The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-09-12
ABDUL HAMID. FORMER
SULTAN, BURIED ALIVE

Strike IN the Harem.
AIittle more than a year ago. owing
to the dizziness OF life within the walls
at the Allatini residence, there was a
strike or upheayal in the harem. Up to
That time Abdul Hamid had had for his
amusement a jester n a musician.
The ~discontents appealed to the author
tiles to be released, and, as the former
sultan made no objection, the Jester and
the musician. q son n 10 OF the wives
We're entrained one night for Constan-
tinople. 1t was given out that they had
gone to n capital to attend a wedding.
Anyhow. they never returned, and ever
since Abdul Hamid has deplored the
meagerness OF his harem. J.
Since that night upon which the bulk
Of the former sultanis people abandoned
him the neighbors have observed that
all life seems to have left the Allatini
villa. II is inferred that that was the
inal coup which settled upon the for-
mer monarch and left him in q state
from which he has never recovered. The
shutters remain closed and the house
looks deserted. a.a -
AS I'm the times OF yore at Yildiz. Abb
du Hamid still retains a great fearful1
ness for his personal safety. H!s cut.
1 Is simple-that is to say, IL IL es-
sentially Turkish. consisting largely of
mutton. chicken, rice. vegetables and
Each dish is. as was the case in Yr-
dig, brought up from the kitchen bound
round with tape mi sealed with red
a That sealing Is a primary pre-
caution. so hat the God cannot be
tempered with on the way from the
Kitchen. But that is not enough for
this strange nan whose suspiciousnesS
takes the form OF mania, and that ma
MIA resolves itself into the fixed idea
that he will, one day or another, meet
death by poison. Accordingly, when the
dishes are opened the cook and one
other member OF the household Is COM
PEELED to taste thereof first. Not until
this has been accomplished win Abdul
Hamid eat OF anything. + q
Even the doctor Is not free from sus-
| picion. and with him Il assumes a Sc
rio-comic phase. Thus, when he has
ordered Abdul Hamid a certain regime
OF pills, the illustrious patient invaria-
bly, insists upon the doctor himself par
taking OF the medicine, m that there
may be no trickery aboXt 1t he himself
picks u the pill, n that is the one
which the doctor must swallow, and no
other. 1t reminds one Of an event some
seven or eight years ago, when DR..
Bergman told the ~reigning sultan that
his daughter would nave to be operated
upon for appendicitis. Abdul Hamid
insisted thereupon that a similar OPP
GRAFTON should first be performed upon
a daughter OF one of h members Of
the cour to see what came Of II. a
The Suitan's Fear.
Yet another instance Of Abdul Ha-
mid's fear lies in the existence OF that
three-metre high wall around. the prop
erty. Formerly it was but a metre
high, with rails and brick posts at in
tervals. But when It came to obtaining
his signature for the G1,600, 900 which
lay in the Deutsche bank, during which
q good deal Of bullying and coercion
had TO be used, the prisoner finally ave
way upon the promise that the main
gate on the high road would be done
away with and the space it occupied
plastered up, and that a wall three me-
tres high should be built all aroueHd the
property. His reason for this was q
fear lest he might be shot down by peo-
| pie outside.
While the former monarc is thus
infinitely careful concerning his own
safety, the young Turks are Just as
precisely solicitous that he should not
possibly escape, and there Is no manner
OF doubt, In spite of constant official
assurances that Abdul Hamid is quite
happy, that his captivity has been car
ried out with q rigor which In scarcely
justi1able. .
The young Turks who are intently
| shy about any reference to. Abdul
Hamid, assert that their captive has
all liberty within the big outer walls
of the property. That, from what I
near on what l am bound to consider
good authority, is untrue. What is told
me is this: That the imperial prisoner
occupies the first floor and that he Is
confined to that. He Is neither allowed
to descend to the ground floor nor
ascend to the second story. Above all,
that he is not allowed to go u into
the garden and that he has never
been out since his arrival here. This
last is an i~ncontrovertible fact The
young Turks, when / tackled them with
this as upright, assured me that he
does not care. to come out for exer-
else and that he seldom went out at
Yildiz.
The precautions taken to prevent any
one reaching the prisoner are extreme.
I asked to have ar interview with him
and was met with sarcastic laughter
and q very emphatic negative. TIM
possible said q young Turk leader.
abdul Hamid is deadFto the world ana
no one will eveS see him alive again."
It has been told me and 1t is quite
within ene possibilities Of h situation
and 10 backed by the above words
quoted, that should any revolution
break out n the young Turk party
| find itself In peril one Of the first orders
given would be the determination Of
the prisoner of the Allatini villa.
launching at q villa within q stones
throw OF the Allatini house, / was
rather surprised to fin an ordinary
net wire fence all around the garden
where a wall would have naturally sug-
gested itself as more ornamental and
useful. ..
"Oh, yes" said the owner, mo walls
here. We are not allowed to build
them" And 1t was quite true.
Nc one having q villa within rife
range Of the Allatini villa Ii allowed to
have a wall. For behind such walls
friends OF the former sultan might take
shelter when attempting rescue OF ABB
dull Hamid. Thus eve Raml Bey, the
young Turk member of parliament, who
has O villa between the Allatini villa
and the sea, may not build the wall
he desired and began around his gar
den. Ships also might contain rescu-
ing parties, so all vessels are strictly
| forbidden anchoring anywhere in tho
i hox, naar fha AlInffpI villa