The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-10
THE CRErAN WAR
INC Tradgcdy Of ArkadI.

ere this reaches you, startled the Worlu
into recollectiOns of Missolonghl ana {
1880, and may perhaps have worked '
something like conviction in the minds t
of European statesmen that the Cretans I
are in terrible earnest, but to us, almost I
within sound of the explosion which c
contaminated the affair, and conscious
of the barbarities and despair which {
give such awful Significance to the Gre /
| tan cry of Liberty or Death, 1t has come {
with a shock like an earthquake. II
For a week after the fight we heard 1
| confused and contradictory rumors OF
il. of mines and desperate figting, we
saw the steamer come to bring to the
| Canea hospitals the wounded who no
longer found place at Retimo, but we
could get no reliable news as TO the ma
tture and result of the conflict. Finally
we got sufficient details to know in its
full meaning, if not its full amount of
woe, the saddest, most piteous episode
of this struggle.
Arkadi is IA monastery which dates its
foundation 500 years ago, the present
building having been built by the We
netians nearly three centuries since,
and so strong that 1t was lmpregnaole
during the previous wars OF Nenetlan
and Turk and Turk and Christian,
, even through the Greek war of INDIE |
pendence. 1t is situated in the midst of
beautiful plain, at the foot of the |
, slopes of Mt. Ida, to the villages in
which, some half dozen in number, II |
turnlSleu pTOleCllOn III uhllBeT anu as
0 sistance in want. 1t was distinguished
among Cretan monasteries for the ex-
; tent OF it's charities and beneficence.
= 1t was at times the headquarters of
: the Cretan Committee, and of the vol
: unteers under CoroncOs, and in accor-
n dance with the policy of the day its des-
3 truction was determined on, and that of
u Coroncos and his little army, 1t was
|, hoped at the same time. Mustapha
Pasha set out from Retimo only lew
/ hours march from Arkadi, the 18th OF
y November, and arriving at night enter
/. ed the monastery unperceiVed. There
I; were in il only the priests and the fam
s. lilies OF the villagers, in number
c. $40 souls, of whom 343 were wo-
a men and children. Some at
= tempted to escape, but finding
retreat cut of, returned to the
m convent, preferring to share the result
10 of the fight to being taken prisoners.
n The forces of the Pasha were about H.
III 900 men, to meet whose attacks the
IS; Christians had less than 200 priests and
'S fathers of the families mostly. They
declined to surrender, and finding that
40 any attempt at escalade or surprise was
IS. useless, the Pasha sent to Retimo for
H. artillery, which was sent to him. The
'h next day he sent for achievements
and more guns, so that at the last he
had 26 guns and two mortars, minus
three guns burst, and $1,000 men.
The convent having been cut off from
at communication with the mountains, nc
news could be sent to Coroncos, who
at was absent on an expedition, and thert
was no hope of relief from such over
whelminG numbers if he had come
Three DAYS the two hundred heroes
fought the battle of despair, firing from
}. window and loophole so energetically
and obstinately that the Turks speal
of il as an European battle, the ike o
of which never was seen in Crete. Tn
third day breach was effected mt tn
, at great portal and an assault wa
in made, the ArmRouts and Gre
20; tan Mussulmans in advance. TIL
t6c gate opens within a large court, aroun
no. which are arranged the cells and room
i sor OF the monastic establishment, and I
Cut these the Christians withdrew when tn
SG troops had effected an entrance, an
&c kept up the fire from the doors ant
5o windows on the enemy, who pushe
in in increasing masses. At this TINT
some participants say that. smaI
,g- mine or magazine exploded, KILN
about $50 of the troops, who recoile
'I[, and left the place in a panic, but wei
IN. ordered in again, and the fight in I'll
~! court was kept up six hours, they sal
,30is from the time the breach was entered
The ground of the court was covere
with the Turkish dead and wounded
t STI but the Christians, too, wasted ava.
"a and finally, seeing all to be lost an
IS@ longer resistance impossible, some
and them embraced in farewell, and stal
bed each other; the Higuminos, Gi
briel, fighting to the last moment, BILE
s at out his own brains when he found thu
MO. the Turks were about TO take hin
un. The rest, retreating to the great tow
$50 OF the Higuminos, where We
most of the women and childre
3 at aud under which was the powder MAJ
~, azine, determined to perish togeth
aDj rather than submit to the outrages
er n the Turks, and fired the magazine, u
The being destroyed, with all the troops
fair the vicinity. In a distant room were
nee. sick and wounded men and 81 womG
itsj and children, who escaped the eXpl
tself sion. One priest of neighboring co
3 Of vent who had surrendered to the Pasl
Is OF and received protection from him, WI
lots murdered by the Egyptians, incarna
fiends, who spare nothing that IS Chri
tian.
The survivors, except six men WI
wer; were shot down in cold blood becau
q. 2 they had European costumes on, wei
Mil by mercy without parallel in Z
t,,. whole war, made prisoners, and lie
~ ~ with insults and abuse, TO Retim
where many of Them arrived half dea
the stronger carrying the children,
whom many were infants, left orpha
by the disasters, some only three
'ats- four years old.
After the fighting was all over, {
Cretau Mussulmans with lighted
:" pers went amongst the dead to see
;;urr any Christian still breathed, and
who showed any signs of life were d
patched without mercy.
IN A few Greeks held the stone mill
q S, the Monastery with such obstinacy Il
the Turks were obliged to batter
cE A down to them, destroying eyerythi
in it. -rrs-- e
VA the city of Retimo is filled with
1USE wounded and the hospitals have
lesign ceived over 400, OF whom most will {
minis the surgeons say, having been inju
dlp 9tl., by the explosion. Not less than 81
ivi2 and some say 1000, of the Mussulm
sLEY4 The sffsir. and unwonted gloom is
the faces of all their compatriots
49, mo exultation of victory can
dlE seen, and they say that Mustal
oat Pasha ragged like a wounded lion vi
the battle was over-no one dared
7. VA. proach him. His brother-in-law,
Al. r. ieyman, his favorite, was morris
R wounded and many officers Killed
s wounded. Thirty-six hours the ar
Lc ai was engaged in bringing in the won
III ed, and it is said that the ground arot
- the Convent is strewn with the TURK
dead.
The Cretans take grim satisfac
in the result. The garrison of Arl
I'D ONLY suffered what most of them
willing TO suffer when it comes to
worst. The religious hostility is S
VI, that any other solution than this
Y SIS. comes improbable, and the Christia
of Europe is so like its MohammeC
ism that there seems little chanC
their falling out over a few miser
n.otapS u I'M cnuId mot Ini6a tho fin