WITH THE TURKS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 86, 10 April 1912, Page 2

WITH THE TURKS

ADVENTURE OF A BRITISH MAJOR. CAPTURE AND ESCAPE. London, February 16. Major Bathurst, a retired officer ol the Cape Constabulary, lias just readied Malta, and recounts an exciting story of adventure in Tripoli, whevo ho lias been serving as a member of the Turkish staff. He explained that, furnished with credentials from Constantinople ho left England the day after ox-Lieutenant Montagu's "atrocities" cable was received. Major Bathurst reached Tunis on November 11th, and from that moment his adventures began. "I was sbadowed by gendarmes on my journey to Sfax, but there I managed to, evadei them. Setting out in a small boat without any companion, I wais capsized near Gabes, fortunately not .more.than. .100 yards from the ahore, which I reached by swimming. Then. I walked to Medinin, and on to !?uara, covering ;70 miles in 21 hours, :With five hours' rest. At Zuara Major Bathurst presented his credentials to. Musel Bey, whom he described as a most capable commander. He goes on : "It is inexplicable to me why the Italians did not occupy Zuara at the outset, for through this base the Turkish forces in the field have received arms and stores sufficient to last for several years. Five days after I reached Zuara two Italian vessels commenced a bombardment, which con-! tinued throughout the, hours of daylight for s,ix days., Zuara being unprovided with.. artillery, it was not! possible to, reply ,to this hot fire, but when pn the,sixthjday the two Italian vessels left we found that the damage done,did not total £250 in value, and that , there had been no casualties. Taking cover belaud the sand dunes, the iTurkish, .soldiers patiently waited, sometimes for 40, hours on end, even without food, for. the Italian landing which was never made." Leaving Zuara,. Major Bathurst went to Azizieh, arriving there the day after the Ain Zara battle. Having presented his credentials to Tetich Bey, Major Bathurst was found employment as scouting staff officer. Of his doings in that capacity, the major said: — "I approached within a quarter of a< mile of the Italian trenches, and' with the desert as a background, 1 must have presented an excellent target. However, although whole com ,panies of the Italians fired at us, om party suffered nothing worse than tin loss of-. two .horses killed." After interpolating the remarkr that the Arabs could not be induced t<

make prisoners of Italians, despite the Turkish commander's offer of £o for each Italian brought into camp alive, and that he bad several times been a witness of the utter confusion and complete demoralisation of the Italian forces, having seen whole companies abandon arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, Major Bathurst continned : "On January 27th I left Azizieh on a secret mission to Tunis. That completed, I returned to Zuara, and received instructions to go to Tripoli. I succeeded in penetrating the Italian lines, and for two days I went about in Tripoli unmolested. Dining with some friends in a restaurant in Tripoli, I ws.s, however, recognised by a Frenchman who had met me in Tunis and a few hours later I was arrested. At first two detectives tried to arrest me. Ju-jitsu came in useful, and after hurling one detective down the stairs I flung the other through the window. Later the Chief of Police visited me with a courteous request that I should accompany him to the station. Meanwhile I had not had time to dispose of some important documents I was carrying, but'l managed to get rid of them by a ruse I employed when in the chief's office. "Subsequently I was liberated, but afterwards I received a summons to wait upon General. Caneva, who inquired as to the means I had employed to gain access to the town, and as to my business. I posed as a South African newspaper, correspondent, and was ordered to leave within 24 hours. As I was unable to find a steamer, I returned to the general, who, after insisting upon my departure, ordered my rearrest. This time I was put into a dungeon without either food, water, or light, ,and there I stayed for a day and a night. Then an English lady friend, whom I had met in the hotel, reported my arrest to the British Consul, and 5 was removed to a cell which afforded more air space and overlooked the harbour. From this cell I made my escape, and got aboard a German vessel, bound for Malta.