Who Put the Dough Image Under the Bed of the Ameer of Afghanistan?

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue III, 16 July 1904, Page 64

Who Put the Dough Image Under the Bed of the Ameer of Afghanistan?

liabibuilah Khan is about to •‘Piperize” his wives. Il.tbibi Hah Khan is Ameer of Afghanistan, ami cable dispatches st te that there was recently found beneath his royal bed at Kabul a small dough image of his celestial self. I labibullah Khan in dough pm ten I" evil to I lahibiillc.h Khan in tlie 11-esh. : nd therefore the royal wives are to be ( ireful.y ami methodically “sha lowe i to see which one of them was bold enough. and jealous enough, ami alio gelhcr wicked enough to contrive a (•harm against her august husband and n aster. And the Ameer is (going into the shadowing business himself, there being no civic reform organisation in Afghanistan. He won’t trust any smooth-tongued subordinate to carry o • the investigation. because lite and death hang on its outcome, and possibly the political future of the kingdom as well. For intrigue encircles Habibullah's throne li. e a net, and if he finds any of his wives spreading meshes to ensnare him that lady assuredly will die a iqu.c.c and painful death, without any trial by jury < r anything else. THINKS FOUR WIVES ENOUGH. In seeking to answer the mysterious question, ‘Who put the dough image unde r the royal bed?” the Ameer starts w.th at least four clues- He reduced the field of possible criminals to this .iii.ited extent by decreeing last ye r that the the koran should be obeyed, and that no man in Afghanistan should thenceforth marry more than a quartet of wives. This was a fearful blow to the many prospective occupants of aristocratic h reins, but it was nothing to the excitement which followed a royal m.ase issued last month commanding that all wives over the prescribed number should be immediately divorced and new husbands found for them by their present spouses. This meant that hundreds of women who had been accustomed to queen it over the palatial homes of sirdars would have to enter the zenanas of men of ordinary rank. Great was the outcry over the Ameer’s harshness, . nd it is more than probable that this decree inspired the construction ol tie mysterious image of dong l '. liabibuilah Khan obeyed his own order by divorcing all his wives save four, and politely notifying a number of his wealthy subjects that they would be honoured by permission to wed the royal surplus. Sirdar Mir Ala I Hah Khan, one of the great men of the kingdom, was obliged to refuse the princely favour, as he had just told 30 Mrs Mir Ala I Hah Khans to ••pack their clothes and go,” and still had four pretty ones mi hand. Sirdar Abdul Kudus Kl an also reported that he wa.-. married to the royal and sacred limit, and had been compelled to dismiss a double quartet of his blushing brides. Hut the Ameer persevered, and by the use of diplomatic and imperative* hints, succeeded in wedding his extra wives to a score of unwilling subjects. From each of the new husbands he exacted 1 he customary assurances that he cou.ii • support his wife in the style to which she had been accustomed.” PUZZLED BY IMAGE MYSTERY. This done, 11 ibibullah Khan heaved a sigh of relief and settled back to watch Aioli.umued Omar Jan in his plots against the throne and enjoy a little domestic peace. But a dough image came along to disturb his peaceiul dreams- The dispatches report the ( Higy was discovered by the cleverest of tne Ameer s wives, who is the daughter of the gieai Sirdar Mohammed Ibrahim Khan. 1 nis young woman found ; he statue of emoryo bread beneath her mid and master’s couch one morning. Lt was not. known whether she was engaged in dutifully sweeping the royal apart inent ; t the time, but it is to be hoped that such was her occupation. The im age was made out of different coloured dough, and was deftly fashioned. it was covered with charms, and the Ameer at once set his corps of household priests at work to interpret them to nim. Pending this examination liabibuilah Khan did a little detective reasoning. Going on a theory advanced by Anna Catherine Green, Sherlock Holmes, and M. Vidocq, he considered as the iii<»i probable criminal the person who had

discovered the crime and who had first reported its commission to the authori lies. Wherefore he put the daughter of Ibrahim, through the Afghanis! inic “third degree.” The queen is a remarkably beautiful woman, like most of her country women, and it is pleasant to learn she passed through the investigation most successfully. llabibullah is reported to have a remarkably soft place in his heart for her. and after he had spent an hour under the influence of her languishing and “bold” rimmed eyes he decided that the case against her was not proven and that one of the other Mrs Habibullahs must be the guilty party. Then began the •• Pi perizing” which is going on at the present moment. SUSPECTS HIS FATHER’S AVI I' The Ameer, who is by no means an uncivilised barbarian, but, on the contrary, a quiet, forceful man, who spe iks English and dresses like a modern European sovereign, is determined to find out what enemy is plotting Ins destruction. He is commander-in-chief of an army as large as that of the United States and accustomed to have his way and to deal out rough and ready justice. If his (piiet surveillance of the movements of his wives convinces him that they had nothing to do with the fatal image of dough he will transfer his suspicions to his father’s widow, the Sultana Halinia, a worn n of royal blood and insatiable ambition. It is related that on one occasion in the absence of her husband this woman suppressed a revolt in the army by putting herself at the head of a cavalry regiment, charging the insurgents, routing them, and h uging their ringleaders to the palace wall. When the Ameer returned he

gave her a jewelled sword as a reward and sign of v.ilourThe Sult ma Halima wants her sou. Mohammed Omar Jan, to reign as Ameer instead of liabibuilah. as the latter's mother was but a slave girl and not of royal birth. According to strict Oriental etiquette, this was reason enough for Habibullah to “bowstring ’ Halima when he secured the throne, but, being a “mild mannered man,” like Mr Hennessey, he permitted her to live, and even gave her a luxurious palace to dwell in. Many rooms in this building are furnished in the best Parisian fashion, as <re the apartments of the four queens, and this faet makes especially incongruous the uproar that is being raised over the finding of a bit of harmless dough. O o o O o