The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-02-18
WAYS OF THE BRIGAND
HIS MANNERS HAVE NOT CHANGED
MUCH IN A CENTURY.

4 standby i'm Fiction and Art - But Vul-
carly Practical IA His Chosen PROBES
sion-why lie Plundcrs-How Napo-
leon Conquered.
The following article was written
for the Washington Evening star by
William Elliot CriUis. LID: 4 new
Macedonian cry-"comc over and help
us''-rings in our ears. This time 1t is
a woman's. At the opening of the
twentieth century the same situation
confronts us as that i'm 1901. Then
collections were taken i'm the churches
to ransom American captives held in
the prisons of Trpoli In Mohamme-
dan countries the name of the young
United states was the synonym for
poverty and impotence. To-day i'm the
same region the United States means
wealth and weakness.
On the Sd of September. in the
| Turkish province of Macedonia, on a
! road frequently travelled, our country
woman. Miss Ellen NJ Stone. and
! party Of eleven other persons We're
surrounded i'm mountain dctile by
| thirty or forty Bulgarian brigands,
! who spoke broken Turkish wore Turk
| ish clothes and had their faces masked
| or blackened. The Bulgarian brigands
| Tor were they Turks9 were politely
careful to dismiss the English clergy
man. his wife and his wife's father,
| but. in hope OF a large ransom (S11O,-
! OOO) they kept the American lady.
The brigand is preancient charac-
ter. Long before the days OF Barab-
has he was in old Greece and Rome
Indeed without him much of their fas-
chatting mythology would lose point
| Every land has known him. and after
he has been properly hanged. broken
on the wheel or boiled in oil. his eX-
PLOTS form the staple of nursery iore
ever after The folk lore Of China.
! Japan and India is as fun of him as is
| the England OF Robin Hood. Jack
Shepard or Dick Turpin. In a Japan
csc inn one bathes in tub named ar
ter n knight of the road, who was duly
cooked according TO law. Burma has
it Dacoits; Syria knew its patriot
spoilers of the Roman, whom Herod
rooted out Of their lairs only by lower
ing down the face of the cliffs great
boxes filed with warriors. Even yet
the way TO Jericho offers work for
good Samaritans. To travel from
Athens to Marathon the studen; must
GO armed to the teeth. Italy is The
classic home Of the brigandS. with
Spain rs a near rival. Who does not
remember the brilliant picture OF Hor-
ace Vernet. in which the French dra
gon i'm Calabria pistols the patriotic
and picturesque robber? Along the
Rhine Schinderhannes is tenderly cher
ished. The Spanish Jose Maria. the
French Cartouche. the Italian Pezza
are still the fascinating theme or fire
side story.
Indeed. what would arr, fiction and
the operate stage do without the bri-
gand, with his peaked and befCathcrcd
hat his chromatic Jacket and iiamIoy
ant sash, and a whole latticewori5 OF
black ribbons on his legGins? Who
does not remember the dirty. "On yon.
der rocks rcclniucE" Is not that gen.
tleman. ever ON the decline. mono other
than Brother Devil, or Fra Diavoloi
1t is the bucand's business 10 rcciiny
on the rocks and wait for his prey
lie lives with the sportive goats. Tho
high hills an" % refuge fer him. as well
as for the eoucy. Indeed SO much is
this chronic lonncss affected by tho
brigond that popular psychologists, liv
ing in England. who remember Rodcr
ick Dhu and thc general tendency of
the Highlander TO lift cattle, would de-
rive the word from hrigant n High
lander. and this from brig. % hilltop
Eut. no. Our friend over personally
rich in decorative elements. iuhGbiJ'
moro genial climcs to the southward
/ His name in It's true derivation. cN
plains why Doc is often 500 popular con
-idorei patriot the alleged cham
pion OF HE poor and the error o. th.
/ unjust rich. Down ct the root th,
Italian word means 90 be ambitions
TO Dee busy and strive. TO achieve gran,
things only as tho gentleman ON th'
| hnt7p interprcts these terms to th
disadvantage Of the travelling puhli
does his name have % bad sense. an'
mean robbcr or pirate. NcNt 60 cap
turc his business is ransom. Indeed
trig3uds n tine Middle Ages were ba
rons. and the later fcudal system wa
n sort of licensed hrcondagc. I'm th
days when soldiers had Go get thci
p8y I'm thc best way they could FhicI
is largely the situation of tho rurkIs
army officers and soldiers to.day.
ransom was regular business. To
dag it may seem n terribly large SUN
to pay tS111OOOJ for su unmarric
American lady in middle lie We ash
where nrc the knights crrauts Sc
think OF The rat hauls which wer
made iu thc past ny k.dnapors or an
ductorF OF some sor,of Richard
released on LaLncu l,u l.aii,ss o 9,
70 q