The Hawaiian star., 1901-10-22

nrigand8g, has had bee home Boz and
about the Mediterranean FOR centuries.
The briEandage of the seas, piracy,
was common aIl over the Levant and
even mp 90 the rocks of Gibraltar well
into the last century Every little
lsiet OF the Greek Archipelago swarm
ed with honest fishermen and trad
ers. who promptly became pirates when
a peaceful merchant man CHANGED to be
becalmod. The orthern coast of Africa
was simply crowded with nests Of
MOslem pirates, and IL took our own
gallant fleet TO put an ,nd to the AL
gerincs when European commerce was
still groaning under their tyranny.
Piracy, the sea brgandage, was
brought to an end by steam. The mer-
chant steamer could always show her
heels 20 the priate and the man-of-
war steamer could always hunt him
out But land brigandade sull -four
ishes. 1t would not flourish if there
were proper means of locomotion, good
roads, railways, and easy access even
into the most distant parts of the coun-
try. but 1t viii flourish as long as such
means OF access are wanting.
The countries where brigandage
nourishes at the present time are Tur-
key, Greece, Southern Italy and Sicily,
and Spain. Viewed from our modern
standpoint they are a delectable i'll
governed, backward set Of countries.
Viewed from an historical standpoint
one cannot help but mourn over their
decrepitude and fall. A thousand, two
thousand, three thousand years ago
some of these places Graded the finest
thought Of the world, and the ideas of
men from these decrepit countries, fire
the men Of modern times, and urge
them to deeds Of high emprize.
The case Of Miss Stone naturally
makes one turn to the history of brig
andage. One wants TO know what her
chances Of life may be. one Of the
most celebrated cases of brigandage
occurred near Marathon in Greece, in
1870. There was quite a party Of Eng
lish people travelling among whom
were some Of the members Of the en-
bassy at Athens. The party We're seiz-
ed at Oropus, and Lord Muncaster and
the ladies were at once released in or
der to treat for the ransom Of e25.OOO
or Sl25,O00. The brigands were followed
up by troops and finally surrounded.
The four gentlemen they held as host
ages were all killed. They were Messrs.
Nynor, Lloy, and Herbert of the Brit
ish embassy and Count de Boyl a young
French diplomat. Eventually five of the
brigands were hanged.
In the same year two Englishmen of
Gibraltar were captured by Spanish
brigands in what is known as the neu-
tral ground, territory which lies be-
tween the fortress and Spanish soil. 1t
cost these gentlemen $11, 900 to get free,
and then the authorities sailed in, kill
ed a number of the brigands and re-
covered considerable portion of the
ransom. OF the brigandage of Sicily
and Southern Italy it is not necessary
to go into detail. 1t has been a con-
slant source Of terror to all landed
proprietors and merchants in those
parts. AS a rule these brigands have
confined their efforts to their own peo-
pie, and thus the outer world hears
little of them, but much interesting in
formation can be gathered from a book
of travel named The Forgotten Isles"
and the matter is treated picturesquely
by Marion Crawford in his "Curleone,"
while Dumas gave his peculiarly lurid
sketch of it in an episode of his Monte
Christie"
1t is one thing to chase up brigandage
historically at ones study table, and
quite another thing to be in the heads
of brigands as Miss Stone was by last
accounts. Miss Stones safety lies en-
tirely in the lack of nerve of the parti-
cular chief who has captured her, or
the amount of political pull there may
be behind the act. There are certainly
three solutions of the incident. Miss
stone may have been captured nde-
pendently by bandit chief. In such
case, if he is followed up, her life is in
serious danger. Again she may have
been captured at the instigation of
Turkish officials in order to oct ran
som out of the United States. In this
case her life is in no danger. Lastly
she may have been captured by the
Macedonian Revolutionaries who de-
sire to embroil Turkey with any civiliz-
ed state they can, and these men will
not hesitate to take her life if they
think that it can precipitate trouble.
One can hardly imagine such things
hapennng in the twentieth century
and it is a comment upon what narrow
limits our boasted civilization is con-
fined to.