The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-21
AN OLD ARAB MARTYR.
THE STORY OF AN ALGERIAN
STRONGHOLD.


Embraced Christianity and Refused
to Recant-He Was Built Alive In a
Wall, and 800 Years Afterward the
Stones Proclaimed His Fate.
From the London Spectator.
The other day, as was listening to some
old familiar words which have been sound
ing now for ], 800 years and more, my mind
travelled back 20 fort in Algiers, the Fort
des Vingt ,Quatre Heures, made of huge
blocks, which for 800 years remained i'm
movable aud silent. But in 1858 martyr
dom which some people looked upon as an
idle tale, others as a superstitious legend
was brought to light, and the very stoLas
themselves, with undeniablo witness, re-
yealed the pathetic figure of the Arab mar
tyr. Geronimo. Just 347 years ago little
Arab baby was taken prisoner by some
Spanish soldiers and brought to Orau to be
offered up for sale as slave The good
vicar general, Juan Caro-, bought him and
took him to his own house to educate
him, and he baptized him under the
name of Geronimo. When the child was s
wears old few Arab slaves made their es-
cape from Oran, and, believing they were
doing the boy kindness, they took him with
them; SO for some years he lived with his
people as q Mohammedan. But the holy
faith which Juan Caro- had planted in the
ch!ld's heart had taken such a firm root that
his relations could not tear i5 Que. He re-
manned with them till he was 25, and then
he took step which he knew no Arab could
forgive, and which, If he should be recapt-
ured, would lead him with certainty to suf~
feriug or death. He fed from his home and
returned to the vicar general, and, telling
him of the dangers of his flight, he said,
simply: ut is because I wish to live hence
forth III the faith of the divine"
Juan Caro- was so delighted that he
received the young Arab like lost child,
and Geronimo on his side, could noe show
his benefactor love and gratitude enough.
He coon entered the Spanish guard as paid
soldier, and he performed such brave deeds
that he obtained very high military honors.
But the hight OF his joy and
that the vicar general gave his
consent and approval to marriage
between him and a young Arab girl also
convert with whom he had fallen in love-
For ten years nothing but happiness shone
on his life; he won the respect and conf
dence Of all around him; he was Juan Carols
right hand, and his wife was daughter to
LIS duODtcQ EaOACAs ANO cLi4OhS bS6ultu W
cross their path; no troubles seemed draw
ing near them.
But one bright May day in 1869 news
came to Oran that a small Arab encamp-
ment had been noticed short distance off.
The rumor did not seem of importance:
handful OF Spaniards could easily manage
the Arabs; at least so Geronimo must have
imagined, for he took only nine soldiers and
manned little boat, intending TO land on
Ia of vrhara IA h1 had cd
They rowed out OF the safe harbor with the
Gun shining on them and sailed along the
blue sea past the coral fishery Of Mers-el,
never dreaming of danger, when suddenly
two Moorish brigentines which had been
lying secretly in wait for them, chased
them and ran them down. The nine sold
iers escaped, but Geronimo, who was too
marked a man, wss seized upon at once
and carried off to Euldj Ali, the Gala
brian renegade. A great cry spread like
wildfre among the Arabs throughout Al
gerla that the apostate was captured; that
lie, the traitor, who had abandoned his own
people, denied his own faith, was lying
prisoner in the fortress, the "Bagno." The
Moors. who knew his history, made solemn
VOW that they would restore him to his old
religion; so they began by sending mar
abouts to convert him with arguments and
fair promises. But they returned dlscom-
fitted 20 Euldj Ali; their fine words had
awaited nothing; the apostate remained i'm
movable.
A fresh treatment was next tried he was
loaded with chains, aud treated with the ut
most cruelty, and, when he was faint from
torture and scarcely able to speak, the mar
abouts stood around him, offering him
liberty, power, honor, riches. But no offer
made him deny his faith, no longing for
freedom made him forswear for one single
moment his religion. Once, after some most
horrible threat, he raised his poor suffering
head, and with voice so weak it could
scarcely be heard he said They think
they will make me a Mohammedan; but
that they shall never DO, even il they kill
me. For four months Euldj Ali gloated
over the daily fortunes he was inflicting on
teronlmo; but at the last the very same
hess OF his cruelty paled upon him and he
was determined to invent new and more
hldeous revenge for the "apostate's obsti-
macy" One morning the idea came to him.
ne was examining the works of a fort by
the gate OF Bab-el-Oued when he saw block
OF beton standing by the great stones. This
block was mold i'll the shape of the i'm
mense stones. filed with kind of concrete.
when the concrete was sufficiently hard
ened the wall was to be built with it. Here
vas the hight OF tortured! Here was the
most exquisitely painful death man might
devise! The dog of slave should be laid
40 q SiuIlleT IuOiu, One IlQulQ plaster should
De poured over him; he should be built alive
into the wall; the renegade shall be turned
into very stone! But as Arabs never act
hastily, the pasha elaborated most carefully
whether this really could be the most brutal
death he could conceive, and then, below
1ng there was no more effectual means of
barbarity, he called to Navarrese mason,
VINO was also Christian slave: "Michal,n
ne SAID, you see this empty mold Of betou
Tor the present leave it: / have mind to
MAKE beton of that dog of Oran who refuses
70 come back to the faith of Islam" Poor
Maitre Michel had to obey, but he finished
DIS days work with a sad heart. As soon as
he entered the "Bagnon for he also was
prisoner he found out Geronimo and told
MN EuldJ ANS command. Geronimo heard
the command in perfect silence, aud then
very calmly he answered: Gods holy
VIII De done. Let not those miserable
men think they will Brighten me out of the
Ielth OF Christ by the idea of this cruel
ueeth. May my blessed Savior only
pardon me my sins and preserve me my
The whole OF that night this brave Young
q rap spent In prayer and preparation for
tue death tortures which he knew were
awaiting him. Must not the memories of
nlS hlgh military honor and fame, the kind
ness OF Juan Caro-. the love of his fair young
VIE; have flashed through his overstrung
I I'M Ike some beautiful, glittering dreaml
!" as nothing left! Nothing real1 Nothing