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How Colonel Fogg Escaped From the Oriental Plague. Never Had the Traveler Tried So Hard to Be Hospitable—A Thrilling Adventure. The Embassador to the Court of St. James, Colonel John Hay, once paid Colonel William Perry Fogg the com pliment of declaring that in his story of his escape from an Oriental quaran tine there was enough of exciting ad venture to form the basis of an ex tensive novel. Both men were Cleveland writers who achieved renown through their literary works Colonel Fogg’s account appears in his book of travels printed in 1875, as “Arabistan.” While the churches of Cleveland are collecting donations to be sent to the thousands and millions facing death from starvation and the plague in India, the tale from the pen of the Cleveland ex-newspaper man is timely, and an extract from the book will be read with interest. He tells of starting out from Bagdad to visit the ancient city of Babylon. Sending his interpreter to the Govenor for certain favors, he returns with the startling news that the Governor has just received a telegram from Bagdad, declaring Hillah in quarantine, as the plague has broken out in that town. “But I might go as far as Kerbella,” says the author, “that place being out side the cordon sanitaire. Here was a dilemma. Prudence dictated an imme diate return to Bagdad, but pride and a desire and hope to see Babylon 0 posed that course.” The latter counsel prevailed, and the boat was soon being towed along the river by a row of Arabs. On the way he soliloquized over the terrible plague of 1831 and 15872, which killed thousands in a few months. Of his waking the next morning he wrote: ‘To my surprise I found we had already reached Kerbella. My mar hallah was moored alongside many other boats of various kinds.”’ Follow ing a description of the ancient city, he said: ‘We will return to the mar hallah, on which I was slowly retreat ing towards Moseyib. * * * I was suddenly aroused by Yusef, who point ed to a large boat, rowed by six men, on which I could see officers and sol diers in uniform coming rapidly down towards us. Yusef, in evident alarm, told me that it was the Governor of Moseyib. I quickly aroused myself as the boat came alongside, and the Gov ernor stepped on board my marhallah. He held in his hand a dispatch which he read, and Yusef translated. It was from Bagdad, and contained the alarm ing intelligence that Kerbella had been placed in quarantine and directing him to turn back all boats coming from that place. I felt that my affairs had now reached a crisis. Inside the quaran tine, shut up for an indefinite period, with no countrymen or European wear, but the terrible pestilence all around me, and no communication with, my friends in Bagdad or at home. “The captain of my boat, in obedi ence to the Governor's orders, was de taching the tow rope, and I began to feel desperate. But I could not give up without an effort. I showed him my letter from the Pasha of Bagdad, and he then recognized me as the trav eler who had applied to him for a boat. He could speak only Turkish, so that our conversation had to be in terpreted by Yusef. I would have giv en all I know of other languages (ex cept the vernacular) if I could only have talked with the Turk in his own language ,and try my powers of per suaasion and eloquence. We had been standing in the hot sun, and I invited him to a seat beneath my awning. Then, with the instinct of hospitality, I asked him if he would drink some English beer. The Governor shrugged his shoulders and nodded assent. A bottle had been towing astern to cool, which Yusef quickly opened, and filled a large glass. The Governor took it down at a gulp, and held out the glass for more. “Now, theoretically, at least, no Mus sulman can drink wine, beer, or spir its, but the Turks are not very strict observers of the Kora‘n in this respect. It was plain that my gest was no as cetic. In reply to his inquiry I told him that I had two more bottles of beer and one of brandy, all of which were at his service. A happy thought seemed to strike him. He called his Secretary, and after a short consulta tion announced that he would return to Moseyib in my marhallah, and send his own boat on to Kerbella, which was but a few miles distant, with letters and dispatches. His soldiers and ser vants, carpets, cushions, etc., were transferred to my boat, and four Arab idler’s, Who had collected on the bank, were impressed, in Turkish style, to man 4M extra tow rope. “We were soon spinning along tow ards Me seyib at a rapid rate, with the prospect of reaching that place before dark. The Turk now made himself comfortable. It was awfully hot, so he doffed his military coat, rolled up his shirt sleeves, kicked off his patent leather gaiters ,and squatted on his cushions which had been spread under the awnings. I did the hospitalities to the best of my ability. “Perhaps never before did I exert my self so much to please a guest. I made Yusef spread out the remains of yes terday’s lunch, to which I added the basket of Sweetmeats sent me by the ex-Queen, and another bottle of ale. With the second bottle the Governor be gan to melt, and asking to see the Pasha’s letter, he apologized for not calling upon me when I was in Mose yib, and invited me to dine with him that evening. ‘The third bottle made him quite sociable. He repeated his apologies, renewed his invitation to dinner, and said he would manage some way to get me through the quaran tine. I exerted all m my powers to please and entertain him. I showed him my pictures, my little revolver, which he admired very much, and I thought seri ously of presenting it to him on the spot. But we were getting on swim mingly now, and I held it back in re serve for an emergency. Having fin ished the ale he signified a wish to taste the English attack, which I told Yusef to administer in very small doses, as I was fearful of its effects. But my fears were groundless, for he proved to be thoroughly seasoned, and ever got beyond the point of feeling social and good-humored. When I told him that I had been in Constantinople and had seen the Sultan his respect for me was immensely increased. “As all this had to be done through ‘an interpreter, or by pantomime, it was no easy task, but I saw that by win ning his good grace I had a chance to escape, but I succeeded even beyond my expectations. Only once, when the Governor proposed that I should sing, I felt that he had me at a disadvantage. Now, my talents as a vocalist had never been developed, and I needed as much urging as if I had really been a first rate tenor. But the Turk insisted, and by way of encouragement volunteered to human air he had heard at Pera. This was so horribly discordant that I yielded at once, and gave him the ‘Star- Spangled Banner’ mixed up with the ‘Beautiful Star.’ “As my audience understood neither the words nor the tune, it is not sur prising that I achieved a wonderful success and elicited great applause. He slapped me on the shoulder and said: ‘You are a good fellow; I like you. Come and dine at my house—then we drink a track and have more songs. When the moon rises I let you go to s3agdad.’ I saw a twinkle in Yusef's eyes as he translated this speech, and he said to me in English, ‘We are all right now’, sahib.’” The traveler's account goes on with the evening spent in the home of the Governor until the latter retired, when Colonel Fogg and his caravan started by monlight off across the desert, reaching Bagdad to be welcomed as one coming from the dead.
Newspaper Details
Sacramento Record Union
Sacramento, California, US
Sat, May 22, 1897
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Rob C.
NA, 07 Oct 2025
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