The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-07-27
TURKISH BARBARiSM.
Tile Horror fhe Eastern Wm-1he Hor-
rible Sights a Correspondent Saw at
DrdUnO.


| COnsOntinople Correspondence N. Y. Times
1t would be disbelieved were ] to state
all the horrors whose vestiges saw dur
ing the four and twenty hours which
spent near Dravno, Corpses of men and
women and children lay about the streets
of villages through which these savages
have passed. At Karakilissi one entire
school Of fifty children is said to have
been butchered, saw pope or Bull
garian priest hanging to the rafters of
house which had been half burned
down, and, not dozen yards away, was
the headless body Of peasant, whose
belt showed that he had been taken
while in arms. l intend to collect the
exact dates and sites of the recent atrOc-
tiles in Bulgaria, for the edifcation of
those who still think that the Turk is
fellow being, one of those fallacies on
par with the do the poor Indian" cry
Of other ignorant philanthropists. For
the present, l shall only tell what saw
at Dravno, where the raiders were max
ing gallant stand; they were only about
four hundred in number; their enemies
mustered nearly, if not quite, three
thousand, and had, besides, couple of
cannon, with which they were pounding
away at the old monastery in which they
had taken shelter. Dravno itselfis viii
lage, or rather town, of about four
thousand inhabitants, which used TO do
hourishing trade in the cocoon bust
ness, but it certainly is not at present
commercially attractive place. Built at
the foot of spur of the Balkan, ii is shell
| tered from the bleak mountain winds by
succession of hills by which the
monastery and church, substantial stone
buildings are entirely commanded ON
these heights Hussein Bey, who was the
leader of the Turkish forces had estab-
lished his guns, which. although they
had been at work for some six hours,
had apparently as yet done no damage.
They were firing at the walls instead of
shelling the roof, and the hollow spot
seemed powerless to injure the massive
granite which had stood there for centu-
ries. The practice was wretched, and no.
body had any clear idea of the distance,
for many Of the projectiles fell short, al
though the battery was at not more than
two thousand yards range, but the guns
made a noise, and after every discharge
there rose yell of satisfaction from the
troops, mingled with volley of curses
against the unbelieving dogs who dared
to dispute Moslem authority. The Bey,
who was quite polite, tod me that the
raiders had attacked ano killed several
small detachments on their way from the
river, and that he had only come up with
them here, where they had stopped to
rest and eat, for the poor fellows had
marched some fifty miles without meet
ing the reinforcements which evidently
they had been led to suppose would join
them in the interior. The Bashi Ba-
zOuks had:been hanging on their rear for
several hours, but had been repulsed,
and so resigned themselves to play the
part of loJdhounds. Brought to bay at
last. they had thrown themselves into
the old monastery, where they meant to
sell their lives as dearly as possible. One
assault had been tried, but the result had
not been satisfactory, and the Hussein
Bey thought it would be far safer to trust
to starvation and to distant lombard
ment"-as he called it.
1t must have been eight p. m. when
my attention was attracted by bright
glare on the southern side of the village;
there was loud shout of "Hugdn ear"
| (there is a Conhagration,) tumultuous
rush of redifs. Tchirkesses, and Bashi
Bazouks in that direction, the artillery
ceased firing, and the sharp rattle of mus
kerry succeeded. 1t did not last more
than fifteen minutes, and then there was
dead silence, almost painful in its con-
trast to the noise of the last six hours.
the church and monastery were in flames,
and before morning nothing remained
but the blaCkened walls and few
charred raiters. AS soon as the fire first
appeared rode over to the headquar-
ters, and, little later, to the field. 1t
was as had supposed; finding that sue
cor from outside was hopeless, without
food or water, or fully aware of the fate
in store for them if captured, the be-
seiged had determined to cut their way
out and get to the mountains. So they
applied the torch to the old church, and
under cover of the flames, dashed into
the ranks of the Turkish soldiery, which
had crowded down in disorder to witness
the burning of the Giaours With their
yataghans between their teeth and re-
volyer in hand they actually fought their
way through nearly ten times their num-
ber. l counted 1870 dead Bulgarians,
but did not see single prisoner. The
Turks say that the wounded shot them
selves rather than surrender.