Note 27 — Chapter XVII · GEUZNA. FEVER EPIDEMIC IN MERSINA.
Reading edition
To prove that brigandage is at times rife in Asiatic Turkey, and that the danger from it is really very great, I quote the following from the ‘Levant Herald’:—
“Smyrna, March 9, 1877.—Owing to the exertions of his Excellency Sabri Pasha, our Wali, the hydra-headed monster of our vilayet—brigandage—has received a severe check, no less than twenty-eight brigands of different bands having been recently either killed or captured. Sabri Pasha, tired of the continual acts of rapine daily reported, resolved to finish with these wretches, and for this purpose he divided the police into four bodies, one of which was sent into the Saroukhan, the second took up its position in the mountain gorges of Dalidja, in the sandjak of Aidin, the third went to the Yundagh, while the fourth remained near Koula. In about a week, they had captured or slain the greater part of the brigands. A band that had been seen in the environs of Bournabat, having robbed a zeybek of Kavali Dere, he with seven of his companions went after them, and succeeded in shooting the chief and his ‘aide-de-camp.’ He wounded another, took a fourth prisoner, but the remainder escaped. The head of the chief, a Yourouk named Moussa, and the two prisoners, were brought into Smyrna by their captors, who are to be rewarded for their victory.
“The following is a list of the brigands who have been killed:—The Yourouk chief, Moussa, Keloglan, his ‘aide-de-camp’ (and five others, all Muslim).
“The prisoners captured are Theodori, Costi, and Yiorghi, the receivers of the different bands; Athanasi, Lambo, Christo Lako, all Christians; Kanli Mehemet Ali, his ‘aide-de-camp,’ and eleven of their band; Ali, the brother of Keloglan, and three others, all Muslim.
“Notwithstanding these important captures, the pursuit is still very hot, and no doubt we shall hear of other captures. Nine zeybeks were seen a few days ago near Sokia; they contented themselves with robbing a young clerk belonging to one of the liquorice factories.”
At all events the Ottoman authorities do not favour and support brigandage!