Letters From Khartoum

It was in May, 1883, that Edmund Dwyer Gray, the chairman of the Freeman’s Journal, conceived the idea of making his paper a pioneer in providing its readers with foreign news. The Soudan, as it was then known, was in a state of wild unrest. The Mahdi’s followers had revolted, and British troops in and around Khartoum were having a bad time. The years 1884 and ‘85 were fraught with gravest apprehensions for their safety. No American or English journals had correspondents in any part of North Afr