The Robin Hood of Moslavina
The following day, just as Mara had said, the constables came to the village of Potok to collect taxes and descended first upon their household. Seated at the table were the frightened married couple Marko and Bara Budin and their niece Mara Klasić, Joco's beloved. Two constables with sabres and muskets took up position by the door, and two village lads appointed as livestock drivers also arrived: Mato Grgičev and Ivo Bunić. The leader of the group and the officer in charge of enforcement was the clerk from Ludina, Stevan Marušković. The whole village had dreaded their arrival. Inside the house, a genuine drama unfolded.
They accused Marko Budin of having felled ten young oak trees in the count's forest and demanded that he pay a fine of ten forints. As Marko had no money, they moved to seize his oxen. But the clerk Marušković had set his eyes on Mara and proposed that he would pay the fine himself if they gave him Mara in marriage, taking her by the hand as he spoke. When he tried to grab her face, Mara pushed him away with all her strength and he fell to the floor beside the stove. After some struggling he picked himself up and, furious, ordered the confiscation of the oxen. However, Ivo Bunić refused to drive the oxen away and fled; a constable ran after him firing into the air, whereupon Ivo stopped in fright, and the constable clapped him in irons and brought him back. As they made their way to the stable, Mara stopped them, holding out a necklace of ducats — her only keepsake from her mother — and offered it in payment of her uncle's fine. Her aunt protested, but Marušković took the ducats and left without a word, taking his company with him and dragging the bound Ivo Bunić along.
That same evening Mara came to Joco's hideout and told him what had happened. She was afraid that someone, under pressure of tax debts, might betray or even kill Joco, given that there was a price of 500 forints on his head. She mentioned the miller Janko in passing, noting that Janko had already spoken with her uncle about taking Mara as his wife, but that she still loved Joco and would not hear of marrying anyone else. Mara even begged Joco to take her into his outlaw band, but Joco would not hear of it. She asked him to help the unfortunate Ivo Bunić, who had stood against the seizure of her uncle's oxen and was now suspected of being Joco's accomplice; Joco promised her he would save him. Though he was often very rough, in Mara's arms Joco always became the tenderest of men, and they spent a long time sitting or lying on the grass in the forest, whispering endearments to one another, embracing and kissing. That night Joco walked Mara home.
In the morning Joco ordered everyone to rise and go to drill so they would not grow soft, saying he would go alone to save Ivo Bunić from a flogging, and adding that if he had not returned by late night they should choose a new leader among themselves. In the yard of the gendarmerie station in Popovača, a flogging bench had already been prepared. Two constables were waiting in the yard to bring out Bunić, and Joco watched from a hidden vantage point, realising he faced a difficult task. When the bound Bunić was led into the yard and saw the bloodstains on the bench, he began to tremble with fear. He was ordered to lie face down on the bench, and in doing so the constables were very rough, striking him with a knee to the back so that he fell off the bench onto the ground. Once he was lying on the bench, wedges were placed against his neck, back and legs so that he could no longer move. A constable tore the shirt from Bunić's back and pulled his trousers down. The executioner glanced at the judge Pajanović at the window and at the two constables who had sat down under the lime tree, then took up a stout hazel switch and brought it down with full force on the bare body of the wretched Ivo Bunić.
Meanwhile Joco was quietly crawling through the grass and saw that he would have to sprint some ten metres; drawing up to the edge of the lawn, he observed the two constables sitting calmly under the lime tree and established that they were unarmed, since for them this punishment was evidently a form of entertainment. After Bunić screamed in pain at the first blow, Joco rushed forward with pistol in hand, and just as the executioner was about to strike Bunić a second time, Joco wrenched the hazel switch from his hand and struck him across the face with it. He immediately fired a shot towards the constables under the lime tree, who instinctively threw themselves into the grass. Joco struck the executioner once more and said to him: "now let us see how this feels." Judge Pajanović called out for the guard from his window, and Joco fired a shot towards him, at which he flung himself to the floor. Joco pulled out the wedges and told Bunić to run, then ran off behind him. When they had put enough distance between themselves and the station, Ivo began to thank Joco, but Joco told him to thank Mara, for it was on her account that he had saved him.
Barely an hour had passed before all of Popovača had heard of Joco's audacious exploit, and when he distributed money to several of the town's poor that very same day, the legend of Joco as a benefactor and man of justice blazed up in earnest. Judge Pajanović raged at his constables, but could do nothing beyond intensifying the manhunt — which again proved fruitless. The peasants, even when they knew of Joco's routes, sent the search parties down false trails. Before long, derisive laughter at the expense of the Popovača constables, whom Joco had thoroughly made fools of, rang out across all of Moslavina.
Before setting off to rescue Bunić, having first escorted Mara home, Joco learned on his way back to the cave of a serious quarrel that had broken out among his outlaws. Petar had got drunk and turned belligerent; it was already his turn to take watch, and he was demanding that Anka come with him. When Anka refused, Petar flew into a fury, going so far at one point as to draw a knife and threaten to kill her — which he might well have done had the others not rushed in and taken the knife from him. In the end, instead of going on watch, Petar drank more brandy and fell asleep where he sat. Joco tried to make sense of Petar's behaviour, and even suspected that Petar knew Anka had feelings for him, and had decided to treat her more harshly because of it. He even told Todor that the best thing would be to send the two of them away from the band.
The following morning he had no wish to discuss the previous night's events, and instead set off at once for Hrvatsko Zagorje, where he had set his sights on robbing the parish priest in Donja Stubica. True to his custom, he had already announced his arrival for eleven o'clock, and he was a man who kept his promises. In the meantime, there was great agitation at the Donja Stubica parish — among the priest, his curate, and the constables alike. The priest had informed both the authorities and the local people of Joco Udmanić's announced visit. A small band had assembled: several volunteer hunters with rifles, some ten villagers armed with axes, clubs and pitchforks, and a number of well-armed constables. They lay in wait for Joco Udmanić to appear.
A full hour before the announced arrival, everyone was on edge and kept glancing at their watches. The tension was plain to see, and all eyes were scanning every direction for the moment Joco and his band would spring out. It reached its height when one of the constables spotted a carriage drawn by two horses on the road, making a leisurely approach towards the presbytery. The coachman guided it calmly along, and when he caught sight of the armed men, he pulled on the reins and brought the carriage to a halt. He jumped down and obligingly opened the carriage door. Out stepped a young priest with a red sash around his waist. He introduced himself to the parish priest as an archdeacon from the Bjelovar district and mentioned that he had sent word he would call in when passing through to Marija Bistrica. He also enquired, in passing, about the nature of this reception with its armed escort. The priest explained the threat from Joco Udmanić, who was expected to arrive at any moment, and invited him inside. The archdeacon called for the coachman to join them, and the man duly removed his fur cap and followed him in. They first had drinks, then sat down to a generous meal.
When the mood was at its most convivial, the young priest reached beneath his robes, produced a pistol and levelled it at the parish priest, at which point he introduced himself as Joco Udmanić. The coachman — who was, of course, Todor — already had a pistol in each hand. The priest and the curate were terrified, but there was nothing for it; the priest had to hand over the money. Having taken it, Joco announced to both men that they were about to take part in a small theatrical performance. He ordered them to accompany him in the carriage, warning that if either of them said a word to the armed men outside, he would kill them on the spot. As they passed through the line of armed men, who looked on devoutly, Joco called out to them: "Farewell, my dear faithful. Continue to remain thus humbly devoted to your dear parish priest and to Mother Church." After an hour's drive, Joco stopped the carriage and let the priest and curate out. Late that night, Joco and his band arrived back at their hideout.
Unable to sleep, however, Joco rose and went out in front of the cave, where he stood gazing at the star-strewn sky. He started suddenly at the rustle of leaves, turned, and caught sight of the outlaw woman Anka, who hated him deeply on account of his great love for Mara, yet was herself desperately in love with him. She called Joco to come with her a little way from the cave, where she pulled her blouse off. In that moment Joco saw her full breasts gleaming in the bright night. Anka threw herself into his arms and openly invited him to take her — an invitation that young Joco's heart could not refuse. Towards dawn, when Anka returned to the cave in high spirits, Joco called the sentry over and told him he had seen nothing, to which the man agreed with a grin. Joco promised him the largest share of the plunder they would steal from the innkeeper Josip Heruc in Koruška near Križevci the following day.
After an arduous march on foot, they arrived at Koruška late in the afternoon and decided to wait until all the day-trippers had left. When darkness fell, Josip Heruc, the owner of the largest inn at this Križevci excursion spot, was counting his money together with his wife Jelena, with no inkling that someone else in the darkness was also watching that pile of coins. Delighted by the good takings, Josip promised his wife Jelena that he would take her to Zagreb the next day and buy her the finest coat. Then Joco knocked at the window; Heruc wrapped the money in a woman's headscarf and pushed it under a bench in the corner. Joco with a knife and Todor with a pistol in hand burst into the house. Joco greeted them politely and introduced himself, while Heruc and his wife stared at them in terror.
When Joco asked for the money and Heruc claimed he had none, Joco bent down, pulled out from under the bench the bundle the innkeeper had pushed there, and set it on the table, on which the innkeeper's wife had already placed a bottle of wine and a plate of roast meat. He also noticed that they had a silver cutlery service and demanded that the entire set be brought out. Their neighbour Ivan Heruc — whom they had also intended to rob and who was wealthier than the innkeeper Josip Heruc — they were unable to rob of his money, as he began to shout and people from the surrounding houses started gathering with hunting rifles; so instead they took his horses and cart and made their escape. As some of the men opened fire on them, they lay flat in the cart, and Joco ordered them to shoot into the air rather than at the people, which they did as the horses galloped through the village. They rode like this for some time until they reached the forest, where they stopped, unhitched the horses and let them go, leaving the cart in the middle of the road.
Once they were back at their cave, Joco began dividing up the generous haul taken from Heruc. Again he set aside a pile of money to be given to poor villagers, and distributed the rest in equal shares — with the sole exception that this time Petar received nothing. For a while Petar sat scowling as everyone watched him, knowing full well that the outlaw chief was punishing him for having got drunk. At last Petar rose and approached Joco, who did not even look up but smoked his pipe calmly. When Petar furiously demanded his share, Joco quietly got to his feet and suddenly struck him full in the face. Petar crashed to the floor but quickly pulled himself back up, drawing his knife as he did so. At that, two of the outlaws leapt forward and took the knife from him, and Joco ordered them to tie him up, telling him as they did: "You will receive no money, and you have earned a far worse punishment. This is your last warning." Petar shot back, "I will never forgive you for this," whereupon Joco kicked him in the backside.
After rescuing Bunić, Joco, sensing grave danger, gathered his loyal band and left the hiding place on Garić, making his way by secret paths towards the Samobor highlands. On that journey they were caught in an icy downpour, and the outlaw woman Anka fell ill and remained behind with Petar in the house of a sympathiser near Dugo Selo. This was on 14 October 1865. There Joco and his band lay in wait around the neighbouring estates, for their funds had already run dry. It was there that he carried out the robbery of the Tandarić family, described earlier on these pages. After that robbery near Okić, Joco invited his band to Zagreb to treat them. Though frightened and astonished by the idea, they agreed. Medić stole a carriage and two white horses, and they set off for Zagreb. On the outskirts of the city they stopped, bought new clothes, dressed themselves in gentlemanly fashion, and entered the city.
At first they were stiff and ill at ease, and whenever a constable walked past them they would freeze, hands reaching instinctively for a knife or a pistol. But after moving through several taverns they grew bolder and began to behave as though they had spent their whole lives among Zagreb's respectable classes. Picking up three Zagreb beauties along the way — young women of doubtful conduct and morals — the men launched into their most brazen carousing. A certain Zdenka immediately latched on to Joco, who introduced himself to her as a landowner from Slavonia. After making their way through a good part of Zagreb, they drew up their carriage outside the tavern known as "Turopoljac" on Savska cesta. With his arm around Zdenka, Joco asked the innkeeper to send for musicians and gave him a generous tip. The innkeeper dashed off at once to fetch the band.
Within a short time the tables were laden with the finest food and drink, while in the corner a five-piece band played on. After the very first bars the musicians received such a handsome fee that their heads began to spin. Waiters hovered around Joco's table. The violinist pressed his instrument close to the ears of Joco and Zdenka, drawing out the sweetest sounds he could muster, doing his utmost to please this "wealthy merchant" from Slavonia. Joco was dressed in the latest fashion, wore an expensive rose in his buttonhole and, freshly shaved and smartly turned out, cut a very handsome figure. Zdenka, dazzled by his money, surrendered herself to him willingly, convinced that this spoiled, romantic and wealthy adventurer would eventually whisk her away to his ancestral manor in Slavonia. Joco, for his part, drowned in wine his longing for Moslavina, for the freedom of the forest and for Mara, who had stayed behind in the village heartbroken, and from whom he had barely had time to say farewell.
Yet, though always cool-headed, Joco now made an unforgivable mistake: he taught the musicians to play the outlaw song of which he himself, Joco Udmanić, was the author — a song that was whispered in Zagreb with a shudder of fear. It was their old outlaws' anthem: "A hajduk's life is ours, the forest is our refuge, the green grass our bed, and the sky our blanket..." — a song they had often sung after successful raids, such as the one at Donja Stubica, and also in moments of rest at their hideout.
Because Joco had loosened up and at one point pulled back his coat, the innkeeper caught sight of a pistol tucked into his belt. Finding this suspicious, he slipped out of the tavern into the yard and quickly searched Joco's carriage. Under the seats he found two rifles, several pistols and ammunition. Between that discovery and the song, he had no doubt that his guests were dangerous men — and that among them might be the notorious Joco Udmanić himself. He ran at once to the nearest gendarmerie post, reported his guests and asked that his report be formally recorded, for he had his eye on the 500-florin bounty that had been placed on Joco Udmanić's head. The gendarmes promised him his reward and followed him back to the tavern.
By the time the innkeeper returned, Joco was singing merrily and embracing his temporary companion Zdenka. At a certain moment Joco felt a sharp pinch. He glanced at Zdenka, who winked at him and pinched him again. He leaned towards her, sensing she had something to tell him; her face had gone pale. When Joco bent close, she whispered that gendarmes were waiting outside. Joco told her he had to flee, but that he would return the following Saturday and that she should wait for him there — and Zdenka promised she would. Joco rose, said nothing to Todor or the others and headed for the door of the woodshed, through whose small window he climbed out and made his escape. At that very moment the gendarmes burst into the tavern with their rifles raised. Only Zdenka and the innkeeper were unsurprised. They asked which of the men was Joco, and the young woman sitting beside Rade Medić said he had gone and pointed to the woodshed door.
As Joco ran along Savska cesta he turned into a side street and came upon a horse-drawn cart standing in the middle of the road, the driver beating a young boy with his whip. Joco stopped and asked the bystanders why he was being beaten; they replied that the boy had carelessly run across the road. Joco shouted at the coachman to stop hitting the child, while the people standing around did nothing but watch. Without another word Joco strode up to the driver, wrenched the whip from his hand, struck him with it twice and told the boy to run. The coachman lunged at him and kicked him in the stomach. When Joco straightened up he managed to land a punch to the coachman's head that sent the man crashing to the ground. At that moment the gendarmes from the tavern came running up, together with the innkeeper who had reported him, and they bound Joco in chains.
They all set off back towards the tavern, where a single gendarme had been left to guard the rest of Joco's outlaws. When they returned, however, they found that the men had taken advantage of the guard's inattention, overpowered him, seized his rifle and escaped, while the women who had been with them had scattered. The sergeant was furious and cursing loudly, and ordered everyone to proceed to the station. Behind them the innkeeper's wife shouted that her bill had to be paid, to which the sergeant replied that her husband could pay it himself once he received his reward for turning in Joco Udmanić.
And so Joco Udmanić ended up in remand prison in Zagreb because he had gone to the aid of a boy being beaten by a coachman — had he looked the other way, he would have escaped and remained a free man.
Once he was caught, Joco Udmanić was standing before the examining magistrate within half an hour, dazed from the wine and brandy he had drunk that day and swaying on his feet. As Judge Krivačić pressed him with cutting questions, Joco answered ever more defiantly, until the judge lost his temper entirely, rose from his seat and slapped Joco across the face, shouting: "Will you admit that you are the outlaw Joco Udmanić?" To which Joco replied: "I'll only admit that you are a fool." The judge saw that he had made a mistake and continued in a calmer tone, asking Joco who he was, to which Joco replied serenely: "I was simply defending a small boy."
Joco sat alone in his cell, cursing bitterly and damning the moment when he had grown so reckless and impulsively decided, after the raid in the hills above Samobor, to lead his band into Zagreb. He had about 60 florins left from the robbery, hidden in the lining of his coat, but it was not enough to attempt bribing the guards. He understood that his best course was to make his peace with fate and to drag out the investigation for as long as possible, for the authorities' aim was to prove his guilt and hang him as swiftly as they could. As he paced back and forth like a caged beast, the cell door opened and constables came to fetch him, leading him to the office of the magistrate Krivačić.
"How are you, Joco Udmanić?" the judge asked him, to which Joco replied: "Who exactly are you speaking to, Your Honour, and whose health are you enquiring after? I am not Joco Udmanić — I am Ivan Gradić." The judge then summoned two constables to enter. Joco recognised them both: one was the constable he had beaten when rescuing Ivo Bunić from a thrashing in Popovača, and the other was a man from Ludina whose rifle Joco had once stolen from under his very nose. Both constables recognised Joco and confirmed this to the judge. The judge then asked Joco what he had to say about that, and whether he recognised the two of them, to which Joco replied: "Scoundrels, like all constables who beat and oppress the people." The judge ordered that Joco be taken away, put in irons, and given the number 13 on his back so that misfortune would accompany him to the gallows. When they threw him onto the floor of his cell, they kicked him repeatedly, and Joco writhed in pain and cried out. His fate was thus sealed, for the carpenters had already begun building the gallows in the courtyard without waiting for the court's final decision. According to Judge Krivačić's plan, Joco was to be hanged the very moment the sentence was pronounced.
In the meantime, Joco's outlaw band had gathered in the cave on Garić, and Petar had arrived too, together with Anka, who had recovered. While the first snow drifted outside, they sat around the fire in the cave, drinking brandy, smoking and talking quietly. Without Joco's firm hand they were helpless. They had managed to learn how he had been captured, and they were proud of their harambasha, who had come to grief at the very moment he was defending a boy whom a coachman had been beating mercilessly, and they made sure the story spread far and wide. They also considered setting out to free their leader from prison — Prosenečki even went to reconnoitre the situation in Zagreb — but the doubled guard made it impossible.
Continued in the next section, under the heading The end of Joco Udmanić.
