The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1876-09-21

1t is very difficult to estimate the number of
Bulgarans who were killed during the few
days that the disturbances lasted, but | am i'll
clined to put 10, 900 as the lowest for the dis
trlcts have named.
PcrustitS;l. town OF 100 houses, and be
tween 5000 and 1000 inhabitants, took no ac-
tive part in the instruction. When the Bashi.
BaZouks appeared before the town they there
lor1 refused to surrender, entrenched them
selves in church, rctrealing finally to another,
| and held out for five days, until they saw the
| regular troops, when the remainder gave them
selves UP. The church was bombarded. and
about 900 IN all We're killed, many Of them
women and children.
kllS>ura was nearly twice the size OF Pcrus-
titsa, and proportionately richer, us many OF
the inhabitants were engaged in the manufac-
ture OF altar Of roses, and many were mer-
chants travelling through the country. The
insurrectionary movement began here on the
2l of May. but j. was not until the 18th that
The BA>hi-Bazouks, under the command of
Tussum Bey of karovo, attacked the place.
More than 2o0 Bulgarians were killed, chiefly
women and children. The Turks claim that II
Mussulmans Gin part gypsies) were killed be-
| fore and during the fight. As soon as the
| 3ashi-BaZoukS entered the town, they pilagcd
it and burned it. Subsequent parties carried
of oil that WAS left even to the nails from the
! doors and the tiles from the roofs. Tus>ilm
Boy for this exploit was decorated with the
| Mejidie.
ulid8ul1>Itd totluh-htlJ was GlldChtt It Il
| force of regular troops, together with Bashi-
Bazouks. on the 1lth Of May. Apparently no
message to surrender was sent. After slight
opposition on the part of the insurgents, the
town was taken. Many of the inhabitants fled,
but about 5000 were maSsacred, the most OF
them being women and children. Both church
es were completely destroyed, and almost level
| ed to the ground. In one an Old man was burn
| ed alive. Two of the schools were burned, the
hird-looking like Il private house-escaped.
From the numerous statements made to me,
| hardly ii woman in the town escaped brutal
| treatment. Old men had their eyes torn out
| and their limbs cut OIL and We're then left to
| die unless some more charitably disposed man
gave them the final thrust. Pregnant women
were ripped open and the unborn babes carried
trumphantly on the points Of bayonets and
| sabreS, While little children We're made to bear
the dripping heads of their comrades This
| scene was continued for three DAYS, when the
survivors We're made to bury the bodies Of the
dead.
| While pilage reigned supreme at kopris HIT.
sa, and lust al Panagurishtha, at Batak the
! Turks seemed to have no stronger passion than
the thirst for blood. This village surrendered
| without firing Il shot, after Il promise OF safety
| 10 the Bashi-BaZoUks, under the command OF
| Ahmed Aga OF Burutia, chief of the rura
! police. Despite his promise, the few arms once
| surrendered, Ahmed Aga ordered the destruc-
ton of the vi age and the indiscrimiuate slaush.
| ter OF the inhabitants. about a hundred young
girls beng reserved to the cOnquerOr before they
| too should be killed. l saw their bones in The
4 hollow on the hillside, where the dogs were
| TnaWing them. Not house is now standing il
f! the midst Of this lovely valley. OF the 5000 in
labtant>. not = 600 are known to survive. Full
| ly 10000 persons, Il Very large proportion OF
| them women and children, persisted here. and
! their bones whiten the ruins. The sight of Bu.
tax is enough to verify all that has been said
| aboLt the acts Of the Turks in depressing tho
| Bulgarian instruction. And yet | saw it three
| months after the massacre. On every side We're
| human bones, skulls, ribs, and even complete
| skeletons, heads of girls still adorned with
| braidS of long hair, bones of children, skeletons
| still encased in clothing. Here was a house the
| l1oor OF which was Whtewith the ashes and char
| red bones of thirty persons burned alive there
| Here was the spot where the village notable
| 1ra,l'!afii, was spitted on il spike, and then
| roasted, and where he is now buried; there
was Il foul hole full of decomposing bodies
! here a mill dam filled with swollen corp>cs
! here the school houses, where two hundred
women and children who had taken refuge
there. were burned alive, and here the church
aud churchyard, where fully Il thousand half
dccAYed forms were still to be seen filling the
enclosure III a heap several feet high. arms
feet, and heads protruding from the stones
which had yalnly been thrown there to hide
them, and poisoning all the air. Ahmed A "a.
who commanded at the massacre. has been
decorated, and promoted to the rank of Yuz-
bashi.
These atrocities We're entirely unnecessary
for the suppression of the instruction, for il
was IN insignificant rebellion at the best and
the Villagers generally surrendered at the first
summons.