Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-05
MACEDONIA BANDIT KING
BATTLES TO FREE NATION
Ivan MichailOff, With Price Upon His
Head, ROams Mountains, WELDING
Enormous Power.
BY STOYAN CHRISTOWE.

W W ing IN Jne mlQQle OF the
room, which was illumined
by a petrol lamp hanging
beneath an icon of the Blessed
Mother, was a clean-shaven young
man some thirty-odd years old.
| He was of medium stature, wear
ing a greenish-brown military blouse
and dun-colored trousers. A gray
cap with a long leather peak was
pulled over his eyes. Caters Of natural
undyed wool were strapped around his
calves. Revolvers, cartridges, leather
pouches and other cumbersome conf
tadji equipment hung from straps and
belts which criss-croSSed his body.
He was Ivan Michailoff, chief of the
comitadjis, dictator of the invisible
Macedonian state. He is the master
gunman of the Balkans, the most dan
gerous political conspirator living today.
Michailoff is not robust but the
rugged mountain life and the clear air
which he breathes have tempered him.
Thin, bony, with hollow but rudy
cheeks, with square chin, compressed
lips and sculptural rigidity to his face,
, he looks earnest, determined. Five
years ago he was unknown; today he
Is hero to a million people and a
despot, a murderer, to thousands of
others. Several attempts have been
made to aSsaSsinate him. but he scents
the plots long before they have ma
tured and makes them rebound back
to their sources.
Death Plot Turns Boomerang.
So ingenious is Michailoff that the
last scheme against his life resulted not
in his own death but in that of the
perpetrator of the plot. This man,
George Bazhdaroff, formerly was for
eign representative for Michailoff.
Later he was leader Of faction that
| seeded from the ranks of the revolu-
tionary organization and Is now bat
| Ting desperately to wreSt the authority
from Michailoffs hold. Bazhdaroff had
gone to Varna, on the Black Sea, to
put the finishing touches to an intrigue
designed to do away with his former
chief. Three different plans were per-
! fected and were to be put into execu-
ton simultaneously.
But Michailoff, securely hidden in
| the mountains hundreds of miles away,
knew all that was happening-and even
what was going to happen. While
Bazhdaroff was on his way to the sta
| ton to return to Sofia and report to
his colleagues that all was ready, ter
rorists from the punitive section Of
Michailoff's forces sent bullets through
| his body.
What did Bazhdaroff's supporters do
| to avenge his death? Unable to whip
the horse-aS the Balkan proverb goes
they struck on the packsaddle. On
the evening of october Is last 20 shots
we're fired against Vassil Washer, who
is not q comitadji. but secretary of the
Macedonian national committee in
| Sofia, not to be confused with the
central revolutionary committee of
which Michailo1 Is q member. BY
| these shots the strife was transferred
| from the revolutionary to the legal
Macedonian ranks-that IS, to the I'M
migrant organizations In Bulgaria.
Planned Special Convention.
To consider the grave situation which
resulted, the two organizations sched-
uled special convention for Novem-
! Der "a. On the eve of this meeting
| the news was flashed through the world
| that the Macedonian comitadj is-which
the press persists in calling bandits
| despite repeated explanations-had
made an attempt to blow up the Sim
| plon express, the crack international
| train from Paris to Constantinople.
The authenticity of this news was never
established, and 1t finally turned out
that it was ghost train, not real
one, that was threatened with disaster.
The motive Of this manufactured news
| is difficult to determine. But I am
told the whole affair was Matched out
in Belgrade to create new complica-
| lions between JugoSlavia and Bulgaria,
so that the latter country might for
bid the MacedonianS to proceed with
their convention.
The comitadjis are responsible for
| the critical conditions and conflicting
| attitudes and views in the various
Macedonian groupS-these illegal war
| rio az kIan Tat
DOMAIN Revolutionary Organization, or
Imro, az it is briefly and conveniently
called. And it is Ivan Michailoff,
this Misunderstanding, genial, solicitouS
| young man, who directs the manifold
activities of the huge machine, the
secret terroristic society which in many
respects is an actual state-for it sends
! to foreign capitals secret ENJOYS which
no government would recognize; COL
lects taxes; maintains courts of JUS
tice-whatever justice it is that revo-
lutionarieS mete out-and runs its own
postal service with its own postage
stamps.
The independence of Macedonia
That is the battle-cry of this rebel So
ciety. Michailoff himself is ready to
hang If by doing so he will bring this
foot closer to realization.
He's Terror, Yet Modest.
Yet he is modest, this terror Of the
Balkans. You find 1t hard 10 believe
that he is "Vantcha"-the infamous
'Vantcha"-aS he is called by the Serb
ians, who are ready to pay 1000 900
dinars to any one that will bring his
head along.
Harmless and powerless he looks as
he sits before me. But from this bare
hut, his headquarters for the moment,
he can issue orders for operations and
moves that would bring political COM
plicationS in London and in Paris and
in Rome.
On foot, by auto and on the back of
mule, had travelled to find him in
this mountain hut. It was night. The
car rumbled through a narrow road
hedged on one side by scrambling oak
trees and on the other by a splashing
stream. Dim forms Of mountains
doomed before us.
A hundred PAGES ahead was the fig
ure OF q man, barely discernible In the
dark. The guide in front of me shout
ed secret word. The man replied
in its counterpart. The two men then
approached one another and gripped
hands. And here we left the auto
mobile. A mule with q wooden pack
saddle was brought to me. beStrode
the beast and started from this point
with one sentry leading the way and
another following in the rear. Pro-
ceeding in this fashion for several
hours, we at last came to Michailoff's
temporary quarters.
For eight years Michailoff has crept
over these mountains, first as adiutant
to Todor Alexandroff and afterward as
ms successor. I expected to see a