Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-08-23
PERDlcARls' STORY,

4staISIl o. 1909
PERDicARls' STORY.
Thousands Of people were indignant
upon learning that an American citizen
and an Englishman had been kidnapped
and were being held for ransom BY
Moorish bandits near Tangier last June
and the press and public of the two
nations called for interference by the
governments In behalf of Ion Perdi-
carts and Cromwell Marley, the two
kidnapped men. Meanwhile they
We're pictured in Imagination as
undergoing all kinds and varieties Of
hardships, such as having an ear cut
off by bits Just to send to their rela-
tives as reminders. British and Amer
lean ships were hurried to Tangier. the
cables were kept hot with orders from
the state department to the representa-
tive of the American government in
Tangier and the British government
paid as much attention to the efforts to
obtain the release of Marley as did
the Washington officials to the case of
Perdicaris. Finally, after weeks of
haggling, they were given their free
dom in exchange for huge ransom
and several concessions on the part of
the sultan of Morocco Even before
that time, however, word came from
the mountain fastness in the form of
letters from Perdicaris, to the effect
that he was having the time of his life.
living on the fat of the land and being
treated like prince by his captors.
This served to do away with some of
the sympathy Americans had felt for
him but the limit has now been reach
ed in story he himself has written
for a magazine published in New York
In this he tells the story of his capture
captivity and release and at the end
he admits that he was sorry to part
with Raissuli.
An affair that stirred two of the
greatest nations on the globe, brought
ships of war hurrying to the north
African coast and caused whole chap
tiers to be written condemnatory of the
Moors, turns out to have been simply a
little comedy and Perdicaris, who was
supposed to be in danger of his being
tortured to an awful death, was only on
vacation trip into the mountains and
was entertained in as elegant man.
ner as are the lucky guests of the
owners Of retreats in the Catskills.
But it is adding insult to injury for
the Greek-Am erican to write the story
of the comedy and publish 1t far and
wide in an American magazine, not for
getting to say that Raissuli is good
fellow and model host. It seems
that the only trouble Perdicaris had
during the whole of the time of cap
tivity was caused by fall from his
horse when defective girth broke.
Surely he did not suffer very greatly
for he is said to be a confirmed invalid
but he rode through the mountains all
night without mourning more discom-
forts than may be expected by anyone
who starts out for an all-night ride
through a farming community in Amer
lea. Possibly he was sleepy the next
day but Raissuli's social code did not. II.
seems, demand that his guests be alb.
solutely punctual at their meals.
In his account, Perdicaris gives lit
tie space to his own condition except
to indicate that he enjoyed himself.
and when telling of the return from
the mountains he devotes several par
aTaphs to the description of the
mountain heights just as the rays OF
the rising sun painted all the pinnacles
of the hills around us In lines of anne
thyst and rose It was, indeed, one of
the most gorgeous sights upon which
I ever gazed," he says.
The great friendship Raissuli had de-
veloped for his captive during the few
weeks in the hills, Perdicaris says,
lead him to shower kindness upon the
Greek When the details Of the re-
lease were being arranged, he says,
Raissuli lead him apart and told him
that II harm ever befell him (Perdicar-
is) he would be helped out of it by
the bandit horse. IT wondered" Perdi-
CARTS writes, whether was living in
the days of Robin Hood and Friar Tuck
or Ia this prpsaic twentieth century
and shall confess it?-Yes, was ac-
tually sorry to leave one of the most
Interesting and attractive personalities
have ever encountered.
Perdicaris yet has a grain of graft.
tude left, for In conclusion he says that
he whispered to himself
on his return to Tangier and upon see
ing the warships in the harbor:
Thank Heaven. It is that flag. and
that people. aye, and that President,
behind those frtgates, thousands OF
miles away, who have dug me out from
among these Ksbyles. That flag and
no other"
SINGING FIGHTERS,