POLICE NEWS PROM MOROCCO

Evening Star, Issue 12585, 17 August 1905, Page 5

POLICE NEWS PROM MOROCCO

Moorish society knbwe no ciasa distinctions; save that a man is rich or poor, official or non-official, saintly or ordinary. Fear causes deference to be paid to men of certain bodily girth, because that girtb connotes official standing. Piety demands and ootuins deference for the blind, mad, and palpably ascetic, and for shareefs, because all such are saints or akin to saints. There is no aristocracy in Sunset Land, no question of social standing. Half-bred negroes have held high official posts, if not tho Gn en Parasol itself; a slave-born Sultan rules the land fevdav, or tries to: ami the brother of Hadji Stohammed Torres, the oldest and most highly respected Minister the Moorish Government have had in a centalry, used to make slippers and mend rTding boots for utc, and for other equally humble folk, in the shadow of the official residence. In the matter of power and ability to acquire wealth, one would place the Court favorites first, then the country governors (of whom I wrote in another article), and then the Basha* and K haleefas of towns. Your Basha is a sort of Lord Mayor, with the powers of a General Trepoff; "bis Khaleefa is the Police Magistrate. Even a Khaleefa, if he has his wits about him, can pick np a fairly handsome living in a Moorish town; but naturally the Basha takes the cream unto himself, and, if Iwi hears of a case promising substantial bribery bellib tried in the Knaleefate. he orders its transfer to his own court, which is held daily in tho city kasbah, under an awning at tho Basha’s front door, or, as I have seen it before now, under tho eaves of a stable-yard. WJierevcr they may bo held, the Basha’s courts do not vary much. The Basha sits or reclines on cushions, a talc-b or scribe near by, and the propitiatory gifts of litigants, from a loaf of sugar or a packet of candles to a big of dollars, ranged suggestively beside lum. A few of his soldiers, generally the most unashamed and rascally libertines of the neighborhood, are always within hail, for in the midst of a. heated argument, or when presents come in hutpoorly, the Basha is apt to order a general thwacking to be administered on the spot, op to bundle everyone concerned in tho case before him off to prison, there to cool their heels and minds, and reflect upon the evils of litigiousness. No record is kept of punishments administered, and the judge rarely mentions any term in ordering a man to prison, tho duration of a sentence depending generally upon the nature of the overtures subsequently made to the Basha by the offenders’ friends. Petty cases, street troubles, and the like, in which defendants and plaintiffs are not likely to make presents of many shillings in value and serious penalties are not involved, are mostly dealt with in the lesser court, which is presided over by the Basha’t) lieutenant, the Khaleda. Cases which wo should call civil, as distinguished from criminal, matters involving reference to religious law, mosque property. and tho like, go to a third court, presided over by the Kadi, a learned man, not greatly given to the acceptance of bribes, and obliged by law to make record of all his decisions.

Seriously consider**!, one is bound to admit that the Moorish courts are veritable sinks of chicanery, injustice, and venal paltering with the country’s curse—palm oil. The only thing to bo said in their favor is that they do something toward discouraging appeals to the law, since prosecutor and prosecuted stand a wonderfully good chance of being soundly trounced ns well as mulcted in bribes, and thin, since all Orientals are over-much given to litigation, is good. But v.'heu a Moor really desires justice in a vital matter, vengeance upon a murderer or an adulterer, for example, he sharpens his curved dagger, primes Ids long flint-lock market, invokes Allah’s blessing on his errand, and sets out to combine the offices of judge and executioner in his own person by slaying the offender at sight. His right to do this is recognised. Indeed, such a course! is expected of him, though the acceptance of blood-money is in certain cases allowed to wipe out a debt. Theoretically, a Kadi may not send a man to prison for more than three days, without providing a written, statement of his olfenco and sentence. Actually, any man having means may scud almost any unprotected Moor (one not under the protection of a foreign consulate) to prison for any period, or have him beaten, within safe limits, by simply communicating his desire, with a sufficiency of material compliments to the Basina.' And Europeans—even Kuropeun consuls—do not help to purify the Moorish courts in these matters. “ I sent tliat rascal up to the kasbah to bo hogged tliis morning. He had been tampering with ray . . .” is a remark I have heard more than once upon European lips in Morocco; and I know a much respected European consul there who had his Moorish servant cruelly flogged and kept naked in a dungeon on the raw edge of starvation, for exactly one year, ns punishment for liavmg plucked and eaten one ripe pear growing in an uncultivated garden belonging to the consul. In studying the methods of Moorish courts, I found my presence in the Khaleeia’s court apt to hamper the progress of Injustice. 1 was known for a “scribe and maker of devil business in books,” and found hia worship inclined to temper g wring roguery and tyranny with slow, benevolent smiles of Oriental suavity in my direction. So, in the interests of truth, I took to sending a confidential servant to court, and getting my report second-hand. Here is a. typical case:

Mohamet, a town-bred Moor, complained thqif Castim, RLffi, had man-handled him in the open market, and desired that the Riifian he beaten in the kasbah for this. At tho same time he spread before Iho Khaleefa. a quite substantial present: three dollars and a large loaf of sugar. His worship grunted cordially, and sent soldiers for Car Am, a splendid specimen of a mountain man, with ■wild eyes which he kept downcast. And that was the loss of of him: for even In Mohamet’s presence his even miaht well have telegraphed the Khaleefa promise of a bribe. The Kbaleefa allowed him a minute or two, and then, seeing that he had an obdurate rascal to deal with—your Khaleefa naturally prefers io do business with both sices, impartially be shouted : “ So. dog, you will lull upon wood Musiimin here in Tangier, and beat them, eh?” Then to the soldiers : “ Take him to tho prison and scourge him well—two hundred strokes. Leave him theuv.” Cassim was dragged off, sullen, proud, silent mountain man that he was, between two soldiers. Half an hour later, before entering the prison gales, lie was halted bv a messenger and brought hack to tho court, where he saw- bis unde, Abd el Seism, llusheC and broatlilcts, standing near the Kbalecfa's cushions. There was an extra bag of money at the Khaleefa’a feet now; it contained no fewer than ten dollars. The Khaleefa eyed sullen Cassim. with great good humor: “ How is tills, Rlffi?” he began. " How comas it vrm did not tell me you did not truly beat Mohann’l ?” Cassim raised his smouldering eves ;rt length.. “Lord, why should I ta.k of such street-bred cattle?” quoth be. " The beating 1 gave Mm was- ” Here the Khaleefa interposed sharply: “ Eh, eh? Shwei, shwei! This, my court, is not the market place. 1 cannot have so much noise. Go away, ail of you t” “ But, Ixird ” began complainant Mohamet. “Outside! Away with ye all, I say. Go and talk to the Kadi r That is: “Go and hold your peace!” for the Kadi has no jurisdiction in such matters. So the Ruffian swaggered out into the sunshine, and Mohaiiitt. crestfallen, followed him, doubtless meditating a fresh scheme, in which he would be more careful in the matter of out-bribing; or, possibly, more wisely, resolving 'to be quit of courts of law.—A. J. Dawson, in the ‘ Evening Standard.'