political, and, while the management of the courts is perhaps not as
perfect as in more highly civilized countries, I am told that bribery
is unknown. Political influence, and particularly the “pull” of the
Macedonian Committee, is all-powerful, however. It is practically out
of the question to convict of crime any man who has been active or
conspicuous in this patriotic movement. It appears possible for any
disreputable fellow to violate all the ten commandments with impunity
so long as he goes about the cafés shouting the battle cry of freedom
for Macedonia.
The Jewish population of the Bulgarian cities is quite large and
practically monopolizes the banking and mercantile business. They are
the descendants of the large colony of Jews who were expelled from
Spain during the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella and Philip II. and
found their way by the Mediterranean to the Balkan Provinces. The
Spanish language is still spoken in their intercourse among themselves.
While the Jews are not persecuted in Bulgaria as in Roumania, they
are ostracized and subjected to much injustice. It is not considered
dishonest to swindle a Jew if such a thing is possible, and they are
contemptuously and roughly treated; but, on the other hand, they are
in a great measure to blame for the prejudice against them because of
their sharp practices and extortionate methods in business affairs.
They have no mercy upon a Christian if he once gets into their power,
and the spirit of retaliation seems quite as strong with them as with
their enemies.
Generally speaking, Bulgaria has no manufactories, although mechanical
industries of various sorts are being introduced upon a small scale.
There is plenty of convenient water-power and raw material. The mineral
wealth of the country is mythical. There are stories of deposits of
coal and ores in the mountains, but they are unexplored. Ninety-five
per cent of the population are engaged in agriculture, and the
peasants are in a fairly prosperous condition. They are ingenious as
well as industrious, but show little tendency to make use of modern
improvements and foreign merchandise, or to depart from the habits of
thrift so characteristic of their race. It pays them well to produce
and export cattle, sheep, hides, wool, wheat, corn, tobacco, the oil
of roses, fruits and vegetables, and to supply their own wants by the
work of their own hands as far as possible. Most of their clothing is
of wool, grown and sheared upon their own farms, spun and woven in
their own cabins, cut and made by the members of their own household.
Formerly large quantities of cotton goods were imported from England
and Germany, but they have learned that cotton will grow in Bulgaria,
and a little patch is now found beside nearly every cabin, which is
ginned, spun and woven by the women, like the wool.
Their taste is artistic. The women do beautiful embroidery, and their
cotton garments are often handsomely decorated. It is difficult to buy
these embroideries, because the work is home-made and intended for home
use. The peasants are well-to-do. Their wealth is not only apparent in
the flocks and herds which they have accumulated since the emancipation
from Turkish tyranny twenty-three years ago, but it is believed
that they have large sums of money concealed about their premises.
Their experience with avaricious Turkish officials taught them great
caution, for in the old days no man could accumulate property without
endangering his liberty and usually his life. Nor have they yet
acquired faith in banks. Few investments are available for them, and
for these reasons they bury their surplus money in the ground. One of
the strongest evidences of this practice is the continual disappearance
of Bulgarian coin from circulation. Nobody seems to know what becomes
of it. It cannot be shipped to foreign countries, because the balance
of trade is in favor of Bulgaria; and it is not used in the arts and
industries. Yet it disappears almost as fast as it is coined, and the
only explanation offered is the prosperity and the secretive habits of
the peasants.
An Englishman who traveled through the country and saw much of peasant
life says that when he asked a man one day why they hid their money in
the ground he answered with surprise:
“Where do the English peasants hide theirs?”
The peasants have the characteristics of the other oriental races, and,
in their eagerness to acquire wealth and anxiety to get the best of a
bargain, they are not surpassed by the Armenian, Arab, Turk, Greek,
or Jew. They are very sharp traders, economical and thrifty in their
habits, shrewd in negotiation, and never miss an opportunity to make
a penny. The impression there, as in other parts of Europe, is that
all Americans are rich and reckless with their money. The hotels, the
shopkeepers, hackmen, guides, curio-dealers and everyone else with
whom strangers come in contact has a special price for Americans, from
twenty to fifty per cent higher than is paid by other people. The
waiters and porters expect bigger fees, and the whole community, in
fact, considers an American traveler a pigeon to be plucked.
The peasants are industrious, ingenious and intelligent. Both men and
women are of fine physique, capable of great endurance, and very few of
them are idle or vicious. I noticed but three or four beggars during
my visit to Bulgaria, and every one was a cripple. The women do their
share of the work on the farms, and seem never to be idle a moment.
Holding the distaff in their hands, they spin as they walk along the
highway and as they sit behind piles of vegetables in the market
waiting for customers. They are so accustomed to it that the work is
done unconsciously. They also care for the flocks and herds. Most of
the shepherds you see from the highways or the railway trains are
children from eight years old and upward, who follow the cattle, sheep
and goats over the ranges. The large herds in the mountains far from
the towns are kept by men and well-grown boys, and often young women
are found among them, who sleep in the open air with sheepskins wrapped
around them during the entire winter season.
The hospitality of the peasants is always commented upon by travelers.
Whenever you enter a cottage you are cordially welcomed. The oriental
laws of hospitality prevail everywhere in Bulgaria and among all
classes. No stranger is ever turned from the door if he comes in peace,
and the poorest peasant will share his blanket and his bread without
the asking, and at the poorest cottage a glass of water or milk, or a
bunch of grapes is invariably offered the visitor. Nearly every peasant
has a farm of from five to fifteen acres. The cottages of the owners
are grouped together in a little village, and the cultivated lands, as
in France, usually lie at some distance. There are no fences, and to a
stranger the landmarks are obscure. Every family has at least one pair
of oxen and forty or fifty sheep, besides cattle, goats, pigs, geese
and chickens, all of which are allowed to graze upon the _mera_, or
common pasture, which belongs to the government, but has been held by
the community from time immemorial. A peasant of one community is not
allowed to use the pasture belonging to another unless he owns a hut
or garden spot there to give him a title, but there is no limit to the
extent of pasture. He may have only ten sheep or cows, or he may have a
thousand--they are all entitled to their share of the common range. If
a man wishes to sell his place his next-door neighbor has the option.
No stranger is permitted to acquire property that any member of the
community desires to purchase, and public opinion will regulate the
price.
Fruit is plentiful, and in the valleys there is a succession of
vineyards which produce an excellent wine. All ordinary vegetables
known to the temperate zone are cultivated, and tobacco and cotton
grow well. Although the soil has been producing for more than twenty
centuries, no fertilizers are used. The revenue from the manufacture
of attar of roses amounts to more than $1,000,000 annually. You can
buy it in little gilded glass flagons at shops where Turkish goods are
sold. The town of Shipka, where was fought the decisive battle of the
Russo-Turkish war on the 7th of July, 1877, is the center of the rose
gardens. Upon the battlefield are many memorials of that great struggle
in the form of monuments, crucifixes, pyramids of cannon balls, cannons
and crosses, scattered over a large area, erected by the survivors
of different regiments that were engaged in the battle, in memory of
their officers and comrades, and many of them mark the burial places
of officers and men who distinguished themselves in the fight. In the
center of the field is an imposing obelisk erected by Alexander II. of
Russia to commemorate the victory of General Gourko, who commanded his
troops. It bears an appropriate inscription upon the pedestal, and upon
the shaft is engraved a representation of the Russian coat of arms,
with crossed rifles and flags beneath it. Upon the top of the shaft is
a spear and a cross.
The climate and soil of that part of Bulgaria are unusually favorable
for rose culture, and for miles around the fields are full of the
most luxuriant roses, which are cultivated like the grapevines in the
valleys and on the mountain slopes farther west. The rose fields cover
altogether many thousand acres. The bushes are carefully pruned, so
that all the strength of the sap may go into the flowers, and from
the middle of June until the last of October women with bags hanging
over their shoulders go through them daily plucking the flowers that
have reached maturity. At night they take their harvests home, where
the petals are carefully removed, placed in kettles similar to an
ordinary still, and the oil extracted by steam. Thousands of tons of
rose leaves are thus gathered annually, and the oil produced is worth
at the distillery from $50 to $75 a pound. A single drop will perfume a
two-ounce bottle of alcohol. Much of the product is sent to Paris and
Vienna, the remainder to Constantinople.
Philippopolis, the second city in population and importance in
Bulgaria, is a famous old town, founded by Philip of Macedon about the
year 350 B.C., and its history has been both romantic and exciting.
It is picturesquely situated upon three hills of granite and has
several fine buildings and churches of every religious denomination.
The Alexander Gymnasium, for boys, established by the late prince,
is perhaps the most progressive educational institution in the whole
country and has exerted a wide influence. There is a government school
for the higher education of girls also, which has done much towards
the advancement of women. In the market place at Philippopolis you see
all sorts of costumes, for nearly every oriental race is represented
in the population. The Bulgarian is distinguished by the _kalpak_, a
headdress of lamb’s wool, and the Turk by his fez. The Turkish women
wrap their faces in muslin veils or shawls, but the Bulgarian women
follow the European custom and do not attempt to conceal their features.
According to the census of 1893, and there has been very little change
since, the population of Bulgaria is 3,310,713, and is composed of
2,505,326 Bulgarians, 569,728 Turks, 58,518 Greeks, 13,260 gypsies,
27,531 Spanish-speaking Jews, 16,298 Tartars and representatives of
nearly every other race on earth. The national faith is that of the
Orthodox Greek Church, although in 1870 the Patriarch of Constantinople
excommunicated the entire Bulgarian people in consequence of their
persistent demands for religious independence and autonomy. Since then
the church has been governed by a synod of twelve bishops, and is under
the care of the minister of education, the clergy being paid by the
government. In 1893 the members of the Orthodox Greek Church numbered
2,606,786, the Mohammedans 643,258, the Roman Catholics 22,617, and the
Protestants about 3,500.
Protestant missionaries from the United States have been at work in
Bulgaria ever since the establishment of an independent government,
the field being divided between the Methodists, who have the territory
north of the Balkan Mountains, and the American Board of Foreign
Missions, who are engaged in the southern part and in Eastern Rumelia.
The Bulgarians generally commend the missionaries and tell of the
great good that they have done. The newspapers speak well of them,
and the government officials have nothing but commendation for their
educational and charitable work, although their evangelical labors are
not encouraged. The government is willing that they should educate the
people, take care of them when they are sick, feed them when they are
hungry and clothe them when they are naked, but naturally does not
approve of the efforts to convert them from the Greek to the Protestant
faith. The Greek clergy are generally bitter and at times fanatical
in their opposition, except in the large cities, where there is a
cosmopolitan spirit. The Turks have very little to say in Bulgaria,
but treat Protestants much more amiably than they treat the Greeks,
and are particularly friendly with the missionaries. The American
colony very seldom has any difficulties with the Turks. The Russians,
whose influence in Bulgaria is greater than that of any other foreign
people, and who control the policy of the government, are even more
opposed to the evangelical work of the missionaries than the natives,
because of their connection with the Greek Church and their hereditary
disapproval of the education of the common people. Personally, however,
missionaries are often friendly with the Russian residents. That
depends, however, largely upon their individuality. Miss Stone, for
example, is a great favorite among them, as she is everywhere, and the
greatest degree of anxiety was shown by the Russian colony for her
rescue.
The Methodists in northern Bulgaria have eight houses of worship,
valued at $31,500. Most of them have parsonages attached. There are
eleven American and native missionaries, four hundred and thirty-four
communicants, forty-three probationers, thirteen schools and three
hundred and twenty-eight pupils.
The American Board of Foreign Missions has been at work in that
country since 1858, when the first mission station was established
at Adrianople. It has three stations in Bulgaria. At Philippopolis
there is a church of two hundred and fifty native members under the
care of Rev. George L. Marsh, a veteran who has just completed the
finest Protestant house of worship in the East, and dedicated it in
November, 1901. At Sofia there is a self-supporting church of three
hundred members under the care of Rev. Marko Popoff, and a large
school at Samakov, under the direction of Messrs. Haskell, Clark and
Baird. The work in Rumelia is under the direction of Rev. John Henry
House, who resides at Salonika, where there is a flourishing church.
There is another station at Monastir. Altogether the American Board
has nine missionaries in Bulgaria and East Rumelia, seven American
lady teachers, three established schools for the higher education
of both men and women, and one kindergarten. Its last reports show
fifteen organized churches with regular preaching, fifty places with
irregular preaching, twelve houses of worship, about fifteen hundred
communicants, and an annual average attendance in 1901 of nine hundred
and fifty-six at worship and eight hundred and forty-two at the
Sunday-school. There is a large church at Bansko, the place Miss Stone
started to visit on the morning of her capture, which has one hundred
and fifty members and a house of worship which cost $6,000.
American mission work in Bulgaria and Macedonia is divided into
three departments--publication, education and evangelical. There
is a Bulgarian publication society for both secular and religious
literature which maintains a printing office, a bookstore and a
well-patronized free public reading-room at Sofia. It has circulated
thousands of copies of the best American literature translated into the
Bulgarian language, and formerly published a weekly newspaper, which
has been revived in Philippopolis recently with a native Bulgarian
editor. The Bible was translated into Bulgarian in 1872 by the late
Dr. Riggs and Dr. Long, and thousands of copies are sold annually. The
Methodists are also circulating both religious and secular literature
with great energy, and find that it awakens an interest among the
natives to learn more, stimulates their ambition, broadens their
ideas, and encourages them to improve their own schools and extend
the facilities for the education of the coming generation. If the
missionaries in Bulgaria had done nothing else than create this public
sentiment their labors in Bulgaria would have been well repaid. They
have been the pioneers of a general-education system, in which the
government has recently shown a decided interest; they have inspired
a temperance movement, they have broken the bonds that restrained the
women of the country, and wherever their influence extends may be found
a radical change from the social, educational and moral conditions
which existed when independence was established twenty-four years ago.
The schools at Samakov for the education of teachers and preachers
have compelled the government to establish similar institutions to
satisfy the demands of the public; and a model kindergarten, maintained
by Miss Clark at Sofia, is being imitated under the direction of the
minister of education. Miss Clark is a great favorite in Sofia. She
is a daughter of Rev. Mr. Clark, one of the missionaries in charge
of the schools at Samakov, and she is assisted by two graduates of
those institutions. We visited her kindergarten one morning and found
twenty-eight black-eyed urchins engaged in making baskets and building
barns with blocks. They are the children of the best families in
Sofia--bankers, merchants, professional men and government officials,
who patronize the missionary kindergarten from self-interest and not
because they belong to the Protestant Church. The popularity and
success of Miss Clark’s kindergarten has been recognized throughout the
entire kingdom, and before long kindergarten work will be recognized as
a necessary part of the system of public education.
The Protestants in Bulgaria are trying to raise money to endow the
schools at Samakov and want help from America. They recognize that
the influence of those schools is wider and more permanent than that
of any other branch of work in which they are engaged, because the
chief object is to train teachers for the native schools. There is a
great demand for teachers, which, with the rapid development of the
educational system, far exceeds the supply, and the graduates of the
missionary schools at Samakov command the highest positions and do the
greatest amount of good. It is not necessary that they should profess
the Protestant faith. That is a matter of minor importance, and the
missionaries feel that if they can thoroughly educate the people their
object will be attained.
The government has recently passed a law providing for compulsory
education and requiring the attendance at school of all children
between the ages of eight and twelve years. The schools are free to
the peasants, but those who can afford to pay are taxed $4 a year
for the elementary branches and a corresponding amount for the
higher schools. Two-thirds of the cost of the free schools is paid
by the general government, the remainder by the municipalities and
village authorities. The appropriation in 1901 for education was about
$1,500,000, which supported 4,589 primary schools with 7,998 teachers
and 336,000 pupils, one hundred and seventy high schools with 1,477
teachers and 33,700 pupils, forty-five technical schools with 255
teachers and 4,640 pupils, and seventeen preparatory schools with 569
teachers and 13,892 pupils.
There is a university at Sofia with three faculties--law, medicine and
science--forty-two professors and lecturers and four hundred and nine
students. At present it is occupying a temporary building, but is doing
good work and promises increased influence.
It is gratifying to find in this far-off country ladies and gentlemen
who have been educated in the United States and are familiar with
American institutions. The most influential woman in Bulgaria is Mrs.
Ivan B. Kassuroff, who was a pupil of Miss Stone. She is notable for
having been the first Bulgarian woman to engage in active mercantile
business. She violated the customs and traditions of the country and
for a time created considerable stir, but Mme. Kassuroff’s character
and abilities have not only carried her through a trying ordeal,
but have gained for her the respect, confidence and admiration of
the entire population, and she now has many imitators. She opened
the field of business for women. Although the native citizens, with
their oriental conservatism, had a hereditary prejudice against women
engaging in business enterprises, they now lift their hats to Mme.
Kassuroff when they meet her in the street.
Mme. Kassuroff’s business career, however, was not entirely voluntary.
Her husband was proprietor of the principal bookstore in Sofia, and in
1874 died, leaving no one to carry on his profitable business. Rather
than make a sacrifice, his widow assumed the responsibility, has since
taken personal charge of it, has developed remarkable capacity, and,
as I have said, is honored and admired by all classes. She supplies
the government with books and stationery, and her shop is known as the
“Court Book Store.” It stands upon the opposite side of the public
square from the palace. She is a typical example of what an American
education and American ideas introduced by the missionaries can do for
a Bulgarian woman, and illustrates the advancement women have made in
the East under missionary influence.
Mrs. Popoff, wife of the pastor of the Protestant church in Sofia, is
also a graduate of the Painesville (Ohio) Seminary, and has done much
to bring American ideas into the family circles of Bulgaria and develop
the ambition and independence of Bulgarian women. Her husband, Rev.
Marko N. Popoff, is a graduate of Hamilton College, was prepared at
Fredonia, New York, and took a course in theology at Auburn Seminary.
Altogether he spent about eleven years in America, is a fine all-round
scholar, an orator of ability, and exercises a large and growing
influence. His church is always crowded and he is a popular lecturer.
Another American product is Stoyan Kristoff Vatralsky, a son of a
Bulgarian shepherd, who graduated at Harvard in 1894, was class poet,
and was engaged in literary work and on the lecture platform in the
United States until recently, preparing himself for educational and
literary work in his own country. Mr. Vatralsky is a graduate of the
missionary school at Samakov, where he was inspired with an ambition to
go to the United States and prepare himself for greater usefulness to
his fellow countrymen.
The supreme representative of Russia in Bulgaria to-day is Mr.
Bakhmeteff, a diplomatist of great talent, learning and long
experience, who disguises his cleverness under an air of cynical
indifference. He is well known in the United States, for he has spent
much time in Washington, his wife being a daughter of the late General
Edward F. Beale, who was General Grant’s roommate at West Point and his
most intimate friend for a lifetime. Mme. Bakhmeteff is as clever as
her husband, and although she naturally sympathizes with his efforts
to keep Bulgaria within the Russian “sphere of influence,” she is
thoroughly American in her habits and sympathies. To her benevolent
spirit is due the establishment of several much needed charities in
Bulgaria. She organized a free hospital and interested in her work
the Czarina, who at her own expense sent to Sofia a staff of nurses
from a Russian religious sisterhood. Mme. Bakhmeteff also introduced
the Red Cross Society into Bulgaria, has interested herself in the
improvements of the schools, and as the social leader of the capital
has made charitable work fashionable among the Bulgarian women. She has
also started a school for trained nurses, in which other ladies of high
position take an active interest.
While his wife is engaged in charitable work Mr. Bakhmeteff keeps
the government straight. The prime minister never does anything of
importance without consulting him, and his advice is equivalent to an
order from the Czar.
XI THE KIDNAPING OF MISS STONE
The capture and detention for five months and twenty days--from the
3d of September, 1901, to the 23d of February, 1902--of Miss Ellen M.
Stone, a representative of the American Board of Foreign Missions,
and her companion, Mrs. Katarina Stephanova Tsilka, wife of the Rev.
Gregory Tsilka, has excited much interest in Bulgarian affairs and the
cause of Macedonian liberty, but failed to provoke intervention on the
part of the United States or the European nations, as the conspirators
hoped it might do. That was undoubtedly their chief purpose, and it
was successful only so far as it attracted public attention to the
condition of anarchy that prevails in Rumelia and the dangers with
which missionaries and other foreigners are surrounded.
Miss Stone is well known in Sofia and throughout all the Balkan
Provinces. She has been engaged in missionary work in that region ever
since the independence of Bulgaria was established at the close of the
Russo-Turkish war. Her headquarters have been at Salonika, a Turkish
port on the Mediterranean, which was formerly known as Thessalonica.
St. Paul addressed his Epistle to the Thessalonians to its inhabitants,
and the city is otherwise identified with important events in the
history of Christianity. Rev. John H. House of Painesville, Ohio, whose
influence and usefulness extend beyond the borders of Bulgaria, where
he was a pioneer in missionary work, has charge of the headquarters at
Salonika, and Miss Stone has been associated with him for many years.
Her especial duties have been to supervise the educational work, and
it has been her habit to travel on horseback throughout the country,
opening schools, establishing native teachers and looking after
their work. In this way she has acquired a wide acquaintance and is
universally respected and beloved, not only by the Protestant converts,
but by all classes. In her own personal narrative she says:
“During the frequent missionary tours which I have made in Macedonia
during the last twenty years and more, I have often been conscious
of danger from the brigands who have long infested that country.
Thrice before my capture I had come into personal contact with them.
Once I spent the night in the common room of a khan or inn with a
brigand sleeping on the other side of the fire; once two horses were
stolen from the party with which I was traveling; and the third time
two bandits stopped us on the road, but hesitated as to what manner
of people we were, and so let us pass. On our journey in September,
however, we had no thought of fear. Only three weeks before, I had come
to Bansko by way of Strumitza and Djumia with two Bulgarian ladies,
teachers in our village schools, accompanied only by a muleteer and
a young native boy. We had ridden through a wild and rugged country,
spending four days on the road, sleeping one night in a native house,
and two in khans, all without molestation. I had, indeed, traversed the
road on which we were finally captured many times before, and, knowing
the people and their ways, I was conscious of all the safety of long
familiarity.”
Mr. Tsilka is an Albanian by birth, from the province adjoining
Macedonia on the west, was educated in the missionary schools at
Monastir and Samakov, and afterwards took a course in Union Theological
Seminary, New York City. He is pastor of a native church at Kortcha,
Albania, and for several years, with the assistance of his wife, has
conducted a school there. Mrs. Tsilka, a Bulgarian, and a native of
Bansko, was visiting her parents in that town for several weeks before
her capture. Like her husband, she is a graduate of the mission school
at Samakov, completed her education at Northfield, Massachusetts, and
afterwards graduated from the Presbyterian Training School for nurses
in New York City.
They had been attending a summer school for teachers at Bansko, and,
with several members of the class, started on horseback for their
respective homes on the 3d of September, 1901. Miss Stone’s journey
led her towards the railway which runs from Budapest to Salonika. Mr.
and Mrs. Tsilka and Mr. Dimitsoff, her father, were on their way to
Albania, and the rest of the party expected to leave them at various
stations on the road which crosses the Perion range of the Balkan
Mountains. Seven of the party were men, but only one of them was armed.
Upon a rough mountain trail between Bansko and Djumia, after three
hours’ journey, they sat down under the forest trees to eat their
luncheon and feed their animals, when they were captured by a band of
alleged brigands variously estimated from twelve to forty. Miss Stone
says:
“They were of various ages--some bearded, fierce of face and wild of
dress; some younger, but all athletic and heavily armed. Some wore
suits of brown homespun, some Turkish uniforms with red or white
fezzes, while others were in strange and nondescript attire. One had
his face so bound up in a red handkerchief as to be unrecognizable;
others with faces horribly blackened and disguised with what looked
like rags bobbing over their foreheads--the knotted corners of their
handkerchiefs, as we afterwards learned.
“Their rifles and accouterments seemed fresh and new, and they also
carried revolvers and daggers in their belts, with a plentiful and
evident supply of cartridges. They had undoubtedly intended to fill us
with terror at the sight of them--and truly horrible they looked.
“Mr. Tsilka had given his wife his watch and money; the latter she
secreted in her mouth, and tucked the watch under her belt, as she
supposed, but it slipped below and showed. One of the brigands called
her attention to it, sarcastically remarking that she had better put it
away more securely. He could not have alarmed her more; if the brigands
did not want our money and watches, what could be their purpose!”
The brigands seemed to be on friendly terms with George Toderoff, the
guide of Miss Stone’s party, who had been employed at Bansko, and
was afterwards arrested as an accomplice, but was released by the
Bulgarian government without trial or examination and against the
protest of the diplomatic agent of the United States. They showed no
disposition to rob or injure any member of the party, although they
promptly and in cold blood murdered an unarmed Turk who happened to
be passing along the trail, and who, they no doubt feared, might
communicate their movements to the authorities. As soon as a convenient
place was reached, the brigands instructed the party to go into camp,
and repeatedly assured them that they need fear no harm. No threats
of violence were made and no insults offered, as is customary when
Turks encounter Christians. No Christian woman can expect to escape
insult and seldom injury if she meets a Turkish soldier in Macedonia;
but Miss Stone, being an American of strong character and past middle
age, has usually been treated with respect. If her captors had been
Turks the proceedings would have been entirely different from what
actually occurred, and the three young women teachers, especially,
would have had an entirely different experience. This circumstance is
the strongest kind of evidence that their captors were Bulgarians. The
party went into camp, and during the evening the brigands disappeared,
taking with them Miss Stone and Mrs. Tsilka and two horses. If they
had been Turks their captives would have been stripped of everything
valuable and their animals would have been stolen, but not an article
was missing. The luggage was undisturbed and the brigands did not even
help themselves to the food supplies provided for the journey.
During the remainder of the fall and the succeeding winter, until
February 23, 1902, the captives were kept moving from place to place in
the mountains, suffering considerable privation and discomfort, but,
as both Miss Stone and Mrs. Tsilka testify, they were treated with
invariable respect and kindness, and were as well supplied with the
necessaries of life as was possible in that primitive country. They
seemed to appreciate the value of their captives and took a great deal
of care and trouble to protect them from exposure and injury, and in
November, when Mrs. Tsilka’s child was born, they brought an old woman
from some unknown quarter to assist as a nurse.
In the meantime there was great excitement in Sofia and other parts
of Bulgaria. In the United States public meetings were held in many
places and liberal contributions made towards a fund to ransom Miss
Stone and her companion, and the secretary of state ordered Mr. Charles
M. Dickinson, the American consul-general at Constantinople, to Sofia,
the capital of Bulgaria, with instructions to use his best efforts to
secure the release of the captives.
On the morning of September 4, after the disappearance of their captors
with Miss Stone and Mrs. Tsilka, that lady’s husband and father, with
the other men in the party, made a careful examination of the country
around them, but could find no trace of the women or the brigands
except their trail, which led over the mountains back towards Bulgaria.
The entire day was spent in the search. The husband and the father of
Mrs. Tsilka, almost overcome with grief and consternation, pursued
their fruitless search through the next night, and as there were no
further signs of the brigands decided to return to Bansko and give
an alarm. Messengers had already been sent there, and to notify the
missionary colony at Samakov, but, strange to say, the news of the
capture preceded them and was whispered about the streets by Cyril
Vaciloff and other Macedonian revolutionists, who appeared to know
all about it. They also predicted the amount of ransom that would be
demanded before anything had been heard from the brigands. The demand,
which was contained in a letter written by Miss Stone in the Bulgarian
language to the treasurer of the missionary board, was dictated by some
person of intelligence. The language and the forms of expression used
were very unlike her literary style. There was no doubt, however, of
the penmanship. That letter was thrown into the window of the house
of missionary Haskell at Samakov during the night, and his daughter
identified Vaciloff in the moonlight while trying to open the window.
A local newspaper friendly to the Macedonian cause published the
important part of the contents of the letter before they were made
known by the missionaries, including the amount of ransom demanded.
This and other circumstances make it very clear that Vaciloff intended
or expected to be the medium of negotiation for Miss Stone’s release,
and his failure was undoubtedly due to his arrest, which frightened him
and induced him to deny all knowledge of the affair. The missionaries
and the United States consul-general were not allowed to question him
or communicate with him while he was in jail. He was released by the
order of the authorities at Sofia upon the pretext that no evidence
had been offered against him, although no one had been invited to
present evidence. No attempt was made by anybody to secure evidence.
The missionaries and Consul-general Dickinson were not informed of
the decision to release him, and they did not know of his release
until they saw the announcement in the newspapers. The only inference
to be drawn from this unusual procedure was that the officials and
the managers of the Macedonian Revolutionary Committee realized the
complications that might ensue with the United States, the damage
their cause would suffer before the world and the odium they would be
compelled to endure if Vaciloff’s plans were carried out.
Cyril Vaciloff is a young adventurer, who had been acting as
president of the Macedonian Committee at Samakov, a small town near
the border, about fifty miles south of Sofia, in the foothills of
the Balkan Mountains. That is the missionaries’ headquarters, where
a large school for young men and women has been conducted ever
since Bulgarian independence. Its graduates may be found occupying
important positions in every part of the country, and the good it has
accomplished directly and indirectly is incalculable. Cyril Vaciloff
was educated at this school. His father was formerly a man of some
importance, but intemperance ruined him. His mother was a good woman
and was quite intimate with the missionary families up to her death.
Although she remained a member of the Greek Church, she frequently
attended Protestant worship and sent her children to the Protestant
school. Young Vaciloff was a bright scholar and a fluent speaker, with
considerable literary talent, but was always wild and restless, fond of
notoriety and unreliable in character. He never earned a dollar in his
life, but went into politics while a mere boy, and for several years
lived off the contributions for Macedonian freedom. He is a popular
café orator, writes pamphlets in support of the Macedonian cause, and
is an active, eloquent and effective agitator. In the spring of 1901,
after the reorganization of the Macedonian Committee, he called upon
Mr. Clark, superintendent of the mission at Samakov, and requested a
contribution for the Macedonian cause. Mr. Clark explained that while
his sympathies were with the Macedonians in their struggle for liberty,
it would be impolitic and unwise for foreigners, and especially for
missionaries, to subscribe to political funds. They were working in
Turkey, as well as in Bulgaria, and must keep on terms with the Sultan.
Vaciloff was not satisfied with this explanation, and shortly after
his visit Mr. Clark received a written warning that unless a prompt
contribution was made to the Macedonian cause the missionaries would
regret it. This threat was followed by an incendiary fire and the
destruction of the barn attached to the mission establishment. Mr.
Clark then received another letter from Vaciloff saying that the barn
caught fire from an electric spark, and that another would soon fall in
the same neighborhood unless $2,500 were immediately forthcoming. No
notice was taken of this threat except to solicit police protection,
and nothing happened.
During the summer of 1901 the missionaries frequently heard of threats
made by him and by others associated with the Macedonian cause, and
Vaciloff frequently remarked that the Protestants would soon be
compelled to pay a large sum into the treasury whether they wanted to
or not. He was the first to learn of the capture of Miss Stone; he was
the first to announce that $110,000 was the sum fixed for her ransom,
and as I have said, he was identified as the man who threw the letter
from Miss Stone into the window of Mr. Haskell’s residence.
It is believed that the actual leader of the bandits who captured
Miss Stone was Ivan Zandanski, formerly keeper of the Bulgaria
penitentiary, who resides at Dubnitza, a little town near the scene
of the incident. He is also active in connection with the Macedonian
movement, is associated with Vaciloff, and is a notorious desperado. He
is known to have followed Miss Stone during the summer on several of
her journeys, and usually appeared wherever she was. This was noticed
and commented upon, without suspicion at the time, but is remembered
as of significance since the outrage. Shortly before the kidnaping
Zandanski started ostensibly upon an expedition to visit and organize
the Bulgarian sympathizers on the Turkish side of the boundary in
the Balkan Mountains, and took with him twenty or more guns from the
arsenal of the Macedonian Committee at Samakov. He returned on the
11th of October, surrendered the guns to their proper custodian, and
reported that he had met with great success. It is current gossip among
the peasants in that part of the country that he was the leader of
the band, and he was actually identified by several of Miss Stone’s
companions. He was arrested and released for want of evidence, without
consulting the missionaries or the United States consul-general.
George Toderoff, the mule driver who was in charge of the animals
used by Miss Stone’s party, and acted as their guide, is believed to
be implicated. Upon his return from the mountains he told several
conflicting stories concerning the event, which caused his arrest,
but he also was released by order of the government at Sofia because
of supposed threats from Macedonian patriots. It is established by
abundant evidence that a number of members of the local Macedonian
organization around Samakov disappeared the last of August, shortly
before the capture, gradually returning to their homes during
September. They claimed to have been engaged, like Zandanski, in
organizing revolutionary bands in Macedonia, but the natives generally
believe that they were members of the party.
The presence of a military force which was sent to the neighborhood,
ostensibly to capture the brigands and rescue Miss Stone, also aided
to defeat that purpose, because it prevented people who might have
furnished valuable information from communicating with the missionaries
or lending them aid. Every man who showed signs of knowledge was
arrested, imprisoned for a few days, and then released without any
opportunity having been offered to the friends of Miss Stone to
communicate with him. These proceedings terrorized the neighborhood,
and balked every effort made by the missionaries. Another reason for
the delay to open communication was the refusal of the missionaries
to offer money as ransom or for information. The inhabitants of that
part of the country are very poor, they are naturally avaricious, and
some of them might have been persuaded by the judicious use of money
to defy the authorities and furnish information and assistance. The
missionaries, however, were exceedingly scrupulous in refusing to
appeal to mercenary motives. At the beginning they declared that no
ransom would be paid, and all offers to them and to Consul-general
Dickinson involving payments of money were promptly rejected. The
wisdom of this policy was seriously questioned by those who know the
Bulgarian character and the customs of the country, and it afterwards
proved to be a mistake and was abandoned. Natives and foreigners in the
neighboring country are in the habit of paying blackmail and ransom.
Custom has overcome their scruples on this point, and in several of the
Turkish provinces brigandage is regarded as a legitimate occupation.
It is, of course, impossible to say what might have happened if the
customs of the country had been followed at the start in this respect,
but the missionaries took the same high ground as the merchants of New
York in 1775, when they declared that they would pay “millions for
defense, but not one cent for tribute.”
There have been a large number of kidnaping cases in the Turkish
provinces during the last few years. People in this country have heard
very little about them because the means of communication are limited
and we seldom have newspaper letters or dispatches from that part of
the world. Miss Stone’s case was exceptional in this respect, because
of the missionary colonies that communicated with their friends at
home and the interest taken in the matter by the American public. The
following is a partial list of the persons kidnaped and the amount of
ransom paid for their release, since 1880. There have been other cases,
but I have not been able to obtain the facts:
1880, Colonel Singe, ransomed for $50,000.
1881, Henry Suter, ransomed for $60,000.
1884, Richard Dussi, $6,000 paid.
1885, Mrs. Giovenov, $35,000 demanded, $2,000 paid.
1885, Fritz Charmand, $8,000 demanded, $1,500 paid.
1887, R. C. H. Wilkins, $30,000 demanded, $8,000 paid.
1890, Gray Hill, $100,000 demanded, amount paid unknown.
1890, Mr. Landler, $15,000 paid.
1891, M. Rayneud, $5,000 paid.
1891, M. Michele, $2,000 paid.
1894, M. Provost, $3,000 paid.
1896, Captain Marriott, $15,000 demanded, $120 paid.
1896, M. Waligrski, $4,000 paid.
1896, Mme. Branzian, $50,000 demanded, $10,000 paid.
1898, James Whithall, $500 paid.
1899, M. Chevalier, $15,000 paid.
1900, Gerasim Kirias, $2,000 paid.
1901, M. Alphonse, $5,000 demanded, $1,000 paid.
1901, Miss Stone, $125,000 demanded, $65,000 paid.
The missionaries almost unanimously opposed the payment of ransom. They
abhor blackmail as a matter of principle, and argued that submission
in the Stone case would establish a precedent that would be disastrous
to the cause of missions not only in Turkey but in all semi-civilized
countries. They feared that it would result in a new industry; that
all the idle desperadoes would engage in the business of kidnaping
missionaries, and one good man went so far as to declare that “God
would prefer Miss Stone to perish of hunger in the mountains than
endanger the lives of his servants elsewhere.”
The latest foreigner kidnaped before Miss Stone was Gerasim Kirias,
an Albanian Protestant preacher, a naturalized subject of Great
Britain and agent for the British Bible Society. He was captured
under circumstances similar to those of Miss Stone and carried into
the mountains, where he was kept for three months, while negotiations
were conducted by the British consul-general. He was finally released
upon the payment of 500 Turkish pounds, which is equivalent to about
$2,000. The exposure and privation cost him his life. He became ill of
rheumatism while in the hands of the bandits and never recovered.
Mr. Landler, engineer-in-chief of the railroad which runs through
Bulgaria to Constantinople, was seized by brigands and carried into the
mountains several years ago. The Austrian government, backed by Italy
and Germany, attempted to force Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria to secure
his release, but as with Miss Stone the government made no attempt to
capture the brigands or rescue the prisoner, although it was not shown
that the Macedonian Committee or any other political organization was
involved in the outrage. Austria finally paid $15,000 ransom, Mr.
Landler was released, and the Bulgarian government was compelled to
refund the money and pay a handsome indemnity. Other men of prominence
and wealth have been kidnaped and the government has refused to
intervene. I cannot ascertain that any brigand has been punished in
Bulgaria since the retirement of Stambouloff, late prime minister.
Mr. Dickinson, agent of the United States, assuming that the government
of Bulgaria was responsible for the safety of foreigners within its
jurisdiction, and for the good behavior of its subjects, undertook to
compel its authorities to compel the Macedonian Committee to compel
the Samakov local committee to compel the conspirators to call in the
brigands and release Miss Stone, but his efforts were useless because
the Macedonian Committee was determined to avoid the odium of the
kidnaping, and is much more powerful than the government. It was not
believed then, or now, by those who are well informed, that the present
managers of the Macedonian movement had any part in or knowledge of
the conspiracy, but there was abundant circumstantial evidence that
the plot was arranged and carried out by the former leaders, “the old
committee,” as it is called, of which a desperate adventurer named
Boris Sarafoff was the chairman and leader. Sarafoff was removed as
head of the central committee because he was indicted for murder and
gambled away the funds in the treasury. He was also engaged in several
blackmailing conspiracies which brought discredit upon the cause.
Nevertheless he is one of the most popular heroes in Bulgaria and has
more influence with the people than any official of the government or
any respectable member of the community.
Sarafoff was suspected of complicity with the conspiracy as soon as
Miss Stone’s abduction was reported. The British minister, acting in
behalf of the United States, because we have no official representative
at Sofia, notified the Bulgarian minister of foreign relations of his
suspicions that Sarafoff was implicated and demanded officially that
he either be arrested and locked up or placed under surveillance, so
that he could not leave the country until an investigation could be
made. The government did not touch him, and probably did not dare to do
so. Sarafoff left Sofia within a few days and went to Budapest. He was
afterwards reported to be in Paris. The police knew his whereabouts,
but were more afraid of him than he was of them.
Mr. Dickinson is a gentleman of ability and integrity, and has the
entire confidence of the American colony in Constantinople, but from
the beginning of the negotiations in behalf of Miss Stone he adopted a
policy which was calculated to prevent instead of secure her release.
He seems to have imagined that diplomacy could solve the problem,
and instead of dealing with the brigands he endeavored to compel the
Bulgarian government to interfere, when he should have known that it
was absolutely powerless to do so. After two months had passed, and
having fully demonstrated his inability to deal with the case, Mr.
Dickinson was recalled from Bulgaria and Mr. Leishman, the United
States minister at Constantinople, who had been on leave, was ordered
back to his post of duty. He arrived at Constantinople about the 1st of
January, and, after informing himself as to the situation, proceeded
to undertake Miss Stone’s release by the application of business
methods and common sense. He abandoned the diplomatic controversy,
and, recognizing that the officials of the Bulgarian government were
impotent, endeavored to open communication directly with the brigands.
He appointed a committee consisting of Mr. Gargiulo, chief dragoman and
interpreter of the United States legation at Constantinople; Rev. John
Henry House, D.D., formerly of Painesville, Ohio, and for twenty-five
years in charge of the mission work of the American Board in Macedonia,
with headquarters at Salonika; and W. W. Peet, treasurer of the Bible
Society and Missionary Board at Constantinople. These gentlemen managed
the business with great skill and tact.
Dr. Peet was the custodian of the fund contributed by citizens of the
United States for the ransom, and it amounted to $65,000. Rev. Dr.
House commands the confidence of the people of Macedonia to a degree
beyond that of any other American, and for that reason Mr. Leishman
selected him to negotiate with the brigands. Mr. Gargiulo is more
familiar with the methods and habits of the natives of Turkey than any
other man whose services could be obtained. He is also upon familiar
terms with the officials and knows how to deal with both classes.
Mr. Leishman invited these three gentlemen to take charge of the case,
and they went directly to the scene of Miss Stone’s capture.
On the 18th of January Dr. House succeeded in opening communication
with Miss Stone from a town called Razlog. She wrote that she was well
and kindly treated, and that the alarming reports about Mrs. Tsilka
and herself were unfounded. But the brigands would not release her
except upon the payment of $65,000, which they were aware had been
contributed for the ransom, and was in the hands of the missionaries at
Constantinople. They knew to a dollar the extent of the funds raised,
and would not listen to any proposition except the payment of the
full amount. They had been in constant communication with friends at
Sofia and elsewhere, who kept them advised of all the movements of our
government and of Mr. Dickinson, and were familiar with the newspaper
publications concerning the case in the United States. They declined to
surrender Miss Stone in advance of payment and insisted that the money
should be paid first.
Mr. Leishman investigated the precedents and found that this had always
been customary and that in every case on record the brigands had acted
honorably and carried out their part of the agreement. In the case
of Colonel Singe, an Englishman who was kidnaped some years ago, his
captors not only demanded $60,000 ransom money in advance, but required
that his wife and daughter should be delivered as hostages and detained
until they had been given twenty-four hours to escape. The money and
the women were delivered to a representative of the bandits at a place
agreed upon. The hostages remained in absolute seclusion until the
following day, when, at the hour appointed, they left the cabin in
which they had been placed and returned to their home. If they had
attempted to leave before or to communicate with anybody during that
time they undoubtedly would have been shot, but they submitted to the
exactions of the bandits, and on the following day Colonel Singe was
released.
Mme. Branzian, a French lady who was kidnaped in 1896, was released
under similar conditions. Her captors demanded £10,000 in advance
and three days’ time in which to escape with the money. If they were
molested in the meantime they gave notice that she would be killed. Ten
thousand dollars was paid as agreed and the conditions were complied
with, but at the end of the three days soldiers started in pursuit,
four of the brigands were captured and $8,000 of the money recovered.
In every other case that Mr. Leishman could hear of the conditions
were the same, and, upon the advice of Dr. House, he decided to accept
the terms and authorized the payment of the ransom. There was a little
difficulty at first as to the place and the manner in which the money
was to be delivered, but in this, as in every other particular, the
committee was compelled to submit to the demands of the brigands. The
result justified their confidence, and Miss Stone and her companion
were surrendered according to the stipulation. On October 25 Dr.
Haskell and Dr. Baird, of the Congregational mission at Samakov, had an
interview with one of the so-called brigands, and he knew everything
that Consul-general Dickinson had done up to that date, as well as
the exact amount of the ransom fund that had been contributed in the
United States. Rev. Dr. House met three of them by appointment January
22. Two days later Messrs. House, Peet and Gargiulo met several
others, discussed the matter of ransom as business men usually discuss
commercial transactions, and arranged for the payment of the money
on the following day, January 25. The brigands demanded payment in
gold coin, and swore the Americans to perpetual secrecy concerning
their individuality, the place where the ransom was paid and other
circumstances connected with the case. They insisted that the place of
payment should remain a secret for fear the people in the neighborhood
might be suspected of complicity and be punished by the Turks. The
unexpected appearance of a company of Turkish soldiers, who were always
on the alert to watch the movements of the rescue committee, prevented
the payment of the ransom until the 13th of February. Three men were
waiting around the place of rendezvous all this time for a chance to
receive the money safely; and, in order to throw the Turkish soldiers
off the scent, the missionaries removed the gold from the packages in
which it had been brought from Constantinople, filled the packages with
stones and sent them back under guard to the railway station.
This ruse proved successful. The Turkish officials and detectives
who were watching the missionaries supposed that they had failed to
connect with the brigands and had shipped the money to Constantinople.
Their vigilance was, therefore, relaxed, and on February 13 the rescue
committee paid over $65,000 in gold coin to four brigands, who insisted
upon counting it piece by piece, to be sure that they received the
full amount demanded. Twelve other brigands were in the immediate
neighborhood, within call and on guard, and several of them are known
to the missionaries.
Two days later, in a cabin in the mountains, Miss Stone received a
letter from Dr. House, brought in by the brigands, containing the
welcome news that the ransom had been paid, and was informed by her
captors that she would be released as soon as their safety would
permit. After several days of impatient waiting the bandits started
upon a journey with their captives. They traveled through the mountains
two nights and part of three days, and about dusk on the evening of
the third day, February 23, Miss Stone, Mrs. Tsilka and her baby were
left in the woods and were told that they were free to go their way,
and would find a village within five minutes’ walk. The women thanked
their captors for their kindness, expressed the natural degree of
relief at the end of their captivity and soon found themselves in the
village of Gradshortsky, where the natives received them hospitably and
notified the governor of the town of Stronmitza, only a few miles away.
On the following morning Miss Stone and Mrs. Tsilka were taken to
Stronmitza, where the governor received them with considerable ceremony
and notified the missionaries. Dr. House, Mr. Peet and Mr. Gargiulo,
who had been patiently waiting for this news, soon joined the ladies
and conducted them to Salonika, where Dr. House lives. From there,
after a few days of rest, they went to Constantinople.
There is a decided difference of opinion among the European colony and
the missionaries as to the moral effect of the transaction, but the
proceedings of the American minister and his committee are generally
approved. It is also the almost unanimous sentiment that the same
methods should have been adopted at once after Miss Stone’s capture. A
few members of the missionary colony still insist that it would have
been better to sacrifice Miss Stone’s life than to “compromise with
wrong,” as they term it. They predict that the lives and liberty of
American missionaries will be imperiled from this time on and that it
will be unsafe for any foreigner to travel without an armed escort.
The people of the United States, having shown their willingness to pay
a large sum of money to ransom one missionary, will be called upon
frequently hereafter to pay blackmail to protect others, and they argue
that the establishment of such a precedent is not only fatal as a
matter of policy but a shameful surrender of the dignity of a powerful
Christian nation.
No demand has been made upon Turkey for indemnity or other reparation
because it is clear that the crime was committed by Bulgarians, and not
by Turks, although upon Turkish soil, and in Turkish disguises; and it
is equally clear that the conspirators desired and intended to involve
Turkey in complications with the United States. No demand has been made
upon Bulgaria since the release of Miss Stone because she declines to
make a complaint or furnish any clues to the identity of her captors
or any evidence upon which a claim can be based. She intends to return
to her mission field in Macedonia and Bulgaria, and therefore does not
wish to impair her popularity or usefulness among the people of those
countries. She is intensely sympathetic with the Macedonian cause,
notwithstanding her sufferings at the hands of its advocates, and she
is evidently under pledges to her captors not to do or say anything
that might interfere with their peace of mind or pursuit of happiness,
for she has declined, or at least neglected, to furnish the department
of state any information concerning them. She is also so confident that
her deliverance is due to the intercession of Providence, in answer to
her prayers, that she has entirely overlooked all the human agencies
that were engaged in her behalf.
Mrs. Tsilka made a brief statement at the request of Mr. Leishman,
the United States minister at Constantinople, but it furnishes little
information, and it is of no value whatever for official purposes. The
United States government intended to make some sort of a demonstration
in order to assert its dignity and show its disapproval of the
liberties the brigands of Bulgaria have taken with American citizens,
but it cannot do very much unless the parties of the first part make
complaint or furnish some ground for action, which they both seem
disinclined to do.
To those who are familiar with the facts and the situation in
Macedonia, Miss Stone’s narrative in McClure’s Magazine is more
remarkable for what she omits than for what she tells. It is very clear
that she is determined to furnish no clew to her captors, for with
great care and skill she avoids giving any information that may reveal
their identity or disclose the places in which she and Mrs. Tsilka were
detained during their captivity.
Nevertheless, she makes one or two slips, evidently unconscious of
their significance. For example, she expresses her relief at finding
that her captors were not “black shirts” or regular brigands. She
says that their arms and equipments were all new; that they were in
communication with friends in Sofia and received regular and prompt
information from that city. She speaks well of them, appreciates their
kindness and courtesy, and in her letters to Dr. House and others
certifies that they are “entirely trustworthy.” Dr. House, Dr. Peet and
Mr. Gargiulo, who had several interviews with her captors, testify that
they were “neither shepherds nor husbandmen, but men of education and
some polish,” especially the chief, who knew some English.
Mr. Gargiulo calls attention to a singular circumstance. He says
that it is the custom for brigands to give their captives a liberal
contribution from the ransom paid for their release. He mentions that
when Colonel Singe, an Englishman, was ransomed in 1880, each brigand
in the band gave him a handful of gold, from £20 to £25 sterling,
before leaving him. In other cases of abduction by regular brigands
the same practice has been followed, but in Miss Stone’s case
her captors were not so generous. They gave her no money whatever,
which, Mr. Gargiulo argues, indicates that they are unfamiliar with
the etiquette of brigandage; that it was new business for them, and
therefore they are not regular brigands. This confirms the belief that
they are members of the Macedonian Committee.
[Illustration: A MACEDONIAN READY FOR REVOLUTION]
Assuming that the conspiracy to kidnap Miss Stone was hatched and
carried out by the Macedonian Committee, the motives are easily
understood:
(1) The Macedonian Committee, having an empty treasury, needed money
for arms and ammunition.
(2) They desired to terrify the American missionaries into coöperation
with them in their efforts to secure the emancipation of Macedonia from
Turkish rule. While the sympathies of the missionaries have always been
with the Macedonian patriots, they have carefully abstained from doing
anything to excite the criticism or provoke the hostility of the Turks.
(3) The Macedonian Committee desired to attract the attention of Europe
to the misgovernment of the Macedonian province by Turkish officials
and to the condition of anarchy that prevails there, hoping to secure
the intervention of the great Powers and compel the Sultan to carry
into effect the pledges he made to the international conference at
Berlin, when Macedonia was restored to his authority in 1878. The
members of the Macedonian Committee have proclaimed boldly, both before
Miss Stone’s abduction and since, that they will make it so unsafe for
foreigners in Macedonia that the Powers will be compelled to intervene
for the protection of their own subjects.
(4) The committee hoped to provoke war, or at least serious
complications, between Turkey and the United States by kidnaping
an American citizen while upon Turkish soil, and thus involve the
government of the United States in what is known as the Eastern
question. Hitherto we have always held aloof from that perplexing
problem.
There is strong ground for the belief that there was a quarrel between
the old and new Macedonian Committees, although the facts are not
known. Miss Stone was captured by the old committee, which, as I have
already said, was composed of desperate and disreputable adventurers.
The new committee is composed of respectable and honorable men, who
did not approve of the abduction and were very anxious lest it should
injure the cause of Macedonian freedom among the Christian people of
Europe. Miss Stone, in her narrative in McClure’s Magazine, tells of
a fight between her captors and another band of brigands who, she
thinks, were trying to recapture Mrs. Tsilka and herself for the sake
of securing the ransom. Private information from Sofia, which was not
credited at the time, referred to such an attempt upon the part of the
new committee, but it has never been made clear whether they intended
to release the prisoners, if captured, or whether they intended to
demand the ransom for themselves instead of allowing it to be collected
by the members of the old committee.
* * * * *