The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-10-24

CAPTURED BY BULGARIAN BRIGANDs.
querOrs or otherwise minister to their
pleasure. The naughty bearing and tyr
amy of the troops which marched to
and fro in the country so cowed the
Christian population that they became
timid serfs.
Many escaped death by embracing
Islam, and it was not uncommon for
parents voluntarily to send their daugh-
tiers into the harems of the begs so
that they themselves might gain pro-
lection.
Numbers of young begs, or men of
station, made excursions from Philip
popolis into neighboring villages, Or
dered the girls brought out to dance for
their amusement and afterward COM
PEELED the young women to join them
in debauchery.
Respectable girls fled jim terror when
a Turk entered a village or blackened
their faces and resorted to various de-
vices to make themselves repulsive.
The relatives of maltreated girls re-
taliated and seducers and tyrants were
aSsassinated.
This is one cause Of the present brig
andage on the Bulgarian border, which
has existed for centuries Cruel as the
bandits often are to foreigners, they
have hold on the affections of the ma
tives and are aided by the peasant pop
ulation, who shelter and protect them.
A curious state of affairs has resulted
from this anarchy. When the peas
antry are maltreated by the Turkish
begs and other officials, they appeal to
the brigands, Haiduts, Kirdjalis, or
by whatever name they are known,
for protection or revenge.
In one place young Turkish noble
man had been guilty of the greatest
cruelty and excuses, committing out
RACES on the wives and daughters of
peasantry, even capturing and selling
children. He entered q village on one
occasion on horseback, surrounded by
his retinue all decked in silk and gold.
He had not gone far when a band
of Haiduts, led by a well known chief,
sprang from hiding places, pulled the
beg from his horse, broke his arms and
legs and struck off his head. This
bloody trophy they put on the end of
a spear and carried it in triumph at
the head Of the band as they marched
through the village.
Many similar instances are still told
of similar brigand chiefs and their fol-
lowers leading kind of Robin Hood
life in the mountains.
There are even historic cases of
brigand chiefs becoming so formidable
that the sultan has been obliged to take
them into his service and recognize
their authority.
The most notable instance is that of
Osman Pasvanogla, the independent
pasha Of Vidin.
AS young man he saw his father
murdered by Turkish noble. He then
left his home and adopted a brigand
life in the mountains of Albania near
Bulgaria.
firing Of that, he took service with
the porte at the head of troop of vol
unteers. But his power grew so rapid
ly that he exercised an almost indie
pendent rule, and the formidable forces
which he had at his command roamed
about the country fighting and plumber
ing, so that it was unsafe for travel
ers, even missionaries, to move about.
Many vain attempts were made by the
porte to reduce him to submission.
Large armies were sent after him, but
they were driven back defeated, and it
was not till he felt his power begin to
wane that the pasta again offered his
services to the sultan and was accepted
in the war with Servia.
This simply illustrates the place that
brigandage holds in the Turkish do
main. A new outbreak of this out
lawry is indicated by the recent cap
ture Of Miss Stone, whose fate is now
so anxiously speculated upon.