OSMAN DIGNA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2045, 24 January 1889, Page 2

OSMAN DIGNA

♦ " Now that Oilman Dlgna is onoe more threatening the British force, it may be Interesting to give one or two partiou'ara respecting his antecedents," says the •Star." "Osman Dlpna was born at Rouen, and was afterwards sent to Paris to school. When still a mere lad bis parents went to Alexandria, and shortly afterwards his father died there. His mother then married a merobant of Alexandria named Osman Dlgns. This man became very fond of his step-son, George Vinet, and brought him np as a Mahommedan, sending him to complete his ednoatlon at the military sohool at Cairo. Here he studied taotlcs and the operations of war under Frenoh effioers. Arabl was at the sohosl at the same time. It waß at this period that his stepfather migrated to Saaklm, where he set on, as general merchant and slave dealer. He was soon doing a veuy lnerative binlnesa, and at his death Vlnei carried it on under the same name. A few years passed, and when olvll war broke o a t m ¥gypt m 1882 Osman Dlgna espooeed the cause of his old friend and companion, Arab!, and became one of England's bitterest fce3 as the Mahdi's lieutenant. In appearanoe Osman Dlgna is a fine looking man, tall and well proportioned, though rather fat. He wears a long black beard, and has lost his left arm*'