The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-08
AT LEAST a H TN d r e d
Women Carrying Guns
Among the Patriots Who
Are Hoping to Throw Off
the urkish Yoke
By ALBERT SOMNICHSEW
Author of deep Sea Vagabonds

wv OMEN fighters appear fire.
NA/ quently i'll history, but in
w no modern wars have wo-
men taken so active a part
as in the present Macedonian revolu-
ton. In almost every insurgent band
that roams the mountains of Mace
donna, harassing the Turkish troops
and BASH bazouks by unexpected
rushes, there are one or two women
At the present day there are at least
one hundred women carrying guns.
So says Constantine Stephanove, OF
the Macedonian Junta in New York,
who escaped from a Turkish prison
and Joined the insurgents.
We have not only one Jean dare"
said Mr.. StephanOve, but dozens. We
accept them as a matter of fact We
are used TO women fighters We do
not approve of exposing women to
the dangers Of battle more than other
people, but all these women have de-
manded the right to fight We could
easily replace them with men, but
when woman comes with a holy
oath to die fighting Turks because
she, or her sister, or her mother, has
suffered unspeakable outrage at the
hands of Turks, man must step aside
and surrender TO her his gun and his
place in the band. These women are
mostly desperadoes, seeking death,
and some of the most heroic deeds in
our campaigns have been done by
them.
Why Anna Simitchieva
Was Canonized
by the Church
If there is one woman whom the
MacedOnians have placed above others
for her fighting, it is Anna Simitchieva,
who was shot by Turks in Koumanova
last year. She has since been canon
lied by the church.
Some women and children and
wounded insurgents were being
bounded by the Turkish soldiers,
when they sought shelter in a church
in KOumanova and barricaded the
doors.
The Turks began an assault. At
tached to this church was seminary.
Anna Simitchieva, a young teacher,
gathered about her d dozen young
men students, and, securing some guns
from secret cache in the town, they
attacked the Turks, who were beating
down the church doors.
Infatuated by the sacrilege that was
being committed against their church,
and inspired by the fighting woman
who led them, the Macedonian stu
dents fought with the fury of des-
peradoes. The Turks outnumbered
them ten to one, but sc surprised
were the Sultan's troops by the bold
ness of the attack that at first they
were repulsed, leaving a heap of TWEEN
ty dead by the church door.
But that was only temporary; the
Turks came back reinforced, and then
ensued a sanguinary street fight, in
which not only Anna Simitchieva and
her band of students were annihilated,
but the refugees in the church as well
were hewn to pieces and the church
burned. The last man to die, as the
Turks themselves afterward told, was
a young theological student, who had
been an ardent admirer of the school
mistress, and he stood aStride of her
body, after she had been shot, using
his rifle as a club, until Turk cut
him down from the rear with a
yataghan The mothers and sisters of
several of the students saw the battle
from windows of nearby houses.
Madame Arnaudova
Who Is
Still in the Field
Then there is Madame Arnaudova
who is still in the field She has been
through a dozen campaigns, and sc
far has escaped without a scratch. She
belongs to Dubnitza, which is small
mountain town on the frontier Of
Turkey and Bulgaria. Years ago, fol-
she is now we'll up in the thirties
Madame Arnaudova entered the ranks
of the insurgents, and her presence
has been such an inspiration TO the
bands to which she has been attached
that they have done some of the most
daring deeds.
She is big, grim woman, who only
speaks when she has something tc
say, but when she addresses a banc
of men for a few minutes they are
ready to tackle the Sultan's whole
army. Nothing demoralizes the Turk:
so much as seeing Madame Arnaudov;
among any band of insurgents they
may engage.
Miss Malechefska. another Mace
DOMAIN Joan of Arc. was schoo
teacher in Sores, when she saw some
atrocity that would have unbalanced
her mind were it not pretty strong
one, and she went to Bulgaria, wher,
she enlisted in an insurgent band
She was barely twenty-five, but sht
could carry gun as we'll as an,
man, and she would not allow an,
male comrade to carry so much as he
ammunition.
Surrounded by Turks
She Escaped
With Two Comrades