“WILL AID MACEDONIANS

“WILL AID MACEDONIANS

Bulgarian Plan to Collect Funds for the Insurgents.

Government may be asked to intervene – Premier Petroff tells of his inspection of the frontier.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Aug. 15. – An enthusiastic meeting of Macedonian sympathizers was held here this afternoon, at which resolutions were adopted in favor of agitating throughout the country in order to being pressure to bear upon the Bulgarian Government to intervene in Macedonia. A committee was appointed to collect money to aid the insurgents. Premier Petroff has just returned from a visit to the Macedonian frontier where it touches the District of Dubnitza, and takes somewhat of an optimistic view of the situation in Macedonia. He believes the outbreak will be confined in the vilayet of Monastir, where the Turks probably will succeed in suppressing the insurrection. When interviewed today by a representative of the Associated Press he discussed the condition of affairs frankly and at length. Regarding the reports that Bulgaria was responsible for the outbreak, he pointed out that the center of the disturbed area at present was nearly two-hundred miles from the Bulgarian frontier and was separated from it by a country largely inhabited by Turks. Consequently, he said. It was foolish to say that the movement was aided by bands from Bulgaria, and that it was equally unreasonable to suggest that the arms of the insurgents came from Bulgaria. As a matter of fact, he said, the guns used by the insurgents were all of French manufacture, and most of them had been bought from Turkish officers and men who, receive no pay, had resorted to sale of their guns and ammunition to obtain money. The insurrection, he said, was entirely a national Macedonian movement organized by the Macedonian Internal Committee, which in itself was proof of the shocking condition of affairs due to the excesses of Turkish soldiers, who, on the pretext of searching for arms, entered Macedonian villages to plunder and destroy. The situation in the unhappy villages, he said, was rendered more desperate by the refusal of the Turks to permit the unemployed to leave in order to secure work elsewhere. This goaded the population to the most desperate measures. Premier Petroff declared that the Bulgarian Government was doing its most to maintain peace. ‘Not only is the frontier guarded to prevent crossing of individual bands’ he said ‘but a rigid inspection also exists at interior points, and it is absolutely certain that no bands, large or small, are passing the frontier at this time. A few individuals may, of course, be crossing. Little excitement or enthusiasm is evident in Bulgaria now, but should the unexpected happen, and a massacre of Bulgarians occur, or should the movement assume alarming proportions, the population of Bulgaria would naturally become greatly excited, and while the Government is most anxious to maintain peace, it would, of course, be forced to

consider Bulgarian population sentiment. Thus a most critical situation might arise. It appears now, however, as if the movement would be confined, notwithstanding the reports of its extension.’ M. Petroff says that the Turks are pouring overwhelming forces into Monastir, and that they are sufficient not only to suppress the present rising but to destroy the entire revolutionary movement, unless the Powers intervene to prevent Turkey from taking rigorous measures. Upon the whole, the Premier believes there is no immediate cause for alarm. On the contrary, he is of opinion that the situation will soon change for the better.” (The New York Times, August 15, 1903) Satisfied that my day was not a total loss, I quickly returned home and set my alarm clock to wake me up even earlier than this morning. I was determined to be there tomorrow before Tito and the team.

Essay 17 – Macedonian Leaders Murdered

It was still dark when I got up this morning but none the less I was determined to be at the secret site as early as possible just in case the team had decided to go on another early mission. To my dismay, when I arrived the Delorean was gone; it had again disappeared. I couldn’t understand what had happened but this time I was determined to find out. I parked myself out of sight in the bushes in the darkness and waited for dawn to break. It was peaceful and quiet in the forest with the occasional bird call and the sounds of insects. It seemed like hours had passed as the first rays of the sun cut through the trees, illuminating and warming the dense bush in the forest. Ah, there it was! I caught a glimpse of the Delorean as it crossed time barriers only to appear and disappear from my world. I was certain the schedule was changed and the team was now leaving much earlier than usual. But why? And how could I find out when? As I sat there hidden in the brush contemplating my dilemma I witnessed the Delorean appear and disappear several times. This is unusual, I thought, the team usually goes on two to three missions and occasionally on a fourth mission in a single day. But today I witnessed the Delorean appear and disappear three times already and it’s not even noon! What’s going on? Just as I was thinking of leaving and going home, I heard the Delorean’s engines power down. I quietly and quickly peeked through the brush only to see the team leaving. I could see that Tito was not well as Marty and Doc carried his arms over their shoulders. As usual TrueMacedonian was last to leave and, not to disappoint me, tossed something behind him. I kept my eye on the rolling object making sure to note its point of rest. I then looked at the team leaving and saw TrueMacedonian waving goodbye. That rascal knows I am here and is toying with me! Just as the team disappeared on the horizon I bolted out and quickly picked up the rolled-up ball TrueMacedonian had tossed and began to unravel it. It contained four pieces of paper. They were newspaper clippings of today’s missions. The first one read: