Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp 1882-1892

by Josef Ohrwalder; Sir F. R. Wingate

Mohammed Ali Pasha, emboldened by his late successes, advanced again on the Sheikh El Obeid, whom he defeated near El Eilafun; but, advancing into the desert to renew the attack on the 4th of September, he and upwards of 800 of his troops fell into an ambush and were slaughtered. This proved a very severe blow to Gordon, and Khartum being now closely invested, he decided to send a steamer north to communicate with the Government, and give them full information of the state of affairs.

As the Nile was now high, it was thought the small steamer Abbas would be able to make her way safely to Dongola. The Abbas left Khartum on the 10th of September, and was accompanied by two other steamers towing boats, in one of which were a number of Greek, and in the other Syrian merchants. These steamers ran the gauntlet of shot and shell till past Berber. When a short way beyond that town, the steamers Mansureh and Safia turned back, and reached Khartum only with the greatest difficulty, being fired upon throughout almost the entire distance. The Abbas continued her journey north, and drew up for the night at a small island. The two boats which had been cast off when the other steamers left, now passed the Abbas, but were driven on to some rocks by the wind, and here they had to stop for the night to repair. The next morning the Abbas passed them, and Colonel Stewart urged them to push forward. The Greek boat started, but it was some time before the Syrians could set sail; and again they were driven on to the rocks, where they remained firmly fixed.

In the meantime the Dervishes at Berber, who had gained possession of the steamer El Fasher when the town fell into their hands, at once sent her off in pursuit, together with two large sailing boats. The Fasher soon came up with the wrecked Syrian boat, which now made a sign of truce, was boarded and taken possession of. The Dervishes, having obtained all information, left one of their boats in charge of their capture, and then pursued the Greek boat, with which they soon came up, and, having secured her, the Fasher continued her pursuit of the Abbas. She proceeded almost as far as Abu Hamed, but here the captain refused to take her any further, as he feared running her on to a rock. So she returned to Berber with her captured boats, in which there were in all twelve Greeks and fifteen Syrians. Of the latter, eight were males, five females, and two children.

The steamer Abbas, after passing Abu Hamed, entered the Wadi Gamr cataracts, which are very rocky and dangerous, and here she struck on a rock near the village of Hebbeh, the inhabitants of which belong to the Monasir tribe. Colonel Stewart had the baggage disembarked on an island, on which the travellers now took up their abode until the expected Greek and Syrian boats should arrive; but, after waiting two days, Stewart sent his interpreter, Hassan Husni, with Mohammed Hilmi Gorab and the captain, ashore, with instructions to see the sheikhs, and, by the offer of presents and the promise of a good reward from the Government, to induce them to supply camels to enable the shipwrecked party to continue their journey to Dongola.

These messengers were well received by Sheikh Suleiman Wad Naaman, and neither he nor his people were wearing jibbehs; they asserted that they were thoroughly loyal to the Government, and added that it was only the arrival of Sheikh Heddai that had made them pretend to be against the Government. Suleiman said that he would assist the shipwrecked passengers with the greatest pleasure, and so well did he conceal his wicked treachery that the messengers returned to Stewart greatly elated with their success. But in the meantime Suleiman had prepared a treacherous trap, into which the over-confident passengers blindly fell. He sent secret orders to all the people round about to prepare for a fight, and then drove some camels along the river bank, to show that he was preparing for the journey. Colonel Stewart ordered all the spare ammunition to be thrown into the river, and then landed with the other passengers.

Suleiman invited him and the consuls, Power and Herbin, to go into his house, so as to make final arrangements with the camel-owners, and at the same time he begged them to remove their arms, as the Arabs might get alarmed and make difficulties about hiring their camels. An artillery captain who was with Stewart begged him not to let go his arms, as there might be treachery; but Stewart laughed at his fears, and he, with the two consuls and the interpreter, entered the house, while the others remained outside; they still retained their revolvers. Suleiman begged them to be seated, and proceeded to present to them a number of Arabs, who, he asserted, were the camel-owners.

The traitor had dates brought to them, and, so as not to offend him, they took some. Then Suleiman stood up and lifted his leather water-bottle, which was the prearranged signal for the Arabs to rush out of their hiding-places and attack the guests. In a second the house was full of armed men, who called upon them to throw down their revolvers and submit; but before they had even time to do this, the Arabs rushed upon them with their swords. Consul Herbin, who was standing near the door, was the first to fall; his head was chopped off with an axe. Consul Power and Colonel Stewart were soon cut to pieces. The interpreter, Hassan, begged to be spared, crying out, "I am a Moslem! I am a Moslem, and my name is Hassan!" So he was not killed, but received a wound in the shoulder. The murderers then rushed off to the river bank to attack the others, who were soon killed, except two artillerymen, who jumped into the river, and a few servants. It was said that the interpreter, Hassan, had arranged the betrayal, and I was afterwards told that when he got into difficulties later, he sent a petition to Mohammed el Kheir, in which he said that he was entitled to reward for having secured Colonel Stewart's death. He is still living in Omdurman.

Suleiman sent all the correspondence he captured to the Mahdi, who thus became thoroughly aware of Gordon's desperate condition. On the 22nd of October he wrote to Gordon, informing him of the event, and summoned him to submit, as he had no hope of receiving any relief.

This catastrophe was another terrible blow to Gordon. He had counted on Stewart being able to inform the Government of the straits to which Khartum was reduced, and the necessity of sending immediate help. The state of Khartum now became very serious. Nejumi and the other forces were clustering round Kalakala; there was daily fighting, and bullets fell in the streets of Khartum. There were upwards of 10,000 Dervishes, extending from Kalakala to Buri. Wad Gubara and Wad Sheikh el Obeid had their camp at Khojali, on the right bank of the Nile, to the north. Thus was Khartum surrounded by hordes of fanatical Arabs, who attacked the starved and forsaken town from morning till night.