The Washington herald., 1918-10-27

Ialaat was the more powerful poll
ucian; yet he accepted the discrimi-
nation and only once did he permit
his horse to pass Enver and myself.
At this violation OF the proprieties,
Enver showed his displeasure, where
at Tslaat paused, refined up his horse
and passed submissively TO the rear.
Il was merely showing Dr. Gates
the gait Of my horse" he said. with
an spologetic air.
Pressed Armenian Topic.
But was interested in more i'm
portant matters than such fine dis
tinctions in official etiquette; was
determined to talk about the Arme-
mans. But again / failed to make
any progress. Enver found more in
teresting subjects OF discussion.
He began to talk of his horses.
and now another incident illustrated
the mercurisl quality Of the Turkish
mind-the readiness with which a
Turk passes from acts of monstrous
criminslity to acts of individual
kindness. Enver said that the horse
races would take place soon and re-
GREETED that he had no Jockey.
III give you an English jockey"
/ said. will you make a bargain?
He is a prisoner OF war: IL he wins
will you give him his freedom"
''Ill do it," said Enver.
This man. whose name was Fields.
actually entered the races as En-
vers jockey, and came in third. He
rode for his freedom, as Mr.. Philip
said. Since he did not come in first.
the minister was not obliged. by the
terms Of his agreement. to let him
r Ug.FV
stretched q point. and gave him his
I liberty.
1 On this same ride Enver gave me
man.
At one point in the road ! suddenly
heard a pistol shot ring in the air.
II was Enver's aide practicing on
nearby object. Immediately Enver
| dismounted, whipped out his revolver.
I and. thrusting his arm out rigidly and
! horizontally, he took aim.
DO you see that twig on that
4 tree" he asked me II was about
thirty feet away
When / nodded. Enver fired-and
the twig dropped to the ground
The rapidity with which Enver
could whip his weapon out OF his
I pocket. aim and shoot. gave me one
! convincing explanation for the in
! fluence which he exercised with the
piratical crew that was then ruling
/ Turkey. There were plenty OF stories
/ floating around that Enver did not
/ hesitate TO use this method OF
suasion at certain critical moments
of his career: how true these snec-
| dotes were. do not know. but I
| can certainly testify to the high
character OF his marksmsnship.
Crack shot with Revolver.
TaIaat also began 10 amuse him
self in the same way and finally the
two statesmen began shooting in
competition and behaving as gaily
and as carefree as boys let out Of
school.
Have YOU one Of your cards with
you?" asked Enver. He requested
that ] pin it to a tree which stood
about fifty feet away
Enver then fired first His hand
was steady: his eye went straight
to the mark. and the bullet hit the
card directly in the center. This
success rather rettled Talaat He
took aim. but his rough hand and
wrist shook sliEhtly-he was not an
y
straightbackCd associate. Several
times Talaat hit around the edges OF
the card. hut he could not duplicate
Enver's skill.
IF il had been a man I was firing
at" said the bulky Turk, Jumping
on his horse again, Il would have
hit him several times"
So ended my attempts to interest
the two most powerful Turks OF
their day in the destruction of one
OF the most valuable elements in
their empire,
l have already said that Said
Hahn the grand vizier. was not an
influential parsonage. NOminally
his office was the most important in
the empire; actually. the grand
vizier was mere place warmer,
and Talaat and Enver controlled the
present incumbent. precisely as they
controlled the Sultan himself Tech
rically the ambassador should have
conducted their negotiations with
Said HAHN, for he was minister az
foreign affairs; early discovered
however. that nothing could be aC-
complishcd this way. and. though
still made my Monday calls as a
matter or courtesy. l preferred 70
deal directly with the men who had
the real power to decide all mat
iters In order that l might not be
accused of negecting any means OF
Influencing the Ottoman govern
ment brought the Armenian QUes-
ton several times TO the grand
vizier's attention. As he was not a
Turk but an Egyptian, and a man
of education and breeding, il seemed
not unlikely that he might have a
somewhat different attitude toward
the subject peoples. But was
wrong The grand vizier was just
as hostile to the Armenisns as
Tslaat and Enver.
Grand yIIIer Irritated.
soon found that mereIy mention
ing the subject irritated him great
ly. Evidently he did not care ID
have his elegant ease interfered
with by such disagreeable and un-
important subjects. The grand
vizier showed his attitude wher
the Greek charge d'arfaires spoke
to him about the prosecutions OF
the Greeks. Said Hahn said that
such manifestations did the Greeks
more harm than good.
we shall do with them just tn,
opposite from what we are asked
to do" said the grand vizisr.
To my appeals the nominal CHIEF
minister was hardly more states
manlike. had the disagreeablt
task of sending him, in behalf Of
the British. French and Russian
governments. a notification thai
these powers would hold personally
he