CONSUL TORTURED

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4770, 9 November 1935, Page 2

CONSUL TORTURED

ABYSSINIAN ORDEAL. The story of Lord Napier's expedition to Abyssinia in 1868 makes interesting reading. The British invasion of Ethiopia was carried out because Theodore, who was then Emperor of Abyssinia, had imprisoned and illtreated British subjects living in his country. Among these was Captain Cameron, British Consul. He came under the Emperor's displeasure because Theodore did not receive a reply to a letter which he had written to Queen Victoria. The blunder regarding the letter was really caused by delay among officials,of the Foreign Office. New light on Captain Cameron's terrible ordeal in prison is thrown by facts which were recently disclosed by Mrs. Violet Cameron Sinclair, of

Toronto, Canada, in an interview given to the "Star Weekly."

In 1862 Captain Cameron succeeded Consul W. C. Plowden in Ethiopia, following the murder of the latter when he was returning to his post from the Court of Emperor Theodore in March of 1860. "One day when I was staying with my great-aunt, Margaret Bruce Cameron, in London," Mrs. Sinclair related, "she asked me to get something for her from her bureau and when I pulled out what she wanted I also found a crudelyfashioned chain. I asked her what it was and she told me the story. "She said that when Captain Cameron had gone- to Abyssinia to fill the post things had gone well for a while, but in less than a year he ran into difficulties with Emperor Thecdore. He was taken prisoner, along with other Europeans, and remained chained, hand and foot, for the whole time until rescued by Lord Napier's expedition in 1868.

"When I looked at the chain, which was not any more than fourteen or fifteen inches long, I couldn't imagine how he had been held by such a short manacle," Mrs. Sinclair continued. "1 was then told that it had been fastened to one wrist and the other end to one ankle. In this manner, bent over almost double, he had been imprisoned for all that time. The chain had only three links, each about four inches long, and a,t each end were loops. "The loop for the ankle was ovalshaped, while the loop for the wrist was a circle. The iron was crudely fashioned, and had jagged, square edges. These edges were so rough the loops must have been forged on him at first, because they had to be cut off when he was released. The chain has been kept in the family since that time and is now in Stirling, Scotland, and although it belongs to me, I have not sent over for it."

J A strong man, a true Scot, Captain

Cameron survived the imprisonment for almost seven years, but when released he was in such a terrible physical condition that he died within a few weeks. "I was told by my grandaunt," Mrs. Sinclair added, "that when the British captured the fortification of Magdala, many of the prisoners were unable to walk, even after their fetters had been cut off. Captain Cameron, as the result of being bound in. such a manrter, could not stand up, but had to walk on his hands as well as his feet. His back was perfectly stiff, bent over so that he walked like an animal right up until the time of his death." Mrs. Sinclair's grant-aunt, who told her the tragic story in 1901, died in 1902 in London. "She was a great friend of Florence Nightingale," MrsSinclair stated. "She was a nurse in the Crimean War and associated with Florence Nightingale a great deal. I have many evidences to prove that."

A newspaper man, calling in at his tobacconist's to replenish his pouch, asked the proprietor whether he thought women were as critical about the quality of their tobacco—in the shape of cigarettes as men were. "No," said the tobacconist, "women will often buy a box or packet of cigarettes just because it has a "pretty" wrapper. Men don't bother about that. With them it's the tobacco that counts. But ready-mades are going out. Most folks roll their own now. Lot cheaper, too. Why you can make ten full-sized cigarettes of Riverhead Gold or Desert Gold—the two leading cigarette tobaccos —for less than fourpence! They ca'n't do you a ha'porth of harm, either. They're toasted. But lots of men prefer a pipe—and you're one of them. I stock all the best brands of pipe tobacco, but there's nothing so good as toasted Cavendish, Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), or your favourite, Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead).) I'm always being asked for one or other of them. Same as usual I suppose. Thank you! Good-day!" K. 526.