Assuming that the conspiracy to kidnap Miss Stone was hatched and carried out by the Macedonian Committee, the motives are easily understood:
(1) The Macedonian Committee, having an empty treasury, needed money for arms and ammunition.
(2) They desired to terrify the American missionaries into coöperation with them in their efforts to secure the emancipation of Macedonia from Turkish rule. While the sympathies of the missionaries have always been with the Macedonian patriots, they have carefully abstained from doing anything to excite the criticism or provoke the hostility of the Turks.
(3) The Macedonian Committee desired to attract the attention of Europe to the misgovernment of the Macedonian province by Turkish officials and to the condition of anarchy that prevails there, hoping to secure the intervention of the great Powers and compel the Sultan to carry into effect the pledges he made to the international conference at Berlin, when Macedonia was restored to his authority in 1878. The members of the Macedonian Committee have proclaimed boldly, both before Miss Stone’s abduction and since, that they will make it so unsafe for foreigners in Macedonia that the Powers will be compelled to intervene for the protection of their own subjects.
(4) The committee hoped to provoke war, or at least serious complications, between Turkey and the United States by kidnaping an American citizen while upon Turkish soil, and thus involve the government of the United States in what is known as the Eastern question. Hitherto we have always held aloof from that perplexing problem.
There is strong ground for the belief that there was a quarrel between the old and new Macedonian Committees, although the facts are not known. Miss Stone was captured by the old committee, which, as I have already said, was composed of desperate and disreputable adventurers. The new committee is composed of respectable and honorable men, who did not approve of the abduction and were very anxious lest it should injure the cause of Macedonian freedom among the Christian people of Europe. Miss Stone, in her narrative in McClure’s Magazine, tells of a fight between her captors and another band of brigands who, she thinks, were trying to recapture Mrs. Tsilka and herself for the sake of securing the ransom. Private information from Sofia, which was not credited at the time, referred to such an attempt upon the part of the new committee, but it has never been made clear whether they intended to release the prisoners, if captured, or whether they intended to demand the ransom for themselves instead of allowing it to be collected by the members of the old committee.
PART III
Servia
PART III
SERVIA
XII
THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN SERVIA
To understand the situation in Servia it is necessary to know a little of the history of that interesting country, which is always furnishing a sensation for Europe, and the story of the feud between two peasant families, which has been the cause of most of the trouble. At the beginning of the last century Servia was a Turkish province and was governed by a just and humane pasha named Hadji Mustapha. He was not only popular, but was beloved by his Christian subjects, and the land was peaceful and prosperous. The Janizaries, however, did not approve of his liberal policy or his efforts to protect the inhabitants against their extortions and cruelties, so they shut him up in the citadel and put him to death. They explained to the Sultan that he had been untrue to the Turks and was a friend of the Christians. The Janizaries had their own way for four or five years, and, fearing an uprising of the people, decided to murder every man who could possibly be looked upon as a leader. Thousands were massacred; every town and village in Servia flowed with blood. Among those who escaped to the mountains was a swineherd named George Petrovitch (George, the son of Peter), better known to history by his nickname, Kara (Black) George, because of his dark complexion and raven hair. He is the greatest hero of Servian history, and to him his country owes its independence from the Turks.