The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-19
MONTENEGRO BANDIT CHIEF
EYO1YODE MAKO MILANOW DRE-
 KALOVrC OF KUTSCH.

h E Turks and Annexed to Montenesro--
 " Story of Albanian Border Warfare
 Some of His Feats of Strength and skiIl.
 Tn recent years one of the most strik- E anE figures in Montenegrn history is 8 VnlyOde Marko. Born in Medun in 1850, z ne came of very humble parentage; his clan, the Drekale, was originally Alba < nian. but six hundred years ago # handful of men took possession of the { #mountainous district now called \ Kutsch, and founded one of the bravest and most warlike tribes in Montenegro. 7 If is true that the Kutsch have only re- cently become ontenegrin, and this story tells how they freed themselves 5 finally and completely from the hated Turkish rule under the leadership of Marko.
 Marko is first heard of at the age of < fifteen. He was then a shepherd \ guarding his fathers f1ocks in the rlountains Two Turks attempted to < take some of the sheep, whereupon the 2 boy Marko slew them, and as conse-
 u11ence of this deed he was outlaWed sr-z lied into the mountains. For many years he lived thus, making periodical
 descents on the Turks and killing & good number, until the Prince of Mon 4efiegro, hearing of his valor, sent for ] him, and placed him in his bodyguard 2 This is a great honor, as the body
 guard consists of but thirty men, picked from the bravest men of Mon Z tenegro, where cowardice is unknown. { lon reaching the age of twenty-five, Marko returned to his native hills. and
 formented the Turks in such manner 5 that. by day, he was obliged to hide in caves By night, heading small oano < x,f his tribe. he surprised and killed nu- merous small parties of Turks; the ob- feet of this was no doubt to force the Turks to declare war, or rather to send
 an army, for 1t was well known the < Kutsch were fighting at the instigat1on sof Montenegro, and that, should the
 Txntsch be attacked, the whole of Mon
 tenegro would come to their aid. The desired war was at last declared in
 1882 and Prince Nikita immediately
 rave the command of the Kutsch to
 Marko who thus found himself at the
 age of thirty-two at the head Of the elan.
 At the very beginning of the war Marko gained the biggest victory of the whole campaign. An army of twelve fl,ousand Turks was sent against the
 Kutsch, and. when it became known, ;4ba minister of war of Montenegro
 etrongly counselled Marko to fall back into Montenegro proper, and wait till l 4z. +,,;l, ha fnforced. But this Marko refused to
 do. and with force of between fif- teen hundred and two thousand men, < ar1hushed the Turks in his native
 Yno,,ntains. and fought the famous bat { tile of Fundina. It was terrible hght. vrhe Turks were surrounded on all sides lby the fierce Kutsch, whom they could
 not see, and, when completely demor- Alized, the Kutsch men fell upon them
 with their short and heavy handgar,
 with which they decapitated foe at
 single blow, and made short work of
 them. Not even their immense supe-
 riority in numbers helped the Turks,
 who lost eight thousand men on that
 day while Marko's losses amounted
 only to five hundred, heavy enough,
 considering his small force, The rout
 was complete, and the moral effect i'm
 mense. The whole of Montenegro now
 rose in arms, and endorsements were
 sent to Marko from all directions.
 Without, however, waiting for these to
 come LID, he attacked Medun with the
 remainder of his force. On the top of a
 precipitous hill the Turks had con-
 structed powerful fortress, which, at < the time, was garrisoned by eight { hundred men. He advanced his men
 within assaulting distance by placing
 sandbags in front of them, and took the
 fort by st orm. Those of the Turks who
 were left unhurt Marko conducted in
 safety to the Albanian frontier, and in
 this deed was notable exception to
 the usual custom, for the Montene-
 crins. following the example of their
 enemies, give no quarter. Like the Red Indians, they bring home the visi-
 ble signs of their prowess in the shape of heads, or if their success has been
 too great, noses are taken instead
 But Marko was ever merciful, though
 he brought home the heads of men
 killed in fair fight, as was the custom
 The number of heads which he is
 known to have taken in the course of
 his life exceeds a hundred, and this is
 considered a goodly number for Monte