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The Sultan Apoligized

The Sultan Apoligized image
Parent Issue
Day
9
Month
March
Year
1887
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Prof. Mortimer K. Conley, who holds the Cliair of Mtcliaiiiiui Engineering at Ann Arbor L'niversity, used to bi; Ijicut. Cooley of the Uuited States navy, aml, allhougli he lmlils agrave anü honored [)c).-.ii,in m a membtr o( th i learued facmty of tliat institution and is quite an euülttttiut iu hi.s present work, lie slill looks back with longiug at the jolly tunes he lued lo liavc uu board the good ship Qulnuebaug. "Uaring that cruise to Europe on the Quiunebaug," said the piofessor in the couie ol a chat u tew oay agO, "we anobored tor awlnle olï Cmistaiitinople opposite the Sultai.'o palace. The offlcers t the palace soineliort' got an IropreMtoD tbat we wcre trying to Ilirt with the WOmen of the harem - the harem looks out upon the water - and to Ilirt with tlie Sultau's women is a crime of very great magnitude in Constantiuopie. I don't b, lieve one oii shipboanl knew auytliing aboiit the harem, bilt tbat made no difterence. Anyliow, to oblige tlie officials we moved down the river. One day two of our boys - one of thein a hot-blooded Kentuekian - wereout on a little pleasuie trip, and were beinj; poled down the river ia one ot those Ttirkish bouts üy i native. Une ot tlie boys soiled bis liiijiers sometinw, and dipped them In the water and theu dried them with bis liaudkerchief, the boat belug at tliat moment directly oppoaite the harem. A soldier on duty at tlie palace saw tlie incident and tiiought or pretended to thiuk, that the youug tellow was trying a handkercliief tlirtation. lic hailed the boaliuan and rom mandril him lo pull in to land. The boys alrouly objected, but the soldier waveil nis yaUgban and ttie boatman, who seemer) mucli frightened, shot the boat to hora, The soldier could speak no EngIi8h aud tlie young men could speak DO 1 urklsli, but it was evident the two were to be made prisoners. NotwUhstanding thelr protesta and resistance, they wen; loiked up in the guard-room and held in cusiody seTeral hours. Then they were miirhed out and brought belore the magistiate. 'l'lie soldier told his story. The young men tried to explaln iu English, aud iu Frenen, and iu Germán, but ueither the magistrate nor any oue else in the court could understand. Tiie Kantacklan was bot and showed it. Just as the magistratu was about to pass seutence- aud a severe seutence it would been - a geutleman chanced tocóme hito court whutwas able to act xs interpreter. The young men explalned that tlny were ollicers of the United Sutes navy, and kuew DOtblog ot the Sultan's harem, and would uot touch one of hls wonieu with a forty-foot pole, any how. Tlie boys weredischarged witb a caution. Uut the Kentuekian was too mad to let it rett thciu. As soon as he got on board he tol.l the story to the Captain, a hotheaded Dutchmau ; he got mad too. He swoie black and blue, and by all that was high and holy, that It ampie apology and reparaliou were not proinptly forlheomlug he would shell the palace. I might inentlon that the Quinnebaug was a little sloop with a few old guns; and the tvbole Turklth navy, Including a liritish inan-of-war, that the Turks had just bought, was then lyinf? iu the haruor. but dunner and blitzen ! the United States tlag had been iusulted, and we would have to get satisfaction. The Captain went straightway to United Otates Minister Maynaid and toUi him the story, and he too, got mad. Why, he was the inaildest man of tlie three. He ïtarted tor the place, and pretty soon a big complaint laid before the Sultan. The resul t Ol it all was that a few days later the Sultan and tlie Admiral made a speech in Tui kish. The Captain received the apology with gracloasdlgnlty, and thuspeaceful relations were once more established between the Tnrkltb naiioi and the Quinnebaug. The Sultan did the thing handsomely by sendinj; us next day a present of two brass cannou froni his private arsenal." If there can be a romance in the life of a mille there is one iu the case of a pair of Thof. Hiikell's kept on the Lowil place lor the past year. Mr. li. bought the pair at tlie cloe of the late war and they were used togetber for numy years in hauling flour tioni Dover to Dexter. Later years they have Iven worked on Mr. U.'s various farnif, but tbeir altaebment tor each other hasgiownso stroiifíthat it has bien imponible to separate thein. It one was tak( towii to beshOÜ the other was sure to break out aml fbllow. No fence (ir Itable teemlng alile to hoid t. Uecently one of the pair has died froin old age and the other secms likely to soou follow with a brokcu luart. It visits itsdead ni ate iwenty times in as inany ïninutes, groantng, pawtng, and rclusiug to at Mr. Hirkett wished that they might die together, and liis wisli is likely to he

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News