Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

15 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

-----=----A QUESTION OF '…

PROCLAMATION OF THE EMPEROR…

THE SEFTON LIBEL CASE.

IRISH EMIGRATION. ---

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CAPTURED AND MURDERED BY BRIGANDS.

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Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

The following account, by Mr. Thomas Cook, of the earlier circumstances connected with this terrible tragedy, has been forwarded for publication :— "GreeK brigandage has long been the terror of visitors to Athens, and has tended very much to deter timid tourists from entering the country. On the day of our arrival here (Monday, April 11) an exciting and distressing illustration of this 'reign of terror' was realised. The three next chairs to that which the writer occupied at the table were turned down for an absent party, who did not arrive to take possession of them. In the early morning they bad gone, in the company of others, to eee the famed battle-field of Marathon. The party consisted of the Lord and Lady Muncaster, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd and their little daughter, Mr Vyner, a travelling friend of his Lordship, Mr. Herbert, Secretary to the British Legation, and Mr. Boyl, Secretary to the Italian Legation. One of the chief guides of the city ac- companied them and an escort of four policemen. We are told that on the previous night, at the dinner-table of our hotel, they laughed and joked about their anticipated excur- sion, and their exposure to the possibilities of an attack of brigands. Their jokes were turned into sad realities, and soon after dinner, on Monday evening, the two ladies, the little lassie, and two of the policemen, returned to tell the story of the capture of the nobleman and gentlemen of the party, their guide also being detained. It is reported that as the party were returning from Marathon, through a narrow pass between the hills, the four policemen were fired at, and two of them received mortal wounds, one of them dying immediately, and the other lingering till this morning. A posse of about thirty heavily-armed brigands rushed from behind the bushes which lined the sides of the road and captured the whole of the gentlemen. The ladies were also required to dismount from their places in the carriages. The ladies, after enduring the menaces and curious examinations of the highwaymen, were liberated, and. accompanied by two of the policemen returned to Athens. The police- men were empowered to offer terms of ransom, on thn double condition of an amnesty and a sum of .E1,OCO,0 0 drachmas, amounting to about £32,000 sterling. No wonder that this sad event should excite the whole populations of city and country as the news spread; and as there was danger of exaggeration and mistake, we at once telegraphed to our London office the names of the party and the chief facts, adding the assuring words that Cook'a party were all safe.' The propriety of this course W2o.ll soon evident, as one of our party was told up the Piraeus that the captives were of eur number. At the time of writing these notes, little reliable information can be obtained, but a great variety of rumours are afloat. This morning (Wednesday) it is positively stated that it is part of a political movement for embarrassing and effecting a change of Government. But the haul is considered to be so valuable that the captors will not reduce their demands, and the grave question is where the money is to come from. On receipt of the news, a troop of cavalry was despatched and also a number of foot soldiers; but, with the view of saving the lives of the captives, they have been recalled, and the matter is one of bandit-diplomacy -one of the unavoidable humiliations of a weak Govern- ment. Most disastrous is the event regarded by the people of Athens, as it must have the effect of discouraging still fur- ther the visits of those upon whom they have to rely for most of their support. Guides are deploring the loss of oc- cupation hotel keepers may well fear the consequences; cab proprietors and cabmen view the results with the same fearful apprehension; the complications which it will occa- sion cause quiety-disposed politicians to tremble and the whole population is moved with fear, with the exception of those who are suspected of having sympathy with the per- petrators of the crime. Our own party would have been over the hills and far away but for this event, but it is now deemed prudent to keep within the precincts of the city. Should political ends be aimed at, the plo is likely to be widespread, and there would in all probability be more than a single and daring band of 30 brigands. I will wait and see the result of reported impending negotiations, and finish these notes at the latest moment before the departure of the mail. Thursday Morning, April 14. At the moment that the closing paragraph of the above was written, yesterday, Lord Muncaster arrived at the hotel, being brought here in a little waggon, in charge of a peasant of the mountains, on parole, for the purpose of negotiating with the Government, and to get supplies of food and cloth- ing for his Lordship's friends in the brigand camp. The Minister of War and our Minister, the Hen. Mr. Erskine, had a conference at the hotel with his Lordship, after which the noble captive, true to the word and honour of an English- man, was reported to have sustained the integrity of his parole and allowed himself to be taken back in the same ignominious manner in which he had been brought hither, in charge of large supplies of food, furnished by our host. It was currently reported that the terms proposed by the brigands for the liberation of the captives had been raised from Z-32,000 to 440,000, the amount to be paid in English gold, and a free pardon assured to the thieves and murderers. That the last appellation Is strictly correct was affirmed by the funeral of one of the policemen, which we witnessed immediately after the reported departure of his Lordship. This sad event drew together an immense con- course of spectators of all classes in the cathedral and at the grave. About a score of our party being recognised in the cathedral, we were invited to places close to the chair of the officiating archbishop, and to each of us was presented a candle, to be held in accordance with the custom of the Greek Church. Apart from the symbols, the insignia, and the nasal intonatIOn of the prlestP, the funeral service was very solemn and affecting. In an open coffin before us lay the murdered soldier (or gendarme), his face naked, and his body clothed in the official dress in which he had been shot, with his little military cap, resembling those worn by French gendarmes, on his head. Ihe body was surrounded with flowers, and on his breast was a little framed picture, the subject of which we could not recognise, but as all who kissed the face first kissed the picture, we took it for a Madonna, or some other emblem of the Saviour. Hymns and prayers were chanted, the patriarch read extracts from the Scriptures, including the scene at the grave of Lazarus, the solemn service commencing, I atn the resur- rection,' <ftc and a lengthy written paper read by the chap- lain of the army, which seemed to excite much interest, Then followed a closing benediction and address to the relatives and friends of the deceased, during which the lights were ex- tinguished, the distressed widow and several children were assisted to take their last look upon and to kiss the lifeless cheeks of the murdered husband and father, and then friends and comrades rushed forward in like manner to ex- press their sympathies, many of them in tears. The cere- mony ended, a procession was formed, headed by the usual insignia of the Greek ceremonial, and with the face of the corpse still bare, it was removed to the cemetery. The ser- vice in the cathedral occupied nearly an hour, and the procession was nearly half an hour before it reached the grave around which a large concourse gathered. There was no religious ceremony, except a few words from the priests as the corpse was lowered into the grave, but here a scene of great interest was witnessed. A soldier of the dragoons stood by the corpse, and delivered an energetie, impassioned, and affecting oration, which drew tears from many of the crowds As this oration was in Greek we could only judge of its power by the attitudes and expression of the speaker, and its effects on those who understood the words but it was evident that the whole soul of the man gave utterance in one of the finest touches of Greek oratory. Three rounds of firing by a group of soldiers simultaneously with the filling of the grave closed this affecting inci tent of the excitement of the week. As in the cathedral, so at the grave, the greatest courtesy was shown to the few English spectators. The soldiers cleared a way and beckoned to each of us to take a position as near as possible to the oorpse, and the orator made touching allusions to the English

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"PINDER v. POTTER."

A QUESTION AS TO BUGS.

UlisttlliiRMiK Jmtfllifprt,