He is known as the last Robin Hood or Croatia's Robin Hood. He was a ladies man and a champion of the poor.
He was...(drums rolling) ... Jovo Stanisavljević ČARUGA

Well, real truth is not that romantic but it is interesting nonetheless. This is a truth about the true last wood bandit in Croatia.

Čaruga's childhood

Čaruga was born in 1897. in a small village in Slavonia (eastern part of Croatia). He was born into a family of wealthy pig farmers. His mother died when he was very young, and he didn't get along with his stepmom. He was engaged in hard physical labour, and his parents didn't allow him to go school.

Great war was raging in Europe and he was recruted into the Austro-Hungarian army when he was 18 years old. He was sent to the Eastern front but he didn't remain there long. He managed to escape by falsificating identification papers, and impersonating an officer in need of treatment and medical care.

Career criminal

In 1916, he returned to his village, where he, in that same year, killed a man who was trying to court his girlfriend. Three years later he killed the village official because he found out the truth.

That lead to his first arrest. He was sentenced as an ordinary criminal, not as a murderer and was convicted to only 4 years in prison. But he didn't manage to complete his sentence because he escaped. He couldn't find refuge in his village so he fled into thick woods of Slavonia.

While living in the woods in 1920. Čaruga joined a band of thieves known as Hill's birds (Gorski tići). Hill's birds commited many acts of robbery under the disguise of fighting the regime. Soon after, Red Božo, who was the leader of the band, and Čaruga became close partners. They even created a set of rules on how their gang should "operate". Of course gang operations included acts like murder, arsen, robbery and pillaging. Those rules also included penalties for members whose actions harm the safety and integrity of group.

Later that year Red Božo died probably in a gun fight with police officers, what allowed Čaruga to seize power. He soon switched his partners in crime, and by the end of the year his gang consisted of only 7 members. Tactics of his gang was to flee from the area after every criminal act, until situation "cooled down a bit". By the 1921. marshall law was introduced in all Slavonia due to his actions.

Due to the fact that the target of his raids were rich and powerful in the eyes of the paesents and poor people he was portrayed as a hero. They thought of him as someone who is inflicting harm to people who got rich unfairly. He was fair and just punishment for their sins. Sometimes he would give out food and clothes that he got from his raids which increased his popularity even more. He was famous for his stylish clothes that really sticked out in a crowd. Due to all this he was very popular with the ladies. He showered his girlfriends with gifts, gold and clothes. Some of his lady friends were actually kidnapped during his raids. It was also said that members of the gang also allowed Čaruga to sleep with their wifes and girlfriends, just in order to keep the "boss" happy.

But not everyone was satisfied with how things were run. One his "co-workers", Jozo Matota betrayed him to the authorities beacuse he was not satisfied with his share. Unfortunately for Jozo Matota, Čaruga killed him as soon as he found out about the betrayal.

Places were Čaruga commited his robberies

Last job

His last raid was on November 14th 1923. His target was the estate of count Eltz. He went on that raid ill prepaired. He brought with him only 5 members of the gang. Count's carriage driver first escaped and then brought police officers with him. What followed next was a gun fight between the representatives of the law and Čaruga's gang. Final result of this failed raid was one dead count's employee and an enormous bounty on Čaruga's head.

Realizing that with such a big bountyhe will be safe nowhere, Čaruga decided to change his identity. His past soon caught up with him. He decided to send a letter to his girlfriend, and in that letter were some information connecting his new identity to that of Čaruga, the infamkus bandit. Letter was, by mistake, delievered to another woman with same name and surname as Čauraga's girlfriend.

In the end this mistake led to the arrest of Jovan Stanisavljević Čaruga on the December 23, 1923.

The end

Čaruga and 11 members of Hill's birds were trialed in court for 28 crimes: 10 murders of various degrees, 1 rape, 15 robberies, 1 public violence act and 1 case of impersonation. All crimes were proven but rape. At the end of the entire process Čaruga and one associate were sentenced to death by hanging, and to rest were given prison sentences. Public hanging was set on February 27th 1925. in the town of Osijek, biggest town in Slavonia. 3000 people attended the hanging.

Čaruga's last words were: "I am Jovan Stanisavljević Čaruga, my deepest bow mr. Executioner. Goodbye people, Čaruga is going on a trip."

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Literature:

http://povijest.net/caruga-junak-siromasnih-ili-razbojnik/
https://hr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovan_Stanisavljević
http://www.frontal.ba/novost/63557/iz-istorije-jovan-stanisavljevic-caruga-covjek-sa-dva-lica
http://www.virovitica.net/caruga-junak-siromasnih-ili-obican-razbojnik/18722/

Image sources:

http://www.virovitica.net/caruga-junak-siromasnih-ili-obican-razbojnik/18722/
http://povijest.net/caruga-junak-siromasnih-ili-razbojnik/
https://wn.com/mobile/semka_sokolovic_bertok_caruga