July 1 8 , 1 9 1 8 
Land & Water 
13 
thing but good ; they have educated many of your daughters ; 
why do you treat tliem in this shameful fashion ? " 
This -plea produced an effect ; Bedri consented to post- 
pone execution of the order until we could get Talaat on the 
wire. In a few minutes I heard Talaat laughing over the 
telephone. * 
" I tried to escape vou," he said, "but you have caught me 
again. Why make such a row about this matter ? Why 
shouldn't we do it ? " 
Nevertheless he told Bedri to suspend the order until we 
had a chance to talk the matter over. Naturally this greatly ' 
relieved Mere Elvira and the sisters. Just as we were about 
to leave, Bedri suddenly had a new idea. There was one detail 
which he had apparently forgotten. 
"We'll leave the Sion Sisters alone for the present," he 
said, "but we must get their money." 
Reluctantly I acquiesced in his suggestion — knowing that 
'all the valuables were safely reposing in the American 
Embassy. So I had the pleasure of standing by and watch- 
ing Bedri and his associates search the whole establishment. 
All they, turned up was a small tin box containing a few- 
copper coins : the prize was so trifling that the Turks dis- 
dained to take it. They were puzzled and disappointed, 
and from that day to this they have never known what 
became of the money. If my Turkish friends do me the 
honour of reading these pages, they will find that I have ex- 
plained here for the first time one of the many mysteries of 
those exciting days. 
As some of the windows of the con\ent opened on the court 
of the Cathedral, which was Vatican property, we contended 
that the Turkish Government could not seize it. Such of 
the sisters as were neutrals were allowed to remain in posses- 
sion of the part that faced the Vatican land, while the rest of 
the building was turned into an Engineer's School. We 
arranged that the E'rench nuns should have ten days to leave 
for their own country ; they all reached their destination 
safely, and most are at present engaged in charities and war 
work in France. 
My jocular statement that I intended to write a hook 
deeply impressed Bedri, and, in the next few weeks, he 
repeatedly referred to it. I kept humorously 'telling him 
that, unless his behaviour improved, I should be forced to 
picture him as a villain. One day he asked me, in all serious- 
ness, whether he could not do something that would justify 
mc in portraying him in a more favourable light. This 
attitude gave mc an opportunity I had been seeking for some 
time. Constantinople had for many years been a centre for 
the white slave trade ; a particularly vicious gang was then 
operating under cover of a fake synagogue. An international 
Committee, organised to fight this crew, had made me chair- 
man. I told Bedri that he now had the chance to secure a 
reputation ; because of the war, his powers as Prefect of 
Police had been greatly increased ; a little vigorous action 
on his part would permanently rid the city of this disgrace. 
The enthusiasm with which Bedri adopted my suggestion 
and the thoroughness and ability with which he did the work, 
entitle him to the gratitude of all decent people. In a few 
days every white slave trader in Constantinople was scurry- 
ing for safety ; most were arrested, a few made their escape ;. 
such as \vere foreigners, after serving terms in jail, were ex- 
pelled from the country. Bedri furnished me photographs 
of all the culprits and they are now op file in our State Depart- 
ment. I was not writing a book at that time, but I felt 
obliged to secure some public recognition for Bedri's work. 
I therefore sent his photograph, with a few words about his 
achievement, to the New York Times, which published it 
in a Sunday edition. That a great American newspaper 
had recognised him in this way delighted Bedri beyond 
words. For months he carried in his pocket the page of the 
Times containing his picture, showing it to all his friends. 
This event ended my troubles with the Prefect of Police ; 
for the rest of my stay we had very few clashes. 
All this time I was increasing my knowledge of the modern 
German character, as illustrated in Wangenheim and his 
as.sociates. In the early days of the war, the Germans 
showed their most ingratiating side to Americans ; as time 
wont on, however, and it became apparent that public 
opinion in the United States almost unanimously supported 
the Allies, and that the Washington Administration would 
not disregard the neutrality laWs in order to promote Ger- 
many's interest, this friendly attitude changed and became 
almost hostile. 
The grievance to which the German Ambassador con- 
stantly returned with tiresome iteration was the old familiar 
one— the sale of American ammunition to the Allies. I 
hardly ever met him that he did not speak about it. He 
was constantly asking me to write to President Wilson, 
urging him to declare an embargo ; of course, my contention 
that the commerce in munitions was entirely legitimate 
made no impression. As tiie struggle at the Dardanelles 
became more intense, Wangenheini's insistence on the subject 
of American ammunition grew. He asserted that most of 
the shells used at the Dardanelles had been made in America, 
and that the United States was really waging war on Turkey. 
One day, more angry than usual, he brought me a piece 
of shell. On it clearly appeared the inscription "B. S: Co." 
"B. S. Co." Shells 
"Look at that!" he said. "I suppose you know what 
'B. S. Co.' means ? That is the Bethlehem Steel Company ! 
This will make the Turks furious. .\nd remember that we 
are going to hold the United States responsible for it. We 
are getting more and' more proof, and we are going to hold 
you to account for every death caused by American shells. 
If you would only write home and make them stop selling 
ammunition to our enemies, the war would be over very soon." 
I made the usual defence, and called Wangenheim 's atten- 
tion to the fact that Germanv had sold munitions to Spain 
in the Spanish war ; but all this was to no purpose. All 
that Wangenheim saw was that American supplies formed an 
asset to his enemy ; the legalities of the situation did not 
interest him. Of course I refused point blank to write to 
the President about the matter. 
A few days afterward an article appeared in the Ikdavi 
discussing "Turkish and American relations. This contribu- 
tion, for the greater part, was extremely complimentary to 
America ; its real purpose, however, was to contrast the ^ 
present with the past, and to point out that our action in 
furnishing ammunition to Turkey's enemies was hardly in 
accordance with the historic friendship between the two 
countries. The whole thing was evidently written merely 
to get before the Turkish people a statement almost paren- 
thetically included in the final paragraph. "According to 
the report of correspondents at the Dardanelles it appears 
that most of the shells fired by the British and French during 
the last bombardment were made in America.-" At this 
time the German Embassy controlled the Ikdam, and was 
conducting it entirely in the interest of German propaganda. 
A statement of this sort, instilled into the minds of impres- 
sionable and fanatical Turks, might have the most deplorable 
consequences. I therefore took the matter up immediately 
with the man whom I regarded as chiefly responsible for the 
attack- — the German Ambassador. 
At first Wangenheim asserted his innocence ; he was as 
bland as a child in protesting his ignorance of the whole 
affair. I called his attention to the fact that the statements 
in the Ikdam were almost identically the same as those 
which he had made to me a few days before ; that the lan- 
guage in certain spots, indeed, was almost a repetition of his 
own conversation. 
"Either you wrote that article yourself," I said, "or you 
called in the reporter and gave him the leading ideas." 
Wangenheim saw that there was no use in further denying 
the authorship. 
"Well," he said, throwing back his head, "what are you 
going to do about it ? " ^ 
This Tweed-like attitude rather nettled me and I resented 
it on the spot.' 
"I'll tell you what I ani going to do about it," I replied, 
"and you know that I will be able to carry out my threats. 
Either you stop stirring up anti-.-\merican feeling in Turkey 
or I shall start a campaign of anti-German sentiment here. 
"You, know. Baron," I added, "that you Germans are 
skating on Very thin ice in this coimtry. You know that 
the Turks don't love you any too well. In fact, you know 
that Americans are more popular here than you are. Su]j- 
posing that I go out, tell the Turks how you are simply 
using tlrom for your own benefit — that you do not really 
regard them as your allies, but merely as pawns in the game 
you are playing. Now, in stirring up anti-American feeling 
here you are touching my softest spot. You are exposing 
our educational and religious institutions to the attacks of 
the Turks. No one knows what they may do if thev are 
persuaded that their relatives are being shot down by American 
bullets. You stop this at once, or in three weeks I will fill 
the whole of Turkey with animosif\- toward the Germans. 
It will be a battle between us and t am ready for it." , 
Wangcnheim's attitude changed at once. He turned 
around, put his arm on niv shouldqf and assumed his most 
conciliatory manner. 
"Come, let us be friends," he said. "I see that you arc 
right about this. I see that such attacks might injure your 
friends, the missionaries. I promise you that they will be 
stopped." 
(To be conlinued) * 
