St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-07-13


some parts of Bulgaria, in May 1876,
gave them an opportunity of giving
vent to their long boarded grudge.
With the full consent of the Turkish
Governor of the city, and the conniv-
ance of the principal Beys and Effendis,
the Turkish rabble from one part of the
city was let loose on the quarter occu-
pied by their Bulgarian neighbors, with
permission to pillage to their hearts
content. AS may be supposed, the
Christian population was in terrible
panic. Their valuables were concealed
as far as possible, but all resistance was
useless. Whatever the mob wished
they carried away-whether clothing or
crockery or furniture, and the owners
dared not say a word. The house of
us that his valuables were all hidden as
far as he could, and for weeks he hardly
dared appear on the streets, and al
lowed no lamp to be lighted in his
house at night. Although there was no
sign of an instruction in Yamboli, he
with several others was taken to
Adrianople on suspicion, and thrown
into prison where he was kept for two
or three months,-until a ransom was
extorted from him. The mob came into
the yard of Pastor Boyajieff, but as the
house presented quite an unpromising
appearance on the outside, they went
away without entering.
The house of the Protestant Deacon,
Gospodene Petri, was robbed of 1900
piastres worth, and he himself, young,
the place for his honesty and upright
ness, was taken off to Sliven and thrown
into prison.
While these, and many other out
RACES were going on in Yamboli, l do
not know that any murders were COM
mitted there. There was, however, two
or three hours distant, little village
called Boyadjik, where the most terri
BILE atrocities were being perpetrated.
1t was the birthplace of Shevket Pasha,
to whom the Office was given of throt-
thing the instruction, which he did in
way with which you are already too
familiar.
As is commonly the case where there
are both Turks and Christians in a vii
lage, there is long standing feud be-
tween them,-Boyadjik was not an ex-
ception. The trouble seemed to lie in
the fact of certain pasture lands which
both parties claimed, as the principal
wealth of the place was in flocks. The
Bulgarian peasants, naturally more en-
terprising than the Turks, had been
prOportiOnately successful, and the time
which their indOlent rivals should have
occupied in honest toll, was taken up
with brooding over their envy and
plans for revenge. The time had come.
Shevket Pasha seems to have harbored
no pleasant feelings toward his birth
place, and though there had been no
signs of ali insurrection there, an order
was given to plumber aud barn the
Christian part of the village. The
order was faithfully executed. The
f1Ocks as well as the pasture lands be-
came the property of the Mohamme-
dams. The houses of the Christians
were ransacked for plumber and then
burned. Women were outraged and
beaten. Even children were massacred.
Between one and two hundred I'M
offending peasants were murdered in
cold blood, and an Italian Consul tes-
titles that "sackfuls of human heads
were brought and emptied down before
his door in Yamboli." This was not a
solitary instance, but what happened
in mole than sixty villages in Bulgaria,
while you, dear friends, were quietly
enjoying the blessings of Providence in
May 1876.
We were very anxious to see a vii
lage that had thus been devastated, and
so had planned to visit it from Yamboli.
Our success, OF want of it, formed an
amusing episode in our experience, and
was good illustration of how business
is done here in Turkey.
have already spoken of our being
stopped by the Yus-bashi at the sta
ton on the night of our arrival The
next morning about eight o'clock, a
Turkish soldier appeared at the house
where we were staying with an order
from the Caimakam, for those strangers to
come to the kouak, Governors house. J
1t would have been an unheard of, as
we'll as an impOlitic thing for us to hasten,
so while the saptieh was taking a cup
of coffee we waited, and then followed
him to the kouak.
We found the Governor a middle
aged, rather rOwdyish looking man, with
a brazen face and sOiled linen. He
seemed somewhat embarrassed on see
ing us, and Mr.. Locke, finding that he
was native of that part of the country,
began to talk glibly with him in Bull
garian. This made him more than ever
| ill at his ease. Coffee was soon order
ed, and the Governor intimating that
he was very busy just now, we took our
leave, neither he nor we making any
errand, except that Mr.. Locke remarked
as we were going, that being in the city
we thought we would come in and make