Evening star., 1901-11-23
His Manners Have Not Changed
Much in the Century.
A STANDBY IN FICTION And ART
But Vulgarly Practical in His
Chosen Profession.
w 81 7 HE PLUM NDERS S

| Written for The Evening Star by William Elliot
Gritis. Ii. d.
new Macedonian cry-"come over and
help us"-rings in our ears. This time 1t is
woman's. At the opening of the twenti-
eth century the same situation confronts us
as that in 1901. Then collections were taken
| in the churches to ransom American cap
tives held in the prisons of TripoH. In Mo-
hammedan countries the name of the young
| United States was the synonym for poverty
| and impotence Today in the same region
! the United States means wealth and weak
ness
On the Sd of September. in the Turkish
| province of Macedonia, on road frequent
! ~ travelled. our countrywoman, Miss Ellen
M Stone, and a party of eleven other per-
sons were surrounded in a mountain defiIe
by thirty or forty Bulgarian brigands who
| spoke broken Turkish wore Turkish clothes
| ana mad their faces n1asQued or blackened.
me bulgarian brigands (or were they
| TurksD were politely careful to dismiss the
! English clergyman, his wife and his wife's
| father, but, in hope of a large ransom
| (S1lOOO0), they kept the American lady.
The brfgand Is preancient character.
| Long before the days of Barabbas he was
| in old Greece and Rome Indeed without
| him much of their fascinating mythology
would lose point. Every land has known
| MN, and after he has been properly hang
ed, broken on the wheel, or boiled in OIL
| his exploits form the staple of nursery lore
| ever after. The folk lore of China. Japan
| and India is as full of him as is the Eng
| land of Robin Hood, Jack Shepherd or Dick
| Turpin In a Japanese inn one bathes in a
| tub named after knight of the road, who
| was duty cooked according to law Burma
mas 1t Dacoits; Syria knew its patriot
| spoilers of the Roman, whom Herod rooted
| out of their lairs only by lowering down
the face of the cliffs great boxes filled with
warriors Even yet the way to Jericho Of
ters t work Tor good Samaritans. To travel
from Athens to Marathon the student must
| go armed to the teeth. Italy is the classic
| nome of the brigands, with Spain as a near
| rival Who does not remember the brilliant
| picture of Horace Nernet, in which the
| French dragon in Calabria pistols the
patriotic and picturesque robber? Along
the Rhine Schinderhannes is tenderly cher
S lsnea. me Spanish Jose Maria, the French
| Cartouche. the Italian Pezza are still the
| fascinating theme of fireside story.
| Would BE a Loss
Indeed, what would art fiction and the
| operatic stage do without the brigand. with
| his peaked and befeathered hat his chro-
| matte jacket and fiamboyant sash. and
whole latticework of black ribbons on his
| leggins? Who does not remember the dittv.
| ''On yonder rocks reclining?" Is not that
| gentleman, ever on the decline, none other
than Brother Devil or Fra Diavolo? 1t is
| the origand's business to recine on the
I ".
| the sportive goats. The high hills are a
| refuge for him, well as for the coney
| Indeed, so much is this chronic loftiness
| anectea by the brigand that popular ety.
| mologists. living in England, who remem-
| Der Roderlck Dhu and the general tendency
| OF the Highlander to lift cattle would de-
| rive the word from brigant, a Highlander
| and this from brig, hilltop. But no, Our
| friend, ever personally rich in decorative
| elements, inhabits more genial climes TO
the southwark. His name, in its true deri-
oil xr-j,rr b.
| lar. considered patriot, the alleged cham
| plon of the poor and the terror of the un-
| just rlch. Down at the root the Italian
| word means to be ambitious to be busv
| and strive, to achieve grand things OnIy
| as the gentleman on the hilltop interprets
| these terms to the disadvantage of the
traVeiing puo1c does his name have a bad
sense, and mean robber or pirate. Next to
| capture, his business is ransom. Indeed
| brigandS in the middle ages were barons
and the later feudal system was sort of
| licensed brigandage. In the days when SOL
| dierS had to get their pay in the best way
they could-which is largely the situation
| OF the Turkish army officers and soldiers
| today-ransom was a regular business To-
| day 1t may seem a terribly large sum to
pay tS110,0O0) for an unmarried American
| lady in middle life. We ask where are the
| knights errant? Yet think of the fat hauls
which were made in the past by kidnapers
| or abductors of some sort-of Richard T
| released on payment lin values of today of
| s2.00o.oOO: or of King John of France, ram
|
Men of Standing.
Do associate the brigand with vrlear
| thieves and pickpockets? How do we in
| Jure innocence. Our commercial ideas
| vary from those of the kidnapers them
! selves, or of those who look back tenderIv
upon them. Usually the brigand is a gen.
| tleman of property as he certainly is Of
| standing in the local community. He ex-
lists only where government is weak and
where anarchy prevails more or less. as il
has long prevailed in Macedonia and Bull
garia. Usually he is in collusion with the
authorities, and his plunder is often shared
by the military. especially the unpaid MILL
tary VINO are supposed to exterminate
MN. The brtgand is usually a very reli-
gious man, and eminently orthodox with a
conscience void of offense. He follows his
business in order to pay his church assess
ments He vows to the Virgin or some IA
vorite saint to burn so many candles or
offer so many prayers. according TO the
amount of booty collected. BY a large ran
som he hopes all the more to glorify his
God. Not only is this true in Calabria, in
Spain. in the line from Vienna to Naples
and all over the Levant, but even Burmese
Chinese and Japanese robbers are devout
TO the last degree. Curiously enough Miss
Stone has been captured by ''buggers" the |
people who because of their ancient her
estes gave in western Europe their name |
(Bulgar1dns) to commuters of the. most |
bestial crimes, who might indeed be her
etics, or, on the other hand. eminently Or
thodox. while yet guilty of things unspeak- |
able. No doubt these kidnapers of Miss
Stone. whether Turks, who patronize |
multitude of saints between them and
Allah, or Bulgarians who burn Incense
before their eikons, will hang up their gold |
Qf they get iD either ex-votO, or before |
their holy pictures.
One Who Conquered
To this day in some parts of Italy and |
France, Napoleon is held in erecra+io,
because he made the roads safe and COM |
PEELED the abolition of the romantic pro- |
fession by having every brigand promptly |
shot, whether he committed murder IN the |
name of the church or for the more selfish |
motives. Brigandage issa disease of gov |
ernment, and brigands are the parasites |
that fatten on the dying body poritic. II |
cannot exist where law is equal and gov /
ernment honest and strong.
We must not be too hard upon the Turks |
because such an episode of road robbery |
has taken place within the sultan's domn-