The sun., 1914-09-27

nOple L TOOK preliminary quarters III tne
| Irasserie kor, quiet, second rate hos
| telry on the Rue Osmanly. | went to
an unpretentious place to avoid attract
Ing any particular attention. Had
| put up at an expensive hotel there
would Immediately have been queries
about me.
a. | was totally unacqualnted win
Constantnope | used the first week for
getting familiar with the geography of
the city. 1t was necessary that learn
the location of the various legations and
the residences of high court officials.
The next week | found lodgings in the
very centre of the district of court resi-
dcnces and began to seek out the haunts
and places of rendezvous of demi-mon-
daincs. favortcs and hangers-on Of the
Turkish officials.
on the second day Of my arrival had
presented my credentials and letters at
the German and Pcra hospitals, ana
had my name entered as a visiting hon.
orary surgeon. Every day thereafter,
rain or shine, I made il a point to spend
some time at these hospitals. and it was
well that / did. once a day and often
| vice l would sign the book at the hos
pital and l believe that the signature
Dr. Franz Won Graver appears on the
record books of the pcra and German
hospitals in Constantinuple at least 100
| times. Was | not fulnlling my duties
| az a physician doing research work?
I finally loca ed myself in the rcslden-
| tial district Of Pera. where l rented a
small residence, typical of the well to
do Turk Of the middle class and quite
in keeping with my assumed character.
| My mission was indeed difficult one
and only by tedious, painstaking work,
| observing the life of the city and its
| character, l succeeded in isOlating the
| individual who gave me the key To the
| cirCumventuuus political life and the
| government of Constantnoplc. 1t took
| me a fun month of night work to be-
come familiar with the innumcrablc
| dcm-mOndaines. They were of French
| russian and CirCassian birth and eX-
| traction, and were identified with the
| various Turkish court officials from the
| Grand Nizicr down To an officer in the
| Gantshar!es. This preliminary work is
| always eXhausting. but it is So ncces-
| sary on mission Of this kind. one
! hluuder. one step in the dark. and you
| are gone. one spends months without
any tangible results, often going on the
wrong track. one has to be cxcruci-
atingly circumspect in ones inquiries.
To use hunters expression. there is
no quarry so wary. sharp sighted and
Keen at smelling the wind as a pOlti-
cal demi-mundaine.
In this work Kim was of inestimable
value to mo. In fact. without him /
would not have succeeded at all. All
the households kept by the Turkish Of
| hcials and their fdvorites swarm with
negroes of the various types. \ white
| man has not the slightest chance Of
| finding the way into their condolences.
| The universal golden key does not un-
loose tongues in such cases in the
Orient. But Kim as a member Of the
oncc- mighty Zulu nation Che was really
a descendant OF prince Of the house
of Dlngaan) was able. through a mys-
t"ripus free masonry still existing
! among colorcd races the world over, to
obtain most valuable information.
Ny method Of campaign was to as
certain Ia" name Of one of tn" favorites
ut IN" Turkish officials. To- locate her
rr,idcuc" and then put Kim to work.
Finally locating one of these women. |
would manage to learn her name and
whore she lived. Then it was time for
Kim.
Tllll' Sdlu, l want you 10 Huu
out who comes to see her. whether it is
always the same Official and il 50 how
frequently. | want you To- learn every
thing You can about any letters she
may receive. | want To know just
whore she gets her money from. If she
has any outside sources of revenue
other than in Constantinoplc. | want
every scrap of any kind of information
about her"
And * m would go his way. seek out
the servants in that household, and he
would generally come back with all this
information.
Now ! noticed that n certain Mile
l|alniauN was very much in the COM
pauy Of Abdulla. who was at that time
| the influential adviser of the Grand
LNi2ler II was known in Berlin that
the Grand Nizier had lately become
very deaf and antagonistic to German
influence. The Wihclmstrassc knew
that France and Russia were at work
but Were In the dark as To the chan
nels. Therefore | sent Kim to ascer-
tain IL Mile. lIalnauX was visited by
Abdulla at her private residence. | told
him To learn the exact hour of arrival
in each instance and the length of the
visits.
The bare fact that Abdulla might be
seen in her company in public bore no
particular significance. These women
are always accompanied by a whole
retinue of officers and young Turkish
nohlemen. II is part of their work.
Their method of procedure is to be-
witch young officers and officials. at
taCh them to their person, make them
spend huge sums of money and then
play their card. I noticed that the
money Turkish officers sQuandered on
these women compared To their pay and
income was tremendous. They think
nothing of going ahead blindly and
buying the most expensive Jewels; |
have seen them even buy motor cars,
The result Is not difficult to forecast.
The young officer soon finds himself
head over heels in debt. Two courses
are open to him Either he must pay
the debit or be transferred to some
drcary interior post, md Turk who
has been in the gay life Of CONSTANT
noplc would rather commit suicide than
go to any inland garrison. Those
women then pay the debts, cNacting
state secrets as the price of their timely
assistance.