RAISULI.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 742, 15 February 1910, Page 5

RAISULI.

REPORTED DEATH BY POISONING. ! By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright . London, February 13.1 : Renter's .'.Tangier/correspondent reports that from a reliable souroe comes the news that Raisuli, ; the brigand chief, -and kidnapper of Kaid Maclean, and,-Mr. Per-' dicaris, has been killed by poison. A PICTURESQUE FREEBOOTER. "A very handsome, distinguished- man, ,who takes from the rich and gives to the. poor,'' is the sort : of; "Robin Hood", description . applied to .Raisuli by- Mrs. Frances,/ Campbell in, her "Shepherd; of the - /Stars." ; Nevertheless,;: Raisuli used undoubted: treachery' in luring ;Kaid Sir Harry Maclean: into -his '. So. deep': is. his: cunning ■ that. 'the poisoning story .will require confirmation.: It- is' not .the first time ho .has',been killed ,by-rumour. . Raisuli; whose full, title . is - Mulai Ahmed " ben": Mohammed er-Raisuli, about forty-three years of/'age, ; ' and ' is described by .'most writers/as Ixung snigularly.'.handsome, with features moro resbmbling the.-Greek ; than .the -Arabtype of countenance. /;He:belongs to the. aristocracy :of ■ Morocco,' /being' a sherif; .or ■direct desoeridant of, the Prophet, through' -Mulai ;Adrisj -who'founded- the Mohaiiimbdan Empire of Morocco, 'and/was. the first Sultan/of the Idrisite dynasty. -.He was educated. at but,, abandoning con-; ventional;, methods, of . life, ~ ./became , ' a 'cattle*; thief,- arid- chief of ii: .banditti band," .whose-doings struck terror' into' : tho ,'districts raided by : .him. He was subsequently. cajitured .through a. friend ibetrayT, ing ;him, ; .'.: arid" '/was imprisoned,boing chained to a-wall,for sfonr/years.V>; :-'- Itaisuli . escaped or was released,: arid,ohefishingAdeep; grievances, against the Moroccan powers';-became a/banditjon an--international scale.. 'He .kidnapped Mr. Walter -B. Harris (Tangier; correspondent of "The Times") and an American named lon. Perdicaris, lor whom he exacted large ransoms, and, lastly', Kaid '"Maclean, -whose ransom, was '.£20,000;-