Bisbee daily review., 1916-02-05
SERBIAN OUTLAW IS
 UNIQUE WAR FIGURE
Without Confines of Organiz- ed Law Picturesque Leader
 is Greatly Feared.

GENGHELl, Serbla-One or the most picturesque figures of the European war is the Serbian "komitadji' or guerilla Ivan Stoikavitch, known to fame as "Babounsky." The name is drawn from the famous Babouna Pass where recently the Serbs so long held the invading Bulgarians at bay. Ivan Stoikovitch comes from that part of Serbia and is therefore known to his followers and to the Serbian popula ton at large by a nickname indicating the fact.
 A slight man, tall, with honest gray blue eyes and the pale features of student. he impresses the stranger with anything but the terror which his | name inspires. Nor do his looks belle | his real profession. For the redoubta- ble "Babounsky" was school teacher | until fired by an ardent patriotism he | gave up his classes to gather about ! him band of intrepid spirits in the I part of Serbia from the Ottoman yoke. | Ever since the first Balkan war he i and his followers have been under arms. Unrecognized by the laws of war. they have taken their own risks ! of capture and instant execution. Their refuge is in the Serbian mountains and ] they have been willing to trust their security to their own astuteness and the impregnability of their numerous hiding places.
 1 During the brief periods separating the first Balkan war from the second i and the second Balkan war from the present European struggle, the inter nal administration of Serbia was in such a state of disorder that it seemed { to "Babouncky" better to retain his { band under arms and to assist in the administration of a rough and ready
 iustice than to send his followers to their own firesides In this capacity
 even in the short intervals of peace
 he kept his name as kind of modern
 Robin Hood-the friend of the weak and the terror of tn eevil doer
 Especially since the complete break
 down of the Serbian administration fol : lowing the flight of the government to |; Scutari. has "Babouncky" becsme a ] parsonage of prime importance in Ser
 bia Before the advancing German
 and Bulgarian armies. town after town
 was evacuated. Sometimes the inhab-
 itants were able to take few of their belongings with them: more often they
 were forced to leave with the clothing They were as their only possessions.
 Serhja. where the greater part of thc
 inhabitants are really of Turkish or
 Bulgarian extraction. only the Serbs
 fled and the Turks and the Bulgarians remained. While waiting for the ar rival of the armies of their compatri- ots, they were not averse to going through the deserted Serbian dwell
 ings and acquiring few useful arti-
 cles."
 ''Babouncky" did not approve of this.
 Naturally the deserted dwellings and
 all in them would fall into the hands [ of inc "00G"erorS. That was all right the chance of war But '''"' forr'er neighbors should do the footing was not in "Babounsky's" code. And those who tried it were dealth with in most
 summary manner.
 Whoever among the Bulgarians was suspected of giving information to the advancing Bulgar armies also received short shrift story is told of the first Balkan war when a certain pseu- l do-Serb known as "Kechko' was sus- i pected of treason to the Serbian cause. "Babcunsky's" band appeared upon the scene one night and "Kechko" and
 four others were arrested. tried in se- cTet by the band at midnight and sen
 fenced to be sent 10 Saloniki that : is taken to the banks of the Nardar
 river. stabbed and thrown in. their bodies to drift down with the current 10 Saloniki. All five were lined up on the bank. "Babounsky'' gave the sig nal for the fatal blows to be struck.
 But unfortunately "Ketchko's" execu- tioner, lawyer from Belgrade, had never killed a man before and his
 hand slipped The five bodies were 1 thrust into the Vardar, but "Ketchko' was still alive.
 1 \ week later the Serbian consul at Saloniki was called to. the hospital. "Ketchko'' told him the story of his escape from death, but begged that il
 be kept secret until after his depart ure for the United States. Ultimately recovered from the unskilled stab of the Belgrade lawyer. "Ketchko" quiet ly departed for America where he lives still unterrified by the famous guerilla