Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1888 — STANLEY CAPTURED. [ARTICLE]

STANLEY CAPTURED.

It Is Now Believed the Great Explorer is In the Hands of the Enemy. It is rumored that Osman Digna, in his letter, expressed a willingness to surrender Emin Pasha and his white companion, provided Egvpt would agree to abandon Suakim. If this proposal is not accepted, it is believed that both captives will be killed. Along with his letter Osman Digna sent several Snider cartridges, which, he alleged,were taken from the white traveler. The Zanzibaris in Stanley’s expedition were armed with Snider rifles, but there were none in the possession of the dervishes. General Grenfell recognized the .letter Whiifch Osman Digna had inclosed as the original one which he had drafted for the Khedive. Thus Stanley’s capture is virtually beyond.a doubt. The Congo State

officers have not been informed of the matter. In the House of Commons, Friday afternoon, Mr. Smith, the government, leader, replying to Mr. Wilfred Lawson, said that so far as was known to the government the letter written by Osman Digna announced the surrender of Emin Pasha and a white traveler. .The government bad no means of knowing whether these allegations were well founded. It is evident from the noncommittal reply Mr. Smith gave the House of Commons, Friday afternoon, to questions regarding the capture of Emin Bey and Henry M. Stanley, that the government are completely non plussed, and have no accurate information in the matter further than is generally conceded that Osmatf Digna holds a trump card against which his opponents are powerless to play, and that the government can only yield on the former’s own terms. It was believed in the lobbies of th- House that England will be forced to treat with the successful commander for the evacuation of Suakim, for the government will not dare to sacrifice the prisoners whom Osman Digna threatens to kill unless the town is abandoned. The queit general assumption that Hem y M. Stanley is a prisoner in the hands of Khalifa Abdullah, the false prophet of the Soudan, has not extended to the officials of the British Imperial East African Company. These gentlemen, including Sir Francis De Winton and William Mackinnon, ex. press their unqualified belief in the explorer’s safety and ultimate return to civilization, and, quite reasonably, base their belief upon the contention that the proofs-of -his capture furnished oy Osman Digna are insufficient, illogical and contradictory. The Oganda missionaries, although’ ample time has elapsed for their doing so, make no mention of the Mahdi’s alleged victory, and the British imperial officials are therefore constrained to believe that no battle between the Mahdi’s forces and those of Stanlev or Emin, or both, has taken place. Osman Digna palpably lies when he pretends that he does not know the name of the white traveler he speaks of, and the placing of the cartridges in evidence is merely effective as weakening his assumption that the unknown white man is Stanley. The last consignment of rifles sent to Stanley consisted wholly of weapons of the Remington pattern, which the Snider cartridges could not be made to fit. Suakim. Dec. 16. -The Knalif’s letter to Osman Digna stated that a steamer expedition to the equator, commanded by Osman Saleh, on arriving at Lado, had Emin Pasha and a white traveler deliverdto them in chains by Emin’s officers and troops. Osman Saleh, in his letter to the Khalif, stated that he reached Lado on Oct. 11, and that the Khedive had sent a white traveler named Stanley with a letter telhng Emin to go with Stanley, and offering the remainder of the force the option of going to Cairo or remaining. They refused to enter the Turkish service, and gladly received 0.-man Saleh. Osmen Saleh foundw large quantity of leathers and ivory. He heard that another traveler bad visited Emin, but had gone, and he wassearching for him.