KAID MACLEAN'S RELEASE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11231, 21 March 1908, Page 2

KAID MACLEAN'S RELEASE

STORY OF HIS IMPRISONMENT. STARVATION, THREATS, AND HARDSHIP. TANGIER, February 7. Sir Harry Maclean lias furnished an interesting account of his capture and imprisonment. "Before I left Fez in June," the Kaid wrote, "the Sultan gave me letters for Raisiili and for some of the tribes. His Majesty told me to hand these letters to the chiefs °f the tribes, and not to give them to Raisuli. He also bade me leave nothing undone to induce Raisuli to come to Fez. Si Ard-es-Slam Kirwani. nephew of Raisuli, met me in Alcazar, and swore by everything a Moor can swear by that Raisuli would come to Fez — that lie wanted to come with.' me, only 1 must do nothing to cause Raisuli to think I was not playing fair, as he had received no .end of letters telling him not to. trust me. For that reason I took with me only a few of my men."When I met Raisuli at the river he was awfully nice. He asked m© to come a little way into ..the chiefs' country to show that I also- trusted them, and to give them their letters from, the Sultan. I made Raisuli clasp hands and swear by everything he held sacred— even, by the local saint who is his patron saint and ancestor — that he was going to act fairly. He did all these . tilings, and added that it was a. shame I should think that he would behave ill. 'You ought noC he said, 'to talk in ithis way. Am I not going to put my life in your hands by accompanying you to Fez?' "I. had letters .which I had been ordered to give to the chiefs themselves. Raisuli had -with hhn 56 armed men, whereas I had only three or four rifles. I knew that if he had made up his mind to act unfairly I should be made to go with him, and I went. I .have not t»ld you one quarter of what Raisuli and his ■ nephew said to persuade me. Soon after Ave passed the river I. knew, it was my Rubicon, and that I was entirely in Raisuli's hands." "MAD WITH SHAME." "Next day," continued Kaid Maclean, "when Raisuli sent his scribe, El Dow-* die, to tell me that I' was a prisoner, I was mad with porrow arid shame, for instead of helping the Sultan, I had made matters worse for him, and had put my own Government in a. difficult position. I felt inclined , to kill myself in order to help the Sultan and to prevent Raisuli from making anything out of his treachery-" :' ■ - . ■.■-.- :,-.r..-' .'.•; - The Moorish Government tried to r;e r gotiate and failed. Then it sent two utterly inefficient armies against Rfiisuli. "Wlien the Sultan's soldiers 'came,'' says the Kaid," "Raisuli told; the people, that I had sent them, and asked me, to. write letters insisting on their With-' drawal. Of course, il could not; v^ite such orders. I was, indeed, piad to hear the firing, but , the 'armies' vct'o no' good. ;In the last- attack not a sir.gle man on Raisuli's side* was killed. » if 1 had waited till the 'armies' reieased*me I must. haye. waited for. ever. „ . ; „ v "Raisuli, realising that I would, not help him and suspecting me of nuging the Government to active measures, oetermined to give me a. bad time. On the march nearly all my mules, m ere taken ' from me, and after a seven iv tirs' ride my men were sent' to put up Raisuli's tent, while I was left without- food, sitting until night in the 1 'i r fi ng sun Avith a hot, dirty jellab over me raisuli knew How I was treated, for l*e and his nephew passed close t<o ne seated en the ground in the stun, nrd to<:k r.o notice of ■ me. The El Kiimes lube urged Raisuli to give me up, but he put the guard round; his tent and do^'and that he would fight first," "SHOOT ME IF YOU. WILL" Fearing that the tribesmen might insist on bartering the prisoner for immunity from attack, Raisuli determined to remove the temptation. In dead of night the Kadd was ordered to put on Moorish clothes ,and was smuggled to a distant retreat inaccessible save to mountaineers and, goats. . - "It was , on the 24th ; of.- July, v .I tJi|rdc{; that. l wag taken into the mountain a.bout' three hours' distant from El Khmes. I was not allowed to carry- anything with me. During the first, two days /I was given only a little brown bread and some water, and during -the three following days one boiled chicken and some hard boiled eggs. 'AH day I was kept hidden under some rocks?, and was not permitted to move a step. Epery night until the fourth we changed our hiding place, going over very rough ground to a new lair tinder the rocks. On the fourth, night we did not move, and at midnight on the fifth my guards brought me back to El Khmes, Kajsuli having ceased to fear the effect of the presence of the Sultan's levies; . When I got back to El Khmes 1 had fever, and my temperature rose to 102. I was ill for a week, but «gjot well again*" And now began a period of persecution that reduced 'the prisoner to- a skeleton ■ but left lus spirit unbroken. For many days the Kaid was kept in close confinement under conditions that would have daunted a less proud, and obstinate mnri. Not a word of complaint was uttered, and not for a moment did Sir Harry Maclean give his enemies the gratification of seeing that their tortures had any effect on him. "He treated them with silent contempt," said the Moors who visited Raisuli's. prisoner. "He turned his back upon them and said. 'Shoot me, if you will.' He was never afriad." ' THE. ORDEAL. Let the Kaid tell the story of this ordeal. "On August 24th I was placed in a tumble down room with the roof off on one side and partly off on the other. I was not permitted to leave the room,, voliioh im\\ Mocvs shaved with -me and the fleas. We had only n little kettle of water among us, aud I could wash only my hands and face. We Vere in *a beastly .state. On September 2 Raisuli must have received news that alarmed him, for he sent four of his guards to cany ms off into the hills again. I was.'ill at the tinie. Halppily the men had had saich a bad time during our previous stay in the hills that, they refused to go." Raisuli was no doubt disturbed by the arrival of Mr Allah Maclean in Tangier, and by the receipt of a letter dated August 27, inviting him to come to terms. Mr "Bibi" Carleton then came on the scene, and for the first time Raisuli was asked to make known his .conditions. The invitation was mado. on September B—7o days after the capture of the Kaid. Rnisuli received Mr Carleton's letter on the 10th, Its effect was nwgicaJ. "Raisuli." says Sir Harry Maclean, "came to see me on the morning of the 10th, and on the following day he sent me a tent. How glad I was to get out of that beastly hole ! I spent 17 never-to-be-forgotten days there. On the last night 11 Moor? kept me awake .until 3 in the morning, and I was out of the room at 5. I had a. bad time, but I did not let them see that I ea.red a straw ! Often I felt like a. seasick man whose only wish is to bo thrown overboard. When H quitted that dreadful room I was as thin as a skeleton. I could not stand upright, and was ?o weak from tho. confinement and want of proper food that I could hardly walk. Raisuli told me that he would treat me well. He sent back my servants and my bed. That night I had a good sleep between sheets — a. lu-xury I had not enjoyed since July 17, havincr slept on the ground for 56 'nights. Better still. I lu»4 no Moors in my tent to keep me awake till 1 o'clock and to commence prayinc at dawn." R.AISULI ASKS FOR THE MOON. Of course. Raisnli began by asking for the mt»on. But the moon waned steadily. On October 8 the Sultan assented to any conditions for the Raid's . release. Meanwhile Raisuli -visited all delays ofy his unfortunate captive. Confinement^ in a foul room, want of food, and a systematic course" of bullyinjr. which wa*; harder to bear than privations, kid. failed to break the indomitable spirit of Kaid Maclean. Another instrument of torture was found, and the prisoner was loft to the tender mercies of Si Mahomet Arrar. one of Raisuli's creatures. Sir Harry Maclean is a great lover of music. He* plays the bagpipes, and the story ran that' he was w<int to so^ice UinseU with the skirl of tlu*. pinos. U")i.ipi>ilv, his pines were- vM with hiiir,

and the music to which, he was compelled to listen was intended as a form of torture. The guards took their cue from Amir, and determined that the dog of a Christian should listen if he would not dance to their tune. The two-stringed fiddle of the country was at work night and day, and the captive -wa s prevented from sleeping. Protest was in vain. The same old tune was ground out until lor2 in the morning. These murderers of sleep and of music demanded rewards, and promised to abate the nuisance if given the price of a sheep. They bought a goat instead, declaring that m'hallas had eaten all their sheep — more mischief than most people suspected them of doing. Being a Moor and a time server, Si Mahomet Arrar began to amend his /ways when he saw some prospect of the Raid's release. The negotiations dragged on with painful slowness,- and it was not until November that they began to take practical shape— thanks to the tact arid knowledge of the native character possessed by Mo "Bibi" Carleton, consuitar agent at Alcazar. ■ * , ; Kaid Maclean ha s borne his long captivity like a soldier. He has never uttered one word, of complaint, and has always shown himself ready to be made a sacrifice if his detention; or even his death, could benefit the cause of Abdul Aziz. . •