The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-05-22

gaished as much outside the palace walls
as it hourished within. Theft was un-
known and the people of Fee, thievishly m
elined as they are. did not even permit
themselves TO pick up articles lost in the
street so afraid were they OF mourning
ca pital punishment One day the grand viz
told him that he had seen sack OF nuts
lying on the highroad undisturbed for three
days-such was the honesty of hts Ma
1esty's subjects.
essI4ow dost thou Inow that the sack
contains nuts2' inquired the Sultan.
I" I kicked it with my foot
With what foot?'
1.-The Sultan turned TO his headsman;
sAgha. besenn' master. do thy duty,
knock off his right foot he cried. and the
grand vizier, man of ninety, was carried
out IN dying condition.
Sultan FL Hassan exterminated his en-
tire male family in order to secure .I his
tributed ten thousand heads among his
three capitals, to be mounted on pixies
along the city walls The heads were Sc
cured by mutilating the bodies of those
slain in battle, by dispatching the wounded
ard by killing the prisoners of war. Ten
thousand. not a head less. Their display
was to serve as warning to all, relatives
and subjects alike.
According to Morocco custom the Sultan
should have wife for every day in the
year, but few rulers of the semi-negro
race were satisfied with that number. The
present Kings predecessor. for instance.
nan considered quite conservative and lib
eEal minded. had fifteen hundred wives.
Sultan Mulat Ismail rejOieed at one time in
the possession of 52S sons and 342 daugh-
ters- gather this from official lists by the
maintenance of the imperial princes and
princesses- These lists also show that at
one time forty children were born to the
Sultan within three months.
RECORD OF CRUELTIES.
"Ismail was probably the most Unsuitable
49, -
the murdered correspondent. mot satisfied
With wholesale slaughter in war he re-
sarded the day lost in the course of which
he had not killed at least one man or one
woman with his own hand. One of his COM
monest amusements to run through
with his sword or lance slaves in fitting
matches. 1t is reported that one morning
he pierced the heart of twenty-seven pris-
oners OF war and slaves. A white star was
painted on the victims naked breast to in
: dicate the location of the vital organ, and
as the descendant OF the prophet galloped
past the unhappy men and women, he dex-
terously drilled in his lance at the point
indicated.
Now my lions and tigers have food for
q few days he said, laughingly, when he
had finished slave number twenty-seven.
Let dinner be served at once, the sport
made quite hungry.
Isrnai.' his biographers say Thought
so highly OF his Office as chief judge that
not infrequentiy he executed sentences on
the spot with his own imperial hand. For
that reason he desired his sword to have
keen edge and IN order to try same he
not unfrcquently cut off the head of the
slave holding his horse in the morning. IL
the feat was not accomplished with one
stroke. the master OF arms was called out
and the Sultan tried another weapon on
him, continuing the game until blade
was found that suited his wants
Mere loss of life Was considered a boon
Under this sultan. for his sentences, passed
after elaboration, usually took the form or
fcled that he had more than thousand
live persons sawed apart. while women
offenders were usually condemned to have
their bones broken on the wheel.
when Christian slaves We're employed
building his palace in Fee. he made rule
20 inspect the progress OF the work at the
most unforeseen times in the hope Of finding
humor he was content 10 kick lazy
christian dog from the ladder or wall.
causing him TO break his bones but more
often he condemned laggards' to be thrown
into a burning lime vat or TO be immured
alive by their own comrades.
IF he found little or no occasion to sat
isfy his thirst for blood outside, he did not
hesitate to turn his harem into shambles."
continues the merciless Dr. Genthe. II find
that he sometimes killed as many as twen-
~ OF his wives in day night his young
cons being forced to assist him. To his boys
he taught the art of murder methodically
and reported with satisfaction that little
6idaI killed siX-foot slave when scarcely
seven years old. Sidan might have rivaled
his father In the destruction of human life
II 1smail had not condemned him to death
ct the age OF sixteen. The boy was burned
alive. while his father sat in state before
the pyre listening 10 his cries of agony"
Among the Sultans OF the latter half of
the century just closed. DR.. Genthe singled
out Abderrahman as a brute of the first
water. "Once. while in conversation with
his friend and grand vlzier. n letter was
handed him accusing that official OF having
betrayed certain state secrets. Vile slave,