DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4615#0096
94 MODERN DISCOVERIES AT ANCIENT EPHESUS.
Murder at the Great Theatre.
While the excavations at the theatre were going on a
murder was committed, the knowledge of which came to
me through my ganger, a young Greek of good family,
whose conscience would not allow him to keep as a
secret what had been told him by the only conscientious
Turk then in my employment. The ganger came to me
with an air of mystery one Saturday evening, and re-
minding me that I had been up into the theatre that
day, asked me if I had smelt anything unpleasant there.
I had done so, and concluded that it was caused by a
dead snake or some other creature. ' No, sir,' said the
ganger, in a solemn voice, ' it's a dead man, one who has
been killed by some of our men; Osman told me of it.'
I commended the young man for reporting the murder
to me, when he said he was sure I would not allow it to
pass without inquiry. It was, of course, my duty to
ascertain if possible how and by whom the murder had
been committed, both to punish the guilty and protect
the innocent. I had at that time seventy men, and this
man, Osman, was the only man who retired at midday to
say his prayers; the others ridiculed him for his piety.
I told my ganger that I must investigate this matter
of the murder, and I ordered him to have four men at
the theatre with picks and shovels at nine in the morning.
When, however, the morning came the rain came down
in such torrents that it was quite impossible to venture
out and exhume the body of the murdered man. To-
wards evening, however, the weather cleared, and I had
had time for reflection. It now occurred to me that it
Murder at the Great Theatre.
While the excavations at the theatre were going on a
murder was committed, the knowledge of which came to
me through my ganger, a young Greek of good family,
whose conscience would not allow him to keep as a
secret what had been told him by the only conscientious
Turk then in my employment. The ganger came to me
with an air of mystery one Saturday evening, and re-
minding me that I had been up into the theatre that
day, asked me if I had smelt anything unpleasant there.
I had done so, and concluded that it was caused by a
dead snake or some other creature. ' No, sir,' said the
ganger, in a solemn voice, ' it's a dead man, one who has
been killed by some of our men; Osman told me of it.'
I commended the young man for reporting the murder
to me, when he said he was sure I would not allow it to
pass without inquiry. It was, of course, my duty to
ascertain if possible how and by whom the murder had
been committed, both to punish the guilty and protect
the innocent. I had at that time seventy men, and this
man, Osman, was the only man who retired at midday to
say his prayers; the others ridiculed him for his piety.
I told my ganger that I must investigate this matter
of the murder, and I ordered him to have four men at
the theatre with picks and shovels at nine in the morning.
When, however, the morning came the rain came down
in such torrents that it was quite impossible to venture
out and exhume the body of the murdered man. To-
wards evening, however, the weather cleared, and I had
had time for reflection. It now occurred to me that it