The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-09-05
TURKISH CAPITAL
HEARS MANY
RUINORS
Reported That American En-
gineers Are Digging Canal.
at Gallipoli.
ssY AsseeiAr.p es.ss,.


ONSTANTINOPLE. Sept. 4.-As
instances Of some or the remarkable
war rumors atioat in the Turkish cap
ital. the Associated Press correspon-
dent found that the following had cir
culation and credence among large
number Of Greek and Armenians. and
even some uniformed Turks. l4,N
That American engineers were en-
gagged in digging canal across the
narrow part of the Galiipoli PENN
sula; that the Anglo-French allies
had built and put into operation a
railroad twenty-five kilometers long
and that the allies were now. busy
rebuilding the Greek towns along the
Dardanelles and the Aegean sea,
which were destroyed during the
various bombardments. Lastly, that
the French and English would be
masters of the Dardanelles, sea Of
Marmora and the Bosphorus within
fourteen days. or
~ No Such Builders. 's
There are, of course. no American
canal builders anywhere near the
IDardanelles; there is no such rail-
road as the allies are said to have
built; the Greek towns are IN ruins
as befores and the fourteen period al
lowed for the penetration OF the
straits is recurrently prolonged.
The rumors mentioned are not the
most extravagant that one hears in
Constantinople, they. are merely
those heard most often and seeming
ly believed by a large number Of the
Greeks and Armenians.
Seeking enlightment as to the rea-
son for such an odd rumor as the
presence Of American canal diggers,
the correspondent learned from a
Greek resident that the allies had
engaged American engineers to dig
the supposed canal because they had
such success in canal building at
Panama. and that the object Of the
canal through the Gallipoli peninsula
was to afford a channel for the al
lied fleet to reach Constantinople
without having to pass the Dardan-
Giles forts, whose strength no one
here, even Greeks and Armenians.
longer doubt.
The suggestion that such canal
would be the task of several years
was altogether lost on the man who
believed the rumor.
The report that the allies have
built a military railroad from Sid-el-
Bahr to a point twenty-five kilomet-
ers north Is even more widely be-
lteved. The truth is that the. al
lies would have to run the railroad
In circles in order to make it twen-
ty-fve kilometers in length unless
1t penetrated the Turkish lines.
False Impressions Made.
An attache of the American embas-
sy in Constantinople has been so
impressed with these reports of the
railroad building. in fact, that even
he besieged the Associated Press
correspondent for the truth.
The activity Of persons. who circu-
late such rumors as are calculated
to falsely impress the populace with
the success of the allies gives the
military authorities considerable trou-
BILE. The penalty for such an offense
may be as much as six years impris-
onment and a fine that may mean
the confscation of all the property
the offender has. But even this
drastic measure does not make the
rumor mongers more careful. Al
most daily dozen Of such cases are
disposed Of with varying results, A
few nights ago. meteor fell near
Constantinople. the career Of the ce-
lestial wanderer coming to an end
with vivid flash of fight and sharp
explosion. The next day 1t was as
serted by rumor that British aero
plane had thrown bombs upon the
buildings of the Sublime Porte.
The disposition of the Constantine
ople newspapers. however, to publish
all the facts that they can obtain was
recently shown In the reproduction
by most of the newspapers here Of
some OF the dispatches which had
been forwarded to America by the
Associated Press correspondent. They
were published merely as showing
what a neutral correspondent had
found on the peninsula.