Through the Land of the SerbDurham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
History
Through the Land of the Serb
Durham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
Montenegro -- Description and travel; Serbia -- Description and travel
Chachak, on the Morava, stands on flat land down by the river. I drove
through the ford by moonlight and entered the town with a terrible
clatter, but, having come properly introduced, I met with a very
hospitable reception. I was travelling to see Servia and the Servians;
that was now a recognised fact. Should I like to see something truly
Servian? It was fortunate that I had arrived this night, for I was in
time to see four murderers shot on the spot where they had committed
their crime! I was urged to go, and offered special facilities. Taken
aback, I listened, speechless, while the plan was unfolded. I was to
rise very early and to drive for three hours up the mountains with the
condemned men and the file of soldiers who were to carry out the
sentence. The words called up before me a picture of the grisly little
procession crawling uphill in the grey of the dawning. Adding up the
pros and cons rapidly, I said to myself that it was my duty to see
everything, but searched my brains for a decent way out of it. Then I
recollected that if I went, for the next fifty years it would be said
that all Englishwomen were in the habit of seeing men shot before
breakfast. Gripping thankfully at this idea, I said I had rather not
accept the invitation; I had not come so far to see Servians killed. My
reply caused disappointment, and I was strongly urged to go. The murder
had been a peculiarly atrocious one, so that I need not mind seeing the
punishment; for the murderers, after cutting the throats of their
victims, had gouged out the eyes and otherwise barbarously mutilated the
corpses. Twenty men had been arrested, the last gang of Hayduks on that
side of Servia. Four were to die to-morrow. Moreover, my route lay that
way, and there was nothing at all to be seen in Chachak. My coachman
listened anxiously for my decision, but was doomed to disappointment. I
did not go.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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