New-York tribune., 1903-03-20
THE BALKAN SITUATION.
.SIDELIGHTS FROM SOFIA.
Insurgents Haze Decided to Post
none General MoOement.

rs,~e,I "a Tbs New-York Tribune by French cahls9
o-oorrtrat: 1S0O. BY The Tribune Associstonl
Sofia BULGARIA. March 19.-Interesting SIDE
sShts are thrown upon the Balkan situation by
the interviews which have had with Dirnitri
Iaapot1 here According to letters received oy
Doris Ssrafo6. president OF the reVoIuuooAfy
hands in Macedonia, and by Dimitr1 Aapoh'
who acts ss his agent here. the insurgents nave
decided TO postpone general movement ana
await Developments Affairs, as MI. AlapoH
explains are in & transition stage. However,
the revolutiouis.s intend to drag Europe by the
nosa into interference in the affairs In Macedo-
MIA The Macedonian bands, prior to the out
RACES contented themselves usually with pun
tshing by death tntolerable Turkish omcia4s.
These thew would shoot IN the streets. or they
would steal OF and murder them quietly as the
whitecaps used to do IN the United States.
Since the Turkish atrocities Of last winter
they have decided to make every possible sacrl-
fee az the right time and at the expense OF both
Turks and MacedonIans in order to bring about
fbe decisive interference Of European powers.
N-benever an inferior party OF Turkish soldiers
or eendarmes appears the revolutionary bands
nut al end to them. Small slaughters OF this
kind occur 50 frequently that the incidents are
not reported For this reason the Turkish pa
trols are either large or a district Is LETT un-
guarded The insurgent bands are not now
NRhfiEE
and run down by them.
n Liapof, In talking with me. described
vividIy the last battle In which Sarafo6 him
self was engaged. In following apparent re-
treat OF the Turks he was led into ambush.
Sarafoff managed TO surround the troops In am
bush in which were thirty men. but instead OF
making them prisoners he put them all to the
sword suggested that this method Is not &C
cordine to rules OF civiEed warfare. Nd. LA
pon replied that 1t was very consioerate treat
roent compared with Turkish mercy. In his own
village BobischtA. five revoiutioutsts were run
down and shot Turkish soldiers burned the
town. killed every man in It, and subjected
every woman to a terrible outrage. n Liapon
admitted that the Turks were controlling them
selves and acting under better discipline. For
that reason. he said 1t would be waste OF men
and ammunition to institute general uprising
since the representatives of the powers would
say that the revolutiontsts would not allow the
Turks to introduce reforms. He ADDED Ggnin-
cantIy that when Europe had turned her eyes
elsewhere and the Turk had begun to laugh IN
his sleeve over his success again in oucWftunS
the powers and was repeating his old tactics
the revolutionary bands would resu1ne opera
tions and harass him IN hope Of creating anoSner
crisis and producing moral shock to the civil
ized world
N Iliapon would not say 60. but it Is often
stated here that the revolution1stA VIII 90
further. They clearly intend to make travel
By the citizens Of any important nation extreme
Iy dangerous In Aacefnnia, thsrsey hoping To-
bring atout repr1saIs and Gnbrcu one power or
another with Turkey. This threat IL no doubt
feared by the Turks. for no stranger Ia allowed
20 cross Macedonia even by rail If he can be sent
TO salorika by way OF Constantinople- It was
my desire to ride directly across the country to
selonika but the Turkish representatives here
would not countersign my passport except to
ConstantinopIe. The foreign consuates in all
parts OF Macedonia have been threatened and
are protected by heavy guards of troops