St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-07-13

STIR, and no doubt dark rumOrS got
afloat as to its object. The enemies of
the Professionals would not let such an
opportunity slip.
"Who were we and why had we
come 7" that was the question, and on
the following afternoon the Governor
sent for our teSkerehs. AS have said,
we had ne permission to visit Yamboli,
its name not being written in the tes-
kerehs,-so we thought best to with
hold them, and sent to his Excellency
our American passports instead. Our
messenger returned after few minutes,
saying that the Governor wished us to
send him our names,-tO see, | suppose,
whether we were the same persons
mentioned in the passports. The next
move was for his Excellency to send a
soldier to summon us to appear in per-
son again before his august presence.
Matters now began to look either
serious or cOmical as you might choose
to regard them, and they seemed none
OuC iCSo 81 WHCH NC touhu vi Jul al
rival that the Caimakam was not alone,
but that we had been summoned before
the whole medjliss, the grand council
of the city.
1t was my first experience before a
judicial tribunal, and must say that
the court presented quite novel ap-
pearance. They were about dozen in
UNINTERRUPTED, bearded and turban-
ned Turks, sitting cross-legged on a
divan on three sides of the room, and
smoking their long chiboques. They
looked as grave as if they were to try
us for murder, and returned our salaams
in silence. Ayoung Bulgarian, former
student of Robert College, who knew
English very well, had been summoned
with all speed to act as interpreter, and
when we were seated and coffee ordered
the Governor began:
"Were those our passports 2" eyes"
''Would we be so kind as to state who
we were,-why we had left our homes,
and what was our business in Yam
boil 2" We proceeded to explain how
we we're "American citizens, teachers
in COnstantinOple,- harmless, Soonest,
on a vacation trip,-to see the coun-
try,-get a change of air, ETC." every
good" The Governor then taking up
one of the passports, which l saw to
| ho ,nintol 70 ;a5 tha ho oh
from the Russian Consulate in Constan-
tinople, and the stamps of several Rus
sian officers, which found it necessary
to get on my excursion to the Crimea
last summer, and asked what they
meant.
That cleared up the whole mystery.
We were taken for Russian spies or
emissaries of some kind. We were there
for no good purpOse,-were meeting
with an assembly of young Bulgarians,
wanted to go to Boyadjik, had no
travelling teskeIehs from the Porte,-
suspicious, -very suspicious
l explained the matter to him to the
best of my ability, however,-thatI was
travelling around in various parts of
the world as L had opportunity, and
had gone to Russia for the same pur-
pose that | had come therefor rest
and recreation.
His Excellency appeared relieved and
satisfied. He said "You are Americans
| D,NfasfnnfS Y hoI,a,,o Ill
If you were not should not believe
word of it," So we drank our coffee,
chatted awhile, taking care to remind
our auditors of the various ways in
which Turkey was indebted to Amer
lea, especially for guns and ammuni-
ton, and came away to enjoy hearty
laugh.
But the end was not yet. Three
weeks after our return to Constantine
pie, a Turkish telegram was received at
the American Legation, asking about
two individuals named Lewis Year and
Tsaria YaVish, "Who are hey and what
is their business ?" 1t was the old ques-
|
chance brought the telegram to our
notice, and we authorized Mr.. Guar
dioghlOw to assure our friend the
Caimakam that we were quietly back
at our old trade, and should give him
no further trouble. All thought we,
''You are Professionals and Americans,
and so believe what you say"
All over the country the poor Bull
garians have been anxiously looking at
the political heavens, trying to read
some sign of hope for the future, while
the iron heel of the oppressor has ground
still harder. At the time of our visit
large bodies of troops had been sent
into the province, in anticipation of the
Russian advance to the Danube, which
has since become a certainty. The
government considered it necessary also
in order to prevent repetition of the
instruction of last summer. A large
force was stationed at Yamboli, and in
every instance they were quartered on
the Christian portion of the city. If
the government wished a certain house
for the use of the soldiers, it had only
to send a zaptieh with an order for the
without a word or the hope of redress.
We saw many private houses thus filed
with Turkish soI1iers HAVING a puard