A TURKISH LADY FIGHTING DESPERATELY.

Temuka Leader, Volume 2, Issue 129, 15 March 1879, Page 2

A TURKISH LADY FIGHTING DESPERATELY.

The last steamer from Trebizond brought- among her passengers Adile Hanum. She is one of the notable characters of the recent war. She is a native of Bagdad, and a Mahommedan by religion. She is rich, and enthusiastically devoted to her country, wears the veil, and is as brave as she is fair. At the beginning of the war she rode into the camp of Ghaz Moukhtar Pasha at the head of fifty-six mounted troopers. At first the Turkish general refused to accept her services, but as she persisted, he gave her the command of the forces she had brought with her, and of recruits she could induce to join her ranks. At the time Moukhtar Pasha was awaiting the Russians on the Armenian frontier. The weather grew cold, and great were the privations and sufferings of his army in that mountainous region. Most of the battles were fought on frozen ground, and among the snow-covered crests of the Ararat range. The patience she exhibited under severe suffering, and her hardihood seemed to nerve the Turkish soldiers. The greatest fault was her reckless courage. When the word to charge was given, she was off like a streak of lightning. She took part in the battles and sieges of Bayazid, Kars, Ardahan, and Horum, and on two occasions was severely wounded. Of her fifty-six men twenty were taken prisoners, sixteen killed, and twenty lost and unaccounted for. She won the rank of lieutenant, and was decorated with the order of the Mcdjidie for her exploits. The Minister of War has received her as a guest. The Sultan has sent word that he desired to make her acquaintance, and to present her to the Sultana, and the ladies of the imperial harem. She is a handsome woman, well proportioned, erect in stature, and decidedly martial in her hearing. She is a Mahommedan of the old school, and as zealous for the prorogation of the faith of Fatima as the wife of the prophet herself.