Ion Perdicaris
Ion Perdicaris (* 1840, † 1925 in Chislehurst ) was a Greek- American playboy, whose kidnapping in 1904 the so-called Perdicaris incident triggered.
His father, Gregory Perdicaris had immigrated from Greece to the United States and married into a wealthy family from South Carolina. As Consul General, he returned to Greece. 1846 the family moved to Trenton. There he acquired a considerable fortune, and was a founder of the Trenton Gas Co. The family-owned South Carolina was to be confiscated in 1862 under threat by the government of the Confederate States of America. To prevent himself went his son, Ion Perdicaris, to Greece to give up his American citizenship and to acquire the Greek.
Finally Perdicaris emigrated to Tangier ( Morocco). There he met Perdicaris 1871 Ellen Varley, the wife of the outstanding telegraph engineer Cromwell Fleetwood Varley. She left her husband and moved to Perdicaris, by the standards of the time a scandal. 1873, the marriage ended in divorce with her husband and she settled with two sons and two daughters at Perdicaris in Tangier. Perdicaris authored several books on Morocco and took an important position in the international community a.
The Abduction
On May 18, 1904 Ion Perdicaris and Ellen's son Cromwell Varley were kidnapped by subordinates of the Berber insurgents Mohammed Abdullah Ibn el Raisuli el el Hasali Alani from their villa. Raisuli taught multiple exposures to Sultan Abd al - Aziz $ 70,000 in gold, safe passage and recognition as a Pasha of two districts to Tangier.
The incident caused outrage in the United States and prompted Theodore Roosevelt to send a naval squadron to Morocco. Here were the cruiser Brooklyn and Atlanta. Also there were a few companies of the Marine Corps under the command of Admiral French Ensor Chadwick. It should put pressure on the government there, or rather something to be done to free the hostages.
On 1 June it was announced that Perdicaris had no U.S. citizenship more. But Roosevelt argued that since Raisuli have believed that he was a U.S. citizen, it does not matter. Roosevelt tried to Great Britain and France engage in military action. However, both countries opposed it and declared themselves just ready to put pressure on the Sultan, to meet the demands Raisulis. On June 21, Sultan Abd al - Aziz came to the receivables. Secretary of State John Hay felt compelled to save face and spoke to the Republican National Convention: " The government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead " This statement prompted the hitherto somewhat subdued gathering storm of excitement and helped Roosevelt during his re-election. A few days after these words Perdicaris was released.
The fact that the U.S. government complied with all requirements and Raisulis Perdicaris was not a U.S. citizen, was kept secret. It was not until 1933, the historian Tyler Denett this information to the public eye.
In 1975, the story with Sean Connery and Candice Bergen was filmed in the lead roles. However, the Wind and the Lion took ample historical freedom. Still today Perdicaris Place in Trenton to Ion Perdicaris and his father Gregory. Perdicaris died in 1925 in the London Borough Chislehurst.