A Brigand Story.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3342, 23 October 1889, Page 2

A Brigand Story.

Ail interesting brigand story is reported from Monastir, in Macedonia. About three months ago a party, consisting of four Greek robbers from Castoria, three women in men's clothes, and a priest from the monastery at Tscherilow, arrived at Wlaho-Klissura, where, during the night, they broke into the dwelling of a Servian named Simon Kottanaoun. They bound him hand and foot and took him to the house of a Greek priest.near the gendarmerie barracks. He was kept there three months as a hostage. He was shut up in a closet cupboard, with a bandage over his eyes, and cotton wool stuffed in his ears. Eventually the Archimandrite Gregorious, of the Tscherilow monastery, visited the Servian's mother, taking with linn a letter from her son saying wlmt lwd become of him and adding that if a ransom of £1,500 were not paid within ten days his ears would be cut off. The poor woman handed .£BOO to the Archimandrite, but tho next day she received word that tho brigands were not satisfied. They tried to got away in the night with their prisoner, but tho gardener of a neighbouring house taking them lor ordinary thieves, fired upon them, which at once brought several of the watchmen on duty to the rescue. A struggle ensued, in winch two of the brigands wore badly wounded and the rest compelled to take flight. Their prisoner, who had hidden in a bush, escaped unhurt, and thus obtained his liberty. The Archimandrite and four of the brigands have since been arrested,

Defrauding a Life Office. The Australian Star, of the Ist mst„ contains a telegram from Brisbane giving the following particulars of a case now known as the Gcddes mystery The mystery in connection with the Geddes caso haS been solved, and the confinee in the Adelaide Adelaide Lunatic Asylum, known as Louis N, Brennan, lias been identified as William G. Geddes by his parents, who travelled from Brisbane to Adelaide for the purpose. The case , Is indeed a strange one. A few particulars concerning Geddes cannot, therefore, but prove interesting. Those who have known Geddes say that he possessed a decidedly honest countenanco, and lie was a good companion, talented, and of a kindly disposition, Geddis is of English parentage, and previous to the date of the alleged framd, (by which it was reported ho was drowned, his parents receiving insurance money on his life) had followed various pursuits in tlio different colonies. Being a first-class surveyor and draughtsman, he, for » considerable period, had charge of a large survey party on the banks of the M'lntyre River in Queensland. His caravan and camping appointments woro of a very extonsivo orfcr, and when remoivng to new ground lie would control his four-in-hand with commendable dash and ability. With a suddenness that fairly astonished his friends lie quietly disappeared ono day from the locality to be again heard of as having been drowned in the Caboolture River, whithor he had gone to batlio with his brother. 4. number of his intimate acquaintances all along discredited the statement that he had passed from this mundane sphere, and apparently were right in their conclusion, as recent developments amply prove. Wa next find the " drowned" Geddes turning up in Now Zealand, undor the name of Louis V, Brennan, where he accepted employment in the office of a firm of prominent surveyors in Duncdin. After working as a draughtsman there for a f<;v,» months, ho entored the Survey Department of the Government of Now Zealand, and was ordered to attach himself to the 5.M in Invercargill. Having thoroughly established himself with the society of the town, he entered with spirit into every form of enjoyment obtainable in this southern borough, Always well provided with money, Ire set \\p extensive bachelor quarters, indulged in the luxury of a small stud, and gavo balls and parties with a freedom that would liavo astonished the Denizens of Potts Point. Here again hi? penchant for fours-in-hand asserted itself, and very many of the ! citizens who accepted Ins invitations on different occasions to take a scat on the drag will remember the command ho exercised over the prancing steeds as ho urged them along the highways. The moro reflective of 1 the guests at times inquired how the thing was done, but consoled themselves with the figure of speech tlnjJ > it was " no business of was asserted' by and believed by he was a remittanco mleerkmlyon two hiree'eived sums of £BOO !

and £4OO from his relatives, bosides being in receipt of a monthly allowance. Proceeding rapidly along his career, we find that a fire overtook his bachelor establishment (which was well insured), and he retired into a quieter form of living. The remittances fell off; he pawned his horses -after having sold them; financial embarrassments followed, and finally in 1881 lie left the colony. In 1882 lie reached Sydney, and there received ut a welcome £2OO. Upon a receipt of j this sum he bade New South Wales « farewell, and drifted through Victoria and South Australia to Western Australia. In this; colony he evidontly felt ti]i piiich of adversity, for he is next heard of attempting the dangerous expedient of enriching himself by robbing a bank, Armed with a pistol in each hand, he confronted the officer in chargo of the institution and ordered him to throw up hishands and hand over the sovcrigns. WithoutYJ any damage being done the siege was raised, and Brennan arrested. It j wits at the time generally conceded v that lie was of weak intellect, and that the proceeding was the freali of a madman, However, the jury thought differently, and he received a sentence of four or five years. Having served this, he appears to have returned to South Australia, and there taken unto himself a wife. By the union are two children, and they and the wifo aro now left in poor circumstances through M coming insane. His marrik\BftL: strange to say, would appear to V accountable for the exposure of the fraud, as it was tho wife causing the police authorities to make inquiries concerning the relations of Brennan that suggested the belief that he was none other than the long-lost Geddes. His restlessness and peculiar actions at times made his friends thiuk that his mind was not evenly balanced, those who knew him well remember his large-heartedness and strength of friendship, and while deploring tho fraud ho would appear to have committed, sympathise with him in the deprivation of his reason. > Chat About Ireland.

Mr Lonegan, of Christchurch, who has just returned after a visit to America aad Europe, has been chatting pleasantly to the Press representative, and said inter alia" I nmde a hurried visit to Dublin, the Four Courts and old Parliamentary Houses (which are now the Bank of IrelandM to St Stephen's Green, to Guinnesn's brewery, and Trinity College. No unprejudiced man could go to Ireland aud come away without saying to himself ' There's something wrong here.' I saw active, tall,strong,powerful men, employed at Is to 2s a day, sit down at noon and eat a piece of black bread, This was their first meal of the day, and would be their last till tiiey reached their home or hovels in tho evening. In London their is abject criminal poverty; in Ireland there is none. The men are willing to work, but cannot get sufficient to do. 'On my way from Holyhead to Dublin I became acquainted > with a Protostant Irish Dean, who was in favour of a Government for Ireland similar to that in force in the; colonics,and I met many of the Homej Eulo party. The only solution the almost everlasting difficulty is the granting to Ireland of local government. I feel satisfied in my own mind there is as much to do in Ireland as there was in Victoria thirty years j®. There are mines to open up, railwayl to build, harbours to make and dredge and factories to establish. You pass through parts and you see what appears to be ruins. You learn it was it was once a factory, capable of employing 1,000 operatives, It cannot be restored, but there js tho water power, and many other things to a largo manufacturing country. There is no opening for boys and girls. Year 1 after year they have to be placed on the land, until the land becomes incapable to support them.

The Paris Exhibition is beyond my power of description. The New Zealand Court is fairly attractive, and I saw fifty or sixty people there. While explaining many things to my companion, it becamo known that I was a New Zealander, and after that I was kept very busy answering questions about my island home. Everywhere thera is a better feeling prevailing towards New Zealand, If you want to seeji place, and are late, or have the wrong day, you havo only plain that you came from i, (• Zealand, and your desire is gratified the doors are thrown open to you and there is no moro trouble. At Borne I visited St Peter's and the Vactican, going through the picture galleries and the libraries, and I was most fortunate enough to got audience with Pope Leo XIII. Ho plied mo with questions about New Zealand, and 1 was astonished at the amount of information ho possessed about us,"

Lively Experience of a Prison. Warder. Great excitement was caussd in Melbourne on Octobor 9th when it became known that two criminals of« most dangerous chara.ctor had succeeded in escaping from Geelong Goal. A warder named Cane was discovered gagged and bound in the cooking room, and securely lashed to a largo table. As soon as lie was released Cane related the circumstances which had led to his being placefcn that position. , He was on duty during the night iu h corridor, in cells adjoining which were confined someof the most ruffianly inmates of ttaji prison One of them, Alcxandfjf, Clarke, asked to bn supplied with a ' drink of water. The Warder procured the water and handed it through i the small opening in the cell door, Unsuspecting any danger he did not observe that whilst passing the drink 1 to Clarke the door of cell on the opposite side of the corridor had been opined, and that a prisoner named Christopher Farrell was stoalthily approaching him from behind. Suddenly he was seized by the throat in a vice-like grasp, and : he saw the door ot the cell;' occupied by Clarke open, and its occupant emerge to assist in overpowering him. He was unable to call, out or uiako the least alarm, as he was gasping through the great presp.ure which his assailant kept on bis throat. Farrell lifted up a large stone, he had secured, and in a so'ppiftxd tone said—" It is a case of life'' or death to us. If you apeak another word wo will dash, •your brains out." A large ■piece 0 f cloth was stuffed inta tta moiith of the warder, and his hands and feet wero tied. Alter, the operation had been completed silently and effectively, tluy quietly deprived him of his booft and eonveyed to the cooking-' house, where he was tied to a table with a piece of stout chord, Tho twß convicts, arming themselves witp keen carving, knives, left, and wenl down the corridor to n door which lei' from the main building to tho yard of

tlio eastern wing, still in process of erection. Tho door relied for its protection upon a Ohnbb lock, but tho two desperadoes found but little difficulty in forcing this raenns of defence, Tho lock, in fact, had beon worn oat by rust and constant use, and it required nothing moro than a ludden jerk to break it opon. Onco outsido tho prisoners had an easy means of escape by the scaffolding poles erected by tho contractors. Tho escapees aroihe most desperate criminals in Victoria, Clark, in ihe various capacities of sneak, thief, burglar, and receiver of stolen goods, had served ncni'lv halt hisJifetiiue in gaol. Farveil, doomed'^o exile under similar conditions, has graduated through the rarious grades, of highway robbery, burglary, and tbeft, to attempted murder. On the 9th of October, 188/ ho was surprised in a thieves den at Fitzroy, and was captured after a desperato resistance, in which Detective Nixon was only saved from instant death by a jiocketbook, tightly packed with documents, which interposed botween a well-aimed bullet and his heart. For this offence l'arrell was committed to twelve years' imprisonment, cumulative on a sentence of two years for having housebreaking tools in lih possession, and at the tirao of his conviction he had nearly approached GO years of ago, it was fairly concluded that ho would not again pass boyond tho walls of the gaol. Clarke is a still older Criminal.