Year: 1869

From the Pail Mall Gazette, August 81


It was thought to be q service of danger
five and twenty years ago TO coast the bar
rem shores of the Morea in sailing vessel.
The Greek pirates were tolerably certain
not to lose the opportunity, when the ship
was becalmed, of attempting to land her,
and if they were successful in the attack,
it was no uncommon thing with them, as
soon as the work of plunder was over, to
murder all hands on board, and finally to
sink the vessel, so that no trace might be
left of the deed of darkness. Ii in these
DAYS piracy ihas diminished on the coast,
brigandage is still rampant on the main
land.


While the young King is quietly indulging
his taste for velocipedes at Corfu, events are
happening in and about his capital which
would shame a far less civilized age than
this. If the Greek banditti of the present
day do not massacre their victims, it is only
because a more refined system Of villainy
has taught them that it is unwise to do so.
Should you have the misfortune to be taken,
YOU are too valuable to be treated otherwise
than well, and provided you are prepared to
trough it," and to make long marches on
foot, you are tolerably sure of fair enter
tainment Mt the hands of your captors till
the arrival of your ransom sets you free.
It is positively unsafe to venture unarmed
outside the town of Athens. If without an
escort YOU venture to make an excursion
even as far as Eleusis, it is at your own
risk that you do so-the British Embassy
will not be responsible for your safety.
The peasants working in the fields are
armed to the teeth, and not a vehicle passes
on the road without being prepared for a
state of siege. Very recently the son of
coffee-house keeper was carried off from his
fathers door at q village in the neighbor-
hood of Eleusis, and 1000 francs was OBJ
tained for his ransom. This, by the way,
is a small sum compared with the Fl 900
which is said to have been obtained for the
ransom of one of our countrymen a year or
two ago.


Nor is it outside the capital alone that the
banditti ply their trade. \ grocer and two
butchers, carried off from Athens, have late
ly been among the number of the redeemed.
The expedients of the brigands have for q
while relieved the monotony of this proven
bially dull city. The SageS JemmeS have
offered them fair harvest. More than one
instance has occurred in which these wor-
thy people have been decoyed by disguised
brigands calling them to the assistance OF
women who did not require their offices.
The consequences have been disastrous for
the saqes tenlmes for as these women are
usually supposed to have collected some
money, the ransom demanded for their lib
Grafton has been comparatively large. 4
doctor Of some eminence in Athens narrow
ly escaped captivity only week or two
ago. He was awakened at night by the
visit of some men, in the dress Of ordinary
citizens, who entreated him to accompany
them to the house Of patient whom he was
known to be attending. The physician de-
clined to believe that the lady, whom he
had left convalescent only few hours be-
fore. required his immediate assistance,
and positively refused to leave his bed and
enter the carriage which had been thought
fully provided for him. His disturbers
we're, therefore, forced to 60 away without
him, and he discovered next morning that
his patient was still progressing favorably,
and had not sent for him.


If the traveller crosses the Isthmus of
Corinth, he will see soldiers crouching at
every few yards, since, if only for the sake
of commerce, this part OF the country must
be protected, while his baggage viii be pre-
ceded and followed by an armed escort.
The Greek villagers have good reasons for
fearing the vengeance OF the brigands, and
will not risk the devastation of their homes