TERRIBLE DAY'S

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16534, 29 December 1927, Page 10

TERRIBLE DAY'S

AWAITING MURDER. BY MOpRS. GRAPHIC STORY OF KIDNAPPING KASBA, Tadla, Morocco,-Nov. 18. Seventy-eight little '.sacks, containing 2,000,000 francs, in gold (£80,000),. wore in the Lands of Moorish brigands in the snow-covered. Middle Atlas Mountains to-day, and the six persons whom the gold ransomed were back in civilisation recovering from their- experience during a mouth’s captivity. Two of the ransomed prisoners, the little Arnaud girls, looking pale and tired, and with their feet bleeding, stumbled over the mountain.passes to Aguennous and were turned over to the French protectorate-officers.

A hundred horsemen rode down the plain firing in the air, staging a demonstration to show, that they still possessed ammunition. ■ “Baroud,” they cried, and although “Baroud” means war,, there was no war for the caravan bearing the gold back to the brigands ’ headquarters; • TADLA,, Morocco, Nov. IS.

A tale of unbelievable hardships and nightly terror was unfolded by Yves St cog, nephew of the French Governor-General of Morocco; Jean Maillot, his brother-in-law, the elderly Mine, Marie Prokoroff, and the Baroness Yon Steinheil, who have reached here, after having been held for ransom several weeks by Moor brigands. Simultaneously, thO little' Arnaud orphans, sfPur and six years of age, pitifully wasted and covered path rags and fleas, were handed over to French outpost near Aguennose, from whence they will be transferred, to Beni Mellal. The Arnaud children’s parents were murdered by the brigands on October 8, Although the brigands are revelling with the huge ransom the Government was forced to pay for the release of the six French citizens, there is talk that they will not revel for long. It is rumored that reprisals will bo begun immediately if the weather permits. M. Stccg and M Maillot will direct punitive columns, with plans of the rebellious territory, which they managed'to draw during the captivity. ... PRISONERS RELEASED. It is known that several million francs was transferred to the rebellious Moors, but just how much the Government has taken the greatest precautions to prevent from leaking out. Because M. Steeg-’s nepheri was. involved, and because M. Steeg is none too popular, certain political leaders in Paris feared a scandal might develop,so all mention of the figure was scrupulously avoided. At 9.45 on Thursday morning, French scouts, in the open country, iu the vicinity of Ivsiba, sighted a band of seventy Chleuhs descending the slope from Ait Aouirat Pass. With their glasses they spied ' Yves Steeg and-two women. Jean Maillett; the other nephew, was missing, i. OFFERED TO STAY. Because the natives employed by the French to bargain with the Captors failed to show up with the sum arranged for on the other side of the pass at down, Maillot offered to stay behind as a voluntary hostage lest the bandits, smelling a mouse, slay the women in a moment of panic. But,upon rCaching the'French ' liiie” the Chleuhs found the intact and sent runners back’fo, get tlie' other nephew. In the middle of the. afternoon the party arrived at Tadla.,' where . they were given, first aid. at the post iufirmary. They presented a .sorry appearance. Both men ..were beards weeks old. Young Steeg wore a piece of ragged burlap from his shoulders and a pair of faded red-breeches taken from the corpse of some' Zouave. Maillet was gotten up in a filthy burnoose and snappy pair of Velvet pants such as workmen wear. ip. Paris. The two women were scantily attired in once-white burnoose.

Although thought, to be seriously ill, the baroness, the moment, she. stepped put of- the automobile ,at Tadla, asked forja vanity case, so as to arrange her liair and powder her nose. M. -Steeg told a graphic story of the kidnapping, but,, from his manner, apparently expects' to. get the devil from his uncle,’ whom he has’got in hot water. P '

“What luck to bo. caught in such imprudence,” he ' groaned, “when uncle particularly warned me not to do anything an ordinary colonist would not do.” -' -•

Seven bandits were in tile party that attacked their ear while on a hunting expedition late at night, a considerable distance from Beni, Mellal. ' TERRIBLE MARCH, “They forced us to walk all night long, and until 2 o'clock the next afternoon, ’’ he continued. ‘ * They had no pity. They prodded us with knives and bayonets whenever -we .'faltered and forced me to carry-a. thirty-pound sack. The women nearly died. Every few days, during all our captivity, when the negotiations for the ransom were going slowly, the tribesmen kept '•saying, in our hearing, ‘ Why keep them? They are deadweight on our hands. Let's slit their throaty and get it over with.’ Wo lay awake night after night fearing they would make up their minds to follow - thisidea. They took everything wo had. Wc .were fo'rcod to tear up our underclothing for handkerchiefs. ” The moment the Arnaud girls were in their hands, before .their captors left the scene, French army doctors examined them and found that they in no way had been maltreated, though they were in' a pitiful state.' They have clean'beds now in Belli 4 Mellal, where they cried themselves to sleep, as they have done every night since they saw their parents Racked to death by the Moors. They will be sent to Rabat.,, to be placed under The care of Mmc. Stceg. . . •