The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-06-04
OVERTHROW OF THE SULTAN.
Interesting Letter from James n.
Carson.

Constantinople, May 2, 1909
Dear Friends:
When / sailed from Boston two
years ago little did think that was
going to have the opportunity of see
ing the fall of Abdul Hamid and the
| formation of a constitutional gov
eminent in Turkey.
On the 9th and 18th of April We
all thought that the fate of Abdul
Hamid was sealed. We were not
alarmed when on Tuesday the 18th
we were told that an assembly was
| called at st. Sophia. Early in the
| morning these men came together to
| form plans in order that the sacred
| law of Mohammedanism might not
be unwisely used. This meeting de-
| serves a little description in order
that you may rightly understand the
| situation. The feeling had grown
very strong amongst the Mullahs
that the Cherriat or Holy Law was
being under estimated and that the
| officers were no longer true to Allah
but had become infidels. In order
that it should not be so, this meeting
was called and measures were taken
to put stop to it. They assembled
about daybreak or the first call 70
| prayer in the square directly in front
| of st. Sophia. Can you picture what
the scene is like? Early morning g,
| the sun sending it's rays through a
perfect southern blue sky and en-.
shrouding Ahmed with it's six grace
full Minurets pointing to heaven and
mingling their shadows among st
those of the Egyptian Obelisk aid
the Serpents Column, while on the
other side stands the parliame mt
| buildings or in other words w
Turkey. A place more fitting fer
this assembly could not have been
chosen. They came and went all day
these men with their long coats and
turbaned heads circling around their
| banners of green which hung rather
limp as little wind was stirring. II
was not a noisy meeting for the men
of the east accomplished their dis
| astrous act in quiet manner. This
| group was soon surrounded by the
/
were guarded so that only men with
the dress of the Mullah could enter
I myself visited the scene in the af-
| ternoon and was treated by a youth
| dressed as a soldier, very unbecom-
/ ingly for a foreign guest. AS one
has expressed it the soldiers looked
like escaped orphanage boys. They
i in tn
cloths and carried guns with bayc,
| nets drawn.
AS came away I met a friend and
talked to him and in our talk ne
| told me little more of the condi-
tion of affairs. The fine officers had
| been tied up all day and many OF
| them had been killed and none OF
them were in charge. The army had
decided that they wish no officers but
those who had come from the ranks.
He said that great changes were con-
| templated.
About ten o'clock that night | left
| my room and went down onto the
street. There seemed to be a great
deal of cheering and many bugles
were calling, so I walked over to
Tram street and as 1 reached it a
battalion of soldiers passed. These
| men proved to be the soldiers from
the Seraskeriate or war department,
who had been imprisoned all day.
When they arrived at st. Sophia a
few shots were exchanged I stroll
led down towards st. Sophia and
passed by simply hundreds of softas.
Everything seemed to be in perfect
order. AS 1 was the only foreigner
and it was late at night and no one
could tell when their fanaticism
would arise it seemed better for me
not to mingle with them more than
was necessary so 1 came home.
About 10 o'clock I was on my feet
rather suddenly; such firing as was
taking place, real war was APP
parently on; shots were whizzing
through the air. We soon mad what
might be called bath robe party.
All of us were saying "what does it
mean and Is it Turk for Turk or
what Is 1t After a time it all
seemed to settle down and we again
went to bed, with very heavy hearts
L can tell you. The next morning I
arose early and went down to see
what could, and found that only
about sixty had been killed, but that
most of the firing was rejoicing; few
people were on the streets leading
to the Bible House, every one was
going to the place of confusion and
very few shops were open. The day
which opened quietly was soon turn
ed into one of fright. The grand
War the president of the chamber
and the cabinet had all been dis
missed and men to suit the liking
of this mob had been appointed.
fContinued nm yaoe sovonN