Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-08-18
GAY BANDIT is VERSATILE.
Lops Off Heads of His Enemies, and
Provides Poor Maidens With Dow.

lops On Heads OF HIS Enemies, anc
Provides Poor Maidens With Dow.
ries.
They tremble at the simple mention
Of his name around Smyrna-Americar
land British tourists tremble, likewise
the menchant sitting cross-legged or
his ancient rug and pulling at his
water-pipe, and the herdsman with eye
on his browsing flock on the foothills
and the dusty trader astride his slant
hipped pony coming in from the east
ern country with his caravan Of mer-
/ ichandise-all tremble at the name Of
Tchakirdji, the brigand, and we'll they
may.
| Talk about freebooters-men to
whom crime Is an occupation and the
fear of punishment a joke-why, this
menace Of the mountains has made
plundering picturesque!
| Here's an outlaw who Is as bold as
Jack Cade when he led the Kentish
daredevils to the field Of Blackheath;
as light-hearted as Robin Hood in the
forest, as ambitious as Dick Turpin
when he drew bride over Black Bess
on British highways, and as resource
full as Jack Sheppard up to the time
that they stretched his precious neck
on the gibbet at Hangman's Hill, Ty-
burn. A bandit by heredity, by taste,
by education, an A. B. in the profess
sion, so to speak.
If you seek Tchakirdji's family tree,
which Of course Is Of mountain growth,
you will find the present troublesome
branch came from a parent bandit
trunk, which in turn was rooted among
the rocks where outlawry sows its
seed.
Clergymen's sons sometimes turn out
bad; the breed Of bandit seldom
seeks the cloister. Tchakirdjrs swad-
ding clothes were part Of the loot of
a night; his first spurs belonged to a
stranger foolishly riding for pleasure
| in a country where there should have
been a danger sign; his first mount,
lean roam, run off a pasture lot while
its owner was counting out his ready
cash for the new owner. Small won
der that he stepped foot in his sires
stirrups and early learned his method
Of doing things.
One serves an apprenticeship on the
highway as he does in the shop. A
novice is never permitted to make the
customary one-sided terms with a tax
gatherer or announce the emergency
which compels the halting Of q cara
van half dozen leagues from its usual
mart. Novices in outlawry stand by
and study the art. Thus they learn.
| Now, Tchakirdji, being a forward
youth and studious withal and apt
soon asserted his right-in this case
the wrong-of making a name for him
self in the field of endeavor in which
he had had his training. Recalling his
own impetuosity and desire to be up
and doing the father gave his son his
blessing and rifle, knowing full well
that potentiality lay only in the latter
and the youth entered upon his career
He made good, as the saying goes,
from the start. He made the achieve
ments of Tchakirji the elder look like
the feeble efforts Of provincial piker
He took a place among the captains
of the industry before the beard had
grown wiry on his chin. He was no
torious at IS, Infamous before he had
turned 81 and an attractive terror be-
fore the record of his fathers sudden
death in his boots was set down in the
family records.
To show at a glance the splendid
highway standing Of the subject of this
sketch it may be said that in a mat
ter Of II years he had killed $50 men
The specific figures are those Of q
Turkish official who is both a mortuary
statistician and a paid keeper of the
brigand rigster. They seem to estab-
lish Tchakirdji as the champion twen-
ieth-century headsman. Raisuli OF
Morocco, energetic and capable though
he be, Is a mere player at jackstraws
as compared with the gentleman OF
| Smyrna.
Robin Hood, as the tales are told OF
him, was not essentially selfish. He
robbed the rich, of course, that being
his line, but whenever he had a good
day, which was on the average of sew
en- a week, he slipped something to the
poor, thereby establishing cordial rela-
tions with the yeomanry's bone anc
sinew and easing his conscience, If he
had one.
The ethics of footpaddery Of the
Smyrna blackboard brand are like.
wise broad gauge. In the purchase o1
supplies for his mountain villa, his
shooting box and his bungalow, If he
has one, he invariably deals with
tradesmen who are not enjoying the
larger fruits Of prosperity. He pays
double for everything he buys. which
so far as Is known, Is a strange custom
exclusively confined to bandits Of g
certain tone and temperament.
Riding into a countryside village one
morning at dawn Tchakirdji saw
sad eyed maiden of the way to the
spring. He drew rein, and, slipping
from his saddle, asked her why she
was downcast. Pink bushes suffused
her cheeks.
Are you in love?" asked the bandit
She nodded and began to weep
"Alas!" she stammered, Il am without
dowry and therefore l may not mar
ry and be happy"
What did Tchakirdji do? What
would any successful business man dc
under the circumstances? He said
something in Syriac which means
''Tut-tut," and, drawing a sum equal to
81 900 from his girdle, dropped 1t in
to the pitcher, remounted and rode to
the nearest prosperous merchants and
held him up for $4,000, thereby cover
ing his shorts and keeping to form.
This illustrates only one side of his
character. He is a many sided man
that is to say, as many sided as man
in his gallop of life can be.