HELD FOR RANSOM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16026, 18 September 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

HELD FOR RANSOM.

IN HANDS' OF PIRATES; - : '-. . ■ --■ v — 4-ggm BRITISH- OFFICERS AXD fgSjßte A STABntoG story of the capture 0 ill naval officer and several teamen b * Moorish pirates is partly revealed bv Parliamentary question and answer, v* Hinds, the Liberal M.P. 0T West Cs£ marthenshire, inquired of the Foi-i WfP Secretary if he -was aware that a tigiS® tenant and three seamen of the Briti Navy and two officers of the British nier. < chant service had been captured by "Mop " -" *~ in Almanzi Bay. and held or * ransor! " since. May 13. He further asked wW 3 steps have been taken for the release nt these men. The answer given by Lord Robert Cecil ' in the House of Commons was this- J""'*? According to my information, follil.ll Lieutenant Kent, R.X.R.. a nd three a£lNt men from the armed merchantman Richard We] ford, together with seven seamen' from the British merchant steS®! Eburna. are in the hands of the villass ■' of Am Deshisha, in the Anjera. hario* * - been captured on May 15. His MajestV? Agent at- Tangier entered into comma,;/ * cation with the tribes immediately a ft«» ttye capture. A ransom was demanded 1 ! which it is not considered advisable to I pay I can give no further information':/ |at the moment as to the steps which *01 : > 1 be taken in the future, but meanwhile"l 1 I am informed that the captives are hem* " well treated, and that there is no rea^^fe•] for anxiety as to their safety." Letters which have been received -• " - 1 London state that these villagers h J?- T manded £2000 as the ransomin J? ' captives, who fell into their clutch! ; Sh g^anE^ a owned by the Anglo-Saxon Petro'lenm } Company. When - she went ashore the?", Richard Welford, ,t is understood, w<*,i to her assistance, and left a sub-lieutenant and several seamen behind to a£TftS' * captain of the Eburna. Ut tl# f . It was while the officer and the sai"Tn„ were in a small boat near the shore tint V thaemen of tie Anje ra , , iSS. •,, img the extreme north of Morocco dN" scended - 071 i/, 6 party. A scuffle' fit lowed, in which some of the white men M t were injured and the officer and 2^ mentioned above captured.