New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-17
NEw ORLEANS REPUBLICAN SUNDAY SEPTEMBER II, 1875.

400 belonged to the town Of Paasgurishta
! and tho other to nine neighboriEg vihsges
| the inhabitants of which had takel
| refuge there. Four hundred buildings
including the bazaar aud the largest and
beet houses, were burned. Both churches
were completely destroyed. and almost
leveled to the ground. In one an old MAJ
| Was violated ON tho altar and afterward
burned alive. Two of the schools wert
burned, tho third-lo0king like private
hOuse-escsped. From the numerous state
ments made to me. hardly = woman in ths
town escaped violation and brutal treat
ment. The ruff ans attacked children o
| eight and old women of eighty, spariDa
neither age nor sex. Old men had the !
eyes tern out and their limbs cut Of, and
were then left tO die, unless como more
chsritasly disposed man gave them the
final thrust.
Pregnant women were ripped open and
the unborn babes carried triumphAntly or
the points Of bsyonets and sabres, while
little children we're made to bear the drip
ping heads of their comrades. This scene
of rapine, lust and murder was continued
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 Fl a6s Pscha
The Turks claim, and the villagers admit,
the death of fourteen Mussulmsns. two Of
whom were women who were killed with
arms in their hands during cobf ct with a
party that refused to surrender to the in.
surgentS.
While pillage reigned supreme at 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 q shot. after a
promise Of safety, to the Bashi Baxouke,
under the comm and of Ahmed Aga, of Bu.
ru,ina, chief of the rural police. Despite
bis promise, the few arms once surrendered,
Ahmed Aga ordered the destruction Of the
village and the indiscriminate slaughter OF
the inhabitants, about 100 young girls be.
ing reserved to satisfy the lust ct the con
querer before they, too, should b. killed.
l saw the bones, some with the flesh
still clinging to them, in the hollow on
the hillside, where the dogs were gnawing
them. Not house is now standing in the
midst of this lovely valley. The saw mills
FOX the town had q large trade in timber
and sawn boards-whlch lined the rapid
little river, are all burned, and of the 5000
inhabitants not 1000 are known to survive
Fully 5000 persons, very large proportion
of them women and children, persisted here,
and their bones Whiten the ruias or their
putrid bodies infect the air. The eight of
Bassk is enough 20 verify all that has been
said about the acts of the Turks in re-
pressing the Bulgarian :nsurrection. And
Yet l saw it three months after the mas.
sacre, On every side were human bones.
skulls. ribs, and even skeletons, heads OF
girls still adorned with braids of long hair,
bones of children, skeletons still encased in
clothing. Here was . house. the A,0r of
which was white with the ashes and oharred
bones of thirty persons burned alive there.
Here was the spot where the village notable.
Trandatl, was spitted on pike and then
roasted. and where he il now buried; here a
milI-dsm filed with swollen corpsee; here q
soho b .use. where go women and children
wnv had taken refuge there wers burned
alive, and here the church aud churchvs
where fully 1000 balf-deoay ed forms vers
still to be %. n, filing the inolosure in a
heap several feet high-srms, feet and
heads protruding from tho stones which
had vAinly been thro q there to hide them.
and poisoning all the cir.
Since my Welt, BY order of the Mutoseari.
the kaimskam " Tstar Buzarojik was sent
to BAtak with some lime to aid in the de-
composition Of the bodies, and to prevent q
peetilence.
Ahmed Aga, who commanded 1T the mas
sacre, has been decorated and promoted to
The rank OF Yuzbashi.
These atrocities weoo clearly unnecessary
Tor the suppression of the insurrection, for
It was an insignificant rebellion at tho best.
and the villagers generally surrendered as
The first summons. Nor can they be iusti-
led by the state of panic, which was over
before the troops set Oat on the campaign.
An attempt, however, has been m sds-snd
1Ot by Turks alone-to defend aad to pal. |
late them on the ground of the previous |
arR m L. oil
nitted by the Bulgsii ans. Ihave carefully |
Investigated this point, and am unable TO |
iad that the Bulgarians committed any out |
ages or atrocities. or any acts which de- !
erve that name. 1 have vainlv tried to OBJ |
ain from the Turkish officials . list of such
'utrsges. but have heard nothing bat vague
tstements. was told by Kiani Pschs
hat the insurgents killed tha wife and
laughter of the mudir of Koprishtitss;
mt this mudir had recently gone there and
lad LETT his wife ct E,ki Sara, where she
till resides, and had no daughter. l was
lso told Of the slaughter of the wife Of the
Dudir OF PAnagurishts, but at tho time |
that village bad no mudir.
vas referred for Information to Hs6z Nuri
.fendi, 9 leading Turk Of Philip
opols. In very careful state
tent made by him he sets
be number Of Mussulmans Including Ryp.
esJ Kilieo our102 the troubles at J55 OF !
HON twelve are women and chlldren-the
ord children taken to mean anyone uoder
wenty years Of age. I have been able to
btain proof of the death Of only two of
1859 women-at Psnsgurishts-whoc GER.
'iDly were not intentionally killed. No
urkish women or children we're killed in
I'D blood. No Mussulman women we're
olated. No Mussulmsns were tortured.
o purely Turkish village Was attacked or
lrned. No Mussulman house was pillsged.
d mosque was desecratpd or DESTROYED.
he report of the special Turkish commits
oner. Edib Efsndi, contains stAtements on
is point, as on every other, which arc ut
'ly uufounded in fact, and the y b 1le re-
'rt may be characterized as . tissue of
am, sir, yours very truly,
EUGENE SCHUYLER.
The hon Il u ace d AWARD. etc.