THE SULTAN’S TROUBLES.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 60, 12 March 1901, Page 3

THE SULTAN’S TROUBLES.

Paris, Tan. 30.

Ghastly tales have reached Paris cars through indiscretions of exiled Turkish diplomats concerning the thirst of the Sultan for blood, ifis his one mania to sec blood run, caused by l;is own fear of assassination.

Every execution or massacre, the Sultan claims, removes just so many more of his would-be assassins. His joy when the victim happens to he an Armenian is inordinate. He hai one person less to fear. Sometimes at tabic terror seizes the Sultan that the food and water have been poisoned. .Tumping from his divan ho will seize all the water caraffes and dash them to pieces on the marble iloor. 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 enrnffe, till 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 cach*platc of food is sealed up man iron and steel coffer, which is brought to the Sultan to personally open. The Sultan alone knows the combination of the lock, and, after careful examination, breaks the seals and takes out his food. Despite these precautions, fifteen trusted spies watch the French chef, and a bodyguard conveys the food coffer to and from the dining-room. Each of these detachments of spies is surveyed by another so as to ensure fidelity, and it is estimated that the Sultan spends at least the third of his income on liis personal spy system. The most fantastic police reports find credence with the Sultan. Several weeks ago, a spy informed him that the Kurds intended building a tunnel from Galata to Yildiz Kiosk to blow up the palace.

Such a tunnel would have taken years to construct and is almost ah engineering impossibility, but the Sultan accepted the report in good faith and ordered the man handsomely paid, decorated and ennobled.

Fear causes him to commit atrocious crimes. Ho had a little daughter bom him by one of his Circassian wives. The child was six years old and as fair as a lily. Often she used to spend the day with him playing with her toys. Qne day he was seated on his divan, his revolver, loaded, beside him. 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!” lie cried. “You will kill me,” and, seizing a loaded baton, beat the frail creature almost to death, leaving her body only a mass of formless, quivering flesh, which ho ordered to be transported to the distant Circassian mountains, - ’