Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-04-23

lection or eXtermtnatl0n OK men Wnt
would not conform to its tenets; ant
his virtues likewise are those Of thu
creed of Mohammed.
Until this time the Turkish soldier
has been willing to suffer anything
to die In the cause Of the Prophet, a.
the command Of the sultan, his khalif
1T Is the will Of Allah" was sufficient
to make him stand in the forefront Of
battle, as brave a man as the worlt
has ever known. With the new ordei
Of things the character Of this soldier
must necessarily undergo materia
change, and 1t is q question what the
result will be.
At any rate he will be no longer the
bloodthirsty fanatic he is now. A
shaking of his blind belief by officers
and reformers, Young Turks as they
are called, who from western teachings
have come to be sceptics, Is as likely
to destroy the race as to revive 1t.
l have seen Turkish soldiers under
many circumstances, and while can
not admire them in the abstract be-
cause Of their unfair attitude toward
mortals not of their grand fraternity
cannot fail to like some with whom
have travelled, sometimes against my
will.
On one occasion, like every other
correspondent, had a spy attached to
me for a while. He was most gen.
tlemanly young man, who would rather
have had some other occupation. o.
course he knew that / knew his mis-
sion, and so whenever he wanted to
know anything about my movements
he would ask me, and told him every
thing could except the names Of mer
interviewed, whom he might have
denounced. In travelling I used him
often as guide and interpreter, and
while with him I always got the best
accommodation that the poorest towns
and villages afforded.
When a stranger penetrates this
country beyond the few railways, SOL
diers always accompany him to pro-
tect him from brigands and highway
men. Under the old regime the object
of attaching an escort to foreigner
was also to spy upon him and to pre-
vent him from conversing with revo-
lutionary Christians who would tell
the tale of government extortions and
outrages.
Under these circumstances 1t was
always peculiarly interesting to travel
with Turkish escort. These, while
generally faithful to degree, have
once or twice been known to shoot
their charges. At the little town OF
Mitrovitza, where I went once to In
vestigate the killing of Russian con-
sui, prudence kept me almost constant
ly confined to the consulate, where
was a guest, for we could go out only
with a guard, who walked behind us;
and this guard lending to us an official
air caused every sentry we passed to
salute us, and it was by one of these
sentries guarding the consuls house
that he had been shot.
The killing had taken place In Gu
riops manner. and Ia worth re-teiling
ThA Albaniaas- had declared -whan -thf
consulate was established that they
would have no Russian In their coun-
try; but the consul came with g. guard
of several Cossack servants and an
escort Of Turks, who did not relish
their task. The Albanians let him stay
for several months, but when he began
reporting their raids upon unarmeo
Christian villages and bringing pres
sure to bear to have them stopped
there was serious trouble.
One night at a cafe a fanatical der
wish after working his hearers up to
frenzied pitch finished long tirade
by exclaiming: "Is there not a single
Mohammedan who will rid us Of this
giaour?"
"T WILL" said piping little voice.
you! Oh, mo, you will not" said
the dervish with mock contempt in
tended to provoke the fellow.
81 WILL" he repeated.
He was a soldier, a slim, sickly fell
low, with a sad visage. I saw him
tried later at Uskub.
The next morning the consul, attir-
ed in Russian uniform, followed by q
Cossack, two heavily armed kavasses
and a troop Of Turkish soldiers, off,
GERS and officials, went out to inspec'
the Notifications about the town de-
signed by the Turks to protect his con-
sulate from the Albanians. AS the
consul passed the sentinels each pre-
sented arms, but one man required to
degrade himself in this way lowered
his gun quickly as the consul passed
before him at three yards distance and
| without aiming put a bullet into his
body.
Dropping his gun the little soldier
then took to his heels as fast as he
could go over the rocks down the MI
trovitza slopes into an Albanian val
ley. The consuls retinue were sur
pTlScQ LUZ d iioihShe, oeS "NAS -
after the soldier, firing rapidly. Either
the consurs Turkish guard were very
bad shots or else their sympathy with
their brave comrade Influenced their
aim, for 1t was the Russian Cossack
who brought the fugitive down, wound
ing him, If l remember rightly, In the
leg.
The Turks, contrary to prevailing
opinion, are not generally very good
horsemen. The men we had with US
on a journey in Macedonia seemed to
understand their animals very little
for though the ponies we rode could
have been managed without bit at all
yet they kept a heavy hand always on
the curb. The ponies were small and
had none but natural gaits, and the
short trot was most uncomfortable
unless one rose in the saddle. This the
zaptiehs were unable to do, and In
consequence the horse suffered. Two
at time they took turns riding with
us at steady trot, while the others
galloped or walked alternately, thereby
covering the same distance as we, by