Two days later, in a cabin in the mountains, Miss Stone received a letter from Dr. House, brought in by the brigands, containing the welcome news that the ransom had been paid, and was informed by her captors that she would be released as soon as their safety would permit. After several days of impatient waiting the bandits started upon a journey with their captives. They traveled through the mountains two nights and part of three days, and about dusk on the evening of the third day, February 23, Miss Stone, Mrs. Tsilka and her baby were left in the woods and were told that they were free to go their way, and would find a village within five minutes’ walk. The women thanked their captors for their kindness, expressed the natural degree of relief at the end of their captivity and soon found themselves in the village of Gradshortsky, where the natives received them hospitably and notified the governor of the town of Stronmitza, only a few miles away.
On the following morning Miss Stone and Mrs. Tsilka were taken to Stronmitza, where the governor received them with considerable ceremony and notified the missionaries. Dr. House, Mr. Peet and Mr. Gargiulo, who had been patiently waiting for this news, soon joined the ladies and conducted them to Salonika, where Dr. House lives. From there, after a few days of rest, they went to Constantinople.
There is a decided difference of opinion among the European colony and the missionaries as to the moral effect of the transaction, but the proceedings of the American minister and his committee are generally approved. It is also the almost unanimous sentiment that the same methods should have been adopted at once after Miss Stone’s capture. A few members of the missionary colony still insist that it would have been better to sacrifice Miss Stone’s life than to “compromise with wrong,” as they term it. They predict that the lives and liberty of American missionaries will be imperiled from this time on and that it will be unsafe for any foreigner to travel without an armed escort. The people of the United States, having shown their willingness to pay a large sum of money to ransom one missionary, will be called upon frequently hereafter to pay blackmail to protect others, and they argue that the establishment of such a precedent is not only fatal as a matter of policy but a shameful surrender of the dignity of a powerful Christian nation.
No demand has been made upon Turkey for indemnity or other reparation because it is clear that the crime was committed by Bulgarians, and not by Turks, although upon Turkish soil, and in Turkish disguises; and it is equally clear that the conspirators desired and intended to involve Turkey in complications with the United States. No demand has been made upon Bulgaria since the release of Miss Stone because she declines to make a complaint or furnish any clues to the identity of her captors or any evidence upon which a claim can be based. She intends to return to her mission field in Macedonia and Bulgaria, and therefore does not wish to impair her popularity or usefulness among the people of those countries. She is intensely sympathetic with the Macedonian cause, notwithstanding her sufferings at the hands of its advocates, and she is evidently under pledges to her captors not to do or say anything that might interfere with their peace of mind or pursuit of happiness, for she has declined, or at least neglected, to furnish the department of state any information concerning them. She is also so confident that her deliverance is due to the intercession of Providence, in answer to her prayers, that she has entirely overlooked all the human agencies that were engaged in her behalf.
Mrs. Tsilka made a brief statement at the request of Mr. Leishman, the United States minister at Constantinople, but it furnishes little information, and it is of no value whatever for official purposes. The United States government intended to make some sort of a demonstration in order to assert its dignity and show its disapproval of the liberties the brigands of Bulgaria have taken with American citizens, but it cannot do very much unless the parties of the first part make complaint or furnish some ground for action, which they both seem disinclined to do.
To those who are familiar with the facts and the situation in Macedonia, Miss Stone’s narrative in McClure’s Magazine is more remarkable for what she omits than for what she tells. It is very clear that she is determined to furnish no clew to her captors, for with great care and skill she avoids giving any information that may reveal their identity or disclose the places in which she and Mrs. Tsilka were detained during their captivity.
Nevertheless, she makes one or two slips, evidently unconscious of their significance. For example, she expresses her relief at finding that her captors were not “black shirts” or regular brigands. She says that their arms and equipments were all new; that they were in communication with friends in Sofia and received regular and prompt information from that city. She speaks well of them, appreciates their kindness and courtesy, and in her letters to Dr. House and others certifies that they are “entirely trustworthy.” Dr. House, Dr. Peet and Mr. Gargiulo, who had several interviews with her captors, testify that they were “neither shepherds nor husbandmen, but men of education and some polish,” especially the chief, who knew some English.
Mr. Gargiulo calls attention to a singular circumstance. He says that it is the custom for brigands to give their captives a liberal contribution from the ransom paid for their release. He mentions that when Colonel Singe, an Englishman, was ransomed in 1880, each brigand in the band gave him a handful of gold, from £20 to £25 sterling, before leaving him. In other cases of abduction by regular brigands the same practice has been followed, but in Miss Stone’s case her captors were not so generous. They gave her no money whatever, which, Mr. Gargiulo argues, indicates that they are unfamiliar with the etiquette of brigandage; that it was new business for them, and therefore they are not regular brigands. This confirms the belief that they are members of the Macedonian Committee.
A MACEDONIAN READY FOR REVOLUTION