And a group of artillery soldiers and others. They found in the house of Hassan Pasha many rifles and ammunition, and it was proven that they had both participated in the theft of the soldiers' salaries for two full months, and that they had received it to pay them. Therefore, they were sentenced to be killed as traitors in war according to Ottoman law, which is to be cut into pieces. On the twenty-second of March, this sentence was carried out on them. They were brought in bound to a spacious square in front of the prison and tied to the wall with chains and shackles. Then a copy of their crime and the sentence of the military council was read to them in the hearing of a large crowd of senior officers, employees, and soldiers, but Gordon was not present. Then orders were issued to carry out the sentence to two soldiers, each holding a sharp axe, and they were cut to pieces, starting from their legs and hands, and they did not die until the last blow was struck. This ended. Gordon had sent a letter to the Mahdi shortly after his arrival in Khartoum, telling him that he preferred peace to fighting, and that he would name him Sultan of Western Darfur, permit the slave trade, and reduce taxes and fees to half their previous level, and asked him to release the prisoners. He said that if the Mahdi wished to fight, Gordon was capable of it, but he saw no reason for it, and asked him to wait ten months, and then he would either declare war on him or leave him all of Sudan and build strong barriers. He sent him with the letter a belt, a fez, a caftan, and other clothes and gifts. When his letter reached the Mahdi, he gathered the chiefs of his people and discussed it with them for ten days, then wrote a reply and tore it up. They returned, and he remembered another ten days and wrote the reply and tore it up a second time. After three more days, he wrote a reply and gave it to two messengers.