The Press. — 1854-08-05 (London, England)

THE GREEK PIRATES. THE following account of the pirates who lately committed so many atrocities on the shores of Greece is given in Wednesday's Moniker, on the authority of a letter dated  Athens, July 22:— The chief of the pirates who murdered the crew of the English vessel Harriet has made on board of the steamcorvette Chaptal, where he was interrogated, the following  deposition " In the course of the month of March last T left Con. stantinople for Syra on board the Galaxid. On our arrival at Syra, the Under Commissary of Police, Angerinos, advised me, as well as another Samian, to go to Athens. The next day the Commissary of Police, Strati, ordered me to come to his house. I told him I had no money, and that T wished to serve as a sailor on board a merchant vessel. He replied that there was then no work for sailors, but that if I would come and see him again in five days he should have an important affair to propose to me. " One day when I was with Strati he showed me a letter he had received from Stamati. The first page of this letter was addressed to Strati, but the other side was directed to me. Stamati advised we to do whatever Strati told me, and he added that I should one day become great, and my children also. Strati forbade me to reveal anything he told me. He advised me to go and make war in Theesaly, and to visit Chalcis. He recommended me to go in the direction of Cape Douro, and to seize and sink all the French and English vessels, as those two nations were opposed to the enterprise of the Greeks. " Strati hired a schooner, manned by five men, in which I embarked with twenty-eight persons, of whom twenty-five were Samians. The captain of this schooner was from Styhda (Gulf of Zeituni). Strati gave me thirty drachmas to pay for the freight of the schooner as far as Chalcis; but none of the men received any pay. All they had was provisions for two days. 1 was appointed chief of the expedition, of which I alone knew the secret, but I did not reveal it to my companions till after we left the port of Syra, whence we sailed three hours after sunset. After heating about all night and the next day, we found our. selves towards evening at four or five miles from Gabrios, on the coast of Andros. " At that point we were becalmed till midnight. A breeze then sprang up, and at three hours before daybreak we perceived an English brig. I was asleep at the time, but they awakened me. I ordered my twenty-eight men to follow me, and I went with them towards the English vessel, which we all boarded. On hailing the vessel, we discovered that she was English and that her crew belonged to the same nation. When we got on board we forced the men to go down to the captain's cabin, and then demanded the money they had on board. The English delivered up to us three sovereigns. three crowns (thalaris), two watches, a telescope, two compasses, a cask of rum, a sail, and four oars. We then forced the sailors upon deck, where we murdered them all with knives, and threw them into the sea. " I did not give any order to assassinate these men, and I did not kill any of them. We wished to sink the brig, but we abandoned this idea, from the fear of being seen by other vessels. After the massacre we sailed towards Chalcis, where I landed with my twenty-eight companions, and we