The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-04-22
THE TALK OF EUROPE
Is The ex-Sultan OF Turkey Dead On
Does He Still Live?---The Career OF
An Assassin---Some Account OF
His Red-Handed Life

scenes Of that tragic drama. the car
Ger of Abdul Hamid, the Great Assas-
sim"
Does the Red Sultan still live? Docs
Abdul the Damned haunted by ter
rible fears and by the ghosts Of his
tens of thousands of victims, still sit
crouching in his prison home in Salon
lea. muttering like a mailman TO him
self, seeing death in every shadow,
hearing Il in every sound?
Or has he at last succumbed to the
diseases of mind and body that have
racked him for years? Or is it posi-
bic that the hand of an assassin
some other assassin than the grim
tyrant whose reign was stained with
countless deeds of horror-has been
at work in the gloomy House of Mys-
terry, with its drawn Shutters and emp
ty garden?
Strange rumors from his place Of
exile have been flying over the Turk
gossip in Constantinople Reports are
abroad of his suicide, of his attempt
ed escape of his having been caught
in reactionary conspiracy. Nobody
knows what to believe-nobody. at
least. except a very few, and they are
silent.
What hidden meaning may lie be-
hind such curious, conflicting reports
concerning his fate as the following,
which for almost a year have been
keeping the world guessing:
Vienna, Feb IS O91O)-From Sa-
lonica it is announced that Abdul-Ha-
mid is dying He has just passed
through a fit of violent madness, and
now refuses food"
"salonica, March 17.-It is reported
here that Abdul-Hamid committed su-
icide a week ago with a dose of poi
son mixed by one Of the women Of
his household
"Constantinople, March 27-Fron
: reliable sources it is learned that the
+, condition of Abdul-Hamid is precar'
ious, and that he has but few days
to live"
"Constantinople, June 3.-It is ru
= mored that the former Sultan, Alb
dul.Hamid, died suddenly two months
+ ago at Salonica,"
lJJ 1t is considered quite on the card'
J, by those who have some inkling 0
n Turkish ways of doing things for thu
= dethroned Sultans jaileTs to prepare
. the public in this fashion for an even
long past, the news of which is t'
= transpire later.
n At any rate, the Allatini villa
u where Abdul-Hamid is supposed q
d be confined, has had the appearane'
: of being deserted for close on year
d The people in the neighborhood de
d clare that the former rulers wiye
D and his few remaining odalisks troop
10 ed out one dark nigh; and failed Il
n return.
Il A faint of madness runs in tn
III blood of the house of Gilman. Bot
lie Abdul Hands uncle, Abdul-Aziz, an
in his elder brother, Murad V, lost tn
In throne through attacks of INSANITY
Small wonder that such a clou
~ should hang over the royal line of d
q rect descendants of Gilman, VIII
~ held sway over the Ottoman Empir
I'd for more than 900 years. Think ,
IN what a story of horrors is the hii
ed tory of their rule! Out of the "a su
y cessors Of the founder of the gre;
house, only II have died naturi
death on the throne, and up to mo
A. ern times it was the rule for ever
new Sultan to signalize his accessic
m by the massacre OF his brothers. M
n manned III put to death his 10 brot
"a ers.
M. Murad " used to amuse himself
w. going out after dinner and murderiI
Y. people in the streets, or by "pottinl
IL boatmen or pedestrians who happe
ed to come within range of his pi
ace.
"a One seems to see everythil
ifv through a red haze in visiting Il
or. historic landmarks of Constantinopi
in There is the old seraglio, the scel
BIS of a thousand CHASTITY deeds. And
10 the water side of the Parliame
me House, above a buttress in the thi
me gate of the sea walls, whose ba
is washed by the Marmora, is an c
~ ening through which Sultanas vi
,tb bored the padishah were thrown in
the sea, having first been sewed
in sacks.
let Many tale has been told, too, ev
in Abdul-Hamid's day, OF women
the imperial household sewn in sac