The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-06-10
COLONEL SYNGE'S STORY.

COLONEL SYNGE'S STORY.
His Capture by Brigand. In Thc..aiy and
A-s sAdventures while Awaiting Ransom.
Colonel Synge has furnished to the
Times an account of his captivity among
the brigands of Thessaly. He had been
absent from home for a month and re-
turaed to his farm on Tuesday, Febru-
ary Ia, portion of his baggage, includ-
ing his rifle cartridges, not having yet
reached him. On the 10Th the
house was surrounded by brigands, and
what follows is thus described by Colo
mel Synge: "On Thursday night be.
tween ten and eleven o'clock, sitting in
my arm chair, was startled by shots
rattling in at the windows and blows at
the granary door below. My house is
a solid brick building, the ground-floor
forming the granary, which had no in
terror connection with the rest of the
house. The front Is occupied by a
large veranda. had nothing ready
My guns had been packed away when
went up country, and had not got
them out. There were no cartridges for
my rifle. broke open a gun case, put
a gun together, got out some cartridges,
went up to the top of the house and
opened fire with small shot where saw
the flashes of the rifles. They were all
round, banging away, and the bullets
smashing up everything. My Alba
mans, who occupy house across the
farm yard, about ore hundred yards off,
also opened fire, but the brigands were
all under cover. Getting through the
granary door they collected some
Planks and straw, and setting fire to
the haan tho hnnca full .,f
smoke and untenable, and / had to give
up. As they afterward told me, they
left the forest, situate about half mile
of, shortly after dark. sent two of the
band in advance with meat, with which
they silenced the watch-dogs, and then
the remainder advanced to reconnoiter.
First they looked after the Albanians
Going up into the veranda of their
house they saw them through the VIM
dow and took note of their arms. Leav-
ing some of their band to hold them in
check, they next proceeded to recon-
nOiter the house. First they contem-
plated making a ladder and assaulting
from the veranda, but fearing to expose
themselves, they considered that
setting fire to the building from
the outside would entail less loss.
After trying unsuccessfully they do
termined to burst in the granary door
and set fire inside. Two guns were told
off to each window on that side of
the house, with orders to keep up a
constant fire. Four men were sent to
the door, two with axes and two with
rifles, and the signal was given. On
my surrendering they took two of my
saddle-horses from the stable. 1 was
mounted on one and Niko, the chief of
the band, on the other. The workmen
were called to look after the fire. and
was told to send word that if any troops
were sent in pursuit should be muir
dered. was then marched off towards
Mount Olympus. The night was pitch
dark, with sleet and snow. About an
hour and a halfs journey south there
is the River Vistritza (Haleacmon) to
cross. Arrived at the ferry Niko, with
one companion went to the ferry-hut in
which were three Albanians and a
Christian boatman. One of the Albani-
ans was an old friend of Niko's, and he
counted on his passing him over the
river without opposition. Knocking at
the door he said, Don't you know mep
l have come from Africa and must pass
over tonight The Albanian said,
wait until blow up the fire a bit,
and then opened the door. Whether
Niko was not recognized or whether,
seeing he had only one man with him
the Albanian thought he would be an
easy capture, cannot say. but one of
them-Niko's friend-calling upon his
companions to shut the door, drew a
revolver from under his pillow and fired
three shots, wounding Niko's compan-
ion in the shoulder but missing himself.
Niko drew his yataghan and cut down
the man with the revolver, breaking
his yataghan with thrust which dis
abled the second Albanian. The third
was shot by one of the band through the
window, and, some of them rushing in,
the boatman was also wounded, but was
made to work the ferry across. The
wounded Albanian was brought down
to the boat, and, though begged hard
for his life and offered to ransom him,
he was shot, and i was told that were
they not in hurry he would have been
tortured. Having crossed the river
aud the plain between it and the noun
tains, it was steady ascent, the snow
getting deeper and deeper. About
dawn there was halt among some
rocks and the day passed there. At
night, on again. Until late on the
third night the unfortunate horses got
nothing but some dry teech-leaves to
eat and no water, as it was all frozen.
After the fourth night they disappeared
and afterwards turned up at Caterina.' u
After five nights travelling Colonel
Synge was taken to n cave, where he
remained. under the guard of Niko's
brother and five of the band, demand
for ransom of $4,000 liras, or abou!
f13,500 sterling, having meanwhile
been sent to Consul General Blunt by
the brigand chief. In this cave the
Colonel was kept until the negotiation:
were completed.
For food there were bread and
| goat, sometimes bread without the
goat, sometimes goa. without the bread
generally wine and coffee. Grca,
caution was requisite in procuring sup
plies, as they feared lest their tracks in
the snow should be followed. l knew
that while negotiations were pending
| Consul General Blunt would prevent
troops being sent in pursuit, but the
brigands were always suspicious. Once
they got an idea that other brigands
had been put on to capture Niko, with
q view to exchanging him for me, and
they were rather mad. They told me
that had such an attempt been made
and had Niko lost his life, they would
have made me jacket ALA fiancd-i
e., removed the skin of the upper part
of the body, and then roasted me n Ia
4 h.. \ l. n.