THE END OF A ROBBER CHIEFTAIN.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2530, 11 June 1867, Page 4

THE END OF A ROBBER CHIEFTAIN.

The following narrtive is supplied to the Telegraph by a special correspondent of that paper : — Pesth, March 16. Some of your readers may, perhaps, remember a short episode in the life of one Mr Joteph Udmanich, robber chieftain, contained in a letter of mine which you published early last autumn. This eccentric public character is no more ; his briWaufc career has been brought to an untimely close by an obscure gendarme's rifle. U dmanioh has been the terror of a j large district for years. The rewards offered for his capture, dead or alive, have been progressively increased from time to time, ever since he punished the untimely ambition of Peter the Gipsy #by knocking out hie brains on a hill side, until they reached the — for Austria—important sum of 4000 florins. The gendarmerie, and even soldiers, have been after him for months to no purpose. He has evaded capture on 'half-a-dozen different occasions with a courage and ingenuity worthy of Kobin Hood or Vidocq ; but at last the blood money has been too many for him, and he haß Been delivered to death by one of the very peasants who have hitherto aided him him in his numerous escapes. The way that he was trapped, and the manner of his death, are both so romantic, so incongruous to the practical age we live in, and yet so suitable to the dead robber's antecedents, that I feel sure a short account of his apotheosis will be read with interest by a great many people who have very little idea what a desperate, bloody-minded rascal a Sclave brigand may be in the year of grace 1867. After his betrayal by a miller who owed him an old grudge, the outlaw had contrived, by the aid of his mistress, to evade the cordon of gendarmerie established round Potok, in which place he had announced by letter his intention of visiting a certain merchant who had declined to pay him tribute. The nearest guardhouse was at Popovaea, where the armed force consisted of four men and a corporal, who, " upon information they received" from the miller, set off to earn the reward. The men were in high spirits, but the corporal, a Q-erman Bohemian, who had only recently taken service in the gendarmerie, was seized with a strong presentiment that he should meet his death at Udmanich's hands, and wept bitterly whilst making Mb preparations to start. On arriving at Potok, the corporal divided his small force so as to surround the house in which Udmanieh was concealed, and then knocked at the door. A boy answered the summons, and was instantly seized by the corporal, who extorted from him by threats the confession that " Jose" was upstairs. Immediately afterwards the owner of the house came out in person to see "what was the matter. He at first strenuously denied the presence of the outlaw chief in his abode. Strong persuasive means being, however, applied by the gendarmes, he at length avowed that " Jose" and his " schatz" (sweetheart) were hidden in an upper room. He was at once ordered to summon Udmanich to surrender, himself, and received the characteristic reply V that if anybody wanted him they had better come and fetch him." Upon this; the gendarmes compelled the peasant to ! fetch a quantity of straw and to pile it up against the four corners of the house. Understanding to what a climax tni«l measure was likelvto lead, the distracted man went up to Udmanich's room, and implored him not to bring utter ruin upon his harbourer, but rather to gpve himself up quietly. In reply to this entreaty, the brigand opened thowindow, firedatthe corporal of gendarmes, luckily missing him, and told his host to go to a hotter place than even his house was likely to become. A dead ' silence • prevailed in the village, not an inhabitant of which ventured to put his nose outside his door. The stillness was only broken by the sound of Udmanich's rifles, with which he kept up a smart fire on his besiegers, his mistress loading as fast as the guns were discharged. The gendarmes, however, had betaken themselves to cover, and no one was hurt for some little time. Meanwhile they forced the despairing house proprietor to set fire to the four heaps of straw, which blazed up merrily ; and in a few seconds the wood of which the cottage was built was one sheet of flame. On a Budden Udmanich's mistress sprang through the door, carrying a large bundle under her arm, and rushed down the street. The gendarmes let her go, for two very good reasons ; in the first place, to pursue her would have been to give " Jose" a chance of escape ; and, in the second, to leave their cover would probably have been fatal to one or more of them; This last desperate ruse de qu&rre having thus proved unavailing,, ana* the fire being a great deal too hot to bear any longer, Udmanich made up his mind for a dash, and emerged from the burning cottage upon the verandah, a rifle in each hand, calling out, " Begin, you fellows, or else I will !" Scarcely had he uttered these words when the verandah gave way under him, and he fell; to to the ground. The corporal, hoping to take him alive, left his shelter,' and advanced with pointed rifle. Udmanich was too quick for hinvhowever ; taking a snap shot at the unfortunate gendarme, which stretched him dead uponthe ground — too truly fulfilling Mb presentiment— the robber gathered himself together^ fired his last charge amongst three of the gendarmes who had hurried to the assistance of their fallen comrade, wounded one of them named , Jfrazak f severely- in fche leffc « arey and tbenf broke.; through tta, uttering a shout of triumph, He

' t 3 ' ' * I i * ' * 't i ' ft 5 W it's £ V * ' Tlsd alrea%"pw tbM^t^^'ywafe.^' J^een himself and, the turning cpttagf; ,;when the fourth g^d»r^ r vrfep, huwl \tfsfk • posted behind, a house j^me'dwt^tipe ii| , r i the roacl to'tßo^ou^tMns,.ivhitli^it^d cfeHain that tPdmanich would fly if Hd ... managed to evade the attack on the. cottage, sprang upon him as he. passed, and caught him by the long hair> .which was .:- --' flowing out behind him in the fresh morn- •.._.. ing breeze. '.^e;r6bbe>\t^ne3-iippii : Wi,:^ new enemy, seized him by tteih^atj.an^i. ■ flung him to the ground with" such, fprge*' ., j that he lay insensible. Nothing now :i intervened between TJdmanich and safety^ '■- but hia bloodthirsty nature got the better ' of his prudence, and he bent over thft prostrate Petrovich, opening a large clasp knife, with which he was about .< to finish ; him, when Prazak, who although badly wounded had never lost sight of the fugitive, and had followed him as fast as hia weakness from loss of blood would allow, crept up to the stooping assassin, put his/ rifle to .nis ear, and blew out his brain?* TJdmanich sprang high in the air, and fell over the body of his intendeo! victm>; stone dead. Upon examining his corpse, suspended to his neck were found several amulets, which were believed by the peasants he had- so cruelly harried to render him steel and bullet proof. 'It is very likely; — for he was , an 'ignorant, . superstitious ruffian— that he himself pufe faith in the efficacy of these . cnarms- , Prazak's cool and timely , shot, however, showed no respect whatever for amulets, or even for the crucifix which the murderer bore onhisbreastr-rhideousmockerT — and fbrtunatejy put an end to tfo/ scourge of the "three kingdoms," 'as tTdmanich was called, besides saying the;Imperial the expense and ; trouble of trying and executing him*' .; The unlucky corporal was buried with' military honors; the rewards hay£b'eeiiH paid,,and Prazak will assuredly bedeco* , rated for his gallantry ; but I underßtftfti, of that the country people are rather sorry. * \ for TJdmanich, although 1 he .muiffahifaifs ravished, and fobbed at vvill amongst., them. Let moral philosophers explain this if. they can.. . : ;; „,,,; „ ,;