The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-19
The Legend Of . Master Thief.


The positively last time that our
lively old friend MULAi AHMED BEN
MoHAMMED rR-RAIsULI died was In
early September Of last year. He
had been killed 20 often that the cyni-
cal doubted the report. Is 1t con.
tirmed by the intelligence or want Of
it given by the Tangier correspondent
Of the London MoH that certain tribes
Of the Spanish region of Morocco
have made RAIsULi Sultan and that
the guerrilla swell Is urging other of
the brethren in the French zone of
Morocco to join him In razzaing and
general rumpus? Dead or alive. this
curious descendant of the Prophet was
a little hard on the credibilities,
though. no doubt. Mr.. PERDicARIs and
Sir HARRY MAGICIAN, victims Of his
genius of abstracting and spirit Of
lifting. were firmly convinced Of him.
The site Of his latest death was
near Tetuan; but as there Is a choice
mosque and burial place of his fam
lily in that town the mausoleum may
have suggested the obituary notice.
The Ex-Governor may have slipped
into the desert or the mountains. But
II he did wouldn't there have been
a marked depression in the sheep
and cattle industry Of Morocco? More
over. this sanity parsonage, though
subject to sporadic enforced reform,
has a passion for kidnapping persons
good for ransom. Could he have kept
quiet so long unless he had really
had his q%uictus:
Then you have to consider the fire.
quency of impostors, claiming to be
somebody else. among African Mo-
hammedans. But anybody who pre-
tended To the mantle OF RAIsULI. pro-
vided that holy bough from the trunk
Of MULAI IDRIs. founder of the Mos
lem Empire Of Morocco. has def.
nitely donned that garment. would
soon be shamed by his inability to
equal his supposed self. For RAIsUM
was a master thief: and II was a
common Eastern reward Of his tai
ents that led to his appointment as
Governor of the districts about Tan.
gier. That Is Oriental civil service
reform. The Elliots and Armstrong;
OF English Scottish border and ballad
pared with him and. like the Italian
and Greek bricands Of the old school.
he found man the best game. Ii was
a paying business. with much pleas
ure and excitement in II for a scholar
who had spent many years OF his
youth on the Koran. In 1903 he got
his price for WALTER HARRIS. the Mo.
rocco man Of the London Times and
q bosom friend Of the then Sultan.
True. a little gentle pressure was ex-
rrted on that captured journalist.
l,ArsULI-if this isn't legend-had a
headleSs corpus tossed into the Thun.
derer's servants tent. Bad taste. and
unworthy Of an aristocrat. but il
logged Brother HARRIs's memory and
the money was soon paid. The case
Of the late IoN PERDIcARIs. sometime
Of Trenton, and OF the Englishman
NARLEY. nabbed with him in the for
mer's villa in the Tangier suburbs,
is fresh in the mind. In spite of
American warships and vigorous"
talk by Great Britain and France
RAIsULI got his terms, $4,000. the
return of some of his followers I'M
%prisoned by the sultan, the kicking
out of office OF an old enemy and his
own appointment as Governor. Lest
RAIsULI he accused Of national or
religious prejudice II should he re-
membered that he kidnapped Moham-
mcdans, If they had 1.-THE price ~
cheerfully as Europeans and Amerl-
cans. He did divers killings and
murders: but whatever he did he al
ways said the motive "a political"
How famous for a week or 50 was
that fake" despatch. read at the
national Republican convention OF
1904. said to have been sent by Sec
rotary OF State JOHN Hay to the Mo-
roccan Government
I'VE want PERpIcARIs alive or Raj
sUL dead"
Too epigrammatic to he true, And
Is RAIsULI dead? If he isn't he will
run off with the Moroccan CORE
spondent of the London Mail and
collect copiouSly on his prize.