El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-17

~ HE word assassin was once
eminently respectable. 1t was
4 first used in the Twelfth Century
in Persia It signified a member of
a Mohammedan religious order. These
assassins devoted their lives to truth,
justice, purity, right, and their bust
ness was to give everybody square
deal.
They took their name from the
leader, Hassan. and were called Hass-
antics, OF Hassassins. Then some en-
envy called them Hashassins, or hash
ish eaters.
These men were fired by religious
zeal until they ran amuck. killing
every one who tried to oppose them
People thought they were intoxicated
by hashish, or the juice of the hemp
plant. This may have been so. but
man intoxicated by religious zeal, or
drunk on success and his own oratory,
is quite as dangerous as an individ-
ual who is simply plain drunk on
dope and drugs.
The word assassin" was taken up
by the French and circulated, first as
a slang word, and then it got fixed
in the dictionary. and when the Eng
lish adopted ii, it became legitimate.
These Assassins of Islam were proud
Of the name and glcried in it. The
secret Order of AssasSins existed from
the Twelfth Century down practically
to our own time, and members Of the
order still endure.
They were fatalists, and were taught
that if they died in the particular work
to which they were assigned, their
souls would Immediately gravitate to
Paradise.
For 200 years the Order of Assas-
sins held all Asia Minor in terror. and
instituted some very Dark Ages.
The Assassins struck in the dark,
and the government was powerless to
locate the murderers, in fact, officers
of the government were often members
of this Order of Assassins- The whole
thing was very much like the Cam
ORA Italy, or the cheerful Ku kluX
Khan, or White Caps. of which Ameri-
ca has had a taste.
The world should beware of men
who come in the name of reformation,
demanding that the world should be
made over according to ideal plans
which they themselves have formu
lated. Any man who is better Cor who
thinks he is better) than the common
run Of humanity is apt to be a dan
gerous individual and may easily graV-
itate into the sacred Order of Assas-
sins.
The Mahdis that have appeared from
time to time in the Orient, especially
n Asia Minor, Persia and Turkey.
have belonged to the order of Assas-
sins. The word Mahdi" means one
who leads US out of captivity.
Each of the dozen or so Mahdis
that Mohammedanism has produced
has called themselves the ''Mahdi."
There was one particular Mahdi that
turned the Soudan into a trail of dan
ger and death about the year 1880.
This Mad Mullah's business was to re-
store the Soudan, and eventually the
entire world, to a condition of peace,
equity, justice and prosperity through
destruction of the forces that he said
were stranEling the plain people.
This man took to the desert a few
hundred followers. At first they were
unarmed. They lived on the contribu-
tiOns of the Faithful.
A little later, when contributions
were not forthcoming, they made raids
into the towns and villages, and col
lected their own. Soon they were trans
formed into a formidable mass of cav
airy, riding stolen horses. The rest
less, the worthless, the uneasy. all
those who had nothing to lose, quit
work and followed the Mahdi.
Ideal communities were to be organ
lied, a new distribution of goods was