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Show Capture of Constantiiiople H SULTAirTROOPS RAPIDLY SWEPT OFF STREETS BY YOUNG TURKS I CONSTANTINOPLE, April 20. Dramatic Dra-matic events aro following each ol.lir so rapidly hnro that one cannot stop for a moment to think what a grand work has boon accomplished in Tnr-key, Tnr-key, .says the Constantinople correspondent corre-spondent of. the New York Evening Post. The rulo of Abdul llamid hns been dcstro3'od forever. No more will ihc "prisoner of the Yildisc Kiosk-' oonspiro against the lives of the best moii in the realm. Treacherous orders for massacres and outrages will no more make the civilized world shudder. shud-der. At last; Freedom has como to stay. On Saturdaj-, April 2-1. the decisive battlo was fought. The day the Young Turks captured Constantinople with the thundering of caution, "rang out the old. and rang in tho now," A H(! half-day's work, indeed, but so aston- Hlu ishingly well done that history may Hln well speak of it as a model revolution, fy The Constitutional army walked h down from St. Stephano on Friday, .:i O'! ! .. ..Iir,; s n.,vnlrv 'IT. Iiillcry and foot soldiers, uuinficring over "fifty thousand, surrounded tho city of ' Constantinople. So quietly and hccrerlv was this done that the town know nothing of it. In the afternoon, after-noon, about sundown. I directed my steps toward Iviat-IIane. tho upper end of the Golden Horn. Passing through Shishli, in the suburbs, I found on the tops of hills mounted sentinels, a hnk-hour's hnk-hour's journey from tho Yildiz. Tho weather -was excellent; but it was an unusual Friday afternoon. No one was out for tho Golden Horn trip; only a few cadets and a .few spectators, not more than a score in all. "Yassak" (prohibited) said one or the scnlineis. and uo one dared tako a step toward the hill. I took a chance and crossed down tho valloy. Hero signs of a. marching army were noticeable, no-ticeable, but thcro was no army. The bridge leading to the village of Kiat-Hanc Kiat-Hanc -was niv destination. The officer of the bridge" guard spoke with a grati-fi-ino- rml'toTiess and in fluent French: Is ""Within twenty-four hours you will I have all the information you -want.'" I This was all ho would say to satisfy I mv curiosity. , "But where arc the soldiers?' ' I per sisted again. "Evervwherc.'" he replied. ) Tho officer was right. . The. soldiers were everywhere 'around the city. Early i on Saturdav morning, long before the I dawn, operations began, and the city awoke to a fight. Cannons wero thun- denng and bullets flying, with now and S then a trumpet call, and then a deadly $ silence, as if not a single human being i existed in the city. j Their entrance into Constantinople J was simplv marvelous. On Friday was the very last Selamlik for Abdul Ha- i ' mid. No one went to watch the pom-l pom-l pons ceremony. Ail the diplomatic H representative's were absent. The sul tan sighed as he looked toward the empty kiosk where cverv Friday foreigners for-eigners Gathered to see him pass. But 1ho hodjjas v.-ere there; his soldiers Were there, .and for the last time he heard " Padishahim chok yasha." i The ceremony was over, and tho r rroops returned to their quarters. Tho soldiers of the Daud Pasha barracks J -it Stainbnl found their places occupied bv Salonica troops. ."We are brothers, von may come in and stay with us," I They pleaded. But thp troops went to. thp' war department without making resistance. re-sistance. In tlie Early Morning. On Saturday morning early, the army which had come to punish the conspirators conspira-tors was guided into the city by Armenian Ar-menian scouis. A police force brought over from Salonika was distributed over the city to protect the public. Tho cadets of the military school who had joined the revolutionary army, were 'turned into a militia and put at the disposal of these police, Armed guards were placed in front of every embassy and consulate. This precaution was taken because the Liberals had found that the sultan had proposed a plot to attack foreigners and massacre Christians, Chris-tians, thus to bring about foreign intervention. in-tervention. Tho battle Ftarted earlv at Stambul. Some companies surrendered quietly, hut a fierce combat took place in front of the Sublime Porto. A bomb thrown from a Turkish residence caused much damage to tho Liberty soldiers. Tho Porte wns bombarded and the north wing torn down. Less than an hour Inter tho mutineers there laid down their arms and surrendered. Inside the Sublime Porte, a crowd of fivo hundred Kurds wero arrested, all armed and ready to pillage and massacre tho inhabitants. in-habitants. A Liberal soldier lay dead in tho street, a bullet in his breast. A Constantinople Con-stantinople police officer approached to .carry tho body aside. "Jjo not touch hiinj your hoart; and your hands aro not clenn,-'' snid a common fighting soldier, sol-dier, avIio reverently bowed down, kissed the forohcad of his dead comrade, com-rade, and carried him aside till the ambulance am-bulance came. At Pern was tho real fight. Tho Taksim barracks contninod over (en thousand soldiers. Tho famous Snloni-ca Snloni-ca chasseurs, who wero brought hero nftor the July revolution as guardians of the Constitution, and who, fifteen days ago, blinded by the sultan's gold, ran loose in tho streets shooting their officers and demanding sheriat, were in Tash-kishla. All these barracks are in tho same neighborhood. Storming tho Barracks. Enver Bey. the "hero of the revolution,'-' led tho fighting operations here. Twenty-nine cannon thundered in the air io" announce that, the thirtieth would bo aimed at tho barracks. Both sides fought fiercely. The Rumelian soldiers lay on the ground, taking advantage ad-vantage of" every little projection, oven a piece of stone, to shelter their heads. They lircd, vollcj nftor volloy. Soon a whito flag was raisod over tho artillery artil-lery barracks, apparently a sign of peace, but it turned out to'moan treachery. treach-ery. No sooner had the Liberal soldiers sol-diers advanced a score of paces toward tho barracks than a tremendous rain of bullets showered over them. All Jay down. Many wero killed, mnny were wounded, but the others kept tip the fight. Their comrades opened fire, and they began, little by little, to creep back. Some stuck whero they Tvcro for four hours, till the battle was over. One, a bravo soldier, badly wounded, was so heroic as to win the admiration ot an who witnessed his agony. Jic lay near a -wall, where he could havo taken refuge, bur he didn't. Ho crawled further and further forward toward the enemy's barracks, till ho came right opposito the gate, whero a troop of the sultan's soldiers were fighting fierccl". He began to fire, and ho didn't stop until he had shot away 200 cartridges. When the fight was over, T went to see this bravo fellow. Kis face bore aii expression of perfect per-fect satisfaction, but. his borlj' "was piorced through and through. Fortunately, the sultan 's artillerymen artillery-men had no cannon. Late in the night all the officers had taken the keys and escaped to join !Mahinud Shevkot Pasha's forces. But the Lihcrals had Maxim guns and mitrailleuses plnccd at every possible corner; in the Armenian Arme-nian cemetery, at the public garden, and in tho streets. At noon the victory was complete. An Austrian military attache who watched the operations" said: "Europe -will talk no more of attacking Turkey." Tur-key." It is not the bravery of the Turkish soldier only which was proven, but the refined knowledge of the art, of war, -which surpasses even the Japanese." Japa-nese." In the Streets. I can find no words of praiso to describe de-scribe their chivaliy. A multitude of men and somo women, encouraged by tho bravado of the Liberal soldiers, wandered out into the streets to watch the progress of the fighting. Tho soldiers sol-diers took the pains in polite words to persuade the people to confine themselves them-selves to their nouses. "Mon chor, " was often heard from the common soldier. sol-dier. "You don't know, inon chor," they said, "what a Mauser bullet is. It will pierce mo through and kill you. Taking refuge behind us is not safe for .you. We are not afraid of death, but don 't wish you killed. Please go home." The people, on the other hand, especially espe-cially the Christians, Armenians, and Greeks, rondered good service. The Bumclians complained that their only difficulty was their lack of acquaintance acquaint-ance with tho streets of Constantinople, Constantino-ple, and many gladly put themselves at the troops disposal. Evciywhoro the soldiers were guided and cautioned where danger awaited. The women distributed hot cups of coffee, cigar-elfes, cigar-elfes, and cakes among tho fighters, who looked sleepless and tired. Many had just reached the town after a four-days' four-days' march from Monastir and Adrian Adri-an oplc. The casualties were not large. Very .few were killed or wounded accidentally, accident-ally, There wero no ruffians, no Kurds, no sopajiis in the streets to commit acts of violence, as usual in Constantinople. Constan-tinople. Tho city was in perfect order. or-der. A. F. "Moore and Mr. Booth, correspondents, cor-respondents, were wounded in front of 1 the Taxim barracks, near the French hospital, while trying to photograph the fighting. A bullet, piercing (lie window of a house in this neighborhood, neighbor-hood, wounded tho first dragoman of the United States cmba.s3'. By Saturday noon, Pera was cap-, turpd and almost all' the sultan's soldiers sol-diers had surrendered. A few who tried to flee were shn.t.. The wounded and killed were immediately moved to an Armenian house at Fondle, and the i?cd Cross, turned for a while into the Bed Crescent society, began its work. So fervent was the' patriotism of the wounded soldiers that T heard some of them begging (lie attending physicians to hasten operations so they might join tho fighters again. Public Enthusiasm. Whilo hero and thcro spasmodic fighting was rcnowod, the entire population popu-lation sallied out to scp tho spectacle. Soldiers evervwherc, sitting, -walking, smoking, talking, embracing the-f friends. The captives, with bowed heads and bound hnnds, wore carried to tho war department and imprisoned. Looking toward tho barracks, smanhed windows, torn walls, and bullotholcs spoke of tho ferocity of tho seven-hours' seven-hours' struggle. But the thing wns not yet over. All eyes turned toward Yildiz. Troops began be-gan to march through the Grand "Rue. The pooplo applauded, shouting "Ya-shassin "Ya-shassin aska" (Long live the nruM). Tho passing of Niazi Boy created in-tonso in-tonso enthusiasm, and the people made a vociferous demonstration. The. Albanian Al-banian soldiers, singing their national hymns and revolnl ionnry songs, were followed by the Macedonian volunteers, Greek komiiajiis. and others. All sang tho "Marseillaise," suited to the Ottomans: "Allons! enfants dc la Tiirquic! Lo jour de gloire est. arrive! Apres la unit de tyrannic Lo soloil sur vous" s'est levc. Entcnde7.-vons dans nos campagncs, Lans nos villages decimes, Dans nos cites, sur nos montagncs, L'appcl do frcres opprimos? Aux armcs! Ottomans! Formes vos bataillons! Marchons! Marchons! N'oublious pas Que Dion conduit nos pas!" A troop of volunteers was led by an old man, gray haired, who had left eighty springs "behind him. "But why did you come down hero from Monastir?" lie "was asked. "f lovo my country," said the old Albanian. " I havo a son. Ko is a soldier, sol-dier, one of the chasseurs who were bribod by Humid to destroy our liberty. lib-erty. I came down to kill my son, II o is a traitor," And ho did. A country with such fathers deserves liberty. Had Jlamid learned that there arc such men in his realm ho wouldn't have dared to incite the wrath of tho nation. Streets Cleared at Night. At night martial law was proclaimed in the city by Shcfket Pasha, the commander general of tho Constitutional Constitu-tional army, and the people wero confined con-fined to thefr houses an hour after sundown. sun-down. Everybody knew that the Yildiz Yil-diz was to be bombarded if tho sultan remained persistent. But the Young Turks were reluctant to shed more blood, and devised all possible means to carry out their aims peacefully. lu order to satisfy public exnectations, Shcfket Pasha " issued the following proclamation: "Thanks to the energetic efforts of our brave soldiers, the criminal attempts at-tempts against the liberty of tho nation na-tion have not been extended. Confidence Confi-dence has returned to parliament, and peace and order havo been re-established. Traitors and criminals have, one after another, been arrested and handed over to justice. All who havo tthed innocent blood will bo punished according to the sacred law. The eue-mics eue-mics of peace and order will disappear shortly, according to the unanimous desire de-sire of the nation. All must bo convinced con-vinced that henceforth it will be impossible im-possible for agitators lo cany out their odious malpractices." Notwithstanding tho assurance of public peace the cifv passed a sleepless night. "The Yildiz will be torn to tho ground," "the sultan has fled," and other reports were circulated. Everybody Every-body knew that the guns wero turned on tho Kiosk from the heights now in the hands of the Young Turks. But the night, a trying one. went on quietly, quiet-ly, and nothing harinened. Terror in the Palace. Thero was terror in the Kiosk, in Abdul llamid'.s household. The Young Turks had cut oil" the electric and gas lights and the palace was left, in darkness. dark-ness. The women of the harem wailed. Some of the Padishah's best men and soldiers abandoned him and a final tragedy came, according to the story now being told on apparently good authority. au-thority. The harem begged "a most favored fa-vored sultana to go to the master and pray him lo save them from being Dombarded, and give whatever was demanded de-manded by tho Young Turks. The sultana sul-tana wont to the Pndishuh's chamber, fell on her knees, and begged his majesty's maj-esty's imperial favor. The sultan, in a melancholy mood, fearful of his life, ordered her to go. She is said to have replied: "Padishah! Padishah! Thero is no hope. Send a messenger to the Young Turks and fell them that we arc all in their hands. They aro generous. Allah, the Almighty, save us. For the sake of your .'!70 wives and ma 113' children, hear me! ' ' The poor woman pleaded hard, but, according to the. story, a pistol was fired and the pretty sultana fell dead. A story is also current and generally gener-ally believed that, Abdul not long ago killed his nine-year-old daughter because be-cause sho knew a "pistol was to kill a man." Early on Sunday morning my carriage car-riage stopped in front of the Yildis. T must confess if was the first time I had dared to be so near the place. The day was bright. Not a boat, not a knick moved over the Bosphorus. passing pass-ing through the Beshiktash everywhere I encountered Salonica soldiers, -with bayonets fixed. F.very barrack on my way was in their hands. Troop after troop of captivo soldiers passed amid the bayonots. Evidently they were tho sultan s men on their way to prison. I walked up from the Ilnmidic mosque, where tho sultan went, every Fridny for the Selamlik. It is only fifty paces away from the main gate. Tho place was quiet, something unusual. unusu-al. I walked info tho beautiful park and saw nobody there. At tho main gnto stood only two sad-looking sentinels. senti-nels. Two pashas wore leaning over the fence, looking toward the mosque. Both of them aro now in prison. "Could you inform me." 1 asked, "if it is true that his majesty is worry wor-ry i n g much no wn d a y s ? ' "No," said one of them, "his imperial im-perial majest3- is as usual." "But whero are his soldiers?" "Some of them," he said, "escaped to Asiatic shores; the rest surrendered this morning to the 7?umolian army. No ono is in tho kiosk, not a single soldier. The grand vizier, Tewfik Pasha, and the minister of war, Edhain Pasha, who wore the Padishah 's guests, since Friday Fri-day last, went away this morning. There is nothing ngamst his majesty. Shofket Pasha has proclaimed that all (hey want is to punish the mutinous soldiers, and thero is no question of his abdication." Sultan Was Too Slow. The speaker was Djcvad Bev, first secretary lo the sultan. Ho repeated the same story to cverv correspondent who went to him. Tt'wns well said, but ho didn't tell the truth. It was true that the grand vizior and tho minister min-ister of wnr, who had- been imprisoned by tho sultan for a few days, had been released, and part of the imperial soldiers sol-diers had surrendered, but thero still .remained '100 men hiding in tho palace. The sultan had another game in mind to play, but it didn't work. The leaders lead-ers of the tho Young Turks, Niazi Bey. Enver Bey. and Sliofknt Pasha, the commanding general, were invited to the Yildiz to negotiate with the sultan. sul-tan. The rest of the plot is easv lo imagine. The. Yildiz has such fortifications, pavilions, pa-vilions, and fortresses, that it could have resisted a long time. But Ha mid, cruel as he is, is a coward. Neither Neith-er had he any idea that tho army at Chatalja would enter the capital with such rapidity. He had stored no provisions pro-visions in the palace: he had counted on tho assistance of Hamidie Kurdish troops, which wero on their way to Constantinople from Anatolia. Tho Young Turks had cut. off every communication. No one was allowed to tako anything to the palace. No water, no light, no meat, no bread, nothing was allowed to go in. On Monday Mon-day morning tho sultan found tho great establishment without, food. At. the Yildiz Kiosk thcro remained yet a multitude of people. Three hundred hun-dred and fifty guards, chamberlains, and secretaries. 370 wives and female slaves. 1(50 children and their attendants, attend-ants, 127 male slaves, 3o0 cooks and servants in tho imperial kitchen, 360 coachmen and other workers at the stables. -loO gardoners, 250 janitors and attendants, and 1150 soldiers. These apparently remained, true to the master mas-ter in his distress. But all were disappointed. disap-pointed. The harem was in mourning. Mon blamed their Padishah. Now and then Ujevad Bey, the first secretary, and Xouri Bey. the chamberlain, would go to the imperial chamber and plead lo give up all idea of resistance. The sultan was bewildered, confused, yet. he couldn't, realizo that he was no longer the supreme power in the laud. Bribed Soldiors. The Young Turks could not afford fo be lenient. The conspiracy of April K5 was no longer a secret. In the. last two days 15,000 soldiers and 6000 hod-jas hod-jas and spies had been arrested. In their possession over half a million dollars had been found. Whero had this money come from? Who could deny any longer that Abdul Tlamid drew from his bank about ten million dollars a month ago? His favored son, Burhaneddin Fffcndi. went from barrack bar-rack to barrack and distributed the money among the soldiers. Former spies, disguised in Turkish clergvmen's garments, wont among the troops and won them over with the snlfan 's bribes. Soldiers, when arrested, were found to have an average of ono hundred dollars: dol-lars: some had two hundred, three hundred, hun-dred, and oven five hundred. Tndeod. Abdul Hamid was the head of the conspiracy, and the massacre in Adnnn was instigated bv his emissaries sent from Constantinople.. The old and tho new Yildiz cliuues were not less responsible. Mo limed Ali. the former for-mer Turkish minister at Washington, and the son of tho infamous Iz7,et Pasha, Pa-sha, is reported as saying in Egvpt, n few days beforo the "conspiracy broke out in this city, that soon the' old re gime would bo re eptablished in Turkey, and that he would then return io Constantinople Con-stantinople vrith his father. The forinor ministers, who were ar-resled ar-resled after the first revolution and imprisoned on Princess islaud after the Sheriat denionsf rat inn day. were lpf. almost free. Some of them oven came to tho city. The Young Turks have ample proof in their hands that all theso creatures had their fingers in the affair. The. .lainief i" Mohainniedau was nothing more than a reactionary organization or-ganization under the guise of religion. I fad the Salonica soldiers delayed a few days longer the freedom of Turkey would have been lost and atrocities would .have begun. Karakeul and Scutari were occupied yesterday afternoon. Part of the sultan's sul-tan's troops had taken refuge at. Scutari, Scu-tari, on Asiatic shores. The Selimioh Kishla, a nest of reaction, was captured cap-tured after eleven cannon shots. Half nf the garrison fled toward the interior. inte-rior. The Salonica troops at Smyrna havo been ordored lo intercept these fugitives. In tho city fighting, not more than two thousand were killed and wounded on both sides. Tho loss of the Macedonian Mace-donian army is comrmralivclj' small. The death of Col. Moukhta Bey is mourned by nil. Ho was a brave soldier, sol-dier, who fell a victim of his own courage. Woe to tho Spies. For two days arrests have boon continuous. con-tinuous. Every hour hodjns and snies j are sought out. I saw soveral of them on their way to prison. The soldiers struck them wjth the backs of- their rifles, repeating", "Al sana sheriat" ("Take this Tor the sheriat"). They will all be tried by court-martial. Several Sev-eral of them have already been shot or buyonoUed, Tbi3 afternoon, tbers was a ' 'typing housoclcaning," as wo say, at tho Yildiz Yil-diz Kiosk. Everybody was taken between be-tween rows of bayonets to tho war de-' de-' partment or to tho military Bchool at Pangalti. It wns rcmnrkahlo to watch tho trembling slaves. The dandified pnlace spies wero bitten, .scorned, and ridiculed. Now it comos to light that Abdul Hamid kept his force of spies, and that all his oaths and vows were in bad faith. . Tahir Tasha, a big man with a big beard, tho commandant; of tho Imperial Tufcnkjis, was followed by a mob from tho palace to tho Galata Sarai. : It was a miracle that he was saved I from being lynched. Evorybody spat on him, Rhoulcd yahou, and the soldiers, sol-diers, whilo trying to keep the crowd away, struck him, slapped his face, cnlled him traitor, and ono slightly wounded him with a bayonet. Among tho arresfed aro Basourdjou Aghia Pa- sjin, Abdurrahnan Bey of the ministry J of finance; Aziz Bey.' Dervish Vahdrti. the editor of the Volknn; Mourad Hey, the editor of Mizan, and many other notorious reactionaries and leaders in the last sheriat demonstrations. The sultan's fate hns been decided. Tomorrow ho will be dethroned and exiled ex-iled to Salonicn. |