Cyril Vaciloff is a young adventurer, who had been acting as president of the Macedonian Committee at Samakov, a small town near the border, about fifty miles south of Sofia, in the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. That is the missionaries’ headquarters, where a large school for young men and women has been conducted ever since Bulgarian independence. Its graduates may be found occupying important positions in every part of the country, and the good it has accomplished directly and indirectly is incalculable. Cyril Vaciloff was educated at this school. His father was formerly a man of some importance, but intemperance ruined him. His mother was a good woman and was quite intimate with the missionary families up to her death. Although she remained a member of the Greek Church, she frequently attended Protestant worship and sent her children to the Protestant school. Young Vaciloff was a bright scholar and a fluent speaker, with considerable literary talent, but was always wild and restless, fond of notoriety and unreliable in character. He never earned a dollar in his life, but went into politics while a mere boy, and for several years lived off the contributions for Macedonian freedom. He is a popular café orator, writes pamphlets in support of the Macedonian cause, and is an active, eloquent and effective agitator. In the spring of 1901, after the reorganization of the Macedonian Committee, he called upon Mr. Clark, superintendent of the mission at Samakov, and requested a contribution for the Macedonian cause. Mr. Clark explained that while his sympathies were with the Macedonians in their struggle for liberty, it would be impolitic and unwise for foreigners, and especially for missionaries, to subscribe to political funds. They were working in Turkey, as well as in Bulgaria, and must keep on terms with the Sultan. Vaciloff was not satisfied with this explanation, and shortly after his visit Mr. Clark received a written warning that unless a prompt contribution was made to the Macedonian cause the missionaries would regret it. This threat was followed by an incendiary fire and the destruction of the barn attached to the mission establishment. Mr. Clark then received another letter from Vaciloff saying that the barn caught fire from an electric spark, and that another would soon fall in the same neighborhood unless $2,500 were immediately forthcoming. No notice was taken of this threat except to solicit police protection, and nothing happened.
During the summer of 1901 the missionaries frequently heard of threats made by him and by others associated with the Macedonian cause, and Vaciloff frequently remarked that the Protestants would soon be compelled to pay a large sum into the treasury whether they wanted to or not. He was the first to learn of the capture of Miss Stone; he was the first to announce that $110,000 was the sum fixed for her ransom, and as I have said, he was identified as the man who threw the letter from Miss Stone into the window of Mr. Haskell’s residence.
It is believed that the actual leader of the bandits who captured Miss Stone was Ivan Zandanski, formerly keeper of the Bulgaria penitentiary, who resides at Dubnitza, a little town near the scene of the incident. He is also active in connection with the Macedonian movement, is associated with Vaciloff, and is a notorious desperado. He is known to have followed Miss Stone during the summer on several of her journeys, and usually appeared wherever she was. This was noticed and commented upon, without suspicion at the time, but is remembered as of significance since the outrage. Shortly before the kidnaping Zandanski started ostensibly upon an expedition to visit and organize the Bulgarian sympathizers on the Turkish side of the boundary in the Balkan Mountains, and took with him twenty or more guns from the arsenal of the Macedonian Committee at Samakov. He returned on the 11th of October, surrendered the guns to their proper custodian, and reported that he had met with great success. It is current gossip among the peasants in that part of the country that he was the leader of the band, and he was actually identified by several of Miss Stone’s companions. He was arrested and released for want of evidence, without consulting the missionaries or the United States consul-general.
George Toderoff, the mule driver who was in charge of the animals used by Miss Stone’s party, and acted as their guide, is believed to be implicated. Upon his return from the mountains he told several conflicting stories concerning the event, which caused his arrest, but he also was released by order of the government at Sofia because of supposed threats from Macedonian patriots. It is established by abundant evidence that a number of members of the local Macedonian organization around Samakov disappeared the last of August, shortly before the capture, gradually returning to their homes during September. They claimed to have been engaged, like Zandanski, in organizing revolutionary bands in Macedonia, but the natives generally believe that they were members of the party.
The presence of a military force which was sent to the neighborhood, ostensibly to capture the brigands and rescue Miss Stone, also aided to defeat that purpose, because it prevented people who might have furnished valuable information from communicating with the missionaries or lending them aid. Every man who showed signs of knowledge was arrested, imprisoned for a few days, and then released without any opportunity having been offered to the friends of Miss Stone to communicate with him. These proceedings terrorized the neighborhood, and balked every effort made by the missionaries. Another reason for the delay to open communication was the refusal of the missionaries to offer money as ransom or for information. The inhabitants of that part of the country are very poor, they are naturally avaricious, and some of them might have been persuaded by the judicious use of money to defy the authorities and furnish information and assistance. The missionaries, however, were exceedingly scrupulous in refusing to appeal to mercenary motives. At the beginning they declared that no ransom would be paid, and all offers to them and to Consul-general Dickinson involving payments of money were promptly rejected. The wisdom of this policy was seriously questioned by those who know the Bulgarian character and the customs of the country, and it afterwards proved to be a mistake and was abandoned. Natives and foreigners in the neighboring country are in the habit of paying blackmail and ransom. Custom has overcome their scruples on this point, and in several of the Turkish provinces brigandage is regarded as a legitimate occupation. It is, of course, impossible to say what might have happened if the customs of the country had been followed at the start in this respect, but the missionaries took the same high ground as the merchants of New York in 1775, when they declared that they would pay “millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.”
There have been a large number of kidnaping cases in the Turkish provinces during the last few years. People in this country have heard very little about them because the means of communication are limited and we seldom have newspaper letters or dispatches from that part of the world. Miss Stone’s case was exceptional in this respect, because of the missionary colonies that communicated with their friends at home and the interest taken in the matter by the American public. The following is a partial list of the persons kidnaped and the amount of ransom paid for their release, since 1880. There have been other cases, but I have not been able to obtain the facts:
1880, Colonel Singe, ransomed for $50,000.
1881, Henry Suter, ransomed for $60,000.
1884, Richard Dussi, $6,000 paid.
1885, Mrs. Giovenov, $35,000 demanded, $2,000 paid.
1885, Fritz Charmand, $8,000 demanded, $1,500 paid.
1887, R. C. H. Wilkins, $30,000 demanded, $8,000 paid.
1890, Gray Hill, $100,000 demanded, amount paid unknown.
1890, Mr. Landler, $15,000 paid.
1891, M. Rayneud, $5,000 paid.
1891, M. Michele, $2,000 paid.
1894, M. Provost, $3,000 paid.
1896, Captain Marriott, $15,000 demanded, $120 paid.
1896, M. Waligrski, $4,000 paid.
1896, Mme. Branzian, $50,000 demanded, $10,000 paid.
1898, James Whithall, $500 paid.
1899, M. Chevalier, $15,000 paid.
1900, Gerasim Kirias, $2,000 paid.
1901, M. Alphonse, $5,000 demanded, $1,000 paid.
1901, Miss Stone, $125,000 demanded, $65,000 paid.
The missionaries almost unanimously opposed the payment of ransom. They abhor blackmail as a matter of principle, and argued that submission in the Stone case would establish a precedent that would be disastrous to the cause of missions not only in Turkey but in all semi-civilized countries. They feared that it would result in a new industry; that all the idle desperadoes would engage in the business of kidnaping missionaries, and one good man went so far as to declare that “God would prefer Miss Stone to perish of hunger in the mountains than endanger the lives of his servants elsewhere.”
The latest foreigner kidnaped before Miss Stone was Gerasim Kirias, an Albanian Protestant preacher, a naturalized subject of Great Britain and agent for the British Bible Society. He was captured under circumstances similar to those of Miss Stone and carried into the mountains, where he was kept for three months, while negotiations were conducted by the British consul-general. He was finally released upon the payment of 500 Turkish pounds, which is equivalent to about $2,000. The exposure and privation cost him his life. He became ill of rheumatism while in the hands of the bandits and never recovered.
Mr. Landler, engineer-in-chief of the railroad which runs through Bulgaria to Constantinople, was seized by brigands and carried into the mountains several years ago. The Austrian government, backed by Italy and Germany, attempted to force Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria to secure his release, but as with Miss Stone the government made no attempt to capture the brigands or rescue the prisoner, although it was not shown that the Macedonian Committee or any other political organization was involved in the outrage. Austria finally paid $15,000 ransom, Mr. Landler was released, and the Bulgarian government was compelled to refund the money and pay a handsome indemnity. Other men of prominence and wealth have been kidnaped and the government has refused to intervene. I cannot ascertain that any brigand has been punished in Bulgaria since the retirement of Stambouloff, late prime minister.