The Denver Jewish news., 1919-10-15

worked IN EGYPT. made II MS Dusiness
to let the world know
Meanwhile the British We're prepar-
ing fofs action. Their main physical
obstacle in the Palestine campaign, as
every one knows, was the lack of
water. But thanks to the Aaronsohn
Intelligence" squad, when they made
their initial push, laying railway tracks
125 miles thru the Sinai desert from
the Suez to Judd at the rate of more
than mile day, they knew every
water source to the minuetest detail.
Across the desert waste picked men
of the Zichron Jacob league now be-
gan, one by one, disguised as Bedouins.
to forge their way They most daring
was Absalom Feinberg. twenty-seven.
Palestine born, educated in France and
a promising poet. Twice he crossed
the sands to the British headquar-
ters.. The third time he ventured forth
with Il foreboding. And he never re
turned. His comrades in Egypt later
band of Bedouins to lie in wait for
him They found their way back,
among them Joseph Davidesco. whom i
met in Zichron Jacob
The Turks in the meantime were not
idle. They wrecked the experiment
station at Athlit. They surrounded
the whole colony of Zichron. If you
do not tell me everything in three
days. the Turkish commandment threat
ened the elders of the community, Il
shall turn you all over to my two
hundred soldiers here. with the order
that they do with you what they wish,
to man, woman and child"
The little synagog became scene
of wailing and prayer by day and by
night. Terror and panic fell upon
the settlement, alone on its Samaritan
hill.
In the modest Aaronsohn cottage
ut the end of the main lane of the
colony a tragedy was eliminating.
Sarah Aaronsohn, warned in vain
three days before to escape, was near
ing her fate.
Aged Man Was Tortured.
The Turkish officials, in the abb
sence of her brothers, vented their
wrath upon her For a week they tor
tured her in her own room. She re,
NAMED proud and silent. Then they
sought to move her thru her father
before her eyes they beat this man
more than seventy years old, four
Hundred strokes a day upon the soles
acf his feet They aput hot iron uIi-
der his arms. But her only answer was
words of courage to him in Hebrew:
do not weaken, father, l can bcar
ALL" And as the agony crept into the
aged mans veins he drew strength
crying aloud his peoples centuy-old
prayer: Hear . Israel, the Lord.
The Turkish commandant next vain
~ tried to force a confession from
Sarah Aaronsohn thru five days soli-
tary confinement. On the last day
of her Imprisonment the order went
forth that she be deported to the OTTO
man center, Nazareth. She realized
the time for the supreme sacrifice HAD
come She asked to be led TO her
home for Il final change of clothing.
Up the stony slope She hurried, rope
tied about her wrist. She reached
the low white cottage with its trim
lawn. She stepped into her room. The
guard felt tug at the rope and almost
at the same moment n shot rang out.
They found her in heap by her bed
side
For five days she fingered To the
last her thoughts were of Palestine's
liberation, to which she had given her
young. glowing life. You may spill
innocent blood" We're her dying words
to the Turks. but you cannot keep
the British from Palestine"
She was right. Even then the Brit
| ish guns were booming toward GAIA
rand Beersheba. Two weeks later the
| lthakicd columns poured into these
/ shattered towns.
From Zichron Jacob the bloody tran
of the Espionage" ran thru Rishon
lie Zion, Chederah, Kinnereth. Mesha,
| lemma liberals, Rosh Pinnah. Naza.
reth and the northernmost Jewish col
/ cny, Metullah, under snowy Herinon.
The Turks pursued their relentless in
QUESTION of the colonists, whose pro
tests of innocence were true enough
For the espionage" was necessarily
deep secret and the work of but
hundred or less young Jews all told.