CHAPTER XI.MUNICIPALITY, POLICE, AND BRIGANDAGE.Municipality.—Improvement at Constantinople—No Improvement in Country Towns—Sanitary Negligence.Police.—The Corruption of the old Police—Formation of the new Corps—Its various Classes—Economical Reductions—The Corruption of the new Police—Voluntary Guards the connecting Link between Police and Brigandage.Brigandage.—Ancient and Modern Brigands—Great Diminution of Numbers—Constant Outrages, however—Albanians the born Brigands—Systematic Attacks—Uselessness of the Police—My Brigand Guides—Usual Manner of Attack—Danger toKheradjis—Brigands at Vodena repulsed by a Chorbadji and his Wife—Impotence of the Authorities—Outrage at Caterina—Modern Greek Klephts.
Municipality.—Improvement at Constantinople—No Improvement in Country Towns—Sanitary Negligence.
Police.—The Corruption of the old Police—Formation of the new Corps—Its various Classes—Economical Reductions—The Corruption of the new Police—Voluntary Guards the connecting Link between Police and Brigandage.
Brigandage.—Ancient and Modern Brigands—Great Diminution of Numbers—Constant Outrages, however—Albanians the born Brigands—Systematic Attacks—Uselessness of the Police—My Brigand Guides—Usual Manner of Attack—Danger toKheradjis—Brigands at Vodena repulsed by a Chorbadji and his Wife—Impotence of the Authorities—Outrage at Caterina—Modern Greek Klephts.
The sanitary and protective laws of Turkey are in their application still very primitive, although of late years they have been revised and reorganized, and a municipality and district police corps have been formed. The carrying out of these new laws was intrusted to a regular administration, having its chief seat at Constantinople, with branches in all the provincial towns, and it has done good service in the capital itself, for many of the improvements that have been made there are due to the efforts of the municipality.
In other towns, however, its good influence, though well paid for by the inhabitants has hitherto been little felt. The streets continue to be ill-paved, and but dimly lighted with petroleum; sanitary measures are neglected; immense heaps of refuse are piled upon pieces of waste ground and stray spots, and are left to decompose by the action of the air, be devoured by unclean animals, or float away on some small stream of water. Enough, however, remains in the streets and in the vicinity of towns and villages to pollute the air and cause intermittent fever. Fortunately the climate is naturally salubrious, and the public health, taken on an average, is good. Some districts are considered very unhealthy, but the fault lies with the municipality of the place, who, when they become more intelligent and active, may perhaps attend less to their own interests and more to those of the public. Besides the above-mentioned innovations of theBeledié, or municipality, small portions of pavement, two or three feet in length, are now and then constructed, professing to be the commencement of a magnificent pavement that is to traverse the town; but alas! after a few weeks the work is abandoned, and these short lengths of footpath are left isolated in the midst of pools of mud and water, which can only be crossed by using the boulders scattered here and there as stepping-stones.
Sometimes a number of scavengers may be seen doing duty in the streets, or carting away the rubbish collected in the town; but they only convey it to the quay, where it is left for the ragged Jews and other beggars to explore.
The defects of the police were far more serious and more deeply felt throughout Turkey than those of the municipality. The police were insufficient as a protective force. They were badly organized, and they showed an utter want of principle, honesty, and morality. The deplorable condition of this corps, and the oppressive and illegal influence it exerted over the people, gave rise to great public indignation, and induced the people to complain loudly against it.
Ali and Fuad Pashas, well aware of the grievance, were the first to attempt a thorough police reform. By their united efforts a regular corps was formed, more numerous, better conditioned, better paid, clad in uniform, and classified as follows:
(1.) TheKavasses, doing duty in the capital and attached to embassies and other foreign offices.
(2.) TheSeymen, doing police duty at Constantinople.
(3.) TheZaptiehs, foot police for the service of the district administration.
(4.) TheSoubaris, mounted police, charged with the superintendence of public safety; with the office of receiving the taxes from the villages and transmitting them to the authorities; and with the duty of accompanying overland mails, travellers, etc.
(5.) TheBekchis, or rural police, placed at the Beklemés or guard-houses on all the main roads.
(6.) TheTeftish, or detectives.
The uniform worn by the Kavasses consists of a black cloth coat and trousers, braided with gold, a belt, and a formidable-looking Turkish sword and pistol. That of the detectives is similar, but they carry no arms. The rest of the police wear a uniform similar to that of the Zouaves, of dark blueshayak, braided and turned up with red, a black leather belt and a cutlass. The Soubaris have long guns, and all wear the fez. The officers’ uniform is similar to that of the officers’ in the army. The arms are supplied by the Government, and a new suit of clothes allowed every year.
When this body was first organized, some attention was paid to enrolling in it men of respectable character. The increase of pay and the regularity of the pay-days gave it for some time a better name than the old force; but, unfortunately, hardly had the people begun to feel the benefit of the changes created during the reform fever, than these were set aside to make room for the economical mania that took possession of the administration on the formation of a new ministry. This latest epidemic, of the many that have attacked Turkey, was fatal to the provincial administration in general, and affected the police in particular. Their numbers were reduced, and pay diminished, and irregularly distributed. The guard-houses on the highways, which had been established at the distance of four miles from each other, and intrusted toBekchis, who were held responsible for the security of their districts, were abandoned and fell into ruin, or were occupied by worthless fellows who undertook the duty for a small recompense, which proving difficult to obtain, these so-called “guards” were compelled to make up their financial deficits as best they could.
I heard of a fellow of this kind who had taken the post of Bekchi in a mountain pass as a chiplak, or tattered Albanian, but who after a year had passed was the owner of 700 goats and a fine house, and was dressed in all the glory of his national costume.
How did he obtain it? is a question not easily answered if put to a great many of his class. I do not, myself, find the problem difficult of solution. These amateur guards would seem to be the connecting link between the police and the brigands; if, indeed, any such link were needed.
Conversing, some time ago, with some highly educated Bulgarians, well versed in the affairs of their country, I was told that the chief causes of the discontent of their nation were the increase of the taxes, the harshness with which the payment was enforced upon them by the district officials, the extortion of the police, and the robberies and crimes committed by the Circassians. The people complained most bitterly of the insolent arrogance of the police, which they declared drove them to desperation, and made them ready to listen to any one who promised release, rather than continue to submit longer to such evils. There are, of course, some honest men in the police force who are ready to do their duty, but the generality are unquestionably immoral and unscrupulous, and, even if they were honest, their number is too small for the protection of the millions who depend upon them for their safety.
From time immemorial brigandage has played so prominent a part in both the political and social condition of Turkey that a description of life in this country would be incomplete without a few words about this lucrative profession.
I shall pass over the time, which may still be remembered by some of the oldest inhabitants, when brigands, mustering in overwhelming forces, composed of degenerate janissaries and malcontents from all the provinces of European Turkey, gathered under chieftains like Passvan Oglou and Ali Pasha of Joannina, defied the authority of the Porte, ravaged and devastated whole provinces, besieged towns, spread terror and bloodshed on every side, and left behind them nothing but misery and tears. The Greek Klephts were not more renowned for their bravery and patriotism than for the ravages and crimes they committed during and after the war of Greek independence.
Since that time great changes have taken place in Turkey, and brigandage lost its ancient power. The thousands that filled its ranks have, in our day, been reduced to tens. But the evil though deprived of its force, and even entirely eradicated in some parts of the country, has not been wholly suppressed.
Of late years, in Turkey, brigandage has ceased to clothe itself in the garb of politics; it is now represented merely by bands of cut-throats belonging to all creeds and nationalities. The chiefs, however, and the backbone of these bands, are Albanians. The number is made up by Greeks, Turks, and Bulgarians. The Mussulman Albanian takes to brigandage because he likes it, and willingly makes a profession of it; the others join in order to evade justice, or to avoid want and misery, or simply to respond to the dictates of a vicious and criminal disposition. It is generally in early spring, when the trees have lost their nakedness and the hedges are covered with green leaves and sweet-smelling blossoms, that this element of infamy and destruction makes its appearance, taking to the highway or lurking for its prey among the hills and valleys, and polluting with its blood-stained feet the freshness and purity of resurgent nature. Its victims may often be found lying dead on a bed of violets or lilies, gazed upon by the wild rose that hangs its head and seems to blush for man’s outrage. Such sights are of every-day occurrence.
The brigands have associates living in the towns with every appearance of respectability, who furnish them with timely notice when and where a good piece of business can be done. They have spies who give them warning when danger is at hand, and they often find protectors in high places to help them to escape the arm of the law. As for food, the flocks of the terror-stricken Christian shepherds are at their mercy, and the peasant, trembling for the safety of his home, dares not refuse to satisfy them with bread and wine. He dares not give notice to theauthorities of the presence of those marauders, as that would expose him to their vengeance, and he would pay for his temerity with his life. But should the authorities suspect a countryman of having furnished provision or other necessaries to the brigands, he is forthwith prosecuted and cast into prison as their associate and a participator in their spoils. These are the causes that breed and rear brigandage in Turkey in defiance of laws and of the power of the authorities. The police regulations, theoretically excellent, are practically useless, and may be looked upon as one of the principal reasons of the continuance of brigandage, a scourge on the inhabitants and a disgrace to the administration.
When a band of brigands has taken up its quarters in a district, the country round is continually kept on thequi viveby its repeated crimes and depredations. A force ofSoubaris(mounted police) is sent in chase, but the laxity with which their duty is generally discharged, the neglect of proper precautions to insure success, and the usual futile termination of such expeditions, are often caused by unwillingness to risk a dangerous encounter, or by interested motives for letting off the brigands.
The inhabitants, on the other hand, suffer in any case by the pursuit, for, when it proves fruitless, it does not save them from danger, and only aggravates the enemy; and when the chase is successful, the expenses of having these armed men and their horses quartered upon them, besides the suspicions and injuries to which they are often exposed under the pretence of having direct or indirect communication with the brigands, are so great as to render the remedy almost worse than the evil, and induce them to petition the authorities to withdraw the Soubaris sent for their protection.
If these policemen are headed by an honest and courageous chief, as occasionally happens, and he sets to work earnestly to do his duty, success is almost certain, and the brigands are either captured, destroyed, or dispersed. Those who are caught are disarmed, handcuffed, and, if numerous and of a desperate character, chained in couples and marched off to prison. Still the hardy freebooters are not dispirited, for if they are wealthy, or the proofs of their crime are not transparently clear, their chances of escape, especially in the interior, are not small, and bribery affords them a ready means of regaining their liberty.
When brigands disperse or retire in winter from the field of action, they find shelter in a well-protected refuge. Such places are easily found in the countrychiftliksof influential beys, who, from motives of self-preservation or ignorance of their guests’ antecedents, allow their Albanian guards to harbor the malefactors who venture to seek shelter under their roof.
The severe laws formerly existing in Turkey for the punishment of crime, whereby mutilation was ordained in certain cases, are no longer in use. Crime, according to its extent and the circumstances that surround it, is punishable by imprisonment for a certain period, or condemnation to death; the sentence, however, is seldom put into execution except in very bad cases, or when the authorities are desirous of making an example of severity in the town. When a long and careful procedure has taken place before both the civil and religious courts, the Kadi decrees the sentence, which must be presented to the Sultan for his sanction before it can be carried out. The culprit is strung up to some shop-front in the most frequented part of the bazar, or decapitated, and his head exposed, sometimes for three days, in the market-place.
I have heard many stories of the outrages of brigands during my long residence in remote and semi-barbarous parts of the country. I have even been in close contact with some, and on a friendly footing, and once escaped from their pursuit only thanks to the swiftness of a powerful horse. On two other occasions, yielding to necessity and in the interests of self-preservation, I accepted the services of two or three Albanians who were suspected of being cut-throats, instead of the Government escort.
They were fine, hardy fellows, with deep scars on their faces, that attested the lease upon which they held their life and the manner in which they had disputed it with others. They were reputed to be as venturesome in crime as they were ready to sacrifice their lives, if need were, for the preservation of those intrusted to their care. I penetrated into deep gorges with these men, and stopped in isolated and ill-reputed khans, and throughout the night slept as securely as if I had been in my own home. The worst of men, like the wildest of beasts, has his good side; the secret of finding this out lies in striking the right chord; put the Albanian on his honor, and he will never desert you or betray your trust.
The attacks made by brigands vary according to the locality, the nature of the enterprise, and the result desired. Should the attack be upon a caravan of peasants returning home from market or elsewhere, they are waylaid, stripped of all they possess, cruelly beaten, wounded, and sometimes killed. When the assault is directed against a person that has been singled out for them either for his wealth or other purposes, the assault made upon him and his escort is always of a murderous nature, terminating in the inflictions of cruel wounds or death.
The long gun of the Albanian or the yataghans of his equally dreaded companions are ever suspended over the heads or the wealthy Chorbadjis: when the slightest opportunity is afforded they assault the villages, rob, murder, and carry off hostages in the persons of young men or boys—the sons of people who are sufficiently wealthy to redeem them by the payment of large ransoms.
Such attacks are of not unfrequent occurrence, especially in troubled times, when the ends of justice are rarely attained in the punishment of the criminals or the recovery of lost property.
Kheradjis, the brave and trustworthy fellows who undertake to convey the goods of the merchants from town to town on the backs of their horses and mules, and the Tatar couriers, who are intrusted with the transport of sums of money, are great temptations to brigands. The last attack on a Kheradji I heard of took place last summer when he and his companion, an Albanian Mohammedan, had quitted one of the smaller towns in the Vilayet of Salonika, conveying a considerable sum of money concealed in the sacks of corn with which his animals were laden. While on the road, and a short distance from their destination, they were suddenly attacked by two brigands, who wounded the Christian Kheradji, and, after a struggle, succeeded in disarming the Mohammedan. They then searched the persons of the two men, and not finding the expected booty proceeded to cut open the sacks and abstract the money, after which they made off, leaving the unfortunate Kheradjis to find their way back to the town they had left, and to which both were strangers.
Next morning the Albanian presented himself before the Medjliss, or local court, to deposit his complaint; on looking round he started, and pointing to one of the members of the Bench exclaimed, “By Allah and Mohammed, I swear that here is one of the two brigands, that attacked us yesterday! If any one doubts my word let this man’s house be searched, and a jacket with a torn sleeve will be found, to attest the truth of my accusation!” The culprit, in the midst of the general surprise and confusion, made his escape. Search was made in his house, and the jacket described by the Kheradji found, but the owner has not since been heard of.
Another robbery of a far more daring and serious nature was attempted by a gang of Albanians in the autumn of 1876 in the town of Vodena. The assailants, seven in number, had been frequently noticed lurking in the woods and gardens that lie in the beautiful plain by which this picturesque town is surrounded. The brigands had marked out the house of one of the wealthy Chorbadjis as the object of their attack. This man possessed a certain amount of education, and had taken the precaution of building a house sufficiently solid to protect himself and family and to secure his treasure. The building was not large but well protected, and surrounded by a large court-yard with high walls and a strong gate. The house-door was very solid, and furnished with triple bolts; and the windows, opening on a veranda, were well barred. The robbers, having planned their attack and posted a sentinel at the only open end of the street, proceeded to attack the gate. Finding it impossible to break it open, they undermined it, and entered the yard. The first barrier thus passed, and persuaded that an attempt on the house-door would prove fruitless, they placed a ladder which they found against the veranda, supposing that where the Chorbadji and his wife slumbered there would their treasure be. They set to work at the window of this chamber, attempting to demolish the iron bars.
The night was dark and stormy and the rain fell heavily, but the unconscious slumberers were not awakened for some time. At length the wife of the Chorbadji, startled by the unaccustomed noise at the window, aroused her husband and acquainted him with what was going on. His coolness and courage were quite equal to the occasion, and after a short consultation with his wife he decided upon using the fire-arms that hung against the wall. It was a terrible moment for both. Standing a little on one side, and protected by the darkness of the room, they could see several men trying to force the bars. To face these men openly was certain death, and it was hard to get a good aim at them. He decided finally to attempt a shot, first calling out in a determined voice, “Who goes there? Let him leave the spot, or he is a dead man!”
This appeal, however, instead of having the desired effect, stimulated the energy of the brigands, who, forming into two bands, now attacked the door of the house as well, and were making strenuous efforts to open it. The Chorbadji, cautiously advancing towards the side of the window, and screened by the projecting walls, fired his pistol and shot one of the Albanians dead who stood on the ladder; another mounted, and a second shot stretched him wounded on the floor of the veranda. The rest, whose shots into the room proved ineffective, abandoned the window and went to the door, at which they continued pounding with the fury of fiends, but as yet to no effect.
In the mean time the brave couple, freed from the immediate vicinity of their enemies, struck a light, and while the husband was pouring his fire upon them the wife loaded his pistols. A girl who slept in the next room opened her window and called loudly for help, but was nearly paying for her rashness with her life, as one of the brigands in the yard fired at her, and the ball struck the iron bar against which her head was pressed, but glanced off.
The Albanians, after some further efforts, began to fear the consequences of the alarm the affray was beginning to excite in the neighborhood, and bethought themselves of making good their retreat. But previously to doing so they cut off the head of their dead comrade to avoid detection, and carried it away with them, together with their wounded. A few weeks subsequently the assault was renewed, but the owner was well prepared to receive and repel it, without,however, being able to obtain definite peace and security for his home.
The Albanians, doubly incensed against him for the loss of their comrade and their disappointment at not having been able to effect their purpose, sent threatening messages to the Chorbadji, and claimed 160l.for the widow and children of the slain brigand, or in lieu thereof himself to pay the debt with his life. The poor man, being hard pressed, appealed to the Kaimakam, or sub-governor of the town, for protection; but this dignitary, being an Albanian, old and void of energy, and incapable of bringing the culprits to justice, offered his services as peacemaker between the two parties, and proposed a compromise for half that sum. The Chorbadji refused to pay anything, and the Albanians renewed their threats. The persecuted man in the mean time had to remain in-doors on the pretext of ill-health, and only expects to be able to regain his liberty when affairs settle and better times come.
Among the many sad cases of children and youths being carried off from the villages, which have become so prevalent during these disordered times, I may relate one which happened last year, in the district of Caterina, at the foot of Mount Olympus. The victim was a fine promising young Greek of two-and-twenty, an only son, doted upon by a grief-stricken mother, whose husband had been killed by brigands. This youth was suddenly attacked as he was returning home, carried off, and never more heard of. The unfortunate mother, distracted with grief, and prompted by mingled hope and despair, wandered up to the mountains, and for days was seen by the shepherds roaming about and calling for her son. It was thought that he had been put to death in consequence of his father having killed one of the brigands that had attacked him.
I have not included the Circassians as members of this general fraternity of brigands, because they form a distinct set, who, ever since their arrival in this country, have been notorious for theft and crime and outrage.
Although political brigandage has ceased to exercise its former influence in the country, it has in a small degree again made its appearance as an inseparable incident of war and internal trouble. A few bands, mustering from thirty to fifty men, have lately made their appearance in different parts of European Turkey. They are composed of Greek desperadoes, supposed to be the agents of an Ἑταιρεία, or secret society of violent Greek patriots holding extreme views. Their object in maintaining theseKlephtsin different localities is that of having them in readiness in case of an insurrection among the discontented peasantry. One or two of these bands have been stationed since last spring in the district of Caterina. They have not been known to molest any one; but their presence somewhat kept in check the Albanian brigands and prevented them devastating the Greek villages. The Klephts obtained their provisions from the peasants, for which they regularly and scrupulously paid. TheEteriathat supports these individuals is disapproved of by the Greek authorities, who consider it an element of disorder and trouble.