RAISULI, MOROCCAN BANDIT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3128, 31 July 1922, Page 8

RAISULI, MOROCCAN BANDIT.

(.By Charles Phillips.) i-i Raasiili-, the bandit scourge of Moroccol, who has played tag with nearly all of the European nations for nearly a quarter of a. century, and nneuicm**fully attempted' to bluff the United States in 1904, when he abducted Jon H. Pardicaris, is again in the spotlight of international happenings, this time, almost in the grip of of Spain, who ever ■since the close of the war has been trying to get hold of him. The most picturesque figure that the Orient has produced since the Malidi. inflamed the Soudan, Raisuli has taken refuge at the venerated! shrine of Mulai Abd-cs-S'alani, his kinsman, at Waaait. due north of Mequiinez, and about midway between that place and Tangier. Of a race whose ways- arc tire same to-day as they were 1000 years ago, Mulai Ahmed 1 Bon, Mohammed-er-Raisuli, is to-day a man of about 51. He is by birth, sprung from one of ilic most aristocratic families in Morocco and is a. Shereof, or direct descendant of the Prophet through Mulai Idris, who founded the Mo ira in medo n empire of Morocco and was the first sovereign of the Idriste dynasty. The children of Mulai Idris were established in various parts of the country, and it is from Mulai Abd-es-Sai!aim, whose tomb at Wazan, in the habitat of the Beni Arcs tribe, is now the sanctuary of Raisuli. that the la.tfcr is descended. This tomb is a place of great sanctity, and is surrounded by many .buildings in which the renegade can find concealment without fear of Spanish interference for a long time. Any attempt by a Christian to violate its sanctity would result in an uprising that would be difficult to control or put down. A man of education, writing classical Arabic in a most beautiful hand and conversing with the intonation of the Moorish aristocracy, Raisnli is the most magnetic personality that northern Africa has produced since Ah. lie started his career of crime and rapine after being treacherously dealt with by Abd-er-Rahman Abd el-Saduk, Basha of Tangier, who upon Raisuli’s first attempt at an insurrection in 1900, made overtures of peace and invited Raisuli to visit him at Tangier with a view to arrive at a friendly solution of all difficulties. In spite of warnings that the Basha was treacherous, Raisnli went alone and unarmed to Tangier. He was I'eeeived at the official residence ol the Basha with every . encouragement of friendliness, but once within the building he was seized, bound and hurried to the Black Hole of Mogador, the worst prison in all Morocco, and where the lowest criminals are confined. An iron bar was riveted about Ids neck, handcuffs with intervening bars generously spiked were fastened on his wrists so that his hands could not come together, and heavy shackles were riveted to his ankles. He was also tortured. For four years Raisnli was chained to a wall and could neither ho down, nor bend his body until the neck shackles were removed. When lie was finally liberated through the intervention of influential Moors he made a vow that a scissors would never touch a hair ol his head until he had avenged himself on Ids treacherous enemy. Though lie shaves the tup of his head like ail Moslems, he wears a long sea Ip lock that now roaches far lie-low his waist and which he tucks away under his turban. immediately lie was released he returned to the fastnesses oi the lulls near Tangier and gave full play to the vindictive spirit that had been aroused in prison. Raisnli began abducting foreigners, not to plunder them, but merely as a moans of coercing the Moroccan Goverimieiit to render, howboit unwillingly, some measure of tardy justice. His first victim in his capacity of kidnapper was Walter B. Harris, the correspondent of the London Times, who was confined at Zerat in 1901 tor several weeks in the bandit’s impregnable stronghold, two hours ride from Tangier. Harris was treated with consideration and was exchanged for sixteen tribesmen, followers of Raisnli, who had been imprisoned. Raisnli associated himself with powerful Kahyles and united in a league against the Government. Raisnli did not at any time dispute the Sultan’s authority, nor refuse to pay the taxprescribed by the Koranic law —that is, the tenth of all crops—but beyond that he resisted oppressions with force. As a Moslem' he returned wrong for wrong, not good lor evil, and any injury done bun lie repaid a hundredfold. The second victim was lan H. Pcrdicaris. an American born in Athens in IS4U. Mr Perdicaris was made captive at his summer home. Aidoma. in the Beni Arroze Hills, and with His son-iu-law (Cromwell Varlcy). was taken to a Kabylo village where they were kept captive for several weeks. President Roosevelt sent warships to Tunis and John Hay demanded the release of the* captive in the terse cablegram : “Perdicaris alive or Raisnli dead." Raisnli laughed at the. display of power and kept the Sultan and bis viziers on tenterhooks with his indisputable demands, which the Sultan was compelled to assent to, realising his impotence to lay hands on the wily bandit. Raisnli was made Governor of all the districts in the neighborhood of Tangier, had the Governor who sent him to prison degraded, was paid a ransom of .£15,000, and had the satisfaction of seeing all his enemies imprisoned and his own friends released. Raisnli became all powerful after this bandit coup, a hero in the eyas of the .Moors, a menace in those of Europe. His first acts were good. Raisul put down the effervescence which his rival Bon Hamara’s rebellion had caused in the neighborhood of Tangier. Ho. opened the roads to caravan travel, and for a time caravans were unmolested within tlie limits of his jurisdiction. He brought -about a temporary .serenity that was just the lull before the storm. As his influence increased Raisnli became a despot. He squeezed the people under him and extorted money from the poorest of the poor. The Government officials lived in terror of him. and let him know it. with the- result that ho ignored their orders and commands. scoffed openly at European treaties, becoming at the same time the protector and scourge of Tangier and the surrounding districts. .In 11)07 Raisnli had reached the zenith of his [tower. It was only necessary to tell a man that ho was under arrest and he would never attempt to escape. Everybody in Morocco and outside realised that Raisnli’s arm was long enough to reach him where he (led to. But while he showed all the. qualities required for a strong Governor in Morocco:, he overdid it. For him there existed no treaties. Europeans were blackmailed, and finally the representatives of the European Powers addressed a collective' note to the Moor isli Minister of Foreign Affairs at Fez. demanding that an end he put to the impossible state of affairs' existing in Hie Tangier districts. It was almost an ultimatum, for the bay was 1 filled with the warships of the nations and the Sultan had no other alternative hut to send an army against Raisnli’s' stronghold. Raisnli for a time held off the forces of the .Sultan, hut finally was defeated and retired beyond the mountains 1 of Beni Ma sour, where he was completely outlawed.

I ' Then came the Algeciras Treaty. Northern Morocco was at its worst, anti even the pleasure-loving Mulai Amdul Aziz perceived that affairs were becoming worse. He decided to open negotiations with Raisnli and sent Kaid MacJean, a former British officer, who had become Generalissimo of his armies, to interview the bandit and oner him terms. Raisnli, remembering his former experience with Basha. of 1 angler, kidnapped the Kaid and conducted negotiations with the Sultan from the inaccessible border ol the Mountain Ahlserit tribclands sonic lew miles from Alcazar. The Kaid remained in captivity seven months. Of all the negotiations for obtaining the release of a British subject this was the most diflicull In the end Raisnli obtained a ransom of £20,000, and he was made a British protected subject, Tor a time Raisnli remained quiet, accumulating wealth and living at Arzelia, where he built himself a palace. But Raisuh’s retirement was not-to he a long one. When Mulai Halid seized the throne Raisnli felt his chance had come. He helped to overthrow Mulai Adbul Aziz, and he visited Tez and received the appointment as Governor of all northern Morocco with the exception of Tangier and it surrounding district. Before receiving the appointment Raisnli was compelled to abandon, bis British protection and to return to the Moroccan Treasury the £20,000 he had received as Kaid Mac'°For l five° : yearns he levied taxes and made the lives of the tnbe| miboa'rable until he again rail foul of the Sultan this time at the behest of Spam, whose Moroccan representatives had made an ineffectual attempt- to kill him. Again Raisnli became an outlaw and took to the hills. Just before the outbreak of the war Raisnli made contracts with tne famous Mannessmann Brothers of Berlin with reference to mining in the mountain districts, and at the beginning of hostilities Raisnli became an a oent of the Germans. He was friendly with all the German agents' that the • Spanish zone harbored. He also became friendly with the Spanish officials and thereby hang® the tale of his present dilemma. - Under the guidance of German and Spanish Moroccan agents he gave active assistance to German criminal intrigue and was in direct relations with the’ German Embassy in Madrid. For the last few years Raisnli has maintained' a guerrilla warfare against the Spanish and! now that he has sought refuge in the sanctuary of his kinsman’s venerated tomb it may bo that he will starve to death in the odbr of sanctity and his tomb 1 like that of bis ancestor, become ai place of pilgrimage.