The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1876-09-14
THE TURKISH HORROR.
From tie Chicago Tribune.

1t has been reserved for the Turkish
campaign against the Christians to develop
the most fendish atrocities that have ever
been recorded In the annals of warfare be-
tween civilized nations The sayagery of
the North American Indians, the inhuman
tortures practicsd by the Pacific Islanders.
the cruelties of the Thugs, all have some
shadow OF excuse, since they are but a
degree removed from the brutes, and have
never had their savage instincts restrained
by the influences of civilization The cruel
ties of the Turkish campaign, however,
inflicted by nation ostensibly civilized, are
not whit less brutal and savage, while
their butchery is much greater, owing to
greater opportunities "Where the Turkish
horse shall pass, no blade of grass shall
grow, was the boast of the early disciples
of the Prophet Their descendants have
more than fulfilled the boast, for the
Turkish army has not only destroyed crops,
killed stock, burned villages, leaving wide
swath of ruin in its track, but it has also
slaughtered gray haired men, feeble women,
and defenseless babes, SO that it has left
desert in its rear where death and desola-
| ton alone reign. At Philipopols and
Adrianople, Bul garian girls are sold daily
in the market-pace like cattle Hordes
of Circassians and Bashi- Bazouks sweep
through Bulgaria, carrying off the most
beautiful children for the harens. The
prisons are full of Bulgarians, huddled in
so closely that they are dying by hundreds
for want of air and food Priests are
crucified on the highway. Female school
teachers are hanged on the streets. Wo-
men are shot down after being outraged
! Over one hundred prosperous villages are
/ in ashes, and thousands of people are beg
sing bread. In Scrvia these horrors are
repeated. The London Daily News CORES
pondent writes:
"From the frontier district between
Nisch aud Alexinatz come now similar It'd
ings to those l tclegraphcd the other day as
having been sent by Alcmpics from the
western frontier about Bellina No man
who is not obstinately determined to be
incredulous can question the truth of these
statements Officers and soldiers who came
down from the front authenticate them
with tales of burnt villages which they
have seen, the mangled bodies of children
lying in the cutters among the charred
debris. headless trunks of Servian soldiers
in places where they had been fighting,
men in the up-country hospitals with noses
slit by knives as they lay helpless from
their wounds
The Servian correspondent of the New
York Times corrobcratcs the above. He
writes:
'On the battle fields, where the Turks
have been successful, all the wounded have
been mutilated, and by a refinement of
cruelty have been left to die in agony, with
their eyes dug out, their lips, noses. and
ears cut away. Not only do the irregulars,
but the Nizams and the Redifs participate
in these atrocities, and weeping women tell
YOU how their innocent babes have been
tossed into the air by these ruffians, to be
impaled upon the points Of their yataghans.
Through the whole Valley Of the Nisharva,
in the vicinity of Nisha, and not a priest
or Christian teacher has been spared to per-
form religious services at the funerals OF
the dead
From Bosnia comes the same horrible
story of Turkish cruelty. A Vienna cor
respondent:
'sIn the Villages of Pervan and Timar
300 Christians were drowned after being
tortured. At Pavics twelve woman were
cut to pieces and thrown to the dogs. At
Ratklovo sixty children were stoned by the
Turks, led by one Fechim Fffendi, to
avenge a relation of Maj. Stocsvics Bay,
killed at Belina At Sokolovo 180 young
girls, taken from the neighboring villages,
were penned in field, and after the pret-
tiest had been picked out for the harems of
Fechim and Stocvics, the others were
abandoned to the soldiery, and were violated
and murdered At Maidan the Christian
population assembled at market were mas
sacred by fanatical mob led by Hadji
Omer Efendi and another functionary
named Abrahim Kurusovics Aga. The
victims in this case numbered three thou
sand"