Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-11
DEATH OF BROTHER OF
THE SULTAN OF TURKEY
Chief of Police Had Private Gdge Against Him and Promptly
Snangled Him With the Sutan's Consent

able frenzy of fear. He smells poison in
every DISH regards every group of persons
engaged in. conversation as conspirators
against his power, and sees an assassin in
MS own shadow. During the last few weeks
the sultan has taken measures which indi-
cate the intensity of his fears. He issued
an imperial decree prohibiting officers of
the Turkish army from visiting any res
taurantS or cafes in Cons tantinOple In
which any Europeans are to be found as
customers The idea of this mandate was
to prevent Turkish officers from coming
into contact with Europeans who would
contamfnate them with dangerous ideas of
government and progress. The decree pro-
vided that any officer who disobeyed this
order should be punished by expulsion from
the Turkish army.
Not content with this drastic measure,
Abdul Hamid followed 1t up by another
decree strongly prohibiting officers of the
Turkish army from visiting one another in
their own houses The object of this de-
cree was to prevent officers from conspir-
ing together against the sultan's life or
absolute power. Any Turkish officer who
is now found visiting a fellow officer in his
own home is liable to instant dismissal
from the army.
A tragic incident which occurred In the
palace of Yildiz Kiosk recently afforded
another example of Abdul Hamid's frenzy
of fear. One of the sultans aids-de-camp,
Chalid Pasha by name, who had been in
his monarch's personal service for nearly
decade and had proved himself to be an
absolutely faithful and trustworthy SER
want, was summoned to Abdul Hamid's
presence to present a report some state
matter. In the course of this report Chalid
Pasha had occasion to thrust his hand into
his pocket to produce document which he
desired to submit to the sultan.
Seeing the motion of the officers arm
Abdul Hamid Immediately jumped to the
conclusion that his aid de camp was taking
a weapon out of his pocket in order to as
sassinate him. Quick as thought the sultan
drew a loaded revolver out of his own
pocket and blew Challd Pasha's brains out
before there was time for an explanation.
The unfortunate aid de camp fell dead on
the spot and the magnificent carpet in the
sultan's audience room was stained with
his blood.
X
The affair was hushed up at the time, but
details of the deed perpetrated by the sui
tan soon leaked out and excited great re-
sentiment among the Turkish nobility, for
Chalid Pasha belonged to one of the most
eminent and respected old Turkish families
On another recent occasion the Sultan
suddenly conceived the idea that his brother
and heir APPARENT, Prince Muhammed Res
had, was conspiring to kill him and to take
possession of the throne. The prince was
dIISSteu anu thrust INTO a,
dungeon within the walls of YaIdiz Kiosk
The sultan was thoroughly convinced Of
his brothers guilt and formed resolution
TO have him executed on a charge of high
treason. The necessary orders for the exc
cution were issued and Prince Muhammed
Reshad was informed that his imperial
brother had sentenced him to die on the
scaffold. The sentence, however was not
carried out immediately, owing to the
oriental habit of representation, and in
the interval which ensued reports of the
sultans murderous intention became known
among the members of the diplomatic
corps IN Constantinople, most Of whom
maintain close connections with persons
within the palace in order to procure useful
information.
Prince Muhammed Reshad, fortunately
for himself, had maintained intimate rela-
tons with the English ambassador In Con-
stantinople, and the English ambassador
had reason to believe that when the time
came for the prince to ascend the throne
the foreign policy of Turkey would be con-
Quoted on lines more satisfactory to Eng
land than is now the case. The English
ambassador had, therefore, every reason to
protect Prince Muhammed Reshad and he
interviewed on his behalf The sultan was
at first obdurate and it Is understood that
the English ambassador had to resort to
energetic measures to save the princes life
According to one version current in Con-
stantinople the English ambassador threat
ened to bring an English feet into the
Bosphorus and to lombard Yildiz Kiosk if
the sentence of death on Prince Muhammed
Reshad were actually carried out. The
sultan gave way to English coercion and
granted his brother freedom.
X
The fate which Prince Muhammed Res
had escaped has now overtaken Prince
Ahmed kemal Eddin. The princes untimely
end was due primarily to the fact that he
had excited the enmity of Fehin Pasha the
chief of the palace police. who is intrusted
with the protection of the sultan at Yildiz
Kiosk. Fehfn Pasha is thus one Of the most
powerful personages in Turkey, and he has
exploited his opportunities with relentless
cruelty. The enmity which he has excited
among other courtiers and among the
widest circles of state officials only serves
to increase the sultans confidence in him
and he has gained the monarchs trust to
an unsuual degree.
Fehin Pasha is a man of plebeian origin
and was formerly an ordinary detective of
the political secret service in Constantine
pie. He contrived to attract the sultan s
attention by discovering and 'fustrat-
ing plots which he himself had concocted
with the help of willing friends and which
ended In number of absolutely innocent
persons being banished to remote districts
of Asia Minor. One fine morning the Turk
ish capital awoke to find that Fehin had
been made q pasha and appointed chief Of
the palace police with the rank of major
general
prlnce ahmed kemai fIddln excited Fehin
Pashas enmity in the first place by treat
ing the ambitious pleheian with contempt
The prince generally ignored the presence
of Fehin Pasha at court festivities, and on
one occasion, when he did notice him re-
ferred to him loudly and contemptuously as
1.-The policeman"
Fehin Pasha's enmity rose to a boiling
point, however, when Prince Ahmed Kemal
Eddin secured possession OF beautiful Cir
coc cta vub he toP 49, he