Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-01-23
lot Until Now, After Five Centuries of Fighting, Has S Defeat Come.
kA ATTLING TURKS < FAVORITE PASTIME
History of Mountain Kingdom, Estab. fl1shed by People Who Would Not
 M Bend to Turkish Yoke, Is Long Record of War.

After five centuries of the most fe-
 bcious fighting against the Turks, E 6e giants of the Black mountains Ave been brought to book by the < erman- -braced Austrians.
 H The fate of gallant old King Mich \ las I and his men and women he \ pes should interest the United States lore than any other nation Thirty M Aousand MOntenegrins before the \ feat war had emigrated to the Unit < States. This was about six per M Int of the population of 52O,O0O. 3 bout third of the immigrants have s eturned to Montenegro.
 W So it is not surprising to learn that Z ling Nicholas people know New York md Chicago better than London, ' aris and even Vienna. In their bar 24en land the small sums of money Aeir relatives in America have sent Nbr brought home have seemed like Ample fortunes and the natives all ' aye kindly feeling for the great re- hblic of the New World
 M Visitors to the crags of Montene- SS3ero often remark on the grace of the s6peasant" women. They labor under SA misapprehension There are no z$peasants in Montenegro. We have a Having: In America we are all Princes" The Montenegrins can make sthe same boast, for they are the de- 3&cendants of the noble families who Refused to bow beneath the Moslem Oke and fled from tlieir homes in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia to this mountain stronghold.
 w When King Nicholas notified the z6hancellories of Eurcge in 1900 that < e had assumed the title of king, he Had an eye toward the possibilities of Me future There is no central pivot bout which all the Slavs of the : Balkans could rally with greater en- husiasm than this old fighter. His buse of Petrovich is one of the old pt ruling strains in Europe. The an estors of King Peter of Servia were easants a hundred years ago and the zar of Bulgaria is an upstart in Comparison with Nicholas.
 Christian Crusaders.
 The history of Montenegro dates rom the battle of Kossovo, or the
 ain of the Blackbirds, when the
 urks crushed out the last vestiges Christian resistance in Southeast Tn Europe. The irreconcilables who hrvived the battle founded the fight lg state of Montenegro. Almost with ht break since then they have been ghting the Crescent and they have ever been subdued until the present me-"
 The members of the house of Petro-
 ch had been leaders in the wars
 gainst the Turks for several cen nries before Danilo, the first prince
 shop of the house, ascended the
 ontenegrin throne in 1896.
 x This Danilo did not know the name
 fear. In one of the ancient ballads
 told how he went down to the
 turkish city of Scutari to consecrate
 new Christian church.
 When his chiefs warned him against fusting the safe conduct given by the
 urks, he said: "There is no promise
 eld sacred by the Turk. But for the bye of our holy faith will go, even
 never return"
 The pasha let him consecrate the hurch, then seized him and held him br ransom. The men of the Black fountains gave every coin. jewel and bther precious object in their king 1om for his safety.
 Killing Turks FavOrite Occupation.
 The Blank Monk, as his enemies hlled him, took an awful revenge. On Christmas eve, 1703, the Montenegrins hl upon the Turks within their bor-
 o4s and massacred them all Thirty h6usand fell in these mountain ves- pers."
 Danilo ruled less than 10000 peo- ple. But he boldly faced the army Af 50,000 under Achmet Pasha. which fthe sultan sent Ito exterminate ; the yinountain pest. A < g. In the night the mountaineers fell upon the invaders encamped on the plain of Podgoritza and before day light had slain 10000, themselves los ing, according to tradition, only 3O0
 In revenge the Turks sent an army of 120,000, who went up and down the land, plundering. ravaging and burning. The Montenegrins harassed them until the remnants were glad to escape to Albania. M ms x The Montenegrin succession sehstoHi of that time was curious. Being ruled by Christian bishop, who could not marry and have a family, it was the usual thing for S nephew to succeed to the throne.s Thus, Sava. hii brother's son. succeeded D6hilos I szii l7S5. Sava was a real monk, of saint