The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-09-21
NO. 6
War Horrors Murdereus and Hideous
Outrsges iu - Bulgarian Town.

OutrsSes in = bulgarian Town.
The correspondent Of the london Netcs
writes that the Turkish commander, Hatiz
Pasba, in marchiDg thpongh. Bulgaria. arr
rived before the little town OF P4uigurishti
with regiment OF regular troops, two OF
three pieces Oi artillery and q great num-
Der of Bashii Baaouas. II woald seem that
tie iusnrsenfs had only shout two hund red
ami iitsy men, a. med with muskets or rifles.
One. hundred d al itty Of the best armed
had gone out on one road toward Tatar-
Bazardjik tOedispute the way, snd one hun
dred Un the other noAs for it seems they
did not have spies out to see by which way
the army d-come---Mhen-- -Ha6Z Pasha
arrived he found only one hundred men to
oppose him, and these, frightened at the
great superiority of the force brought
against them, ran away at the frst lire. It
does not even appear that they fired of
thSi guns, Tor there was not single Turk
killed or wounded, The inhabitants, pan
ic7stricken, had In the meantime attempted
TO tlS, but the town had already been sur
rounded, and they were either driven back
or cut down in the fields. At the approach
of the eBasbi- -BazD uks the inhabitants Of eight
or aine neighboring villages, fesr-stricken,
had .N lH ''i2 oI haig-'a p 81 fra
81! b51ABANDoNED THEIR HOMES .l4
aud taken refuge here, 10 the number OF
5000 or 5000, and they now filled the streets,
crying and screaming with flight. AS all
resistaDce had now ceased, or rather Is
none had really been offered, Ha6z Pasha
had nothing to do but march into the
town, arrest the leaders hof the iusurrec-
tioG,I and restore order. Instead of this,
however. he brought up his artillery, and,
without summoning the place to surrender,
commenced bombardment, ruthlessly
throwing the bursting shells into these
crowds of lshriekihg women and children.
Until midnight the din OF the bombardment
resounded through the streets. Hafz
Pasha was offering himself concert. The
hoafse roar of his cannon, the screaming of
shells, the'ear-splitting explosions mingled
with the feeble waits of woman and chill
dren, made sweet music to his ear, and he
prolonged the entertainment. He wished
to see it by night, lit up by the fires of
burning homes and the globes OF flame
which leaped' from the tnouthso of the can-
non. 1t WIS a safe and harmless kind OF
amusement. There were so srerL-, yed men
there to give him back bali for ball and
shell for shell, but only women and chill
drG1, Wh5 answered with shrieks and
gr0ans; and he, continued the Joyous con-
rt until midnig ght. Th the loGd-mouthed
dogs Of war ceased their -elsmaE; they had
done ,heir work, ard it was now 10 ,.ss
.sn The TURN OF THE sABRE.
During the night ana the next morning
the troops and the Bashi- B zouks entered
the place, and then began a scene OF pill,
lage, violence and massacre only equaled
by that of Batka, Neither age OF Sex was
spared. The town was pilIaged, then
fired; about onefourth Of the houses were
burned; people Cwere cut down in the
streets, on their own door steps, slaughtered
on their own-hearth-stones. men and
women begging for mercy, and children
and infants screaming in terror, perished
alike Beneath the swift and certain sabre.
1t is Thought that 5000 people were killed
inL this place alone, of whom about 400
were Inhabitants of the town, and the rest
from peIghboring villages, who had taken
refuge here, But we were not greeted here
with the scenes of horror that awaited us
at Batka. Hafz Pasha, unlike Achmet
A2hs, had sense enough TO have the bodies
buried within the following three days, and
thus to cover up, his tracks. ze,,..e.i....a
1t has been repeated again and again that
these acts were pe.petrated by the Bashi
Baz6uks only, and not by the regular
lEo"ps,e and q great deal is made of the
s. Augment as showing the massscres were
committed without the consent of the au.
thorties. II the statement. was worth any
thing, the converse ought to be true-thar
if the massacfes were committed by the
regular troops, then the authorities are re.
sponsible. Now, IS it happens, wherever
there were any regular troops to commit
massacres, they rivaled the Bashi- Bszouks
in atrocity. Here, as Mr. Schuyler will
show in his report, regular and irregular
troops were equally cruel, pitiless, and .fe.
rocIous, and -Hafz Pasha is no less guilty
than Achmet Agha, a l,..,...I.a..r.., ~,.-~
\ These, massacres were committed by the
order Of the authorities, and that IS why
the men WHO committed them have been
rewarded with decorations and promotions
Iu Panignrishti we were shown in the
ruins of the church., before where had stood
the altar, a-black spot specked with cal.
cined bones. on Which lay a,b"u9uet of q w.
ers. This was the remains OF priest,
Theodor Peof, eighty Eve years of age, who
had been seized and tortufedin the hopes
of obtaining money mutilated and mall
treated in ways which only the foul imag-
ination Of a. Turk could invent. then killed
and burned here before the altar. In an
other place We were shown black spot
where an old blind mar, Dondje StregIey.
of, was beaten half TO death, aud then
thrown senseless on a heap of wood and
burnt alive.
There was an old man here, Rwstko Boy.
adjitf by name, pubic benefaetor, lib
erai contributor to the school fluid, who
in winter supported half the widows and
orphans of the place, who was. renowned
for his charities to Christian and Turk alike,
He was likewise seized I'h g. t'-t
TORTURED AND MALTREATED. Hp