The San Francisco call., 1906-09-24

by bit there has DeeH reNSdiSo
here one of the most absorbing,
dramatic and seemingly impossi-
BILE stories of true life that ever stepped
out of the pages of the Arabian Nights
and wandered by some mischance into
the present day and hour. Inc prin-
cipal characters in the drama were on
the surface, polished, cultivated men,
who might have been received In SO
ciety anywhere-Constantin New
York, London or washington. Under
meath the surface they prove TO nave
been contemporaries of Othello and
Iago.
The drama, of which probably we
have not yet seen the last act, mas
already resulted in the murder OF the
prefect of Constantinople. the execu-
tion of the master of ceremonies at
the palace and his uncle. the military
Governor of Scutari. and the practical
extinction of one of the great princely
houses of Turkey.
1t all began in trivial fashion
few months ago. when Ahmed Aga,
factotum for the rich and powerful
Redvan Pasha, prefect of the city, came
to live in Shishli. a suburb of Constan-
tinople, not for from the Yildiz Kiosk,
and, as i'll luck would have it, in the
same street in which resided Abdur-
rezzak Pasha, master of ceremonies at
the imperial palace. Redvan used his
Office to feather his own nest by meth
DDS not altogether unknown in Amer
lea. The Bakers Guild, for instance,
paid him ESQ Turkish liras a day to be
protected" when they violated the law
against the selling of bread under
weight. Ahmed was the man who ran
the graft department for him and
did most of the dirty work Naturally,
he saw to it that he got a good rake
off" for himself. And thus it came
about that he could afford to live in
style in big house in swell street
near the palace.
. But despite the fact that the neigh
borhood was a fashionable one, the
street, like most of the streets in the
capital. was wretchedly paved. Ahmed
used his pull to get that part of the
street in front of his house repaved at
the city's expense. Aodurezzak sent
him a message requesting that the
pavement be extended to his own
house Ahmed wanted to know what
there was in it for him. The response
was not satisfactory. Then Ahmed dis
no ba ~ FOR
street improvements had been ex-
hausted and the master of ceremonies
would have to wait until an additional
appropriation had been obtained, or
pay for the extension of the pavement
out of his own pocket.
Ahmed was Turk of humble origin.
while Abdurrezzak Pasha was head of
the great and powerful Kurdish family
of the Bedr Khans which. some fifty
years back. under the leadership of Alb
durrezzak's grandfather. had organized
such a formidable revolt against the
government that the Sultan of that
day had found 1t expedient to purchase
peace by bestowing some of the best
billets at his disposal on the chiefs of
the Bedr Khans. BY the beard of the
Prophet, Abdurrezzak swore that he
would teach Redvan's nsolent upstart
underling a lesson. On some pretext
he decoyed Ahmed into his mouse, had
him numerically bastinadoed, and
placed him IN ignominious confinement.
Ahmed managed to get word of his
sorry plight to his chef. Redvan was
not the man to leave one of his
stanchest followers in the lurch. He
did his best to induce Abdurrezzak to
set Ahmed free. Re even offered to
pay big sum-C O. D.--for Ahmed's
release. But Abdurrezzak's desire for
revenge was stronger than hls cupi~a~y
He refused to let Ahmed 60 Then
Redvan took the law into his own
hands. He armed number of the city
scayengers with clubs and revolvers
and set them 10 effect Ahmed's deliver
ance. A lively igh, took place between
the scavengers ard Abdurrezzak's
servants One of the kurds was killed
and several of Redvan's men were
wounded, but Ahmed contrived to es-
cape in the confusion.
No public inquiry was held into the
matter; though everybody knew of the
affair. Those entrusted with, the en-
forcement of the law in Constantinople
never think of troubling important Of
ficials for such trif1e as the death
accidental or otherwise-of a rivals
serving man
The fray had been fought almost be-
meath the walls of the imperial PAL
ace itself, and the yells of the combat
ants had reached the Sultan's ears. He
demanded a report. 1t then became
question which had the biggest pull
with the Sultan. Abdurrazzak's proved
the stronger. 1t is said that Redvan
was saved from banishment only
through the influence Of his mother.
who held an important position in the
imperial harem. He lost the favor of