ESCAPE FROM KHARTOUM.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1655, 20 January 1886, Page 2

ESCAPE FROM KHARTOUM.

Tlie Cairo correspond -nt of tlie " Standard " reports that he has just had a lonjj ami mo-t interesting con- j versjition with a refugee from Khar- ! tuiiin, by name Dimitri Zi^ada. He left O.ndur nun thirty one days a<jn, ' tn co iiprtiiv with two Sisters of Mftvy, (vie of wh.)i»\ a white wo nan, is nanvd Mmiette, and the other, » Mack, F>rtunuta. They ivp irt that the four nn s still reinainin» in the camp at 0 udurman aw now nmr.ied to 'reek prisoners. Zi«,'ida made hi-t escape. \>y t!ie help of an enrsury seit up by his In-other with the promise of a large reward. Hti w*js at one time a wealthy merchant in Kml >fin, and acted as contractor for supplying inpat to the Egyptian- Army. Naturally lie his now lost i*viM # ».hin<i, liavin<r been f r til • !.«f two years a prisoner witfi the ; Mahdi. Up U'lls me that Hi.- prisoners ! j were not dadly treated, but were very I closely watched, and forced to^nty J five tiinoK h day. II h mad" his est;i«pe ' at 8 o\'lo*-k on** eve in<» jiwt after tinlast prayer. A violent storm was then i-Hging. His at:«-oiint of 0 iver Pain dispels all the ridii'itlou* stories hitherto in oireulslimr, Hivif}<» left Esmpli with two Htteiitlants, Pain, on his nnivalat Kordufin, learnt that the Miihdi had left on tin* march to Khar toiiiu. Ht* f(t!lttwt*d in his track, umil came n» with t.I»M fo:(v nt E,^l!a. whi'i-e Zitrada fi;'st «aw liini. He was in £).)d health. H • did not sp-ik A~ilj very well, ami wJS forced to C\'\ an interpieter if he wished to ask a q>n-9-tion or explain auythiug h«-yond his daily needs The M thdi 'telieved none of his protestntiotifi, aid at o;ice in-ide him a «lose prisoier, and foreharle the other European prisoners (who were alluwt-d to see eaeli other) all intercourse wi h him. Nevertheless Pain, S!atii> By, and Zii;h<lii managed to ont out various Hues and slips of newspaper, tn tkiu«» in »M, a letter «f encouragement for (tordon with news of the approach inj» Keh..f Expedition. Pain whs led in the train of the Mihdi fot fifteen days to SJtat, where he fell ill. | TV Milidi .stayed twenty days at Slut, I Hi.d vvlii'e there Mustay, an Austrian [p'isoner, was put in chains for ten days for attorn pti tig to reach and i.-qtiirf? after P.iin. F.-oin Sliat tln-y I m u'ched to Duein, and thence down the White Nile to o>ndunnan. I «as attotit One and n-lmlf day's m ircli frmn Omdurnvin that Pain died. He had twice fallen from his ca>ne] from exhaustion the day tiefnr and onoe n<r«iu on the day of Irs death Finding it vvas impossible to rally him, the Arabs du;{ a yrave Kesitles him. and with the HHsistance of Zigada buried him. Zi^ida kavs he was still warm when they covered him with earth. Tiie grave is close tn th«* White Nile, and ZL'adt says he could find it Mimlfnld. Slatin Bey was not told of P.iin's death till lia'f an hour later on the march. Just b^rfore the fall of Khnrtniun all the rebnh wei*e «sti'einp|y terrified at tliH appmaoh of the English, except the Mahdi himself, who kept up his conrau'p. Diivctlv after thn surrender the Mahdi went across the riv«>r m a steamer, and made his Hveninir prayer at Khartoum, returning;, however, the next day to Omdurman. Gordon's head was linns* up on a butcher's hook in the bnziais of Om lurman for five days. Every passer l»y threw slippers, stones or mud nt it, and spat upon it All the papers and such like things were burned, but the olothes and decoi-Ations were sold by auction in the bazaars. The linen shirts fetched five piastres. Seven Greeks found in Khartoum were massacred. The death of the Mahdi took place on the 9th Ramadan. No one knew what he died from ; but he had grown so piiormonsly stout that it needed five men to raise him from Jus seat. Ziirida first heard the news of his death from a few people in the bazaar. Not Mievjng it, he went tn enquire, md met the Mahdi's chief eutitch, who nad been Zi,'adi's own .•unn -h »H---lonHnned the story. The Mahdi left 145 wives — amongst whom wave many

monibei s of Zitrada's own former harem, and a European girl nani.-d Klein, daughter of a tailor mnrd>red in Khartonm. Khalifa Abu Maik took the command on the Mahd's death.