The daily sentinel., 1912-04-26
Associated Press.

Associated Press.
London, Apr. 26.-An expedition
will be dispatched shortly from Alden
TO punish the Sultan of Socotra un-
less loot taken from the British
steamship Kuala. which was wrecked
on the island of Socotra, is restored
and an apology given.
The punitive expedition will con-
sist of cruiser of the East Indian
squadron and the steamship Dalhouie
which will convey a company of ma
tive infantry from the Adeu garri-
son. The command of the party
will be given to Major General Sir
]. A. Bell, political resident at Alden.
The Kuala. bound from Dundee to
Singapore. went ashore in November
and one of the crew was compelled
to travel 800 miles in an open boat
for assistance. The lives of the crew
were threatened and the vessel was
looted by the natives. Subsequently
the crew was rescued by a Russian
ship and landed at Singapore.
Socotra is an island of the Indian
Ocen lying near the entrance of the
Gulf of Alden. 1t is so miles long
and contains .2S0 square miles.
Though virtually part Of an Arab
sultanate. Socrotra is under British
protection. constituting a dependency
of Alden.
The Timur ruby has been a part
of the British crown regalia since 1t
was presented TO Queen Victoria in
1851 by the directors of the East In
dia company. There has been more
or less mystery in the history of this
jewel, some experts even contending
that it had been lost The recent
visit of the ldng-emperor and his
consort 10 India resulted in the pub
lication of history of the jewel writ
ten with the idea of clearing away
the misapprehension surrounding it.
The Timur is the largest known
spinel ruby, weighing just over 352
caraJs. 1t is uncut but polished and
was probably discovered in one of the
old ruby mines of Badakshan. 1t
was seized by Ameer Timur. better
known to western historians as Tam
erlane, when he plundered Delhi in
1898. In due time it descended to
his grandson, by which time the
great Tartar empire was on the wane
and during one of the many wars be-
tween the tartars and the Persians
the ruby fell into the hands of the
Kings of Iran. Shah Abbas i pre-
sented the ruby to his friend the Mo-
gul Emperor Jehangir in 1912. When
his favorite wife demonstrated with
him for inscribing his name on the
jewel, Jehangir made the striking
prophecy that the ruby would more
certainly carry his name down to
posterity than written history, for it
would always remain in the posses
sion of the ruler of Hindustan,
prophecy which has been fulfilled to
! the present day.
In 174O Nadir Shah sacked Delhi
and carried the ruby away with him.
When Nadir was assa ssinated in 1747
Ahmad Shaah seized the ruby with
other booty, and, proceeding south,
founded the kingdom of Afghanistan.
| When his grandson was expelled
from the country he sought refuge
| in the Punjab, where he was com
| PEELED to surrender both the Koh-i-
moor and the Timur-
When the Punjab WAS annexed by
| the British in 1S49 the Koh-i-noor,
| the Timur and all other state jewels
| We're taken over by the board of ad
| ministration and the first-named jew
el was taken directly TO London.
| where it was presented to Queen
Victoria. The Timur was later pack
| ed up with othe jewels and taken to
1851. At the close of the exhibition
the reuby was presented to the queen
| by the court of directors of the East
India company, since which time it
has been one of the crown jewels.
During conference of the socie-