Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-28

ton of the White Nile was declared free
1t was made n slave route. Later on the
Arabs raided the natives OF Central Africa
and sent UP their slaves to Khartum.
The trade was somewhat checked while
Gordon ruled. but II broke out again I'M
der the mahdi. and when the British took
hold Omdurman was one OF the chief
slave markets. and slaves were brought
In In droves from all parts OF the coun-
try. Since then the buying and selling OF
slaves has been stopped. as far as posi-
Bile. but 1t Is still carried on In many OF
the provinces. and It will be long time
before II can be entirely eradicated. Six
ty-seven slave dealers were captured last
year and tried. Fifty-eight were convict
ed and more than fifty received sentences
In the penitentiary OF from one to seven
years each.
What a Swiss Boy Did.
While 1 was at Assiout. about 300 miles
south of Cairo. DR.. Alexander. the presi-
dent Of the Training College there. told
me how a poor Swiss boy broke UP the
slave trade OF upper Egypt. Said he:
This incident occurred just before the
British occupation Of sope years ago.
The boy. whose name was Roth. got the
idea that It was his mission to aid In
abolishing slavery, and that his field
lay in the Sudan. He had no money, but
he worked his way to Alexandria, and
thence up the Nile to Assiout, landing
here without cent He applied for
work at the mission schools telling us
his plans. and we finally arranged that
he could teach French. While doing SO
he studied Arabic. and went out through
the country to learn all he could as to
slavery. He spent his vacations living
with the people, travelling about and
visiting the villages. It was then con-
trary to the law to sell slaves in Egypt,
but Roth learned that the trade was GO
ing on. and that caravans were bring
Ing slaves from the Sudan down here. and
that they were then sent to Tunis and
Tripoli and thence TO Constantinople.
One day he came into the mission and
said that n big slaves caravan was en-
camped outside Assiout. and that tho
men hid their slaves in caves during the
day and sold them at night. He begged
me to go with him to the governor and
demand that they be punished I did
go. but was not able to do anything"
After this continued DR.. Alexander.
ROTH despaired somewhat, but said he
intended to go to Cairo and get the Eng
lish consul general to help him. He
did so and convinced the consul general
that his story was true The two went
together to Riaz Pasha, who was then
foreign minister. and demanded that
the sale of slaves be stopped. Roth had
then the English government behind him,
and the Egyptian government had to re-
spect him. They gave him a company
of 20 soldiers and told him to 60 back
to Assiout and capture the caravan. It
was probably their intention to notify
the slave dealers in time. so they could
get away, but Roth stopped his special
train outside the town, divided his COM
pany into two bands, surrounded the
caravan and took the traders and sixty
seven slaves, whom they had with them.
He brought the slaves to the mission
school and said he wanted me to hold
them, as the Egyptians would not dare to
take them from under the American flag.
Shortly after this there came a mes
sage from the governor of the province
ordering that the slaves be given I'D
The messengers were backed by SOL
diers. but nevertheless / refused saying
1t was impossible on account Of the alb
sence of DR.. Hoge. the superintendent
Of the mission. The next Jay DR.. Hoge
arrived, and the governor sent for him.
He abused him for not giving up the
slaves. whereupon DR.. Hoge charged him
with wanting to evade the law, and told
him that If "Assiout had any respect
for the law or had governor who was
anything Of man, the caravan would
have been already arrested and the own
ers punished. He then demanded that
this be done. and as a result the slave
dealers and slaves were taken to Cairo
to be tried there. The government OF
Egypt did not dare to whitewash the
transaction, and It was forced to dis
miss the governor and punish the slave
dealers. Roth was afterward appointed
an agent of the Egyptian government to
keep down the slave trade. He came to
the Sudan and carried on his work there
in connection with Gordon and Slatin
Pasha, and Slatin speaks of him in his
book entitled Fire and Sword in the
Sudan He died while fighting the slave
trade there"
FRANK G. CARPENTER.