Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-19


has been done in similar cases? You
bring the woman to certain place and
we will bring the ransom. and. after II
is delivered. give you SO much time to
escape.
He replied very sharply that it could
not be done in that way; that the money
must be paid In advance and In secret
and not soldier was to leave the village
nor must the Turkish authorities know
anything about it. l pleaded with him ia
modify his terms. l explained that had
no authority to accept them, and did not
believe the American ambassador would
permit the money to be delivered unless
Miss Stone was released at the same spot
at the same time. He replied that all he
could do was to give me his word of
honor that Miss Stone would be released
all right, but he could not say when.
There is a rope for us in Sofia. and
All We all can give you is brigand's
word Of honor
when attempted to convince him
that could not accept such terms he
was his ultimatum, whereupon 1 re-
piled:
Although I am by no means in
structed to agree to your demands,
yet l believe you are
Delay for in earnest, and, If you
n.e will give me time,
Oonae1eAoe' will consult the rep
resentatives of the American embassy.
who are a days journey off. over the
mountains. I will go tonight, and will
do my best to persuade them. If they
agree to your terms I will send you
word
"At daylight in the morning 1 was on
my horse and reached Sores before dark.
We spent that entire night preparing CT
pher kilograms to Mr.. Leishmann at Con-
stantinople, and before morning had re-
ceived message instructing me to accept
the terms. Plans were made for ship
ping the gold from Constantinople before
we went to bed.
Sunday night 1 preached to a little
Protestant congregation there and Monday
morning was on my way back to BOnsko.
tuesday night l sent my friend out whist
ling along the mountains and again We'd
nesday, but he did not get sign from them
until the third night, when we met by ap-
pointment and arranged for the delivery
of the gold in an open field by myself
alone at point about five hours journey
from that spot.
THE s145OO in gold, which had been
subscribed by the American people to
ransom Miss Stone, was sent from Con-
stantinople in bags and arrived at
a Djumabala. projected by guard OF
S
Guilty we encountered was to deliver it
without their knowledge. 1t required two
days travel from Djumab ala to reach the
village where l was stopping, and I was
very much embarrassed because Mr. Gar
giulo and DR.. Peet did not arrive with
the gold the night that had been ap-
pointed for the payment. In the mean
time some one had leaked. The secret
was out, was surrounded by soldiers and
the Sofia papers published a story that
L ROnSk0 10 nf
soming Miss Stone. The governor of that
district received a telegram from his
chief. asking:
What are you doing, allowing this
under your nose?
Thus the whole plan was broken up
and we had to start over again from the
beginning. Mr.. Peet and
Official Mr.. Gargiulo took the
nh.+.o1. money back to another
""'~' town and remained
there. That night a mounted man came
to invite me to a consultation, but the
soldiers were everywhere and were
watching me as a cat watches a mouse
The brigands finally got this message to
me:
Go back with your money: we cannot
receive 1T here; we are surrounded by
soldiers; go back to Sores; we are pre-
pairing to disappear
Some days later l was able to reopen
communication with the brigands, and
upon meeting them a new plan was
agreed upon. At nv request the money
was brought to a certain village, but it
was still guarded by the soldiers. 1t was
a problem how we were going to deliver
wit hot Gp1 ,iv,er
the facts. but my friend Petkanchen and
/ went about the country picking I'D all
the lead we could find. and as often as we
could do so without exciting suspicion,
the 914.JO0 were kept. and take out as
much gold as we could carry in our
pockets and leave the lead in its place.
We made trips back and forth between
our lodgings and that hotel day and
night for four days. until all Of the gold
the soldiers were guarding were filed
with lead. We took great pains in
sealing the packages SO that they looked
exactly as they were before We took out
the gold.
ION a certain night shortly after we
took that gold into an open field near
the village and delivered
Ransom 1t to the three men 1 had
po;d been dealing with from
the first. They brought
with them two others to assist them in
carrying 1t away, because G14,5OO in gold
coin is a heavy load. The transaction
was accomplished without exciting the
suspicious of the soldiers, and we en-
tirely escaped their observation. After the
brigands had disappeared with the ran
som, we returned slowly to the hotel,
and the next day our mission was de-
clared to be failure and the bags of
lead were sent back to Constantinople
under military guard.
1.-THE brigands would give us no date
or place for the release of Miss Stone.
and it was with the greatest difficulty
that l was able to persuade Mr.. Peet
and Mr.. Gargiulo to trust them. And,
when ten days had elapsed. after the de-
livery of the gold they lost faith In me.
doubtful as to the outcome. We were
still waiting in Sores. as We had agreed
to do, when. on the I'D of February We
received telegram from Strumitza. an
nouncing that Miss Stone and Nine.
Tsilka had arrived there. we'll and joyful.
We took the next train for Saloniki.
where Miss Stone had preceded us and
brought her out here to our house,
Have you ever seen anything more of
your friends, the brigands?" / asked.
DIR. House smiled mysteriously and
made no reply.
"And what became Of the money!" 1
asked.
''It was undoubtedly used to buy arms
and ammunition for the next uprising