Evening star., 1909-05-23
HAPPEN|NGS|N TURKEY
Story of Recent Drama Told
by Washington Woman.
WRITES LETTER TO STAR
Graphic Pictures Of City's Unrest
During Eventful Period.
TERROR OF INHABITANTS
Abdul Hamid's Efforts to Upset
Constitution Defeated by Splendid
Organization Of Young Turks.
TERROR OF INHABITANTS

| stantinople, beginning with the mut1ny
against constitutional government by the
| garrison OF the Turkish capital up to the
enforcement OF q new sultan, Is given
by "E NJ ST. Washington woman,
reader of The Star and an eyewitness
| to tho dramatic events Of that period, IN
the following letter:
CONSTANTuNOPLE April q, 1909.
| Long before this letter reaches America
you will have heard many accounts Of
the happenings Of the past two weeks In
this city. But perhaps a recital of some
| occurrences Of these days of stress and
| strain by one whose home is In the CEN
ter Of the field Of action will be Of inter-
est to the readers of The Star.
| Our first intimation that anything unu-
/ sual was taking place came on the morn
| ing Of April 13, while we were at the
breakfast table. We were startiea oy q
violent peal of the doorbell and found
terrified Greek woman begging protection
| from some awful calamity-she hersel-
| didn't know just what.
/ Looking out we saw every window
crowded with faces and men in groups
| talking excitedly. My husband at once
| went out to ascertain the cause OF the
| panic and returned with the news of a
mutiny among the Constantinople troops.
The soldiers during the preceding
| night had killed about 20 of their officers
in cold blood, these officers being liberal
| in their views as regards the new con-
stitutonal government and in sympathy
| with the committee of union and prog
| ress.
| All through the day great excitement
prevailed. The minister Of justice and
one member of parliament were shot
| But for the fact that other prominent
| members boarded foreign vessels and es-
capped, the list of dead on the night of the
! 18th would have been much longer
Sultan Forgives Offenders.
Before the day ended the sultan had
| appointed an entirely new cabinet and
proclaimed a general amnesty to the
| mutinous army simultaneously with this
| upheaval came the news of massacres in
the provinces.
| The fear and excitement of the people
| here ran to fever heat. A pistol shot,
man running through the streets or
| heated discussion on a nearby corner
| any unusual commotion-was enough TO
throw the Christian population into a
i spasm of fright lest the thing they SO
| much dreaded was upon them.
Toward evening things seemed to have
| uuieted down somewhat. We retired with
| little thought of the situation. only to be
| wakened at midnight by volley after volley
| of rife shots and screams and loud
talking of people as ignorant Of the
i cause as ourselves. For two hours the
1 firing continued.
II l will confess to visions of the streets
Of Pera strewn with dead and wounded
| soldiers. But, to our great relief, morn
ing brought the news that it was only a
jollification on the part OF the mutinous
| soldiers; very foolish form of frolic, as
| they wasted a tremendous amount of
ammunition that might have proved valu
| able later on.
The following day was one of unrest
The soldiers spent their time on the
streets firing here and there killing a
few citizens by their carelessness, break
ing shop windows, and causing US all to
| wonder what the outcome OF such state
| of affairs might be.
Events of the next few days began to
arouse in the minds of the public a
| suspicion that the whole thing was a
| scheme Of his imperial majesty by which
he hoped to upset and crush the consti-
| tutional form of government and re-estab-
| lish his own tyrannical rule. Before we
really knew what was the proper view
| Of the situation we awoke to the fact that
| there were other soldiers in the empire
| who were loyal to the constitution, given
| them last July, and ready to fight to the
| death for the liberty and equality born
| at that time.
Part of the I'd Army Corps from
Adr1anople and the Sd from Saloniki
supplemented by Albanian, Greek. Bull
| garian and Armenian volunteers-Chris-
| the first time-started toward the capital
In six or seven days an army Of 10000
men, with their arms, ammunition, COM
| missary department and iron-clad motors
carrying Maxim guns, was at the gates
OF Constantinople.
/ Salonikins Close In.
One by one the important positions
outside the city were occupied and ar
rangements made for entering plans
so skillfully laid that foreign countries
opened their eyes in amazement and ad-
|
learned from the commander of the Turk
ish army.
AS an Austrian officer has remarked:
European powers will not talk lightly Of
attacking Turkey after this"
During these days Of excitement busi-
ness In the city was practically at a
standstill: many stores were closed. Men
paced the main streets eager for news.
| The Rue dc Pera. generally sWarming
with woman shoppers. was strikingly de-
void of the fair sex, but here and. there
knots OF men discussing the situation or
groups Of one nationality or another
crowding around some one reading aloud
from an extra In their own particular
vernacuiar might be seen.
Now and then q mere nothing would
bring about a panic. the stores brave
enough to be open would hastily pull
down their iron shutters, and until the
fusion would reign supreme. Every one
was on the Quf vive for an outbreak of
some sort, and no one could settle down
to anything SO prosaic as the daily rou-
tine OF business life.
Just what was being done by the COM
mander of the army no one knew. 1t
was certain that a clash would come be-
| tween the mutineers and the outside
forces. proclamation was issued by the
commander assuring the public that they
had nothing to fear and that every pre-
| About this time newspapers began to
coin money for extras" Greek, French
German and Turkish dailies were giving
out all sorts of news. And one might al
most imagine oneself back in an Ameri-
can city on the occasion of a Yale-Har-
ward foot ball game, SO diligent were the
newsboys in getting rid of their latest
editions.
Some papers brought forth the idea
that "our gracious sovereign" was becom-
ing alarmed for his own safety and would
abdicate. Others began to attack his
past record and remind him Of how much
blood he had caused to flow to humor his
caprices, and to suggest that he try to
atone in measure and efface himself to
avert the coming war.
Crisis Passes Without Incident.
Toward the middle Of the second week
rumors were circulated to the effect that
the crisis would come at noon Friday,
| when the sultan would go. according to
his custom, to selamlik. This idea took
a firm hold on the majority. When FRI
day night came and Abdul Hamid still
| held the throne and the city was as 1t
had been there seemed lull in the ex-
| element and q let-un the nervous ten