THE RED SULTAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 March 1907, Page 3

THE RED SULTAN

Few people know anything about Abnl Ilainid, and why lie was surnamed the "Red Sultan." Nero and Caligula were humane compared with him. The. list of people put to death, imprisoned and exiled by thai monarch is appalling, says the "Byslander." He reigns through fear. But the terror he has spread around him has rebounded on himself. A despot is necessai'ily a coward, and in the Turkish empire no man trembles more for his life than the mighty tyrant. In the Imperial palace there are innumerable bedrooms for his own private use.; and not even his most trusted servants know beforehand in which of the rooms he will pass the night. Even this precaution does not allay the Sultan's fears. Every two hours ho rises, and, with a revolver in each hand, goes to another room. Will the mysteries of the Imperial palace ever be disclosed? Who will describe the torture chamber in all its ghastly details? For, horrible as it may read, there is a torture chamber where crudities arc performed which cannot be told here. The Sultan's dread of being assassinated is st> great that he sees danger everywhere, and at once lires at a sup posed enemy. One day, meeting, as lie thought, a person with a huge knife, ho drew his revolver and killed a child that held a pair of scissoi-s ii> its hand. . Ugly stories arc also told of other murdei-s committed throiiL'h the same cause. But who will ever write them?