THE SKETCHER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10106, 18 March 1911, Page 1

THE SKETCHER.

THE DEPOSED SULTAN. Mystery as to Eia Wfcereatoouts. (Manchester "Chronicle.'') What has become of the deposed Sulbon. Abdul Hamid, who for thirty years deluged his- empire in blood, kept 100,000 spies; to betray their fellowoitizens, tricked the diplomats of all Europe, and shocked the world by his sensuality and crimes? Has he been quietly put out of existence? Has he escaped from his prison? Is he secretly directing the government from Constantinople, or is he in hiding in some other part of the world —in America, for instance? Certainly, the ex-Sultan is no longer living at the Villa Allatini ? Salonica, which was set apart for him as a residence and prison, writes Gaston Taillefer in an American paper. He was Bent there on April 27, 1909, when the revolution, brought about by the Young Turk party, was finally completed, and the Sultan Rashad ascended iiie throm-. Abdul's suite, allowed him in his prison, was composed as follows: Three sultanas, or full wives; four oadines, or inferior wives ; five half as, or lady housekeepers, privileged to go out of the harem; two princes, his daughter, and nine servants. This really gave him the modest allowance of twelve wives. " Determined to ascertain the truth/if possible, I made a journey to Salonica, where I have long had friends. One of these occupies fortunately, a house on the road to the Villa Allatini, and I was immediately invited to stay there. I told my host I wished to see the exSultan. " But you cannot see him," said' my friends, " because he is not there." "Not there!" I exclaimed. "But where is he?" "I do not know where he is. All I know is that he is not in Salonica." Pursuing the mystery further I found it last a Macedonian politician of great popularity who was more communicative with me. DISGUISED AS A WOMAN. "Do you not remember how the fedies of the harem went away some months ago on the pretext that a ■ daughter of the Sultan was to be married?" he said. "Well there was no wedding. They went away by night. We saw thirteen of these women go out , of the villa, although we, knew that only twelve women came.in originally. One of the thirteen stooped very much, .had a long hooked nose, and walked ;'Hrith a tottering step. We believe that was the Sultan. "I have close relations here with the shopkeepers . and others able to learn the facts. I know no provisions are delivered at the Villa Allatini since that night departure. I know that ' tljreo,;.- days afterwards the German Bank handed over, the great sum of money belonging to the Sultan they had in deposit, and which they had always refused to hand over without the Sultan's signature. He had said he would sooner die than give his signature'. Yet he gave it. That sum of money was the price the Sultan paid in order to be removed from Salonica bo Constantinople, or wherever he wanted to go. Here then at last was. a plausible explanation of the mystery. The wicked old Sultan sneaked away in the olothes of the poor woman who had been,his wife and slave for years. He paid the Government for the privilege. Just where Abdul Hamid is and what "he is doing is therefore a mystery, and is likely to remain, one until he ig exhibited to the public again, dead or alive. ' PECUXIAMTTJS3 OF HAMID. Meantime many incidents occur to remind the newly organised Turkish people of the peculiarities of their late ruler. A girl named Josefa Schneider has brought suit against the doctors of the Italian Hospital for ill-treating her during the reign of Abdul Hamid. From .this case it appears that the Pultan's favourite daughter was suffering from a dangerous attack of appendicitis, and the European doctors advised him. that an operation was necessary to save her life. The Sultan inquired about the nature of the operation,, and was shocked at the idea of having his daughter cut open. " Show mo first," he said, " that you can do this, without killing; a person and I may let you operate on my daughter. If you cure her I will pay ' yon any price you ask." The doctors immediately seized the first helpless person they met. It happened to be the girl "Schneider, who Was leaving the hospital after recovering from a minor ailment. In spite of her outcries they shoved her in a carriage and carried her off to the Imperial Palace. An operating room was prepared there, and they removed the girrs appendix under' the eyes of the Sultan, who_ watched the process with close attention. She recovered quickly, and then the Sultan allowed the operation to be performed on his daughter. HIS 500 ABANDONED WTVES. ' The Turkish Parliament has discussed the disposition of the 500 wives Abdul Hamid left behind him in Constantinople. Some deputies said the Government should take care of them., The representatives of the Government said they should go back to their native districts or find husbands. It was pointed out that no Mohammedan would marry them because they are widows, and besides that many of them •re old. Meanwhile they are beggars or dependent on charity, and their fate Is likely to be a miserable one. The searching and cleansing of the Sultan Abdul Hamid's palace, the Yildiz Kiosk, have not yet been completed. Nothing like this stronghold o£ crime and conspiracy ha 3 ever been Been in modern times. It was honeycombed with dungeons, trap-doors and labyrinths, scenes of a thousand crimes. The head of a missing Liberal statesman, Midhat Pasha, was found carefully polished and mounted; £BOO,OOO In gold and £3,000,000 worth of jewels frere discovered in secret receptacles. It is suspected that a large deposit Df money still lies concealed beneath the lake in the grounds. AN EVIL PALACE. Abdul Hamid lived in an atmosphere of blood, intrigue and corruption that must be incomprehensible to anybody outside of Turkey. For years he had occupied the centre of a vast palace that was like an enormous spider's web, of which he only knew the snares and traps and pathways. He directed the actions of 100,000 spies. He kept % thousand books, in which the doings of his spies and the actions of those be was watching were recorded. There were a thousand secret rooms In this palace, rooms filled with treasure, rooms for torture, rooms for curious recreation. Twenty miles of underground passages led in various directions, enabling

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the Sultan to go' where ho pleased in secret. Some of these passages led to the harbour, so that he could slip away to a foreign country. The Yildiz Kiosk was indeed like an evil palace of the Arabian Nights. He was so timorous that he almost fainted when he showed himself in public, yet he directed the actions of thousands of fearless desperadoes. He was an amazingly good revolver shot, although he could not aim without resting his elbow on a support or clutching his right arm with his left. ' KILLING FOE PLEASURE. At the least suspicious movement of a servant in the palace, Abdul Hamid shot him dead for security and practice. Hi at was his sport. One day a beautiful young Circassian girl,' recently added to the harem, was in his presence. Her eye rested on a pistol by accident. _ The Sultan thought the action suepicious. "What is that thing forP" he asked. " To shoot with," she answered, innocontly. " Let us see/' said the Sultan. He picked up the pistol and immediately shot her dead. Although Abdul Hamid made use of the most fanatical of his Moslem subjects, it is doubtful if he had a vestige of bolief in their religion. He had a profound appreciation of all that was worst in European civilisation. He indulged in every form of sensuality that his physical feebleness permitted.