The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-07
THOUGHT TO BE ALIVE
NOT BELIEVED THAT MISS STONE IS DEAD
The Abducted Missionary Not the Sort of Person to Succumb to Grief-Story of Her
 Capture.

New York. Dec. 6.-The Rev. Dr. Rouse, the Superintendent of the Ameri- can Mission at Salonica, replying to The worlds cablegram asking his opinion re- sarding the situation so far as Miss Stone IS concerned, wired as follows:
 T hope Miss Stone is living, though her reported death causes anxiety. How ever, seemingly the report did not come from eye-witnesses. and needs verifica- tion. Miss Stone was not enc to die of grief"
 Dr. Haskell also telegraphs from Sam akov: There Is well founded rumor that both captives were alive and we'll November 4 in secret sheltered place, where they were likely to remain for weeks"
 William E. Curtis the correspondent of
 The Chicago Record-Herald. now at So- fila. has this to say about Miss Stone and her capture:
 Miss Stone Is well known in Sofia and in fact throughout all the Balkan prov inces. She has been engaged in mission ary work in this region ever since the independence of Bulgaria was established at the close of the Turko- Russian war. | Her headquarters have been at Salonca, l Turkish port the Mediterranean, which was formerly known as Thessa- lonica. St. Paul addressed his Epistle to
 the Thessalonians to its inhabitants. and the city is otherwise identified with im- portant events in the history of Chris tianity. Rev. John H. House of Pains vile. O.. whose influence and usefulness extend beyond the borders Of Bulgaria. where he was pioneer in missionary work, has charge of the Headquarters at Salonica. and Miss Stone has been asso- ciated with him for many years. Her es- pecial duties have been to supervise the educational work, and it has been her habit to travel on horseback throughout the country. opening schools, establishing native teachers and looking after their work In this way she has acquired a wide acquaintance and is universally re- spected and beloved, not only by the Protestant converts, but all classes. It Is affecting to witness the demonstrations of sympathy and anxiety in her behalf by the people of Sofia
 When she was captured by the brigands on the 2nd of September. Mi s Stone was on her way from the little town of Ban sko in Bulgaria to Diumana. Turkey and had crossed the border. She was accom- panied by Rev. Stefano Tsilka. pastor of the Protestant Church at Monastir and hdtIllld lSilhd' NIT. l)lHltTOll, her father; four theological students from the missoary school at Jamakoff, and three young Bulgarian women. who had been educated at the same school and were on their way to take charge of schools in Macedonia belonging to the missions of the American Board, where Miss Stone intended to locate them per- manently. The other members of the party were two Bulgarians. sent from Bansko to look after the animals and act as guides. One or two of the men were armed but when they were stopped by the brigands they saw that they were outnumbered and 1t would be folly to make use of them. The recollection of different members of the party varies to the number of brigands. Some think there were only eight or ten; others in- sist that there were as many as twenty All agree that they were dressed in Turk ish uniforms and wore the red feZ, which is the distinguishing badge of a Moslem.