In 1904 a Greek-American playboy, Ion Perdicaris was, along with his stepson Cromwell, kidnapped in Morocco by a man who would later be called “The last of the Barbary pirates.” The incident sparked a degree of outrage in the US, and was a talking point for Theodore Roosevelt in the 1904 presidential election. But… Perdicaris himself didn’t mind being kidnapped. In fact, he had a great time being held hostage by a roving band of desert brigands.
The 1904 cartoon below from the Review of Reviews shows the US boldly telling the Sultan of Morocco to… pretty much give in to a kidnappers demands.
Related Links:
News stories from 1904 about the Perdicaris Incident.
Hostages to Momus by O. Henry, based on the Perdicaris Incident
The Wind and the Lion on IMDB
This is only very tangentially related, but The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is very probably the best collection of writing prompts ever made.
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