I discovered that there were several conflicting versions, or rumours,
of the manner in which Gordon met his death. One story was that he was shot dead by a sniper when walking on the roof. Another story was that he was speared while fighting in the garden. The third, and best authenticated, story was that he was killed while walking slowly down the steps. They told me that there was still living in Khartoum an old man who had been Gordon's servant at the time of the Mahdi's entry into Khartoum. We sent for him and asked him questions. He told us that on the fatal night he had obtained leave to go to his home in a distant part of the town since his mother was dying of hunger. It was in the early hours of the morning that the Mahdi's forces broke through the defences and streamed towards the palace. He himself had remained in hiding for a week and had then donned the Mandist smock and had made his way to the palace. A man had shown him the exact spot on the stairway leading down to the garden at which Gordon had been killed. The steps were still stained with blood. He had heard it 9lid afterwaNis that when the Mahdists broke into the palace grounds, they had wasted half an hour in chasing the Coptic clerks who had climbed into the trees. When these had been disposed of, they attacked the palace itself. Gordon came out upon the verandah which looked down upon his swimming tank and shouted at them in his atrocious Arabic that he wished to see their master. He was then struck by a bullet and walked slowly towards the stairway, collapsing on the third step. His body was cut to pieces and "thrown into the river at the place where the soldiers wash." His head was taken in a cloth to the Mahdi's headquarters.
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