Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-07-20
'BARBARY PIRATES
These Fiends Terrorized the Sea
For Five Centuries.
.oEFIED THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Christian slaves In bondage In Algeria.
The methods by which they e oh.
tanned and how treated are described
BY Sir Henry Norman In Scribner's
Magazine:
"Ships were seized In all European
waters, even OF the coast Of Ireland.
and their crews taken into slavery.
30 were the crews Of vessels which
zane 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
0eet their representative was blown
toward them from a mortar. Ger
vantes himself was a slave there In
1866.
I'm the seventeenth century tho
|Algerine pirates held prizes worth 90
100000 francs. Again and again the
Christian powers of that and the next
century failed to inflct 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 6,OOO
English slaves brought into Algiers In
the space of seven years. and when
after five years wal between England
and the pirate state a peace was sign
ed the dey refused to surrender a sin.
gle English slave. and the treaty had
Ia 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 a 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 plety and all of
them suffering daily the most cruel
hardships. starvation and torture. One
would have expected the Christian ma
tons to Join forces for n object at
least and wipe this puny pirate state
on the earth. yet for 500 years Bar.
barry held them ut bay.
"Just as the old sailors chantry about
the coast of the wild Barbaree' took
its origin In the terrors Of that coast,
20 the religious order Of the Fathers OF
the Redemption was originally founded
to collect aims for the ransom of the
Algerian slaves. and many Of its men,
bers. with perhaps the noblest Chris
tian charity on record. voluntarily
shared the lot Of the captives 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 a baby by Spanish SOL
diers and educated by the vicar gen.
eral, was captured by the pirates dur
ing Il raid. As a renegade he was, OF
course, the subject Of the utmost per-
secution. and when no inducement or
suffering could make him apostatize
be was at length offered by the dey
the choice Of being thrown alive into
q mold Of concrete which formed part
of the foundation of a new bastion or
Of embracing Islam. He chose the
martyrdom and was flung into the
mold with his hands tied behind him
and the concrete poured over him. This
was In 1869.
In 1912 a Spanish B%enedictine "a
Their wrote a history Of Algiers in the
course of which he narrated at length
the martyrdom of Geronimo and de-
scribed particularly the situation Of the
bastion In which his body lay. In 1S47
I translation OF this passage was pub.
lished in an Algerian newspaper. and
lin 1853. when the old fortress was de-
stroyed, search was made. Exactly as
had been described the skeleton was
discovered, and on plaster Of paris
being poured into the impression In
the cement the figure Of the martyr
emerged. the hands tied behind 1t.
much as he had been three centuries
before. This plaster cast u today IN
the Bibliotheque musee."
Nrg.fL anELWH LsEr~A |L--