. the
bridge fell the moment our last car touched
terra firma, and at another point-name
withheld by the railway people-only the
circumstance that the locomotive wheels
cut in two the fuse intended to ignite the
dynamite piled upon the tracks saved us
from humiliation 'Us" stands for your
correspondent and the train crew, for short
ly after leaving Sofia / was the only pas
senger.
When the order to proceed at once to
Constantinople reached me in London my
British friends were quite certain that
would pay with my life for the experiment,
or, at best, become a second Ellen Stone
before long, and at the Paris Office of the
Oriental railways I failed to get reassur-
ing news.
1--WE can't get the Turk to extend ade-
quate protection" said the manager, land
will probably be forced to stop running
within few days. If prodded CONSTANT
nople is willing to promise the very azure
from the heavens, but the word action Is
not in its vocabulary. Don't stop the
trains, telegraphs the grand vizier daily,
we will do this and that ETC.. but there
the matter ends until the next batch of
promises Is flashed over the wire in obedi-
ence to renewed pressure
We left Vienna on Sunday evening with
only twelve passengers, including myself
three for each coach. Next morning on
my way to the restaurant car, 1 noticed
that all the beds were made up. Where
were my colleagues Of the night before?
The ante-room of the restaurant serves
as a reading room. Entering, l brushed
against enormous pair of yellow boots.
They belonged, / noticed, to an old gentle
man absorbed in the study of the London
Times, but aside from six or seven walters
and myself the restaurant portion of the
car was deserted. What became of the
people?'
Everybody except you, madame, and the
Englishman left the train at Budapesth-
they got scared
land what do you think of the situation
yourself?" / asked the head waiter.
The man produced two revolvers-he had
| one in each side pocket of his jacket-and
carefully removing small vial from a
| leather box, attached to his vest like a
! fountain pen or lead pencil holder, held it
| against the light and said: Nitro
! glycerin.' The company furnishes these
pleasant weapons.
The train shot past Belgrade while L was
busy with my chops and eggs and we re-
| manned in Servia until noon. Peters king
dom, which 1 saw for the first time In its
entirety. is not picturesque place. but
seems 10 afford plenty of good eating
| Though it after harvesting time the
| fields appeared to be in an excellent state
| of cultivation, while endless meadows
were dotted with cattle, fine mich cows,
| goats, pigs and horses. AT IL o'clock /
was permitted to exercise a bit in the sta
| ton of Nisch, second capital of the king
dom and scene of the latest conspiracy
against Alexander's successor. Trains from
Ueskued and Salonica arrived while we
stopped, each carrying but handful of
passengers. There is war in the air GER
tainIy.
THE ENGLISHMAN wITHDRAws.
Shortly after leaving Nisch the conductor
| informed me that was now his only pas
| senger. The nearness of the Bulgarian
frontier had induced our British friend 10
take leave just the train drew out of
the station. He left the Times behind
| him though.
From now on the landscape was less
monotonous. i noticed a number of semi
dilapidated castles and more or less prc-
tentious country houses and a chapel or
| minaret encountered every ten or If
teen miles.
We entered upon Bulgarian soil at Txari.
| brod, few miles behind Bela-Polanka
with its fine old Turkish citadel If war
| should come that name will once more be-
come famous and ten thousands may bled
or die while defending attempting to
| conquer the ancient pile. Presently our
train began to show what it can do in the
line of mountain climbing. Through a wild
landscape, laundering with waterfalls and
Astounding in menacing precipices Prago-
man pass was reached-beyond lie tho
heights of Berkowitza and still further
those of the Ria mountains, Macedonia
natural frontier.
| do you see the thousands of white
crosses and the monument" asked the con
| ductor who had nothing to do but entertain
his one passenger. THAT is the battlefield
of Silvnitza.''
Silvnitza, the historic spot where the un
happy Battenberg annihilated the army O,
| King Milan and sent him bowling will
fright towards Belgrade-him and his trair
of dancing girls and roues. Slivnitza. tn,
name came up again during the night wher
the defeated kings son and ex-mistress
| Alexander and Draga, were slaughtered il
| their Konack, since turned into a nationa
museum. A slaughter-house for a museum
--only the Orient can conceive of such 8
| combination
Next treeless prairie. miserable pastur,
for half-starved cattle, covering man,
square miles. Sofia, however, lies on higf
| ground, and affords fine view from a cal
window with it's modern houses, imbeddet
in gardens and parks
After leaving the Bulgarian capital behind
the conductor said Now out with youl
revolver. Miss: we are on really dangerou.
| ground" At that point the Balkan noun
tains narrowly encroached upon the rail-
way right and left, and the neighborhood o.
Pobit- Kamik viaduct looked like an arme,
camp from the distance. Prince Ferdinand
is often criticised for cowardice, but con
fess j thanked heaven for endowing hin
with the proverbial white liver.
If his highness were not so careful O
his dear life the Bulgarian government
would not spend 10000 francs a month I,
protect the viaduct against incendiaries an,
dynamiters: indeed, / might be unable I,
tell this story If Ferdinand's viscera wa
of the regulation hue.