 |
War reporter in the Balkans (1876) Schuver made his way to Marseilles, shipping from there to Bastia at the beginning of May, and then travelling on more or less directly to Livorno (Leghorn) and Pisa, where he met O'Donovan. [14] After this he journeyed further, as far as Florence, where we find him in June 1876. In Florence, Schuver encountered O'Shea and De Montmorency, but northern Italy was not the reporter's goal. After a trip to the Trasimenean Lake, where the Romans had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Hannibal on 21 June 217 B.C., Schuver continued his journey to Dubrovnik via Ancona and Trieste. On 26 June he received news that the Handelsblad had appointed him correspondent, with the assignment of reporting the troubles expected in the Balkans. The three other reporters were also given the same assignment by their editors. In April 1876 the Bulgarians had begun a revolt against the Turkish authorities, and the entire Balkans were now in a violent ferment. On 30 June both Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire. [15] After making his preparations and gathering information, Schuver sent a letter to his father from Trieste on 19 July, saying that he was about to set out for the Dalmatian coast.
Schuver had barely arrived on the scene of the war when he was taken prisoner by the Montenegrans. He was accused of spying for the Turks, but he succeeded in convincing his captors of his innocence. Knowing that he was not exactly welcome among the Montenegrans, Schuver decided to report on the war from the Turkish side. He established contact with the Turkish authorities, attached himself to the Turkish army in Albania, and left for Herzegovina with the troops. With the cessation of hostilities and the silencing of the guns, Schuver travelled to Athens, apparently together with O'Donovan. He spent the New Year of 1876/1877 in that city. | |
