AN ALGERIAN BRIGAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9491, 21 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN ALGERIAN BRIGAND.

CAPTURE OF THE TERROR OF THE ■ "MOUNTAINS. KNOWN AS THE HYENA OF THE KABYLE3. It was recently announced that) the notorious brigand chief, Areski-ben-Bacher, who had long been a terror to the people inhabiting the frontier districts of the provinces of Algiers and Constantino, had been arrested. The members of his band had previously been seized one after the other by the expedition of 400 men sent out against the brigands. The record of this Hyena of thoKabyles," as he has been colled, says a writer in the Mew York Tribune, is one of the most extraordinary in all the annals of Algerian outlawry. A few years ago Areski was captured, tried and convicted of various crimes. He was sent to penal servitude at Cayenne, from which shortly afterward he escaped and returned to Algeria, hiding in the dense woodlands. After a time he ORGANISED A BAND OF BOBBERS formed of a number of outlaws, and began his career of pillage, abduction, and murder. His first step in the form of reprisals was to be revenged on all the witnesses who had given evidence against him at his trial. He killed every one of them in turn, either by stabbing or shooting them. Thab system of squaring accounts being settled to his satisfaction, he adopted a plan of imposing a tax on certain inhabitants, either in the form of an exacted tribute in cattle or abducting any native woman or girl who was so unfortunate as to attract his notice. Wherever and whenever he met with opposition he INVARIABLY SLAUGHTERED HIS OPPONENTS. On one occasion, assisted by two accomplices only, he waylaid a caravan composed of fifteen Kabyle traders armed to the teeth. Being informed of their coming, he quickly placed among the bushes on either side of a turn on the road a large number of burnous—white woollen cloaks with hoods —and rifles pointed road ward. The traders, being under the impression that they were in the presence of a numerous body of armed men ready to fire at them, and believing thab resistance was useless, yielded and quietly handed over their money and merchandise to this adventurous brigand. On another occasion, when he was availing himself of the hospitality of a native, who had given him a night's shelter in his tent to screen him from pursuit, he was informed by one of his spies thab the gendarmes had discovered his escape. Quick as thought he threw over his shoulders the cloak of a chief, or douar, drawing the hood close over his forehead. Leaving the tent he made his way toward the approaching party, and, addressing the commanding officer, said: "Areski is not here; after robbing us he went away. Come in and see for yourselves." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the gendarmes sprang from their saddles and entered the tent'. The moment their backs were turned Areski vaulted into the officer's saddle and dashed off at full speed. PAID HIS TAXES REGULARLY. It is recorded that Areski had made up his mind to try and capture the Prefect of Algiers on his journey through the forest of Yacouren. It is said that he was late in reaching the spot where he had intended to effect the capture; and it is also said that at the last moment he hesitated. Moreover, he- frequently intimated his desire not to interfere with the authorities if they would only let him alone, and to colonists with whom he was in peaceful communication he observed that ho could see no reason why he should be interfered with, inasmuch as he regularly paid his taxes. And, strange as it may appear, he certainly did regularly pay them, if not directly, at all events indirectly, either through his wife or his father, who lived in Algiers in a house which he (Areski) rented in the Casbah quarter. Like the erstwhile C'orsican brigand Bellacoscias he could boast of being "domiciled." FUTILE ATTEMPTS AT HIS CAPTURE. The year before last the authorities believed they were about to capture him. A battalion of zouaves, with the assistance of a number of gendarmes, formed a circle around him, bub he managed to elude their vigilance, and within a few days he committed a series of barefaced robberies and murdered inhabitants who he believed had put the authorities on his track. He was tried and sentenced to death in contumaciam, and a price was put upon his head, with the unsatisfactory result thab a number of innocent natives who were mistaken for Areski were hunted down and Seriously wounded in resisting their aggressors, who were anxious to obtain the reward. And all the while Areski, whose haunts were in the dense underwood of the forests of Yacouren, was hiding in safety and laughing in his sleeve. So trreat was the sense of terror he inspired that even his victims who escaped with their lives dared not mention his whereabouts. "Areski's dagger is a long one," they said, in their expressive words, " and will surely reach the hearts of his enemies." And so he levied blackmail on the natives, who, nevertheless, kept him well informed of what the authorities were doing in order to capture him and always warned him of approaching danger. He seemed to exercise an influence over them to which they in their fanaticism believed bhey were doomed to submit. The list of troops mobilised to capture this bandit included 200 riflemen, 500 native troops, and several brigades of gendarmes. And it took them a long time to do it. -