CAPTURE OF COLONEL SYNGE BY BRIGANDS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1115, 27 April 1880, Page 3

CAPTURE OF COLONEL SYNGE BY BRIGANDS.

♦— ■ The following details of the outrage on Colonel Synge or Lynge, as he was denominated by the cable, are by the mail ‘.—Another uncomfortable incident is reported from the neighbourhood of Salonica, where Colonel Synge and his wife have been carried off by brigands, who demand a ransom, and threaten to kill their captives if troops are sent against them. Colonel Synge is an Englishman, attached to the Ottoman gendarmerie*, who towards the middle of last mo£|b was despatched by Sir Henry Layard to carry relief to the Mussulman refugees in Eastern Roumelia. A letter from Constantinople states that “ for some time these brigands have committed depredations in the neighbourhood of Mount Olympus, the sufferers being Turkish subjects!

The Government bus taken no measures against the band. O/ie or two combats have, however, taken place with Turkish soldiers, but with no great results. Gradually the brigands have approached Caterina, leaving trace of their passage behind them, until finally they were attracted by the firm occupied by Col. Synge. The colonel made a gallant resistance ; several of the brigands were killed, but on the baud receiving reinforcements they laid an ambush, into which, the colanel falling, he was taken prisoner. A long time afterwards a letter from Colonel Synge reached Mr Blunt, the British Consul at Salonica, begging that no troops should be sent in pursuit, as if any were sent the brigands would murder him. Negotiations have been opened between Mr Blunt and the brigand chief Niko for the release of the prisoners. The brigands demand a heavy sum as ransom, and a free pardon.” Two ships of war have been ordered to Salonica. [lntelligence has been received by cable that Colonel Synge and his wife have been released,]