The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-07-02
BARBARY PIRATES
These Fiends Terrorized the Sea
For Five Centuries.
oeFleD THE ENTIRE WORLD.

hwy V0su ~ VVV IWVV VVVy pVVN
sand captivss a. Slaves, Among
Whom Was csrvantss-rhs Can.
none Mouth Fer Frsneh Envoy.
Those pests Of the sea, the Barbary
pirates, who deHed the civilized world
Tor 500 years. had at one time 10000
Christian slaves In bondage In Algeria.
The methods by which they were OBJ.
tained and how treated are described
BY Sir Henry Norman in Scribner's
Magazine:
"5hips were seized In ali European
waters, even on the coast Of ireland.
and their crews taken into slavery.
So were the crews Of vessels which
came to trade. When any state ut.
tempted punishment the consul Of that
country was sent to the galleys. and
sir Lambert Playfair. British consul
general and erudlte author Of MUIR
rays Handbook tells us that In one
instance on the approach Of French
6eet their representative was blown
toward them from q mortar. Ger
vantes himself was q slave there In
1866.
'Tn the seventeenth century the
Algerine pirates held prizes worth 90.
100000 francs. Again and again the
Christian powers Of that and the next
century failed to infllct a lasting de-
feat upon This 'scourge Of Christen-
DOM The British parliament passed
an act to undertake the Christian
work Of the redemption Of the cap
tlves from the cruel thralldom they
lay under. but its intention exceeded
its power. for not long afterward $50
English ships were captured and 6.O00
English slaves brought into Aiglers In
the space Of seven years. and when
after five years war between England
and the pirate state peace was sign
cd the dey refused to surrender sin
gle English slave. and the treaty had
a clause to the effect that the king Of
Great Britain shall not be obliged by
virtue of this treaty to redeem any Of
his subjects now In slavery. probably
the most degrading treaty. as Sir Lam
bert Playfair remarks. ever signed be-
tween England and foreign power.
AT one time 10000 Christian slaves
were In bondage In Algeria. Of all the
nations of Europe. many Of them men
Of rank. learning and piety and all Of
them suffering daily the most cruel
hardships. starvation and torture. One
would have expected the Christian ua.
lions to Join forces for one object at
least and wipe this puny pirate state
or the earth. yet for 800 years Bar
barry held them at bay.
"Just rs the old sailors chantry about
the coast Of the wild Barbaree' took
its origin In the terrors Of TINT cOast
70 the religious order Of the Fathers Of
the Redemption was originally founded
to collect aims for the ransom Of the
| Algerian slaves. aud many Of its mem
bers. with perhaps the nOblest Chris
tian charity on record. voluntarily
shared the lot OF the capttves for the
comfort they could give and the serv
ices they could render In negotiations
| Of ransom.
"One ghost Of all these unhappy thou
sands takes literally concrete shape
An Arab Christian named Geroni
mo. taken as baby by Spanish sol
diers and educated by the vicar gen
erai. was captured by the pirates dur
Ing u raid As renegade no was, OF
course. the subject Of the utmost per
secutlOn. and when no inducement oI
suffering cerld make him apostatiz,
he was ut length offered by the ydey
the choice OF being thrown alive into
a mold OF concrete which formed par
of the foundation Of u new bastiOn Ol
OF embracing Islam. lie chose thu
martyrdom aud was Hung into thu
mold with his hands tied behind hin
and the concrete poured over him. Thi.
was In 1900.
I'm 1912 a Spanish Benedictine IN
lhcr wrote II history Of Algiers In tn.
course Of which he narrated at length
the nurtyrdOm Of Geronimo and de-
scribcd particularly the situation OF til,
basti0n In which his body lay. In 1S41
a translation Of this passage was pub
iished In an Algerian newspaper. anc
In 1853. when the old fortress was de
stroyed. search was made. Exactly al
had been described the skeleton wal
discovered. and on plaster Of paris
being poured Into the impression II
the cement the figure Of the martyr
emerged the hands tied behind II
much M ne had been three centuries
before This plaster cast is today II
the Hibliothraue musee."