Evening star., 1902-04-11
Brigands Looked Like Turks.

The brigands were a mixed lot Some
OF them were dressed as Turks talked
Turkish and looked like Turks Others
Were Greeks and others Albanians They
were all heavily armed. Whether troops
were following us not I could not say
Tor In our night Journeys had no means
or learning where We were or what danger
threatened our captors Several times it
seemed 10 me from their behavior that
they dreaded attack"
Were they as picturesque as stage brie
ahdsE some one asked.
Miss Stone smiled Her eyes twinkled
Although born in New England" she
explained. Il went to the far west when I
was quite young. and 1 must admit that
nave never seen a stage brigand. Our
captors were fferce-lOoking men, and they
were all heavily armed. They called each
other by their first names. as We would
call Tom. Dick or Harry
Il have heard that the Turkish govern
ment say that l was careless and had no
guard. and that is why I was captured
that IS not true l was careful to travel
IN the daytime. 1t was long before sun
set when we were taken. There were ten
IN our party and we were going in broad
daylight to little market town where
there was to be a fair next day so that
there were more people than usual along
the roads 1t is true that We had no guard
but II we had asked for Oue ONLY two or
three soldiers would have been sent with
our party, and that would have been dis
sstrous to us. There would have been a
scrimmage and probably with bad results
Brigands Cried Out ''Dourw
We ten were driving along in three car
riages when the brigands sudd aulv rushed
out OF hiding place and appeared on all
sides OF US. crying out Dourr which means
stop" Well. We 'doured.' 1t seemed to me
there were twenty-five or thirty of the
brigands. though only eighteen accompa-
@ nled MIS- Isilka and me on our long jour
ney. AS TO the story that it was prear-
ranged TO take Mrs. TsiIka there is no
truth In II
me brigands intended as matter Of
Iact. 10 take Mrs Oosheva an elderly
"ido". out. providentially for her. she had
fallen III that morning and the men saw il
would be impossible for her to .rayel as
they wished Then they asked. is there
any other married woman here?' and some
on pointed out Mrs. Tsilka- Her husband
nad the only revolver in the party but the
women surrounded him and persuaded him
not to use it.
r-.i,f nhe brisands' reason for taking Mrs
ideas Of chivaIry. Although was wears
and years older than She they still felt il
necessary to take married woman along
as sort of chaperon for me-"
Ii was suggested that the Turkish gov
ernment was too weak or too corrupt TO
suppress the brgands
Or perhaps both?" queried Miss Stone
fou on the outside can tell better than
Do | believe it was right TO paw the ram
son? Wen. I'm glad It was paid. As to
"hether II mad anything to do with a
Macedonian political movement I am sure
cannot tell L began to be aware that
there was some sort of political movement
afoot-but Of that others can Judge better
Wrote Letters as Commanded.
From the first j wrote letters as the
brigands commanded. They told us occa-
sionally little scraps of news; that our pic
lures were being published In the news
papers. etc But 1 had no idea that the
people at home Were so aroused though
often wondered what efforts were being
made I'm our behalf
when deliverance came IL was quite un-
expected. We had no idea we were going
to be set free that night We started on
our journey as usual, not knowing that
the ransom had been paid After time
the brigands fell behind. leaving only two
OF their men to guard us: but that was
not unusual. Then We arrived in VIII
iage and found that we were alone-free
last
Now, L want to thank you newspaper
men for the cordial greeting you have
brought me from the people of our country,
and L want to say that / really didn't know
until after our release how widespread
was the interest in us. Then we learned
that the people at home did remember us.
And am thankful that their prayers were
answered. 1 believe that to those urgent
prayers We owe our freedom"
Miss Stone and her brother took the 8
o'clock pm. train for Chelsea. Mass the
Nome OF their mother