New-York tribune., 1910-10-30

London were TeaQlng the LrSC message ever
sent 10 a newspaper by Sultan OF Turkey
What AbduI-Hamid Said
SPEAKING Of Sultans. few persons have
~ ever heard what Abdul-Hanid. whom
some called the Sick and others the Damned.
really said when ne was depOsed and taken
q closely guarded captive. into exile Some
Of the newspapers had 1t that he pleaded 70
take with him only seven OF his women, and
some said seven hundred; some that he
pleaded for his Empire. and others that he
pleaded for himself But here IS the real
story, the inside story, the untold story, OF
that nights grim historic dO1ngs- That II Is
literally true there need be nc doubt; tOr !
had it from the officer who read 70 the Sultan
Parliament's decree.
It was seven minutes after midnight when
the little group Of officers IN their uniforms
OF stained and torn khaki entered the Sui
tan's cabinet in Yildiz Kiosk and read 20 the
stoop shouldered, tinid, shrinking Httle man,
whose face. as one of them described II after
ward, was the color of a dead fish. the sen
tence Of dethrOnement and imprisonment
for life
And when the reading was finished he ex-
claimed. in q voice ChOl1ed with emotion.
SO this IS the treatment I get for feeding
nv brother on birds nilk.' And al during
the time that his handful Of faithful attend
ants were dressing him for his Journey into
exile ne kept repeating 10 himself. This,
then, IS the treatment l get for feeding my
brother on birds milk.
At half-Dast two N the morning they took
him out of the palace on the first Journey he
had taken in thIrtv-three years, on the last
Journey. mayhap. he VIII ever take in this
uncertain world OF coffee cups and daggers.
The electric lights n the palace had gone
out, for the imperial servants had fled almost
10 a man; so a soldier took a lamp from
waiting carriage and used II 70 light the
steps of the fallen monarch. Without the
door an arTnOred motor car. one of those that
had borne It's part in the street fighting Of
the previous day, was waiting 70 take him
to the station. It looked big and grim and
ghOstly IN the uncertain light of the lamp,
and the lean machine gun peeTed menaC-
ingly from behind its arnored shield.
Now, Abdul-HanId. who had cOnstltu-
tIOnal dread of machInerv,-he once said
that dynamo sounded suspiciouslv ike dyna-
mIte.-had never set foot IN a motor car, and
II was with considerable trepIdauOn. there
fore, that he took the seat indicated TO him.
But when the driver threw on the power and
the big car began TO vibrate with the pulsa-
tons OF the engines, II was altogether too
much for the ex-Sultans eQuanImitv, and SO
completely terrified did he become that II
was necessary TO remove him 20 a carriage,
in which, seated between men who were de
ternIned TO kill him rather than let him es-
cape, and surrounded by a cloud of cavalry,
he was rushed through the silent streets 81
the sleeping city TO the train waiting IN
Stamboul. And al the way h- would mutrer
again and again. ' So rhis IS the treatment l
get Tor feeding my brother on bird S milk,
The deruroning of despots IS nOt part Of
the Iay' work of young cavalry officers; so
II IS scarcely 10 be wondered AT that those IN
charge OF the august captive were first puz-
Zled, then curious, and eventually a trItie II
ntated at the reiteratIon of this apparently
SenscleSs remark. The personal attendants
OF the fallen Sultan were questioned as 20
what he meant by birds milk: but without
any light being shed. until up spoke q white
bearded old body servant who had been with
Abdul-HamId when he was a bov.
My masters meaning Is plain enough,
SAID he. When ne and ms brother Rechad
Were boys together Rechad Efendi fell Ill
with = malady Of fever, and my imperial
master-whom Allah preservel-each day
fed his brother, whom he dearly loved with