The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-10-27


was asleep - or ABDUL HAND u
pretended to be. A girl, scarcely
more than child, strayed into the
room and stared in wonder at its rich
furnishings. From one gorgeous bau'
be TO another she wandered, gazing,
examining, handling. At length, as she
reached table, she saw lying there a
tinys jeweIed, silver mounted pistol. 1t
was unlike any other weapon she ever
had seen. The girl picked it up, turn
ing it over and maryeling at itsSrare
beauty. The man on the divan in the
shadowy corner opened his eyes and
slowly sat up. t
What are you looking att" he ask
ed gently. s~ J.,
AT this pistol. sire" answered the
girl.
And what are pistols made fort" he
queried in. the same pleasant tone.
Toto shoot people, sire, fal'ered
the girl, little treasured by his gen.
tleness.
Quite so,'' yawned the man. And
| will prove 1t. Let me show YOU.
Whipping another revolver from his
pocket he shot the girl dead
This is a typical anecdote of Abdul
Hamid, Commander of the Faithful,
The Prophets Nice7oy on Earth -
the man who until last year was
sultan OF Turkey 1t shows at once
his cunning, his heartlessness, his
deadly fear of assassination. So deep
ly did he dread being killed that he
usually remained a captive In his own
palace, surrounding himself only with
those to whom he was more valuable
alive than dead, and at once Staying
any one whom he even remotely sus-
pected of having designs uron his life.
The yidiz Kiosk hid thousands OF
black tragedies.
Fear of death made Adults life q
burden. 1t robbed him Of slumber. AZ
times the only way he could be put
10 sleep was by hearing some one read
aloud the story of the awful punish
ments that had been inflicted on some
of the siayers of rulers, These tales
Of torture. would lull him to rest.
Abdul Hamd was born In 1912. lie
was the second son OF sultan and
came to the Turkish throne In 1876
when his elder brother was deposed.
To make way for Abdul, another
brother was murdered and a nephew
falsely imprisoned as a maniac. The
new sultan began his reign by prom.
ising countless reforns-and by per-
forming none of them. His Balkan
States in those days we're in Wild re-
volt At home. the Young Turk move
ment was already busy trying to build
UP the rotten government and TO abol.
igh tyranny. The people murmured.
The Turkish crown seemed lettering.
Abdul Hamid had before him a task
that would have crushed most rulers.
Yet he performed it with a skill that
stamped him as the subtlest and ablest
statesman of his day.
At the outset of his career as sultan
The atrocities in the Balkans led Rus
sia to declare war c1 Turkey. Russia
won the conflict and might have wiped
the stain Of Turkish crimes from the
earth had not the other European pow.
crs grown jealous. They interfarod /,
saved Turkey and deprived Russia OF
nearly all the fruits Of her victory. NJ
ready the sultan was beginning 10
show his rare statcsmanlike quail.
ties, ttedu'
In the peace treaty Abdul made
many fine promises. He kept none OF
hem. and he so fooled the European
powers that he suffered no penalty
from his breach OF faith. He choked
the voice of liberty, silenced the
Young Turks" by force and made
himself sole master Of his empire BY
playing one nation against another ard
by owing some OF them huge debts
that bis downfall might cancel, tle
kept the world at large from intetfer.
ing with bis horrible plans. Sc
For instance, in 1S95,1s9s the signal
was given by him for wholesale mas
sscre Of Armenian Christians. Thou
sands of defense!ess persons We're
slaughtered. A far lesser series CT
atrocities had brought on war with
Russia in 1877. Yet this time not one
European nation lifted a finger to
check the outrage.
But tyranny has always wrought its
own destruction. While Europe, bound
hand and foot by the web Of. !. Abdul
Hands willy diplomacy. took no step
TO check his crimes. his own people at
length rose against him. The Young
Turks" grew too strong to be put
| down. There was an almost bloodless
revolution in 1905. Abdul was de-
posed in April, 1909, ana was sent to
| Salonica as state prisoner. His
Younger brother, Mehmed, or kioham-
| ed, was taken from prison palace
| where Abdul had confined him, and
! was placed upon the Turkish throne.
That Abdul was deposed is but nat
nral. The only wonder is that he was
able to hold his shaky power In such
masterful fashion for a third of cen