{{Short description|International kidnapping incident}} {{Campaignbox Macedonian Struggle}} [[File:Miss stoun case.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A postcard with the kidnapped Ellen Stone and [[Katerina Cilka]] ]] [[Image:Sandanski&chernopeev.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The participants in the Miss Stone Affair - [[Sava Mihaylov]], [[Yane Sandanski]], [[Krastyo Asenov]] and [[Hristo Chernopeev]].]] [[File:Ellen Maria Stone.png|thumb|[[Ellen Maria Stone]]]]
The '''Miss Stone Affair''' ({{langx|bg|Афера „Мис Стоун“}}, {{langx|mk|„Афера Мис Стон“}}) was the kidnapping of [[United States|American]] [[Protestantism|Protestant]] [[missionary]] [[Ellen M. Stone|Ellen Maria Stone]] and her pregnant Bulgarian fellow missionary and friend [[Katerina Cilka]]<ref>In her memories about this event Cilka is described as a Bulgarian by birth. For more see: "Born among Brigands; Mrs Tsilka's story of her Baby", [https://www.strumski.com/books/Tsilka_Born_Among_Brigands.pdf "McClure's magazine", New York, vol. 4, August, 1902.]</ref><ref>In the biographical book about her life Richard M. Cochran, Ph.D wrote: ''Katarina Stephanova was born in Bansko, Macedonia, in 1870, of Bulgarian parents.'' For more see: Richard Cochran, Katerina Tsilka, Institute for Albanian and Protestant studies, 2014, р. 16.</ref> by the [[pro-Bulgarian]] [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]].<ref>Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer eds., History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries, Volume 2, John Benjamins Publishing, 2006, {{ISBN|9027293406}}, p. 361.</ref><ref>''Initially, the membership in the IMRO was allowed only to Bulgarians. Its first name was "Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees", which was later changed several times. IMRO was active not only in Macedonia but also in Thrace (the Vilayet of Adrianople). Since its early name emphasized the Bulgarian nature of the organization by linking the inhabitants of Thrace and Macedonia to Bulgaria, these facts are still difficult to be explained from the Macedonian historiography. They suggest that IMRO revolutionaries in the Ottoman period did not differentiate between ‘Macedonians’ and ‘Bulgarians’. Moreover, as their own writings attest, they often saw themselves and their compatriots as ‘Bulgarians’.'' All of them wrote in standard Bulgarian language. For more see: Brunnbauer, Ulf (2004) Historiography, Myths and the Nation in the Republic of Macedonia. In: Brunnbauer, Ulf, (ed.) (Re)Writing History. Historiography in Southeast Europe after Socialism. Studies on South East Europe, vol. 4. LIT, Münster, pp. 165-200 {{ISBN|382587365X}}.</ref><ref>''On 21 August 1901, Ellen Stone, an American Protestant missionary based in Salonika, and her Bulgarian colleague Katerina Stefanova, who was the wife of the Albanian pastor [[Grigor Cilka]], were kidnapped by the cheta of Yane Sandanski between Bansko and Gorna Dzhumaya (now Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria).'' For more see: Stone, Ellene (Kidnapping off); an article by [[Raymond Detrez]] (2014) in Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria, Edition 3; Rowman & Littlefield, 2014 p. 469, {{ISBN|1442241802}}.</ref>
==History== === Background === In 1901, one of the main problems facing the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] was its lack of resources for armaments. This financial crisis was discussed at the meeting of the leadership of IMRO in [[Kyustendil]], [[Bulgaria]], that summer. At the meeting, [[Gotse Delchev]] argued that small robberies only tarnished the reputation of the organization and were not helpful to solving the financial problem.
Delchev then authorized [[Mihail Gerdzhikov]] to carry out the kidnapping of a wealthy person or persons in Macedonia to obtain funds, but he failed. Delchev made two other unsuccessful attempts with wealthy Turks and Greeks. He later developed a plan to kidnap the son of [[Ivan Evstratiev Geshov]], which also failed. [[Yane Sandanski]] then offered to kidnap [[Ferdinand of Bulgaria]] during his visit to the [[Rila Monastery]], but the radical plan was opposed by Delchev, who believed that the abduction had to be done on [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] territory. Chernopeev and Sandanski discussed the kidnapping of a wealthy Turk near [[Simitli]], but that plan was not realized. Sandanski, [[Hristo Chernopeev]] and {{Interlanguage link|Sava Mihaylov|bg|Сава Михайлов}} prepared a plan for the kidnapping of Süleyman Bey, but his illness caused that action to fail as well.
=== Kidnapping === Sandanski was then drawn to the idea of kidnapping a Protestant missionary of [[Bansko]]. A detachment led by the [[voivoda]] Yane Sandanski and the sub-voivodas Hristo Chernopeev and [[Krastyo Asenov]] carried this out on August 21, 1901. Two women (Ellen Maria Stone and her fellow missionary Katerina Stefanova-Cilka) were kidnapped near [[Gradevo]], between [[Bansko]] and [[Blagoevgrad|Gorna Dzhumaya]], which were Ottoman towns. Miss Stone has been described as having experienced "[[Stockholm syndrome]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bulgaria and USA in the Miss Stone Affair: Terrorism As It Once Was - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency |url=https://www.novinite.com/articles/122679/Bulgaria+and+USA+in+the+Miss+Stone+Affair%3A+Terrorism+As+It+Once+Was |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=www.novinite.com}}</ref> Per academic Dmitar Tasić and historian İpek Yosmaoğlu, it was apparently an early case of the alleged condition.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Dmitar Tasić |title=Paramilitarism in the Balkans: The Cases of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917-1924 |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198858324 |page=86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=İpek Yosmaoğlu |title=Blood Ties Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908 |date=2014 |page=31 |isbn=978-0-8014-7924-3 |publisher=Cornell University Press}}</ref>
The goal of the kidnapping was to receive a heavy ransom, which would aid the financially-struggling IMRO. The detachment was pursued by the Ottoman and the Bulgarian authorities and by a [[cheta (armed group)|cheta]] of a contending organization, the [[Supreme Macedonian Committee]]. Ottoman authorities briefly arrested [[Grigor Cilka]], Katerina's husband, on unfounded charges of being complicit in the kidnapping.<ref name="Perry104">{{cite book|last=Perry|first=Duncan M.|title=The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Liberation Movements, 1893-1903|year=1988|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=9780822308133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTxtAAAAMAAJ&q=Grigor+Tsilka&dq=Grigor+Tsilka|pages=104}}</ref><ref name="Daniel135">{{cite book|last=Daniel|first=Robert L.|title=American philanthropy in the Near East, 1820-1960|year=1970|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=9780821400630|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXxtAAAAMAAJ&q=Gregory+Tsilka&dq=Gregory+Tsilka|pages=135}}</ref><ref name="Sherman89">{{cite book|last=Sherman|first=Laura Beth|title=Fires on the Mountain: The Macedonian Revolutionary Movement and the Kidnapping of Ellen Stone|year=1980|publisher=East European Monographs|isbn=9780914710554|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9pdpAAAAMAAJ&dq=Katerina+Grigor+Tsilka+Eleni&q=Grigor+Tsilka|pages=89}}</ref> The affair ended after intensive negotiations in early 1902, half a year after the kidnapping. IMRO was paid a ransom of 14,000 [[Ottoman lira|Ottoman gold liras]] on January 18, 1902, in Bansko, and the hostages were released on February 2 near [[Strumica]].
Widely covered by the media at the time, the event has been often dubbed "America's first modern [[hostage crisis]]."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carpenter |first1=Teresa |author-link= Teresa Carpenter |title=The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis |date=2003 |place= New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn= |url= https://archive.org/details/missstoneaffaira0000carp_s7p1 |access-date=24 March 2026 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of kidnappings (1900–1939)]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|last=Пандев|first=Константин|others=Мая Вапцарова|title=Аферата "Мис Стоун". Спомени, документи и материали|publisher=Издателство на Отечествения фронт|location=София|date=1983|oclc=10725712|language=bg}} *{{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Teresa |author-link = Teresa Carpenter|title=The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis!|url=https://archive.org/details/missstoneaffaira00carp|url-access=registration|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2003|isbn=978-0-7432-0055-4 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}} *{{cite book|last=Cochran|first=Richard M.|title=Katerina Stephanova Tsilka|year=2014|publisher=Institute for Albanian & Protestant Studies|url=http://www.instituti.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/COCHRAN-Katerina-Tsilka-Biography1.pdf}} *[http://www.promacedonia.org/bugarash/stone/gallery.html Some archive photos] concerning the case.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miss Stone Affair}} [[Category:1901 in Bulgaria]] [[Category:1902 in Bulgaria]] [[Category:Bulgaria–United States relations]] [[Category:Hostage taking in Europe]] [[Category:International incidents]] [[Category:Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] [[Category:Protestant missionaries in Bulgaria]]