Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-23
The Slave of Fear.

Abdul Hamid, the Sultan of Turkey, is
VIGOROUSLY the most scared monarch liv-
Ing. and with the most reason to be fright
ened. with perhaps the single exception OF
the Gar of Russo. He has surrounded
himself with every known safeguard, me-
chanical and human. He wears a shirt
OF mail He never sleeps twice consecu-
lively In the same chamber. His private
apartments are surrounded by brilliantly
lighted corridors, with sentries posted at
| the corners of the great rectangle so that
the guards can see in all directions. His
food is prepared by watched cooks and Is
tasted by one of the suite before being
served. The drinking water is brought
from carefully guarded spring at a dis
lance in sealed casks. The sultan himself
is always armed, and when he receives
foreigners of distinction and Is compelled
by the etiquette of the occasion to shake
hands he wears gloves to prevent the pos
sibility of contamination or poison.
This monarch is a miserable, covering
wretch. living In a state of slavery to which
the condition of the prisoners In his dark
est dungeons Is actually preferable. He
has become a monomaniac on the subject
OF killing and the instruments of death.
He is an expert on firearms. Internal ma
chimes and poisons. He reads voraciousiy
everything available about crimes and the
ethods of criminals. He knows the story
of every assassination ever recorded. He
has spies in all parts of the world. watch
ing suspects. possible assassns. His secret
service Is comparable with that of the
Russian government.
Yet despite all these precautions, the
sultan came within ace of destruction
by a bomb the other day. Clearly. there
are means for the accomplishment Of his
death The laws of his religion require his
occasional attendance at mosque. In public.
for he IL Commander OF the faithful" the
titular head of the Moslem church He can
not escape these periodic appearances.
much as he breads them, and prepares to
reduce their danger to minimum. The
roads to the mosque where he worships are
covered with sand several inches deep to
lessen the chance of mine explosions by the
conclusion of carriage wheels. The carriage
itself is driven at furious speed. Every
strange fact on the way Is instantly noted
by the keen eyes of the sultan, who sits
huddled back in the vehicle, Offering
small mark for bullet as possible. 1t
is rela ted that on one occasion. while go
ing thus to mosque. he noticed a telephone
wire that had been stretched across the
road in accordance with permit issued
by the imperial government. Abdul COM
manded the carriage to be stopped. and
would not proceed until linemen had been
summoned and the wire removed
This bomb explosion cannot be attributed
to anything but plot against the sutans
life. His fears are not groundless. There
is doubtless no man living with more Bit
ter opponents. personal enemies as well as
political conspirators who desire his
moval His private crimes are legion His
realm is closely dotted with individuals who
are patiently abiding Their time to strike the
blow for which their hearts hunger. In
this respect Abdul Hamid is in worse
position than Nicholas, despite the con-
slant plotting of revolutionists against the
life of the car.