3-052-573 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Arrival of Colonel Synge at Salonica after his release by the brigands, 1880. 'The Captive Englishman in Turkey...Lieutenant-Colonel Synge and his wife were carried off by the brigands, and the Colonel [was] detained until payment of the large ransom demanded...his release...was effected by negotiations through Mr. Blunt, the British Consul-General in Turkey...During the whole time he was kept by the brigands in a cave guarded by five men. He had to put up with indifferent fare, but met with no ill-treatment. Once, however, the brigands threatened to roast him alive. That was because another band proposed to the dragoman of the British Consulate to capture Niko, the brigand who carried off the Colonel, and then effect an exchange of prisoners. This came to the knowledge of the men guarding Colonel Synge, and they told him that had the proposal been acted upon they would have flayed him, covered him with petroleum, and placed him over a fire. When at length our countryman's freedom had been purchased, he was conducted to...Lefton Khori, on 25th March, and was there embarked, with Consul Blunt, on board H.M.S. Condor, which the same day conveyed him to Salonica. Our Illustration is from a sketch by Mr. John James Wood, of the above-named ship'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.