The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-07-20
A RAID IN BULGARIA.
savage Nature OF the Groat War Now BE-
ginning In Europe.

ginning In Europe.
A correspondent, in letter from Con-
stantinople, gives an account of scenes
witnessed by himself at place which
he calls Bravno, on his way from Rout-
schouk to the Turkish capital. Bsshi-
Bazouks and their brethren in theft, the
Tchirkesses, have been let loose all over
this unhappy country to punish the in
surgents and to awe the villagers from
imitation. 1t would be disbelieved were
l to state all the horrors whose vestiges
saw during the four-and-twenty hours
which spent near Dravno. Corpses of
men and women and children lay about
the streets of villages through which
these savages have passed. At Karaki.
lissi one entire school of fifty children is
said to have been butchered. l saw
a pope, or Bulgarian priest, hanging to
the rafters of house which had been
half burned down, and, not a dozen
yards away, was the headless body of
peasant, whose belt showed that he had
been taken while in arms. 1 intend to
collect the exact dates and sites of the
fication of those who still think that the
Turk is fellow being. For the present,
L shall only tell what l saw at Dravno,
where the raiders were making q gallant
stand they were only about four hun
dred in number; their enemies mustered
nearly, il not qnite, three thousand, and
had, besides, couple of cannon, with
which they were pounding away at the
old monastery in which they had taken
shelter. Dravno itself is village, or
rather town, of about four thousand
inhabitants, which used to do flourish
lug trade in the cotton business, but it
certainly is not at present a CONNER
cially attractive place. Built at the foot
of spur of the Balkan, it is sheltered
from the bleak mountain winds by a
succession of hills by which the monas-
terry and church, substantial stone bui d.
ings, are entirely commanded.
Ga these heights Hussein Bey, who
was the leader of the Turkish forces, had
established his guns, which, although
they had been at work for some six
hours, had apparently as yet done no
damage. They were firing at the walls
instead of shelling the roof, and the
hollow shot seemed powerless to injure
the massive granite which had stood
there for centuries. The practice was
wretched, anil nobody had any clear
idea of the distance, for many of the
| projectiles fell short, although the bat
terry was at not more than two thousand
yards range, but the guns made a
noise, and after every discharge there
rose yell of satisfaction from the
troops, mingled with volley of curses
against the unbelieving dogs who dared
to dispute Moslem authority. The bey,
who was quite polite, told me that the
raiders had attacked and killed several
small detachments on their way from the
river, and that he had only come up
with them here, where they had stopped
to rest and eat, for the poor fellows had
marched some fifty miles without meet
ing the re endorsements which evidently
they had been led to suppose would
join them in the interior. The Bash
Bazouks had been hanging on their real
for several hours, but had been repulsed
AID so resigned themselves to play the
part of bloodhounds. Brought to bay
1T last, they had thrown themselves into
the old monastery, where they meant tc
sell their lives as dearly as possible
One assault had been tried. but tho re
suit had not been satisfactory, ant
Hussein Bey thought that it would bt
far safer to trust to starvation and to {
distant "bombardment, as he called it
An immense amount of powder mus
have been burned without any effect
and as I began to get tired of the mo
notony, ] went down into the town
where the women and children Were
huddled into corners moaning with fea
of what was to come. There were goo(
many Tchirkesses, in high fur caps anC
long pellises, with cross belts stuffed full
of cartridges, looking about for booty
and an occasional scream told of SOM
act of violence or murder, but even m,
zaptiehs could not have protected me, i
| had ventured too intimately among
these demons, who were greatly exaspe
rated by the loss of several OF their mum
Der in the attack which they had mad
early in the day. The besieged, as
rule, kept very quiet, the occasiona
singing of bullet being the only indi
cation of the resistance still offered il
the church. 1t must have been abOu
eight p. NJ, when my attention was at
tracted by bright glare on the south
ern side of the village there was lou
shout of Yugan ear - (there is a col
hagration), tumultuous rush of redifs
Tchitkesses and Bashi Bazouks in tina
direction, the artillery ceased firing, an
the sharp rattle of musketry succeeded
1t did not last more than fifteen mir
utes, and then there was dead silence
almost painful in contrast to the nois
of the last six hours. The church all
monastery were in flames, and befor
; morning nothing remained but th
blackenod walls and few charred raft
ters. As soon as the first light appeare
} 1 rode over to the headquarters, and,
little later, to the field.
1t was as l had supposed fndin
that succor from outside was hopeless
without food or water, and fully awal
of the fate in store for them if captured
the besieged had determined to cut the
way out aud get to the mountains.
,, they applied the torchto the old churcl
and, under cover of the flames, dashe
into the ranks of the Turkish soldier,
l which had crowded down in disorder
, witness the burning of the Giaour
3 With their yataghans between the
) teeth and revolver in hand they actual
fought their way through nearly te
3 times their number. / counted Il
i dead Bulgarians, but did not see a sing
, prisoner. The Turks say that tt
! wounded shot themselves rather tha
: surrender. I cannot vouch for the trut
8 of this ia every instance, but there ce
: tainly was one case in support of I'll
} assertion. A powerful looking Bulgarian
4 with his thigh broken by ball, WI
lying on one side of the church ami
the bodies of five Turks, an empty r.