The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-10

! agency, the district became infested by
! brigands, and before a week had passed
| the engineer and his chief assistants had
! been captured by the bandiu under the
very nose of the Bulgarian gendarmes and
| carried off into the mountains. Four hours
! later a special train arrived upon the scene
! conveying an entire regiment which had
| evidently been held in readiness for the
! purpose and which took possession of
the line, the rolling stock and the sta
| tions under the prexet that such a course
| was necessary in order to prevent any FUR
| they brigand outTages calculated to en-
| danger and impede traffic. To-day 1t is
| well known that the entire affair was
| organized at Sofia by the authorities, and
| to such an extent with the knowledge of
! Ferdinand that the brigands who car
ried off the French companys engineers
! still jokingly describe themselves to this
| day as members of "Ferdinand's own
| band"
1t would take too long to describe here
| at length the manner in which, prior to
! the fall of Stambuloff, men and even
| young boys who had incurred the i'll Will
! of the prince and of his government We're
| imprisoned murdered and subjected both
at Sofia and at Philipopohs to fortunes
comparable only to those inflicted at CON
stantnople by the Turks upon the untor-
| tunate Armenians. But when Ferdinand
/
! determined to get rid of him. The origin
! of the quarrel was not alone the refusal
| of Stambuloff to submit to the stern rules
| of almost medieval etiquette which Ferd-
| Inland and his Bourbon consort endeaVor-
! ed to introduce at their pinchbeck court OF
| Sofia but also Ferdinand's knowledge
| that his premier would never consent to
! his sacrificing one jot of the hard-Won in
| dependence of Bulgaria in order to secure
! the good will of the car, which alone at
| that time stood in the way of his recog-
milton as a sovereign by the other sigma
| tory powers of the treaty of Berlin.
One night when Stambulon was walk
ing through a street in Sofia his colleague
and friend Beltcheff. the minister of
! finance. was SID dead by his side with
| bullets that were evidently intended Tor
the prime minister himself. The murder
ers, who are well known and who boast
of Prince Ferdinands protection, remain
unpublished to this day. On another occa-
sion. when Stambuloff was at CONSTANT
NOBLE on official business, the Bulgarian
| Diplomatic agent DR.. NulkoVich, was NOR
! tally stabbed by assassins who mistook
! him for the premier, and who are sun at
! liberty and now living in Soa. Finally,
! however, Ferdinand, being unable to get
rid Of Stambuloff in any other way, took
| the bull by the horns and summary dis
missed him.
Realizing that his life was in danger and
! that his enemies having succeeded him IN
! office, he had no further means of pro-
| tecung himself, Stambuloff thereupon de-
! voted all his efforts 20 getting out of the
! country. Commenting on this, the st.
! Petersburg Novasti, one of the leading or
| gans of the press in Russia, declared at
! one time that prince FERDINAND was be-
| tween two fires. On the one hand he fears
! the departure Of Stambuloff from the
! country. owing to his being in possession
| ha. n
| would be extremely unpleasant; on the
| other hand he would dearly like to get
! rid of him. 1t is likely. therefore, that MI.
! Stambuloff will be done away with.
! Three months later Stambuloff was liter
| ally hacked to pieces in sight OF the royal
| palace and in broad daylight, under the
very noses of the police, who looked idly
! on. by men who are to-day walking about
| UNPUBLISHED in Sofia and even enjoying the
! friendship of the prince. The latter actual
| Nv went 20 the theater at Carlsbad ana
| rendered himself conspicuous by his noisy
| laughter and eXuberant gayety wlthln
| few hours after learning of the frghttul
murder of the statesman to whom he
! owed his crown.
The successive murders of Vulkovich, of
| Beltchef and of Stambuloff, and of the
| immunity enjoyed by their murderers, are
! by no means Isolated cases. Thus Few
| weeks ago a DR.. Takeff, who had made
/
| censures upon the extravaganza of the
| court Of Sofia, was driving with the poet
| Aleko Konstantnoff. They happened to
! change seats on the way, and had scarce
| ly done so when a a lonely part OIL the
| road a volley was fired and the poet was
! killed The official press at Sofia, while ex-
| pressing regret for the death of the poet,
did not hesitate to attribute it to the fact
! that he was in bad company, and this, TO-
gether with the efforts Of both the local
| police and the authorities OF Sofia TO hush
| I'D the whole affair, merely tends to
| strengthen the conviction that the bullets
were intended for Prince Ferdinand
! critic.
Finally there is Capt. Boitseeff the ia
vorite aid-de-camp of the prince ana
| chamberlain of the princess, VINO, atter
! having been arrested at the instance or
| the Austro-Hungarian envoy at the very
dinner table Of Ferdinand for the murder
of an Austro- Hungarian actress, Anne
Simon is to-day again at liberty, thanks
10 his royal master. True, he was con-
victed of the crime on the most over
whelming evidence and condemned to
death But Ferdinand committed the SEN
tence to lifelong Imprisonment, which, ac-
cording to accounts just received from
Sofia. consists in remaining indoors dur
ing the daytime and giving elaborate
luncheons in the beautifully furnished
suite of apartments which he occupies in
the residence Of the governor of the pris-
on. while at night he is allowed TO roam
about Sofia on parole, attending social en-
tertainments and actually showing him
self at the theater. In fact. his alleged
Imprisonment is nothing but a hollow
mockery and his name continues to figure
as that of an officer on the roster Of the
Bulgarian army '+
All that the prime minister, StoilOff, has
to say in excuse of such things as these
Is that Bulgaria Is an oriental country.
The prince is forced to fill up the various
government posts and court offices with
people who themselves understand the
slippery ways Of thieves, brigands and
murderers. Among honorable gentlemen
no fitting persons can be found, and the
prince must initiate therefore the example
of King Louise Philippe Of France, his
grandfather who set up as projects or