Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-13
IN THE HANDS OF BRIGANDs.
A Resident of Phiiadciphia Made Prisoner
by Turkish bandits.

The dispatch from Constantinople printed IL
The STAR yesterday giving the news of the
| capture of q Frenchman named Raymond by
/ Turkish brigands near Tcheresskoy and theil
holding him for a ransom of 80. OOO unde,
! penalty of death If it shall be refused, confers
| pertinency upon the story of a similar adven-
ture told yesterday by Marco Abassis, a young
Greek, now employed a clerk in a Water
street shipping house in Philadelphia. Mr.
Abassis Is now about thirty-fve years old and
speaks his native language, English, French,
German, Italian and Spanish with equal iuency.
Although born in Greece he was educated in
Paris and upon reaching maturity took up the
profession of "a designer of jewelry in that CITY,
There he was employed by ore of the most i'm
Portant firms in the trade, and it was while in
their service that he met with the exciting in
cldent herein related.
In December. 1885," he said II was sent by
my employers on an errand to Constantinople
in charge of a lot of jewelry valued at $40 coo,
which had been ordered from them by foreign
residents of the Turkish capital. The reason
for sending me with the goods was that might
alter the designs of various rings chains and
bracelets in case they were not suited to the
tastes of the purchasers On the morning of
the day preceding Christmas took the train at
Vienna Tor Constantinople, and by nightfall We
were well up III the snow-covered Balkan
mountains 1t was dresry journey as could
be well imagined. Nothing in sight but the
white heights stretching away far the
vision could reach either side of us. / had
compartment all to myself in one of the first
class cars, and managed to doze at intervals
during the night.
TAKEN BY BRIsANDs.
Just as the dawn of Christmas morning was
breaking and the train was approaching little
wayside station called Tchsrnapaya the loco
motive came to a dead halt and the engineer
reported that there was an obstruction on the
track 1t proved TO be q barricade of logs
FIRMLY wedged in between the rails. and was
evidently placed there for the purpose of stop
ping the train. just at that point the railroad
ran through deep cut, the sides of which were
covered with a dense forest and thick under
brush. All the passengers. of whom there
were not more than twenty. and but two be-
sides mysef travelling hrst-ciass, had gotten
on the train and examining the
obstruction, when we were suddenly sur
rounded by band of about thirty fierce
looking armed men dressed in the costume of
turkish mountalneers. Their chief, small,
Dushy bearded man, called out some COM
mands in u language / did not understand, but
the native passengers evidently did, for they
made precipitate rush for tine cars under the
guns OF the briSands, for such they were. l
followed my fellow-travelers and took my seat
III my compartment. l had with mt a small
tin box containing the jewels. 1 at once opened
1t and began secretinS the precious articles
about my person, hoping that perhaps the rob-
bers would not make very close search, but
was not half way through the process when the
door of my compartment was violently burst
open and huge Turk pu: bg silver-mounted
pistol to my head. l dropped the jewels and /
am not ashamed TO say thatmy teeth chartered.
The brigand called to some of his COM
panions, and and my box were taken before
the chief in another car. He was counting over
the money taken from the other passengers
and was apparently dissatisfied with the small
ness of the amount, forbidding scowl sat
upon his face. Every portion of my clothing was
quickly searched. the jewelry that had hidden
was found, and also my purse, which contained
about S3OO for travelling expenses. Besides l
had a letter of credit upon a firm of bankers in
Constantinople for 81 900 more. and some of
the cards of our Paris house. The chief studied
the cards and the letter for some time and then
passed them over to one of his band, who
presently came to me and addressed me in
broken French, demanding to know who was
and how i came into possession of the
jewels. could do nothing but confess nv
business, and the chief then had that one of his
subordInates who had spoken to me write a
letter to the Constantlnople bankers, which L
learned informed them that was
made prisoner by the brigands. and that
reward Of 10000 francs GA ,0OO) was demanded
for my release.
HELD CAPTIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS.
THAT done and the letter intrusted to the
guard or conductor Of the train, the remainder
of the passengers we're released and the train
Was permitted to depart for Constantinople,
the robbers having previously removed the
barrier with which they had Obstructed the
track. My hands were tied behind me and the
whole band. with me in the midst of them, took
up the march for Tchernapaya, two miles
away. There they took possession of the inn
and from the manner in which they were well
coined by the innkeePer and the people came
- 49, Al
thy with them. Upon our arrival my feet had
also been tied and l was carried to a stable in
the rear OF the tavern, where l WAS thrown
upon some straw and left. as l supposed to
spend that Christmas night i'll company with
the cattle and pigs. The sounds Of revelry and
nirth reached me from the inn, and the
thought came upon ME that 1 might try to
make NY escape. but / found that nly bonds
were too secure for me to break or unfasten.
Some hours after dark l was summoned
from my couch of straw by the French
speaking bandit who released my legs, and
with his pistol pointed at my head, conducted
me into the main room of the tavern. 1t was
a low-ceiiinged apartment, with bare floors
benches, chairs and tables scattered about and
a huge fire blazing Ill a mud chimney. 1t did
not take ME long to discover that the robbers
and such of the villagers as they had admitted
to their compsnionshIp were undeniably drunk
They had found several cases of brandy and
champagne on the train and i'll spite OF the
edict of the ko:an had been lndulging freely
The chief called me before him, and through
the medium of the man who spoke French.
told me In his drunken. good humored fashion
that as i haa made them no trouble and
seemed u docile fellow, he had decided 10 let
ne share their festivities / wasn't much in
clined for enjoyment. and was about to refuse
the glass of wine handed mt, when the chief
made such a menaclng motion toward me
With his yataghan that half choked myself In
my hurry TO swallow the liquor.
After spending a few hours in this con-
yiyial way 1 was taken back to the stable. NV
feet again tied and there laid until morning.
At carly dawn the band was astir and started
on the march for their retreat far up in the
mountains. All that day We were toiled along
blind paths directly up the side Of the hull. and
as dusk was coming on We reached an open
'plateau Oh which were located i half dozen
huts built Of rough stones ard the iuterstices
chinked with mud. This Was the home of the
robbers. l was consigncd to one of the huts
bound again and strict watch kept over me
day and night. A sentry. vino was relieved
every three hours, sat always outside nv hut.
but my French-speakiIg friend was never per-
United to come near me. Otherwise did not
fare badly. 1 was beautifully fed and bottle
of champagne WAS sent to me every day Thus
two weeks passed, and was growing anxious
for fear that the robbers might carry out the
threat of killing me unless my friends paid the
ransom they demanded.
RESCUED BY TURKISH TROOPS
ION the fifteenth night after being made
prisoner l was sleeping soundly when rattle