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Show VISITS HOLY CITY 0F1IIID1S k. Karl Neufeld Only White Man Who Ever Ope,nIy Inspected City. RELATES EXPERIENCES y- Natives Doubt His Faith, but Finally Permit Him to Enter Great Temple. :pclal Cable to Tlie Tribune. CONSTANTINOPLE, Jan. I. Bronzed like a native son of the desert nnd in dress, speech and manners an Arab, the only white man who ever openly visited Medina, the holy city of the( Mohammedans, recently returned here. The pilgrim was Dr. Karl Neufeld, the famous "prisoner of the Mahdi' who was liberated by Lord Kitchener in the Soudan many years ago. Pew men have had a more, romantic nmf exciting career than this celebrated traveler. As a physician, teacher, merchant mer-chant and contractor he went to the Soudan in 1886. When the uprising of the natives began he was taken prisoner pris-oner by the Mahdi and kept in chains for twelve years. Freed by Kitchener, he returnedto Germany, but after a lec-. lec-. turing tour he made his way back to the Soudan. Shortly after the outbreak of the present war 'he had to leave his adopted country again, as he was expelled ex-pelled by the "British authorities. After his return to Germany he was Bent to Constantinople, where he placed himself at the disposal of the Turkish government. He was used as an emissary emis-sary to the Arabian .tribes, and for this work probably no'-man is better qualified. quali-fied. As he speaks the dialects of all th,e Bedouin tribes, knows their customs ad has embraced ' the Mohammedan faith, he wins, .confidence wherever he t appears in the '"world of Islapi. Organizes Arabians. After organizing the Arabian tribes on the peninsula -oi Sinai for an invasion of Egypt thte strange man went to Damascus Da-mascus and decided to visit Medina. II knew very well that he would not leave this city alive if the natives and the thousands of pilgrims who are constantly con-stantly there should doubt his Mohammedanism. Moham-medanism. Accompanied by four Arabs he left Damascus in June. After his train passed Ma-an and El TJlla the Turkish officers with whom he traveled became distrustful and they even kept aloof from him when they saw him say his prayers like every pious Mohammedan. When he reached Medina, the Ramazan, the great Mohammedan festival, had just begun. He placed himself under the protection of a prominent native who has charge of the pilgrims from the Soudan and his host conducted him to the Harem-es-Sherifa, the temple where Mohammed is buried, with his favorite daughter, Fatima, and his son-in-law. When he stood before the crypt of the prophet the German traveler was surrounded sur-rounded by an angry mob. His position became quite criticnluntil two Arabians made their way through the crowd and declared: . We know him; he is the Effendi Jof Omdurman and Assuan, a good man and a true Mohammedan. Continually Watched. Eveu this did not entirely satisfy the mob, and Dr. Neufeld was only permitted permit-ted to stay in the temple after he affirmed af-firmed hts faith with a solemn oath. For, two or three weeks he was continually contin-ually watched by natives who were not convinced by his religious professions nnd bv Egyptian spies in trie service of England'. The latter tried in every way to 1 t flame the natives against him by cull'ng hhn nn infidel and 4 'Christian dof-' At a meeting of the scribes and sb-iks lie was asked where ho came from and there was great excitement when he calmly said: "From Germany." Tlfe priests and chief's were satisfied, however, when he related how h was converted to Mohammedanism Vy a pious sheik in the Soudan. Dr. Neufeld remained in Molina nearly two months, in continual nter-course nter-course with the sheiljfl, ulcmas and prominent pilgrims fiom Tripoli ania, Tunis, Morocco, Persia, Afghanistan and India. He obtained much vnlual in-..- 'formation. From the pilgrims ho lamed that the jehad (holy war) lunveirnt is t fasti y becoming general in all Mohammedan Moham-medan countries. He found th-t the Arabs are especially bitter agal t the British because Hie'Knglish govr'innent has closed thetHed sea and stojH'd the great annual pilgrimages from Kgvpt nnd India to Mecca and Mcdin- Still me were the Mohammedans angered o?" the fact that the English vq proclaimed pro-claimed the new ruler of EgvpHPPoint-ed EgvpHPPoint-ed bv them "Sultan of the T-'O Holy Places," because all of the fa'hful insist in-sist that this title belongs on7 to the caliph at Constantinople. $ Great Mistake. "By their attempt to est Wish Egyptian cnlipliate the Brilsh have made ona of their greatest intakes,'' .Dr. Neufeld said on his retui to Constantinople. Con-stantinople. ;!Tbe Arabs v'l never forgive them this interference ith their religions affairs. "The English have stoppl nil ini-p-ts. but thero is uo famine" Arabia, necause the Turkish governing i3 sending send-ing plenty of grain. Britn troops nave repeatedly tried to efl'e; landing, land-ing, but this is impossible, as'1" rifles and machine guns with w h they armed the Arabs against the "rk are uov used against themselves. "U Arabs are fervent iulr" of Germany, he said, and every o' f them knows the name of Field'M ?n"l v" llindonhnrg. When the teles:raph y brought the news of the fall . Warsaw to Medina there was a great operation. 1 The whole population Assembled before the house or Dr. Neufeld to express its joy. An old priest who mildly protested and expressed doubts in regard to the righteousness of the sultanas alliance with the German infidels was howled. ' down by the mob, which shouted: The enemies of the Germans are also our onemiesl Therefore we must pray to Allah for our German friends, who will protect us and our religion! "While' lr. Neufeld was in Medina the sultan sent a beautiful automobile of German nuike to the sheik of Mecca, the most powerful man in Arabia. The ma- , chine, was transported to Medina hy ' railrond and started across the desert to . Mecca under its own power, but pot stuck in the sand. The chauffeur and his machinist wore compelled to walk back to Medina to get aid. and when : they returned to the desert thev found the auto destroyed. The Bedouins had smashed it. because they took it for an , English aeroplane . |