Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1904-05-27
WASHINGTON LETTER
From our Regular correspondent. }

TT Jul fhcEulhI tDIi
Washington, d G., May 1T 8
now some thirty years since your g. .
respondent made The rather lntima' o
| nequautai ce Of Mr.. Ion Perdicar g.,
The wealthy American. wuo has just
been kidlapped in Tangier, Morot co.
| by Arab bandits, and with his stepfon
is held for ransom. He came to New
| York City with his charming family.
| for he had married stately blons Q
English widow with a ,olng sOu aiiu
two tall, fair and lily-llke daughters,
one of whom bore the poetieal name OF
Nard Almasne. There was II illtter
among the tour bundled" WHEN / e
Perdicafis family stepped into .ts i'm er
/ circle, 1 besides wealth and nullsu.
| beauty, there WAS refinement. art.
music and dramatic and literary ab +
ity. MIR PerdIcaris had written Il play
whith be wanted to bril- G out at one
OF he thea rts, and for which he him.
sell had painted and constructed some
W y elaborate scenery. Private exhi-
b MS were given and the theatre WAS
c DIVIDED with the elite and critical,
rOr some occult reason the regula
m iiager and the press did not smile
/ u ,Ion The enterpri.e, and af er while
It was alb lndoned. To add to the
sent atiOns OF that day Miss Nard. The
most fascinating of the two daughter ,
eioped with an obscure actor nameC
Decker, and was dropped by society
and her parents A family recOhciiia
ton afterwards took place.
1 Mr.. Perdicaris with his wife ant
stepchi!dren withdrew from the gay
world and retired to PRETTY and aris
tocratic suburb of Trenton, N } :, on
the banks of the Delaware, where h'
had "A picturesque and superb villa III {
divided his time between his family
his studio, his library, and his friends
There enjoyed his agreeable acquaint
ance for week. He was a tall, dark
ley ed, black-haired, graceful, refine'
and handsome man, the very embodi
m mt OF cultured hospitality. ant
stvoir vivre. He possessed the art o
making everybody feel at ease. b
gave elegant dinner parties and enter
tainment was for him o. delight. ii
was fond of taking his guests up til
| Delaware to the spot where Washing
ton landed after crossing that icy ri,
er.
Ion Perdicaris received his early Ell
ucation at the public schools and TIL
Trenton academy. He was the son q
, Gregory Perdicaris, refugee froI
Greece under sentence of death Whe
he fed to the United States in 1S4t
He served for Il time as professor {
tGreek in Harvard college but aftel
wards became promoter of gas con
panies throughout the country, and b
l To-, nj,
one time made arrangements to bn
the Joseph Bonaparte estate at Bio
dentown, but he gave up the intentiC
aud bought instead the palace of III
] Sultan of Morocco at Tangier, whicl
! he always insisted, had the finest CT
mate in the world.
The kidnapping of Perdicaris all
his stepsOn Varlsy has caused In meas
= excitement among the State and Nav
officials here. called at the depar
ments this morning to get the late
J news. The chief clerk of the Sta
Department showed me the only d
spatch received today, saying that II
{ bandits and their victims were ''b
yond reach and cannot be folio wed.
He told me that Perdicaris had nevt
r been i'll our diplomatic service but thi
he had often been called consul, mil
: lister, and even king of Tangiers'' /
Americans who were over from q ibra
Tar OH visit of a few days and wei
the recipients of his b0untiful hosp
ality.
On leaving the building | encOunte
: ed an officer OF the Navy DepartmeI
/ and asked him about the kidn ,ppin
, case. Were up to 1t, he said, IAN
we shall tackle it right away. Whe
IL citizen OF any of the great powers
kidnapped. say in Turkey, they alwa,
pay the ransom demanded wiih0u
niggling and then straightway take
out of the nation to which the bandit
belong" / asked him if he though
we. should go TO war about it. Il
Winked his sinister eye till that side {
his face was much distorted and Ii
grey eyelashes swept his brOnZed cneel
'.Whos in the White House % he as
ed, and answered himself. Very we
what kind uf q man is Admiral Cha(
wick ? Very we'll; Chadwick has tw
.uisers and two gunbOats, and wi
reach the CanarIes next Sunday. VIII;
OrdersWillhe find? Wireless telegraph
8 and the air kept hot. Very well; if Il
e TdDbOlu 10 HOC piOHAPUiy paul. nAt VIC
! if Chadwick doesn't fly the stars al
stripes from the battlements of Il
/. (castIe at Tangier, the man in the Whit
h House ism t the man we've taken I'LL
}. for. Why, if we don't do it. Franc
:, will certainly stick her eagles up Their
She has had all itching for Morocco fl
half d century and it Is the only piec
of land on the Mediterranean that
Il - -
Yes, as you say, Spain is there; bt
. where's Spain? She will not interior
any more than size did when Barlo
and ID, catur snatched our captive sal
:. ors from the Dey OF Algiers." l d
g not add that the probability of M
Roosevelt's declaring war Oh Morocco
depended entirely Oh how uncertain
felt of h IS election. A doubt OF Ind
ana might cause the instantaneo,
bonn bardment of Tangler.