Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-09-16
THE BUTCHERIEs IN BULGARIA.
Graphic Account ofR Visit to an Obliterated
viilase.-.TheuuRnds OF Corpses Rotting
In the sun or Devourcd BY Dogs.


! In the sun or Devourcd by DsGs.
The London Daily Ne,Us' special cor.
respondent in Bulgaria has paid a visit
to Batak, the scene of the Turkish afro.
cities, in company with Mr.. Schuyler. OF
the American legation. His report is
long and interesting. Approaching
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 attracted their attention. The
writer says:
They barked at us in an angry manner
and then ran off into the adjoining
a1laounsd; HtiNaf ny fiTYsy" "scaGifava,,
when, looking down, perceived that he
had stepped on human skull, partially
hid among the grass. It 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 had 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,
for right before us, almost beneath our
horses feet, was a sight that made us
shudder. 1t was heap of skulls, inter-
mingled with bones from all parts of the
human body, skeletons nearly entire
rotting, clothing, human hair and putrid
flesh lying there in one foul heap, around
which the grass was growing luxuriantly.
It emitted sickening 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 dis
tinguish one slight skeleton form still
inclosed in chemise, the skull wrapped
about with colored handkerchief and
the bony ankles incased in the embroid-
cred footless stockings worn by the Bull
garian girls. We looked about us. The
ground was strewed with bones in every
direction, where the dogs had carried
them off to gnaw them at their leisure.
All the skeletons were those of women.
From his saddle the correspondent
counted about one hundred skulls, nearly
all of which had been separated from
the bodies evidently by decapitation.
The village, one of some nine hundred
stone houses and 5000 or 5000 inhabi-
tants, had not one house that was not
shattered or burned. A few women
only remained who were keening for
their dead. The correspondent con-
tinues:
A little further on we came to the
skeleton of young girl not more than
fifteen, lying by the roadside, and partly
covered with the debris of fallen wall.
It was still clothed in chemise I; the
ankles were inclesed in footless stock
ings 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 decomposing, were
nearly perfect. There was large cash
in the skull, to which mass of rich
brown hair, nearly a yard long, still
clung, trailing in the dust. 1t is to be
remarked that all the skeletons of
women found here were dressed in a
chemise only, and this poor child had
evidently been stripped to her chemise,
partly in the search for money and
Jewels, partly out of mere brutality,
then outraged and afterward killed. We
have talked with many women who had
passed through all parts of the ordeal
but the last, and the procedure seems to
have been as follows They would seize
a woman, strip her carefully to her
chemise, laying aside articles of cloth
ing that we're valuable, with any orna-
ments and jewels she might have about
her. Then rs many of them as cared
would violate her, and the last man
would kill her or not as the humor took
him.
At the next house man stopped us to
show where a blind little brother had
been burnt alive, and the spot where he
had found his calcined bones; and the
rough, hard .visaged man sat down and
sobbed like child.
On the other side OF the way were the
skeletons of two children lying side by
side, partly covered with stones, and :
with frightful saber cuts in their little .
skulls. The number of children killed ,,
in these massacres is something enor- :
nous. They we're often spitted on bay !
onets. and we have several stories from =
eve e.witnesses who saw little babes car :
ried about the streets on the point of !
bayonets. The reason is simple. When ;
a Mahometan has killed certain mum !
Der of infidels he is sure of Paradise, no !
matter what his sins may be. Mahomet |
intended that only armed r
men should count, but the ordinary
Mussulman takes the precept in its ;
broader acceptation, and counts women :
md children as we'll. The advantage of
killing children is that it can be done :
Without danger, and that child counts /
or az much as an armed man. Here the .
Bashi- Bazouks, in order to swell the n
count, ripped open pregnant women \
md killed the unborn infants. There 4
vas not a house beneath the ruins OF X
which we did not perceive human re- o
Mains, and the street besides was full y
# them. Before many of the doorways n
women were walking up and down wall a
ng their funeral chant One OF them G
'aught me by the arm and led me inside o
4 the walls, and there in one corner, h
lalf covered with stones and mortar, II
we're the remains of another young girl, o
With her long hair flowing wildly about /,
mong the stones and dust. And the n
mother fairly shrieked with agony, and a,
'eat her head madly against the wall. A Il
ew steps further on sat woman on "
oorstep, rocking herself to and fro, G,
nd uttering moans hesrtrending beyond o
nything conld have imagined. Her n
cad was buried in her hands, while her q
myers were unconsciously twisting and q
caring her hair as she Razed into her =
,p, where lay three little skulls with
be hair still clinging to them.
And how we begin to approach the
hurch and the schoolhouse. The ground Il
covered here with skeletons, to which T
re clinping articles of clothing and bits d
{ putrid flesh; the air is heavy with a o.
lint, sickening odor, that grows strong B
r as we advance. The school is on one n,
de of the road. The church on the +
ther. The schoolhouse, to judge by al
,e wnlls that are in part standing, was Il
fine large building, capable of accom- N
,odating two or three hundred children. al
eneath the stones and rubbish that p'
over the floor to the height of several l.
let are the bones and ashes of two hun M
red women and children burnt alive be- as
veen those four walls. just beside 10
he schoolhouse is q broad shallow pit. til
Tere were buried hundred bodies two "