Milford chronicle., 1912-07-12
BARBARY PIRATES
These FiendS Terrorized the Sea
For Five Centuries.
DEFIED THE ENTIRE WORLD.

They Held at One Time Forty Thou
sand Captives as Slaves, Among
Whom Was cervantes-The Can.
mons Mouth For French Envoy.
Those pests of the sea, the Barbary
pirates. who defied the civilized world
for 500 years. had at one time 10000
Christian slaves in bondage in Algeria.
The methods by which they were OBJ
tanned and how treated are described
by Sir Henry Norman in Scribner's 8
Magazine:
"Ships were seized in all European
waters even off the coast of Ireland.
and their crews taken into slavery.
So were the crews Of vessels which
came to trade. When any state at
tempted punishment the consul of that
country was sent to the galleys. and
Sir Lambert Playfair. British consul
general and erudite author of Muir
rays Handbook. tells us that In one
instance on the approach of a French
fleet their representative was blown
toward them from a mortar Ger
vantes himself was a slave there in
1865.
''In 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 infict 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
tives from the cruel thralldOm they
lay under but its intention exceeded
its power, for not long afterward $50
English ships were captured and 5000
English slaves brought into Algiers In
the space of seven years. and when
after five years war between England
and the pirate state peace was sign
ed the dey refused to surrender a 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 PlayfaiI 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
starvation and torture. One
would have expected the Christian ma
dou, to join forces for one object at
least and wipe this puny pirate state
IF the earth. yet for 800 years Bar
bary hrld them at bay.
Just as The Old sailors chantry about
he coast Of the wild Barbaree' took
.5S origin 10 the tprrurS of that coast,
50 a.. rr.ioiouS order of the Fathers OF
.e /, druiptinn was originally founded
ID rulI,g.t aims for the ransom Of the
Al.rriln slaves and many Of its men,
Jrrs with perhaps The nObleSt Chris
ian charity Oh record. voluntarily
,harpd thc lot Of the captives for the
comfort they could give and the serv-
ceS they could render in negotiations
II ransom
zone ghost Of all these unhappy thou
lands takes literally concrete shape.
An Arab Christian named Geroni
no. taken as a baby by Spanish sol I
liers and educated by the vicar gen
raj. was captured by the pirates dur Q
NJ Il raid As a renegade he was, Of ! !
curse. the subject of the utmost per
ecutiOn. and when no inducement or Z
uffering could make him apOstatize
e was at length offered by the dey
he choice of being thrown alive into 8
mold Of c0Hcrete which formed pau
I the foundation of Il new bastiOu or
( embracing Islam. He chose the
and was flung into the
lOld with his hands tied behind him
nd the concrete poured over him. This
ras in 1863
In 1912 Spanish Benedictine IA
ler wrote a history Of Algiers in the
purse Of which he narrated at length
he nartyrdom Of Geronimo and de-
,ribed particularly the situation Of the
ASTON in which his body lay. In 1847
translation of this passage was pub
shed in an Algerian newspaper, and
/ 1893. when the old fortress was de-
royed, search was made. Exactly as
nd been described the skeleton was
scovered, and on plaster Of paris
aing poured into the impression in
le cement the figure of the martyr E
merged, the hands tied behind it.
uch as he had been three centuries
efore. This plaster cast is today in