The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-11-06

| she succeeded In scratching his lace
with her terrible nails, which were
kept several inches long and shar-
pened at the tips, according to the
fashion prevalent in that part OF the
world.
When she was at last dead, he cut
her to pieces and served the remains
at q banquet, which he forced the
other members Of his family to at.
tend.
Two of his wives he hung to the
ceiling with hooks. One was kept
in boiling oil till she died. Two were
thrown into the cages Of hungry t.
gers, who devoured them.
Thirteen unfortunate women were
slaughtered or tortured to death in
one week. The king was not salts
fed with killing his own wives, but
began to pay attentions to the wifes
and daughters of his leading sub
iects. He sent for his prime minis
ter. Tong Doc, and ordered him
to bring his young daughter to the
palace. Tong Doc was most cordi-
ally received by his sovereign, who,
however. artfully eontrived to send
him away on an errand. When
Tong Doc returned, he found his
daugter laid out upon q great slab
of onyx, with the king handling g
lot Of surgical instruments and
about to begin %vivisection upon her.
Immediately after this the French
Residents decided to intervene and
entered the palace with a force Of
soldiers. There q terrible spectacle
awaited him. The throne room and
adjoining apartments were Uttered
with dead bodies. Many victims of
the torture were still alive, Sever
al of them were hanging from the
walls by hooks passed through
the feshy parts Of the legs.
Some were lying about without
noses, eyes, ears and hands. The
surviving wives were in a state OF
unspeakable terror
The French official arrested the
King, and DR.. Dumas, the chief
medical officer of the French forces,
declared him insane. His mental
disease is well recognized by alien
lists.
Few persons have the same oppor-
tunity to indulge this murderous
mania as the deposed King Than
Thai Of AMMAN had. He chose his
wives from the whole kingdom.
Theywere divided into two classes,
The wives of the first class were
chosen from the daughters of lead
ing personages of the country and
comparatively few in number. The
wives of the second class were
chosen from q kind of opera house
that IS maintained in connection
with the royal palace, They were
thoroughly trained to dance and sing
in order to amuse King before they
were admitted to the harem.
An early symptom Of the Kings
approaching insanity was shown 10y
the extraordinary ballots and dances
in which he trained these women to
take part. He forced them to give
spectacles which were literally real
izations of a madman's dreams. be
spent his whole time training them
to give these exhibitions and neglec-
ted to Cypress his male subjects. AT
first he allowed these spectacles to
be held openly, and the few foreign
ers resident in his. kingdom were
invited to be present. but as ms
mania assumed q more bloodthirsty
form he became secretive, and this
course aroused suspicion concerning
his doings. ... -.
The territory Of Than Thai is ex-
tensiye and wealthy. 1t contains 8
population Of 100000. His prln-
cipal palace is an extraordinary spec
linen of Oriental architecture. 1t Is
somewhat Chinese in character, but
has many peculiarities OF its pwn.
It is covered all over with carving
of amazing minuteness, which re-
ouired almost incredible labor to ex-
ecute. The palace covers 400 acres,
its size being made chiefly necessary
by the vast extent of the harem. NO
one is allowed to enter without TAX
inp off his sandals or shoes at the
door. A still more remarkable rule
is that no dead person is allowed to
be carried out by the door. The
body must be lifted out through the
roof and removed in that way.
The King still occupies the palace,
because it would be difficult to keep
him elsewhere without separating
him from his thousand wives and his
numerous children. His SOL and
successor being only eight years old
and still unmarried, does not require
much space.
Since his murderous outbreak the
King has been kept under close sur
veillance by French medical officers,
and they now give their opinion
that he is cured. In fact, he is quite
an amicable and entertaining COM
panion. 1t is we'll known that the
shocking mania from which he suf-
Tered may easily pass away: In
fact, the cheerful companionship Of
French officers and the knowledge
that somebody is at hand DO check
the indulgence of his mania would
do much to cure him.
Nevertheless, it is doubtful If the
King is permanently cured and this
makes the prospect of letting him
loose among the curious and suscept-
ible female population Of Paris a
,ro,,,r and danQernlS one.