Evening star., 1924-04-20

lifted swords while a dozen Arabian
saddle horses. the sultans favorites.
were led down by grooms. with the
idea that his majesty might take a
notion to ride back from his prayers
After that there was long line of
carriages containing the veiled ladies
Of the harem, with eunuchs sitting
beside the drivers. and then the sul-
tan appeared His carriage passed
within twenty f. of where was
standing, and lade a snapshot
through the open window. Abdul
Hamld wore a red feZ, black suit
and the famous gray overcoat, which
was his usual costume on the way to
prayers He sat bent over in the
carriage. His face was an apoplec-
tic red and his hair and beard were
so dead black that any one could see
they were dyed.
As tho sultan passed by we all
lifted our hats, which we held in our
hands until he stepped out of the
carriage and went into the mosque
We bowed and Abdul lifted his hand
to his fez and at the same time the
| soldiers saluted him, Rising thei-
muskets, while the officers drew their
| spears upright The carriage stopped
and he stepped out and started to
walk UP the steps Of the mosque
| At that moment glanced up at the
minaret, where but an instant before
the muezzin had been calling the hour
| of prayer, and there, away up zoo
| feet in the air. on top OF the golden
crescent saw a black raven, the bird
| of evil omen, alight II stood right
! on the coat-of-arms of his majesty,
and the Turks who saw it whispered.
1T is the bird OF despair"
A little later the band began 70
play and the raven few. When the
sultan came out there were more
| stage cheers from the soldiers, but
! there was no enthusiasm whatever
Within twenty-four hours from that
| time Abdu1-Han1id was in the hands
| of the revolutionists. He was taken
by them to Saloniki, and there be
died. This incident of the raven was
commented upon by the ministers in
the pavilion, but the story has never
! been published
Abdul-Hamid attributed the loss OF
his throne to the new education which
had been spread abroad through
Turkey by the American schools. In
| talking OF this some time before his
deposition he said:
1T was Robert College that lost
me Bulgaria and it will, I believe,
eventually cost me my throne"
After Abdul -Hamid came the Young
Turks. who chose Mohammed " an
| sultan. They adopted some reforms.
but graft and intrigue prevailed, and
| much the same conditions obtained
| that existed throughout the war. In
| 1918 a new sultan was chosen under
| the title of Mohammed VI. and on
November /, 1929, the grand national
| assembly voted a resolution that the
Office OF the sultan as q supreme
power had ceased to exist and that
| in the future his place should Re
taken by the caliph or spiritual ruler
| only. Three days later the armfnis-
| tration was taken over by the grand
national assembly and tho Constan-
| tinople cabinet OF the sultan resigned
Mohammed VI, fearing thst nsA sete
| might be the same as that OF AbAxl
Hamid, took refuge on q British war
| ship and lcf' Constantinople, and the
grand ma I assembly then elect
! as calipi cousin, Prince Abdul
Medjid. lest prince In the n,aie
descent o. .e house of osman. But
in little more than a year he followed
his predecessors into exile. when the
national assembly passed bill abol-
ishinE the ealiphate and ordered Alb
dull l-Medjid out of the country.