The Itinerary of Katerina, Gregory and Elenche Tsilka in
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City and State |
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Remarks |
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14 Feb 1904 |
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“The interesting announcement was made at the meeting of the
missionary society of the First Congregationalist church, of Moline, with
Mrs. H. G. Paddock Tuesday afternoon that Madame Tsilka, the companion of
Miss Stone as a captive for months in the hands of Macedonian bandits, will
be brought to Moline, and that she will deliver an address at the vesper
service in the Congregational church at 5 p.m. , Sunday, Feb. 14. Mrs. Tsilka, it will be remembered, was the ladny who during
captivity gave birth to a child in the rude quarters in which the two refined
women were housed by the bandits. The
advent of the little stranger did not a little to soften the hearts of the
bandits toward their prisoners. There
will doubtless be a churchful of people out to hear Madame Tsilka the
afternoon of St. Valentine’s day. The Missionary society is likewise planning for the holding of a
missionary tea some time during the month of February, probably at the home
of Mrs. H. W. Cooper.” |
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10 Mar 1904 |
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Word was received today to the effect that Madam Tsilka, the Albanian
missionary who was to lecture at the Congregational church Thursday evening
had suddenly been taken ill and that the lecture here would have to be
cancelled. It is not considered
probable that she will appear here at any other date. |
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Madame Tsilka, the missionary captured by bandits in |
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24 Mar 1904 |
[not specified] |
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Mme. Gregory Tsilka, companion of Miss Stone in |
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Mar 1904 |
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Madison, Wisc. Our Church Life, Vol. 10, #4, Feb 1904, p. 8 |
Please study carefully the above plan of work committed to the
Branch, especially its responsibility for the support of the Kortcha
school. These Albanian girls are
knocking at our doors, asking for a Christian education. Who will open the door? Mme. Tsilka, Miss Stone’s companion in
captivity, is now touring in the interior, and will give some time to |
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28 Mar 1904 |
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Madam Tsilka, her husband, and the little child born during her
captivity among the Bulgarian brigands, will be at the Congregational church
this evening. The story has been told
by Miss Ellen Stone but new interest will be awakened by Madam Tsilka’s
account of the incident that stirred the whole civilized world. |
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6 Apr 1904 |
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“Madame Tsilka, who was with Miss Stone, the American missionary
captured in Madame Tsilka is lecturing in the |
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6 Apr 1904 |
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Mme. Tsilka Delivers an Address. Mrs. G. M. Tsilka, the companion of Miss Ellen Stone during her
captivity by brigands in |
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22 Apr 1904 |
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Mme. Tsilka Coming Here. The Bulgarian Woman Who, With Ellen Stone, Was Held for Ransom. Mme. Tsilka, the Bulgarian woman, who, with Miss Ellen Stone, the
American missionary, was held a captive for ransom by Bulgarian bandits in
1901, is coming to Friday evening Mme Tsilka will lecture at the |
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8 May 1904 |
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The heroine of remarkable adventures will be in |
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8
May 1904 |
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Bit of a Babe Beats Brigands CRUEL BANDITS COULD NOT KILL CHILD. Chief's Heart Melts and His Followers Also Fail -- Thrilling Tale of Madam
Tsilka. “My baby owes her life to your prayers and the prayers of your sis
ters and brothers all over this great So spoke Madam Katerina Tsilka, as she held up to view a little, brown-eyed,
wriggling bunch of humanity, in the Congregational Church last evening. Then as the little one, prettily named Elentch, crooned in baby Ianguage,
such as understood only by mothers, this brave mother in words that were soft
and pleasing, and often thrilling, despite the peculiar old-world accent,
told the story of her Macedonian captivity. The force and fire that stirred the hearts of the Macedonians in the
days of Philip were not 'Madam Tsilka's, but the power of truth and the fascination
of startling facts, graphically, if simply told, were hers, and thus the
audience that, assembled in the Congregational church, sat as if under a
spell, and the daintily- foreign accents of the woman who was a. companion of
Ellen Stone, among the brigands mingled with the soft patter of the rain
drops without; and they made sweet music together. "I remember as well as if it were tonight," said Madam Tsilka,
"as the chief of the band which captured us, came and sat in front of us
and said with a triumphant look on his face: ‘Your capture is something for
which we have been working since last August. Do you see that mountain over there. We have been hiding
there for months waiting for some one to pass. At first we thought of
capturing Dr. Horse (a well-known missionary) who was to pass here, but he
changed his plans so that we were compelled to capture you, even though it is
bad luck to have anything to do with women. We needed the money and were
ragged and half starved, and we simply had to capture someone.' Many Brigands. " "The Turkish brigands are by far the worst and some of the
things they do are too terrible to mention. Our party was captured by Christian
brigands and when I found this out I was very glad as they are not nearly so cruel
as the Turkish brigands. At the time of our capture my husband and myself
were going to our native town for a visit and had decided to join Miss
Stone's, party. Altogether with the muletters and the members of our party
there were I3 persons. Surrounded by Robbers. We started out early one bright morning and had traveled about four hours when we came to a rock which jutted out on the path and hid everything in front. As we came to this suddenly two bandits sprang out and seized me compelling me to dismount. I glanced around and saw that every one of the party was held by two brigands. They flashed their daggers and threatened instant death if we disobeyed. We were then hurriedly hustled up the mountain side. At first I thought that we would only be searched and I let go and I made my husband give me his watch and some money he had, thinking that the brigands would not search a woman. I put the money in my mouth, and tried to hide the watch in my skirt but one of the robbers saw me and motioned to me that he knew where I had put the watch. "As we were going up the mountain we heard a shot and the
robbers seemed in great fear until we heard the voice of their chief calling
to them to go on. We learned later that, he had told them if they heard a
shot it was a signal of great danger and to hide in the rocks. This shot
however, had been fired by a traveler who was following our party. When the
bandits tried to capture him he fired at them but was soon taken and was
brought before us and stabbed to death with daggers. Traveled by Night. "Then we took up our flight always traveling at night and
resting in some miserable but during the day. On the second day the chief
sprained his ankle and as the brigand who answered the purpose of doctor knew
nothing of surgery I was told by Miss Stone to see if I could not help him. I had taken a course in trained nursing and was able to give him a great deal
of relief although he never s much as thanked me. A few day later the chief
told us the amount of our ransom and our hearts sank for he said that he must
have $112,000 within 20 days or else we would all be killed. "There was one brigand who seemed to have especial charge of us
who was little more than a boy and we found later that he was only 18 years old.
Miss Stone named him George and he proved to be very kind hearted doing many
little favors for us from time to time during our captivity. "To show how much danger we were in during the first.week, six of
the brigands who had been sent to a village to secure food, were captured and
killed by the Turkish soldiers. To Kill the Baby. "It was decided that the baby should be .killed and the chief
had been decided upon to take its life. He came into the hut one night where
we were and took it up in his arm. It commenced to cry and suddenly to our amazement
he took it over to the fire and warmed its feet and then commenced to rock it
to and fro in his arms. Soon he dropped it and rushed out and George told us
later that he told the men that he could not kill it and if any of them could
to go ahead and do it. The next night twelve of them came in and every one of
them instead of trying to kill the child knelt and kissed it. "One night we received the welcome news that the ransom had been
received, but even then we were not released, but for three weeks the band
took us from place to place tryng to find.a place to leave us and then make
their escape before the soldiers could find out their whereabouts and capture
them. "Finally one night we were led by two brigands disguised as gypsies to a
village and turned loose and soon found our way to a city where we were known
and were received with a hearty welcome. Here we were able to use soap and
water for the first time since our capture and soon had ourselves presentable
once more." |
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8
May 1904 |
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The large audience in the Congregational church last evening,
presented a purse of about $23 to Madam Tsilka, for the benefit of the
missionary schools she is striving to found among the hopeless countrywomen
in the old world. |
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22
May 1904 |
Shell
Rock, |
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Madame Tsilka, the native Bulgarian missionary who was captured by
the brigands with Miss Ellen Stone, will lecture in this city on Sunday, May
22, in the congregational church. She
will appear here on the auspices of the local missionary society. |
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25
May 1904 |
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MME. TSILKA SPEAKS Woman Captured by Brigands to Appear in This City. |
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25
May 1904 |
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TELLS STORY OF CAPTURE Madame Tsilka Lectures at Y.M.C.A. Last Evening Recites Adventures Among Brigands and Final Release Had the Child Born in Captivity With Her A full house greeted Mme. Tsilka at the Y.M.C.A. last night. From the
moment she appeared upon the platform and introduced her baby, which she held
up in her arms, saying “this baby was the key which unlocked the door of the
cruel hearts of our captors,” her lecture was of absorbing interest . Mme. Tsilka was born and reared in OVER FIVE MONTHS A CAPTIVE Mme. Tsilka Told the sensational and pathetic story of her five
months’ and twenty days’ captivity.
How they were surrounded and carried away bodily, torn from the
protecting the arms of her husband and friends and carried away at the
spears’ point with the threat of instant death if they rebelled. These Turks kidnap many beautiful daughters
of Christians. They are cruel and seem
to thirst for blood and delight to persecute the innocent. When Miss Stone and Mme. Tsilka were
captured and, the latter had just $35.00 in gold which she carried in her
mouth for three days. They were placed
in a cave, the walls of which were stained with the blood of former victims
and told by their captors that they were held for ransom and when the ladies
reached for their meager purse and were told that $112,000.00 must be
forthcoming in twenty days or their lives would pay the forfeit, the helpless
were seized with unutterable agony and
Miss Stone grasped the hand of her companion and whispered, “Pray pray
pray,” after which she heard her repeating in hushed but unfaltering accents,
“The Eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.” They were guarded by eighteen different brigands who took turns
watching to see that their prisoners did not escape. They were large, heavy set, dark,
cruel-looking, powerfully built men, the very sight of whom threw Mme. Tsilka
into chills and fever. The women
almost starved, often suffering for food and water. Only one vessel was in the cave and that
was used for every purpose and food cooked in it. When the brigands saw the prisoners languish they feared they would
die and took them from the cave at midnight to get some fresh air for they
felt sure of the ransom money if the women lived. A young boy only eighteen was appointed to
lead the horse on which Mme. Tsilka rode.
The women named him George. He
was not allowed to answer any questions but would always say “uncertain” to
every question. One night the prisoners heard the brigands planning to kill the child
and the one who was appointed to perform the act got one of his feet badly
hurt, thereby making the opportunity for his own conversion, for the women
bathed and dressed the injured member and gave the brigand such relief that
he became their secret friend and they had the supreme satisfaction of seeing
him rock the baby to sleep. So much
for the power of the spirit of God over human hearts. One of the most thrilling and terrible experiences through which
these women passed was in crossing a river on horseback when the baby was but
a few days old. Mme. Tsilka said she
would never forget the agony of that our when her babe was taken from her
arms and she was compelled to ride into the torrent of rushing water. Looking back, she saw the stream dotted
with men’s and horses’ heads. Her baby
was tossed into her lap and Mme. Tsilka gazed on one of her own dark tresses
to see if it had not turned white with fright. Mme. Tsilka is a charming woman and makes her audience cry one moment
and laugh the next as she tells her story of adventure, captivity and
release. Everyone who heard her felt
that she was well worth the ransom which was given for her release. Her husband is a refined and finally
educated gentlemen, who seems proud and happy of the fact that through the
prayers and efforts of his people he is again united with his family. |
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28
May 1904 |
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Mrs. G. M. Tsilka and baby Elentscha will be at the Congregational
church Saturday night. Madame Tsilka
will lecture on her captivity among the Bulgarian brigands, and baby
Elentscha, who was born in captivity, will be a silent spectator—at least a
spectator. |
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Jun
1904 |
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“Mme. Tsilka, who was kidnapped by Balkan brigands with Miss Stone,
the American missionary, is to lecture in |
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“Wednesday [13 July], Madame Tsilka who was in captivity with Miss
Stone in the Balkans, and who became a mother while in the hands of the
brigands, will tell of her experiences during that trying time.” |
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Decatur
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“Madame Tsilka and baby are expected to prove a great drawing
card. She is the woman who was with
Miss Stone when captured by bandits and the baby is the one born during that
memorable and exciting captivity. The
mother has with her the rags which the bandits tore from their own leggings
to furnish clothing for the little one when born and tells a story that is of
intense interest.” |
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14 Jul 1904 |
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Decatur ( |
“Madame Tsilka and husband left this morning for [Note: According to his Yale
obituary, Katerina’s brother, Constantine Stephanove was the Superintendent
of the Bulgarian Exhibit at the St. Louis Purchase Exposition of 1904.] |
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14 Jul 1904 |
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Decatur ( |
GETTING WOMEN BACK. By the request of a number of people Mr Tsilka made a talk in which he told of what became of the eleven members of the party who were not made captives at the time Madame Tsilka and Miss Stone were taken. He spoke very good English talked fast and was listened to with great interest. He said that after the women left the party about fifteen of the brigands remained with it and ordered every one to remain perfectly motionless. They did not dare move and stayed in the same positions through the entire night. When morning came the brigands had left them and they immediately returned and reported the affair to the Turkish authorities. Mr.Tsilka was constantly guarded by Turkish soldiers and was taken from court to court and examined for information in regard to the matter. The strain caused illness and while he was lying sick three letters were left at his door during the night, two from Miss Stone and one from his wife, stating that they were being held for a ransom. BRIGANDS SUSPICIOUS. Mr. Tsilka turned the letters over to the Turks and the brigands, becoming suspicious, refused to negotiate with him further. They had Miss Stone then write a letter some missionaries in another part of the country demanding aransom and fixing atime within which it should be paid. The amount demanded was so great that the friends of the women despaired of being able to raise it. Seventy thousand dollars was finally raised and William E. Curtis in a manner unknown to Mr. Tsilka found a woman who was able to communicate with the brigands. GOLD TAKEN. After many difficulties the brigand was offered 165,000 which he immediately accepted. Another difficulty arose as to the manner, time and place of paying the money. The money
had been demanded in Turkish gold and was taken from a bank in Acting on the advice of the brigands the gold was taken from the fifteen sacks, which were then filled with lead and left in the town with the soldiers. The gold was secreted about the persons of friends of the women and on one of their many strolls out of the town it was given to the brigands. The
Turkish authorities stated that any village in which the women were released
would be held as being in league with the brigands and every village begged
of the brigands not to release the women in their town. This caused another long
delay in their release, but finally Mr. Tsilka received a telegram from the
middle of |
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8 Sep 1904 |
Madison, Wisc. |
Mme. Tsilka Tells of Experiences Among Balkan Brigands Has Baby Elentcha With Her Thrilling Story of Capture – Six Months’ of Hardship – Final Release
and Payment of Ransom |
Nearly everyone is more or less familiar with the story of the capture
of Miss Ellen Stone and Mme. Katherine Tsilka by the Balkan brigands. A year and a half ago the story was on
every town, and the whole civilized world waited breathlessly and incensed
until the ransom of $50,000.00 was paid over in the two women were released
from their six months captivity. The experiences of one of these women were lived over again last evening, when Mme. Tsilka held an audience
in closest attention for nearly two hours
Dark and foreign looking and yet withal very attractive. Mme. Tsilka
made a striking picture as she stood on the platform. She was dressed plainly Bidwell in a black
gown relieved with the touch of white at the neck. She came here under the auspices of the
Woman’s Foreign Missionary society of the Methodist church, and was
introduced very briefly to the
audience by Rev. A. W. Stalker, pastor
of the church A critical person would say Mme. Tsilka’s Introduction to her story
was too long, for she went into the existing social and religious conditions
of the people of She told something of her early childhood, and of her thirst for
knowledge and enlightenment; space of how she finally was permitted by her
parents to go to school, how her hitherto narrow horizon spread. After making the acquaintance of Miss Ellen
Stone, Mme. Tsilka studied to become a missionary, and thus learned something
in a rudimentary way of In a particularly graphic way, Mme. Tsilka pictured her capture by
the lawless Balkan brigands. She with
her husband ( a missionary), Miss Stone, And a party of some four or five
others were on their way to a mission feast.
When in a lonely and on frequent place they were overtaken by a band
of brigands and she and Miss Stone, alone of the whole party were seized. “ a kind of paralysis overcame me," said Mme. Tsilka, “for I
knew Only two well the nature of the man who had seized us. As we were born away, I saw my husband and
the others surrounded by brigands with upraised daggers. I never knew until the day of my release
what became of my husband, whether he was killed over whether he escaped. I was carried away with that awful picture
in my mind.” Of their subsequent sufferings and privations, Mme. Tsilka told in a
most interesting manner. She did not
speak so much of their physical sufferings as their mental; of their prayers
and hopes of release. Of their
physical sufferings, she could speak in a more humorous way, and she told of
how they “lived, ate, slept and traveled in the same garments for six
months.” The joy of the release, the delight in bodily comforts, such as
baths, clean clothes and food, was dwelt upon. Mme. Tsilka Declares that she and Miss Stone all their release, not
so much to the paying of the ransom as to the influence of her little baby in
the hearts of the brigands. For as
everyone knows her child, a little girl, was born during of the weary months
of her captivity. “One of the darkest nights I have known,” said Mme. Tsilka, “ was
that on which I knew my baby was to be killed by the brigands. I had found out that they were to sacrifice
her, as she made traveling a great inconvenience. If the baby had been a boy, they would have
kept it and trained it to be a brigand, but as it was a girl, they had no use
for her. So one evening, the chief of
the brigands approached the corner where I lay, and looked for a long time at
baby. There was something in the
child’s face which broke him all up, for he put her down, and going outside,
told the man he couldn’t do the act.
Then he returned, and taking baby in his arms, sat down by the fire
and warmed her feet, and finally the two fell asleep, sitting there by the
fire.” Mme. Tsilka Spoke with a decided accent which made it an effort to
understand her until one became accustomed to it. Her accent lead one to believe that first
that she was an ignorant woman, but at the close of a lecture, all felt that
it was the address of an intelligent and educated woman to which they had
listened. Her manner was graphic and
someone abrupt. Through it all ran a
vein of humor which was shown in several places, and produced a genuine hearty
laugh from her audience. Perhaps the most interesting point in the lecture was toward the
close, when Mme. Tsilka’s Baby was brought up on the platform, and the mother
finished her lecture with a little One held in her arms. The baby was certainly a surprise to
everyone. No foreign looking child was
this but a fair skinned, dark eyed child, of quite unusual beauty, as all
agreed. She was dressed in the most up
to date fashion, white “French” dress, and with her brown hair cut
“Dutch.” It seemed almost impossible
to believe that this dainty, intelligent looking child, could be born under
such intolerable conditions, and spent the first few months of her life in
such surroundings, without leaving some mark on her. At the time of her
mother’s release, the child was covered with great sores and callcus spots,
and was in all together a deplorable condition, all into the lack of proper
care. Yet she seemed none the worse for it, and looked up at the audience
with great, serious eyes. As Mme. Tsilka Continued speaking, the little
creature laid her cheek against her mother’s, and stroked her cheek. This
quite won the audience, composed mostly of women, and at the close of the
lecture, crowded to the front, anxious for a closer view of the little one. But she had been whisked away and only a few were admitted to see her
in the lower floor of the church. Here she and her mother received a few
people, for five or ten minutes. The little girl on a closer view proved even more interesting. Her
chief beauty lies in her dark unfathomable baby eyes. Her features are very
regular and pretty, and the expression of her little face is exceedingly
intelligent. Only when an admiring woman who leaned over and kissed her on
the cheek, but she demur. She put it
on a patch of land expression, and rubbed her cheek with her hand, and her
mother seeing that she looked tired, announced that they must be off.
Accordingly she and the baby, accompanied by Mrs. A. W. Wellman and Miss Lulu
Wellman, at whose home they are staying, left the church. Mme. Tsilka in an interview, told of her reasons for going on this
lecture tour. “I am doing it to raise the money for a mission school in When asked as to her husband, she said: “My husband is engaged in missionary work at home. He goes about
among the people preaching and helping them.
I am anxious to return to him.” |
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1-3 Nov 1904 |
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Congregationalist & Christian World, 12 Nov 1904, p. 89 |
“The Woman’s Board of Missions at The central feature of the thirty-seventh annual meeting of the
Women’s Board of Missions was undoubtedly a baby. Few present among the 251 delegates, the
800 other listeners, the twenty-six missionaries, the twenty-eight board officers,
who crowded Union Church, Providence, to its utmost capacity, will ever
forget the sense of the reality and the vitality of missionary heroism, as
they looked at the expressive face of Madame Tsilka, repeated even to the
great dark eyes in the little child, scarcely a baby, who came flying down
the aisle and scrambled to the platform beside her mother. The days of the meetings, Nov. 1, 2 and 3, were great days, and full
of vivifying power, but nothing came closer to our hearts then the unexpected
presence of Miss Ellen M. Stone, Monsieur and Madame Tsilka, and the little
child into whose tiny hand was placed the heart of an outlaw. In these dead-level days occurrences so
dramatic, so miraculous, leave us be aware that God’s day is not over. |
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13 Nov 1904 |
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Nov 1904 |
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Record of Christian Work, vol. 24, no. 1 (Jan 1905), p. 45 |
It was a great pleasure for Northfield Seminary to be able to entertain
Madam Katrina Tsilka on the occasion of her first visit to Madam Tsilka was for several years a student at the Seminary, and
among the many new faces that welcomed her, there were a number who
remembered her as Katherine Stephonarch. Mrs. Tsilka showed her loyalty to the Seminary, not only by donating
the proceeds of her lecture to the “endowment fund,” but by her words of love
and appreciation for all that the school had done for her. |