The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-09-12
Mystery That Enshrouded Him
In YiIdiz KIOSK Still Sur
@,~1 rounds Him.
DEATH BY POISON

F#.L#H- .& NE ENHn.+
salonica, Turkey. Dispatch to the New
York Herald.
Abdul Hamid is alive; The former
SULTAN is in Salonica and has not been
secretly conveyed to Constantinople.
Those are the replies to two recently
circulated reports which have told OF
the former sultan's demise and OF his
having been spirited away during the
night to the capital. The latter re-
port was merely founded upon the pas
sage Of q train full Of munitions, con-
corning which quite special precautions
Were taken. RID &
II you want TO set yourself a difficult
task 1t Is in coming to Salonica and
trying to find out some details con-
corning h physical condition and
mode Of life of the deposed sultan. who
for so many years was the political
chess player who kept the dipiomatists
of Europe busy, and who was SO skilled
in the game that he usually saw 20
moves ahead, while the ambassadors
Mt Constantinople saw but two or
three.
Abdul Hamid here in his confinement
as the prisoner OF his people IS envel-
oped In much the same mystery as he
was in Yildiz Kiosk at Constantinople,
and rumors and reports unlimited cir.
culate concerning him--most of them
inventions, avery few approaching the
truth.
The former sultan, as most people
know, lives in h villa Allatini, where
he has now resided some two and q
half years His dwelling and prison
consist Of q large square built red tiled
house, in modern French style, which
springs out as q note of color from a
grove Of very dark green pine trees
which surround 1t on all sides. They
are UP to the second story now, and in
a few years at their present rate of
growth the trees will entirely hide the
building.
The suItan's Prison.
The Allatini house was built by an
Italian flour merchant who had settled
here, n when he died IL was sold to
a company, which in turn disposed of
1t to the state for the purpose OF using
it us a place Of confinement for Abdul
Hamid upon his deposition in 1908, after
the second revolution. .sgvsuaasE7s
Abdul Hamid upon his downfall tried
in every way possible to be allowed to
inhabit a palace on the Asiatic side of
the Bosphorus, the one, a Beautiful
building, which had been built to shell
ter d we'll known empress upon her Wis
it to the Turkish capital
But the young Turks were obdurate,
Fearful Of a reactionary movement in
favor OF the Padishah. who was in
NCli0Sly VI Zig OA0G \ Ms aLllA
not at all sure OF their own positions.
they insisted that Abdul Hamid leave
the capital, M " \
So, silently, and secretly, In the mid
die of the night, with q minimum of
baggage, accompanied by II wives, who
made themselves conspicuous by their
lamentations, he was with scant cere-
mony dispatch to Salonica. That city
was selected because Of its being the
seat OF the young Turk party, and its
members wished to have their farch
enemy under their own eyes, guarded
by themselves, n above all away
from the capital, where they thought
he might possibly have escaped
Today I walked around the villa on
three sides. TheAmain road runs along
one side, the. northern. There is moth
ing but a bare wall to be seen, at the
center OF which Is, a walled up gateway
Of large size. Lynx eyed sentries watch
the passers. Any n lingering is
promptly requested to move one. On
The three other sides no one is allowed
to go anywhere near the walls, and
sentries about so yards apart j~ealously
o un guard, and any n approaching
is likely to be shot at without parley.
An enterprising innocent Englishman
recently tried to take a photograph.
The whiz of a bullet set him running.
So there are not many photographs OF
the Allatini house-none of the interior,
at all events, since the sultan a been
there.
SentiReIs Will Fire.
To get a view of the two sides, east
\ and south, a big detour had to be made
through fields filled with a rank growth
Of a prickly dead weed. The sentinels
| all u the walls meanwhile were
keeping a vigilant eye upon the move
tents of my party.
The wall used to be one meter high;
1t is now thrice that height. Inside and
out 1t is heavily picketed. A military
~guardhouse Of considerable dimensions
is on the north side across the road.
At the south soldiers used to camp out.
Now the tents have been replaced with
neat white guardhouses with red tiled
roofs. But no one is allowed to APP
proach. Amy n so doing takes his life
in his hands. The orders to the SOL
diers on duty regarding h approach
OF strangers are Of the most stringent
nature, and they are Fire at once!"
There is a road running down the
west side Of the Allatini property. That
Is absolutely forbidden to all except
those known to be directly connected
with the household. m they consist
almost solely Of a contractor, a doctor
and q barber, all three OF whom are
severely punished.
Razim Bey, d colonel and warm sup
porter of the young Turk party, its
personally charged with the RESPONSE
bility OF the keeping Of the, erstwh -
sultan. He Is a man Of severe aspeI,
and few words. His duty IL to see Alb.
dull Hamid once a day, and he goes
through the formality of asking IL there
Is anything the prisoner wants.
or late the former ruler makes no re-
ply. About a year g he used to ash
that his household be increased. II
other words, he wanted more wives.
II you ask Razim Bey how the for.
mer sultan Is he will invariably reply;
quite happy. He does o worry about
anything, n indeed he has increased
in weight OF late"
But behind those words Of the guar.
dian OF the imperial prisoner there IL Z
cryptic meaning. 1t is true that the for.
mer sultan is not unhappy, but IL he bt
happy II is in the negative form Of
man who has ceased to know what Ii
going on. The truth Is, that for q yea
past softening OF the brain has set in
and the great intelligence which useC
10 match itself against all the combina.
items Of the ~diplomatists OF Europe. ant
so often beat them. is today no more
and Abdul Hamid is a mental nullity
He does nothing. He used to whil
away his time in c~arpentering, at which
he proved himself quite skillful. Blu
that he has long given up. He does no
read, Newspapers have been offere'
him. He does not look at them. HI
knows nothing of what goes on In tn,
outer world, He talks 70 a brotherin