Evening star., 1922-01-20
ONCE RICH RULER
STARvES IN RUSSIA
Khan Of Khiva, Nearly 80,
May Die-Mohammedans
Sure to Be Stirred.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
MOSCOW, December 2s.-Robbed,
ragged. starving and forgotten in the
big concentration camp of PokroW.
sky. a few miles distant from this
city, Is the fate Of the Hevdtar, knan
Of Khiva, who until a few months
ago vas one OF tie richest OF the
AS he is nearly eighty years old, he
may die there.
Hevdiar, successor to Tamarlane
the Great and Genghis Khan. VINO
ruled from China to Germany, In the
middle ages, is a pure-blooded UzDek
is a mere modern upstart. He has
been brought to his present plgnI
through the revolutions engineered
by by the Moscow soviet in Russian
Turkestan, aided by Enver Pasha, re-
Gently denounced by Mustapha kemat
Pasha as the arch traitor Of Turkey:
The treatment of the Khan of
Khiva, not yet widely known by peo-
ple of the Mohammedan world, is ex-
|, pected in time to widen the rift that
has long threatened between the Rus
sian soviet and the Mohammeda ms OF
India and the old Turkish dominions.
The Russians have long been hated
sor their conquest of Khiva, Bokhara
nd the rest of the territory knowa
FOR the past sixty years as Russian
Turkestan.
Conquered In 1873.
For two centuries the Russians
! tried in vain to conquer these war
like peoples. and only In 1873 was
subject princes of Russia. But they
retained their religious influence and
their vast wealth. and when they
came to the Russian imperial court
at Petrograd their presents IN gold
and jewels surpassed easily the treas
ures Of that gorgeous court.
For the last two years the soviet
influence has been slowly Tightening
its hold on old Russian Turkestan,
under Gen. Doutoff. aided by 100000
German war prisoners. First. q So
Wet revolutionary committee was
formed at Tashkent. after the ap-
proved bolshevik manner. and later
at Eokhara and finally at Khiva.
These committees in turn gave way
to the formation of soviet republics.
as in Baku and Tifiis. at the point
Of the red army's bayonet.
The Emir Of Bokhara was reduced
to a ;fgurehead. though still held as
a possible religious successor to the
Sultan of Turkey.
Hevdiar was unseated in his rule
by the new order. but when his ad-
walls were falling about him he got
together the choicest of his inherited
jewels, his. favorite wives. a large
stock Of his royal robes, together
with 400 pounds avoirdupois OF solid
gold. ordered a train at Bokhara and
started overland to reach 1t. At the
depot in Bokhara the cheka, or secret
police, swooped down upon him, rob-
bed him of his wives. his jewels and
gold and made him prisoner, together
with his twenty-year-old son and
heir apparent. Both were put aboard
the train under heavy guard and sent
to Moscow to the old convent prison
Of Pokrowsky, where they have since
been.
With heavy white beard. the khan
maintains his proud bearing and still
looks the part of a great ruler in
exile. Silent and uncomplaining. af-,
ter the manner Of his people. he
sometimes attends the concerts or
ganized for the prisoners.
In answer to his request to the
soviet khiva mission for food he was
sent exactly one pound of bread.
'It is the will of Allah" said the
khan when the bread came. His son
has Jared somewhat better. He does
odd jobs. such as scrubbing floors,
for the more fortunate prisoners
whose friends send them food. and
in this way keeps soul and body to-