SENSATIONAL TALES OF THE SULTAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 46, 23 February 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

SENSATIONAL TALES OF THE SULTAN.

HAUNTING FEARS OF TURKEY'S

RULER

Ghastly tales have reached Paris through the indiscretions of exiled Turkish diplomats concerning the thirst of the Sultan for blood. It is his one mania to see blood run, caused by his own fear of assassination. Every execution or massacre the Sultan claims removes just so many more o& his would-be assassins. Sometimes at the table fear seizes the Sultan that the food and water have been

poisoned. Jumping from his divan he will sjeize all the water carafes and dash them to pieces on the marble floor. Calling for an empty one, he will go cautiously to the fountain in the court of his palace, and, after allowing the water to run for an interminable time, finally wash the carafe, fill it and resume his place at the table.

His food is now prepared by a French cook brought from Paris and closely watched by spies. The cook has a set of royal seals given him by the Sultan, with which each plate of food is sealed up in an iron and steel coffer, which is brought to the Sultan to personally open. The Sultan alone knows the combination of the lock, and, after a careful examination, he breaks the seals and takes out his food. Despite these precautions, fifteen spies watch the French chef and the Sultan's bodyguard conveys the food coffer to and from the dining-room.

Fear causes him to commit atrocious crimes. He had a little daughter by one of his Circassian wives. The child was G years old and as fair as a' lily. Often she used to spend the day with him playing- with her toys. One day he was seated on his divan, his revolver loaded beside him, while the child was amusing herself looking at some pictures. The Sultan suddenly Went to his cabinet to get a book, when the child, leaving her pictures, approached the revolver with curiosity. The Sultan'saw her. "Wretch!" he cried. "You would kill me," and seizing a loaded baton beat the frail child almost to death, leaving her body only a mass of formless, quivering flesh, which he ordered to be transported to the Circassian mountains.