THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF MISS STONE.

Grey River Argus, Volume 57, Issue 10520, 26 February 1902, Page 4

THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF MISS STONE.

(Sketch.)

I am able to give come extremely interesting picture- 1 , nofc only of fche country where Miss Stone, the American missionary, is still hidden with the brigand band who abducted her early in Septembe-, wifch a view to obtaining an enormous ransom, but further fco show a portrait group in which one-of her captors figure.", and another of the police who are now trying to rescue the unfortunate lady.

The affair has naturally made more sen. ation in America than it has here — indeed, this country, fchough the fact is now forgotten by most peop'e, once had an oven more terrible brigand sensation than that which has filled the American papers for weeks past.

It was in the April of 1870 that a party of English tourists, including Lord and Lady Mancaster, Count de Boyl, a Mr and Mrs Lloyd and their child, Mr Herbert, and Mr Vyner, one of the moßfc charming and gifted members of a noted family, were all se*z d by a band of Attica brigands whi.H refcn nin« from aa excursion' to the batilefibld of Marathon.

Miss S one's Bulgarian captors have fixed her ransom at L 25.00 0; their Greek corns ades, more greedy, Reminded in 1870 LSOOO more, but they gallantly r.eased the ladies of the party, who journeyed sadly back to Athens, where they made their companions' p ight known to the British Minister. The money was raised without a moment*- delay, but the brigands, breaking their faith, then raised their demand to L 50.000 ! This further sum wa. also procund; but, perhaps just because the whole matter had been arranged so eaily, the chef of the biigands made a yet further claim— that of a full par.lon for himself and his band.

The Gietk Government could nofc consent to this iniquitous proposal, and then began endless negotiations, made all the more painful owing to the fact fchafc the chivalrous King George was the brother of our then Princess of Wales. So distressed was the young Sovereign at the state of things fchafc he himself nobly offered to surrender his pei son to the brigands in exchange for the British captives, an offer, however, which the wily brigands were too wise to accept.. Persuaded by the British MinisterTtoileftve his mountain stronghold ahd, accompanied, of course, by his captive , to come to a place where negotiations could be more easily carried 00, Takos, the brigand chief,

suddenly saw himself surrounded by Greek soldiers, and enraged at, aS he thought, the treachery of the British negotiators — to whom this extraordinary and foolish conduct on the part of the Greek police was unknown, he ordered his comrades to turn on their captives and kill them, which they accordingly did, without leaving a single survivor. It has been many times pointed out that several features of this; thirtyyear old story have now repeated themselves. Miss Stone and her companion, the unfortunate lady., w ho v said to have already died from the hardships to which the two ladies have been exposed, were captured in a district sup pos<-d tobe cleared of brigands; tbe ransom was fixed on the same extortionate scale; the brigand, thra.tened to murder their prisoners in the event of being pursued by troops ; and now, again, the whole question is terribly cosoplicated^by politica' diffi.ultie.. Nothing can be lovelier than the stretch of Bulgarian country on the borders of Turkey which has been for 60 long — in fact, since the Middle Ages— a brigand's paradise. Two chains of lofty mountains, tections of the Southern Balkans, run for nearly a hundred miles in parallel directions, and Miss Stone's missionary work lay in the fine plateau stretching between the two ranges. The ground is exceedingly fertile, and, on the whole the devoted American missionaries who labor there among the people lead unhappy lives, though they are quite constantly exposed to the risk of capture by robber chiefs. Even Miss Scone her _elf had once been so taken, but, after a short time released. The brigands are connected with most of tbe villagers, and thus can turn into simple peasants or shepherds at will. Doucho, Miss Stone's jailer, is a regular type of the robber chief sa dear to the imagination of tha British schoolboy. He is a famous Bulgarian outlaw and by way of a little joke, when he and his band are intent od anything more than usually nefarious, they make a point of disguising themselves as Turkish Regular troops. According to his friends — and strange to say, he h hs many in the Turkish and Bulgarian political worlds — he is_ treating Miss Stone and her unfortunate companion. Madame Tsilka, with every courtesy and kindness ; indeed, some go so far as to say that they are being well cared for in a pretty hut in the midst of a mountain vi lage. There is no doub 1 . that they are allowed occasionally co communicate with the outsi ?e world, but that makes their position all the more pitiful. Mi.<s Stone is a fine typ >of the American mis nonary. She h_s given up the whole of her life to the Bulgarian missions, and, after teaching for over twenty years in the American Evangelical Girl.' Schools at Sarnakof, near the Turkish frontier, she was given the onerous but highly honorab'e position of Inspectress of the who'e ot the Mission S ttleraent. in Macedonia. In America the most extraordinary inteivst has been taken in bhe case ; more than one popular newspaper has despatched an emissary "to find Miss Ston ." Naturally, the various Missionary Societies have not been idle and practically the whole of the money wanted has been collected. It is a significant fact that brigands often begin by asking for much mo:e than they are willing to take. When Mr Arthur Haseldin was captm ed by a Spanish robber-band in 1874, his I friends man-ig *d to get the amount of I ransom reduced from L 40,003 to L6OOO.