The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-09-14

OF Eaplne, luSt, anu WurueT was COnCluucu
for three days, when the! survivors were
made to bury the bodies Of the dead. The
perpetrators Of these atrocities were chiefly
regular troops, commanded by Hafz Pacha.
The Turks claim and the villagers admit the
death OF fourteen Mussrlmans, two Of
whom were women who were killed with
arms in their hands during conflict with
party that refused to surrender to the In
surgents.
While pillage rcigned supreme ut Kop-
rishtitsa, and lust at Panagurishta, at Batak
the Turks seemed to have no stronger pas
sion than the thirst for blood. This village
surrendered without firing shot, after a
promise Of safety to the Bashi-Bazouks,
under the command of Ahmed-Aga, of Bu-
rutina, chief Of the rural police. Despite
his promise, the few arms once surrender
ed, Ahmed Aga ordered the destruction of
the village and the indiscriminate slaughter
OF the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. one hundred
young girls being reserved to satisfy the
lust Of the conquerer before they, too, should
be killed. I saw their bones, some with
the flesh still clinging to them, in the hol-
low OH the hillside, where the dogs were
gnawing them. Not q house is now stand
ing in the midst Of this
LOVELY VALLEY.
The saw-mills-for the town had large
trade in timber and sawn boards-which
lined the rapid little river are all burned,
and Of the 5000 inhabitants not 1900 are
known to survive. Fully 5000 persons-a
very large proportion OF them women and
children-perished here, and their bones
whitcn the ruins or their putrid bodies In
feet the air. The sight Of Batak is enough
to verify all that has been said about the acts
OF the Turks in repressing the Bulgarian
insurrection. And yet saw it three months
after the massacre. On every side were hui
man bones, skulls, ribs, and even skeletons,
heads of girls still adorned with braids OF
long hair, bones OF children, skeletons
still cncased in clothing. Here was
house, the floor OF which was
white with the ashes and charred
bones OF thirty persons buried alive there.
Here was the spot where the village notable
Trandafil was spitted on pike and then
roasted, and where he is now buried; there
was q foul hole full OF decomposing bodies; !;
here mill-dam filled with swollen corpses;
here the school-house, where 200 women
and children who had taken refuge there
were buried alive, and here the church and
churchyard, where fully 1000 half-decayed
forms were still to be seen, filling the en-
closure in heap several feet high, arms,
feet, and heads protruding from the stones
which had yuinly been thrown there to hide
them, and poisoning all the air.
Since nv visit, by orders OF the Mutes-
sarif, the Kamakam OF Tartar BaZardllk
was sent to Batak with some lime to aid in
the decomposition OF the bodies and to pre-
vent pestilence.
TIE MrRDERER PROMOTED.
Ahmed Aga, who commanded at the mas
sacre, has been decorated and promoted to
the rank of Yuzbashi.
These atrocities were clearly unnecessary
for the suppression OF the insurrection, for
it was an insignificant rebellion at the best,
and the villagers generally surrendered at
the first summons. Nor can they be Julstl-
fed by the state Of panic, which was over
before the troops set out on the campaign.
An attempt, however, has been made-and
not by Turks alonc-to defend and
to palliate them on the ground
of the previous atrocities which,
1t is alleged, were committed by
the Bulgarians. I have carefully investi-
gated this point, and am unable to lind that
the Bulgarians committed any outrages or
atrocities, or any acts which deserve that
name. l have yainly tried to obtain from
the Turkish officials list Of such outrages,
but have heard nothing but vague state
ments. I was told by Kiani Pacha that the
insurgents killed the wife and daughter OF
the Mudir Of Koprishtitsa; but this Mudlr
had recently gone there and had left his wife
at Eski Sara. where she still resides, and
had no daughter. I was also told OF the
slaughter OF the wife Of the Mudr OF Pana-
guriShta, but at the time mentioned that vii
lage had no Mudir. was referred for in
formation to Hafz Nuri Efendi, a leading
Turk OF Philippopolis. In very careful
statement made by him he sets the number OF
Mussulmans Gncluding gypsies) killed du-
ring the troubles at 155, of whom twelve
are women and children-the word children
taken to mean any one under twenty years
Of age. l have been able to obtain PROOF OF
the death Of only two of these women (at
Panasurishta) who certainly were not lnten-
tionally killed. No Turkish women OF
children were killed in cold blood. No
Mussulman women were violated. No
Mussulmans were tortured. No purely
Turkish village was attacked or burned.
No Mussulman house was plllaged. NO
mosque was desecrated or destroyed. The
report of the special Turkish Commissioner
Edib Effendi contains statements on this
point, as on every other, which are utterly
unfolnded in fact, and the whole report
NAV be characterized as tissue OF false-
hoods,