New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-10
THB BUTTERFLIES IN BULGARIA,

Graphic Account of Visit to an Obliter.
ated Viilage-ThOusands of Corpses
Rotting in the SUN or Deyoured b,
Dogs.
The London Daily Ne,cs special CORE
spondent in Bulgaria, Mr. Macgahau, has
paid visit TO Batak, the scene of the
Turkish atrocities. in company with Mr.
Schuyler. of the American legation. His
report is long and interesting. Approac CHI.
ing Batak they found the hills covered with
wheat and rye. ripe, but rotting in the soil
from absence OF harvesters. A number of
dogs on slope overlooking the town at.
tracted their attention. The writer saws:
Ihey parked at US in an angry manner
and then ran OFF into the adjoining fields.
l observed nothing peculiar as we mounted
until my horse stumbled, when, looking
down, perceived he had stepped on a
human skull, partly hid among the grass.
1t WAS quite dry and hard, and might, to
all appearances, have been there for TWO or
three years. so we'll had the dogs done their
work. As we assembled, bones, skeletons
and skulls became more frequent, but here
they hau not been picked so clean. At last
We came to kind OF little plateau or shelf
on the hillside, where the ground
was nearly level. All suddenly drew
rein with an exclamation of horror.
tor right before US, almost beneath our
horses feet, was sight that made us shud.
der. 1t was heap of skulls, intermingled
body, skeletons nearly entire rotting, cloth
ing, human hair and putrid flesh lying
there IN one foul heap, around which the
grass was growing luxuriantly. 1t emitted
sckening Odor, like that of dead horse.
and it was here the dogs had been seeking
hasty repast, when our untimely approach
interrupted them. In the midst Of this
heap could distinguish one slight skeleton
form still lnclosed in ohemise, the skull
wrapped about with colored handker.
chief and the bony ankles incaeed in the
embroidered footless stockings worn by the
Bulgarian girls. We looked about US, The
ground was strewed with bones in every
direction, where the dogs had carried them
OH to gnaw them at their leisure.
ALI the skeletons were those of women.
From his saddle the correspondent counted
about 100 skulls, nearly all of which had
been separated from the bodies evidently
from decapltation. The village one of some
9OO stone houses and 5000 or 5000 inhabit.
ants, had not one house that was not shat.
tered or burned. A few women only re-
NAMED, who were keening for their dead.
The correspondent continues:
A little further on we came to the skele-
ton of y0lng girl not more than fifteen,
lying by the roadside, and partly covered
with the debris of a fallen wall. 1t was
still clothed in chemise; the ankles were
lnclosed in fOotless stockings; but the
little feet from which the shoes had been
taken. were naked, and owing to the fact
that the flesh had dried instead of decom.
posing, were nearly perfect. There was a |
large cash in the skull, to which mass of |
rich brown hair nearly yard long still |
chung. trailing in the dust. 1t is to be re-
marked that all the skeletons of women
found here were dressed in chemise only,
and this poor child had evidently been |
stripped to her chemise, partly in the search |
Tor money and jewels, partly out of nero |
then outraged and afterward
killed. We have talked with many women |
who had passed through all parts of the Or
leal but the last, and the procedure seems |
70 have been as follows: They would seize |
! woman, strip her carefully to her chemise,
aging aside articles of clothing that were |
valuable with any ornaments and Jewels
The mig ht have about her. Then as many
II them as cared would violate her and the |
ast man would kill her or not as the humor
OOk him.
At the next house man STONED IA 70
how where blind little brother had been
burned alive, and the spot where he had
Ound his calciDed bones, and the rough,
iard- vlsaged man sat down and sobbed
ike child.
On the other side of the way were the
keletons of two children lying side by side,
partly covered with stones, and with fright
III sabre outs in their little skulls. The
lumber of children killed in these massa-
res is something enormous. They were
ften spitted on bayonets, and we have sew
raj stories from eyewitnesses who saw
title babes carried about the streets, both
ERE and at Ollokum, on the point of
'ayOnets. The reason is simple. When
Mahometan has killed q certain number
f infidels he is sure of Paradise, no matter
7hat his sins may be. Mahomet probably
Intended that only armed men should
cunt, but the ordinary Mussrlman takes
he preoept in its broader acceptation, and
cunts women and children as we'll. The
dvantage of killing children is that it
an be done without danger, and that q
child counts tor as much as an armed
ian: Here the Bashi Bszopks, in order to
we'll the count, ripped open pregnant wo
len and killed the unborn infants. There
as not house beneath the ruins of which
q did not perceive human remains, and
1e street besides was strewn with them.
efore many of the doorways women were
alklng up and down walling their funeral ,
1ant. One Of them caught me by the arm {
nd led me inside of the wallis, and there in I
'e corner, half covered with stones and {
ortar, were the remains of another young q