BRIGANDS OUTWITTED.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13603, 25 May 1908, Page 6

BRIGANDS OUTWITTED.

AX AMAZING STORY

Lord Mountmorres and Captain Kettle would be excellent company for each other. - . The noble lord returned Home early in April from a thrilling adventure on the West Coast of Africa—the gallant captain' 3 happy hunting ground—where, as nil the,world knows, he Mas instrumental in rescuing nineteen French sailors- belonging to the steam trawler Baleine, of the Bay of Biscay Fishing Company, which went ashore on February 25 or 26. All landed in safety only to fall into the hands of nomad brigands, who confined them in a house, whilst the Kaid. Mohammed A'Hassein, was kept) a Tirt«»l prisoner in his fort. How the rescue was brought about will appear in the following account- of the incident given to a " Daily Chronicle " representative bv Lord Mountmorres himself:—

"As you know," he began, "I am a director of the Liverpool University of Commercial Besearch. For the best part of four years I have been taking part in a tour of inspection along the West Coast of Africa.

"On the evening of March 14 I arrived in the Canary fishing smack Jesus —not on board a yacht, as has been stated—at Cape Juby from Mbgador. " Accompanying me were a white clerk, a dragoman named Sheeref Fedul, an old friend of mine, and a courier. *■ On the morning of the 15th we stood close in with a view to anchoring, which was rather difficult on account of the heavy swell. I then noticed an extraordinary display of flags flying from the tower on the top of the fort. I could hot. read them, as they constituted no recognised signal. After a while, however, they ran up * 8.Q.,' which means, " Have you any ammunition o,n board V " I signalled back that I had none. 1 think they must- have been expecting ammunition froni Tangier. KAID A PRISONER.

" Xext a boat put off with someone aboard her waving first one flag and then another. He was trying to u&e an international code obviously with the object of attracting my attention. I could see that something was wrong ashore. "I sent off to the Raid to at>k for assistance, but he was jiraclically a prisoner. It seems that a day or two aiter the wreck his people brought the crew to an old English trading house ashore. But afterwarda a horde oi Arabs came in and seiezd the Frenchmen in spite of his protests.

"The reason for this seizure was.- not far to seek. Some time ago, you remember, a number of Xebaudy's men were taken prisoners. A French cruiser arrived on the 'scene, and, after negotiations, it- was agreed that the prisoners should be ransomed. in the meantime the captain of the cruiser got time to send his compatriots some clothes. Amongst the bundles he put notes telling the men to dash into the sea at a certain moment "The prisoners did as thev were told. Immediately the cruiser trained Maxim guns on to the shore so as to cover the Frenchmen'* flight. "This incident was never forgotten by the Moors, who vowed that they wouid cut the throat of the tirrt Frenchman they captured. You may therefore imagine their joy when Providence, as it were sent them the crew of the wrecked trawler. They were just keeping thtni ,ill a !• rench wanship arrived, when thev intended to line them up m , the- shore* and make an exhibition of them in front of tht:r compatriots. Th« Kaid, who was quite a voiinc man of 28, did all h-> could to dissuade th-m ""\ou can still have vour n.-eiae'e ' ha said, 'but wait until" vou -ret -,jur ransom ; then kill them.' " His Idea' was to gain time— wait till the Fremh cruiser arrives.*

"He thus managed to get tiu- Frenchmen two weeks'ggrace.j u t a; the end ot fourteen day.-, th:: brigands said thev couldnt wait any longer, but the Kaid got them to agree to another six davis. "<)u the nineteenth day 1 arrived." The v..-iy next day the prisoners were to be Killed.

"I at once went to see the Kaid. in doing m» 1 rau no personal risk, for the brigands knew that I was bent on negotiating, and it was not likely that ulev would attempt to capture me until all chance of business was at an end "LEGITIMATE" KIDXAPPJXU. "You must remember that these men look upon kidnapping as a legitimate sport. It I,* just the same as nick shooting to us. only ever so much more txi-iting and lucrative.

"I found the Kaid in an old English fort* which wa.- sold by our Government to the Moors in 1899 for £50.C00.

" We sat down on cii.-.hioii.s facing each other and drank coffee. For something like three quarters of an hour we talke-l about .-verythin-,' except the busing:, on winch I was intent. That is the M00r,.!, way. Y„n talk ahouti each other's relation* for an hour or so. and then vou work gradually round to the real thing. "' As I did not know the vouiijj gentleman. I derided that it would h,> best to adr.pt .1 Jinn tone with him. mi J |„|,| linn v.ry polikly that if even so niu, >, ■<■'• a hair of a single Frenchman was hurt. I would take him btmight to Tan gier and have him executed. '• However, threats were unnecessarv, for he turiivd out to be a verv dee. j;' vr.ung f.-llow. He was. in fait. <|ii;ie as anxi-.tts as I was that I lie s-ai.\ii . should be released. He noon prov.d hi.: good intentions, for somehow or other he inauaged to get .some rdieep through ioj the captives for me. a:> I lieard that the i

poor men had been eating nothing but barley since the beginning of their imprisonment. '• As nothing could be done immediately I determined to go to Lunzarole in tlie Canary Islands, but the wind blew me out of my course, and 1 went to La. 1 * l'almas instead. There i saw the French Consul, and gave him a written report, in which I suited that 1 would go oaek and negotiate; but, if, 1 said, a French cruiser left before the negotiations were over, I was atraid the prisoners; would be killed. 1 asked him to make this clear when he applied for assistance.

£60,00u KANSOM. " J sailed again, and was buck at Juby on the 17th. I went to- the fort, where J was met by a messenger from the brigands. The Ivaid told m e that they wanted £60,000. " 1 laughed at the idea. ' You can have £2OU,' 1 said, "if you accept oel ore sundown. ' " I then went back to my boat, the arrangement being that ihey were to signal me with rlag if they agreed to my terms. I stood in thrice that day, but they didn't put oil. As negotiations were at an end ati sundown they thought they would wait till I went ashore, and capture me. Bub I knew what I was doing. They strictly adhere to the terms of a bargain," but- after that you must look out for yourself. "The* next morning I was for going ashore, but old Kedul said : " l'telem! to hail, and then come back.' ' "I adopted tins suggestion and came back very early next day. I put in twice, but- without receiving any sign from the brigands. At eight o'clock, however, a boat- put off with some of the brigands and came to the smack. "As soon as they were aboard - informed the whole lot that they were my prisoners. The news .«oon got ashore and reached the brigands, who presently signalled to me. I ati once went to the fort, where I found the Kaid negotiating with two of the ring leaders. I told them that all negotiations were over. Thev could do wha'u they liked with the Frenchmen, but at 11.30 I would hang my prisoners unless they were prepai'ea to surrender the sailor*.

"We talked and talked together, and at last thev said they would take the £2OO. I replied to the effect that that bargain wa.s ' off.' "There was more talking, but I cut it short by informing them that I was going to signal to the boat to begin the executions at once. I invited them up to the tower, so that they could have a good view of the hangings. '• "Perhaps,' I said politely, 'you would like to come up and see the fun?' "We went, to the top together, but we had not been there for more than ten minutes when the brigands said they would exchange if I would give an undertaking that their friends would be all right, " The difficulty now was to get at the Frenchmen. I therefore arranged that, the Kaid should keep the two emissaries prisoners as a further guarantee, whilst I went to the smack to free my prison eis.

"About this time the French cruiser Cassard appeared in the distance, and further increased my anxiety. The ship was cleared for action, and I was 'afraid that she would begin to bombard the place. So I sent as many of my prisoners ashore as possible in order that they mieht give their friends a hint to clear out.

" The end of it was that the brigands -'fled leaving behind theus- the Frenchmen, who were safely transferred to the cruiser."