The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1877-10-09

"a from the Wheeling Register.1
Terrible Scenes Of Brutality.

The.cable offlate, has had great deal
TO say regarding the wholesale, execu-.
ton Of Bulgarian rebels by the Turkish
authorities The charge: that villages,
have been depopalated by the hangman,
is, OF course, q gross exaggerstion. But,
we do not doubt that there is a sad,
truth TO form q basis for the accusation
A correspondent Of the London Times
wrote from Adrianople on she 10Th ult !,
that during tue two or three days which
be bad spent in the city, it seemed as if
he could not get out of the sight of men
dangling in the air." The. executions
tookplaee in the most frequented streets.
The condemned we're marched, out uu,
der the escort Of party of soldiers -
When sthe officer in command saw q
likely booking place, shop front it
might be where the sun-blinds we're sup
ported by substantial brackets, he hal
ted the party. A stool was placed be.
neathsthe brace. The rope was adjust
ed i The patient stepped upon the por-
table scaffold I The executioners edrew
him off shis feet" and the hapless Bull
garian swung above the bystanders,
while the soldiers hurried away to look
for another stout bracket. This is q
terrible street scene, grimmer than any
that Hogarth drew II it stood alone,
if there we're nothing on the other side
to put against it. the Turks would de.
serve to be branded as blood-thirsty
iwretches, for whom no punishment, not
exile nor;extinction itself could well be
too severe. sqsd a.ia s73I9ssgao f,gs
Unfortunately there is o companion
picture. sand il is painted in far darker
colors. We shall understand why Bul
garians were left hanging in the streets
of ,Adsianople when we see what the
Cossacks and Bulgarians left behind
them in sthe streets of the Turkish vii
lage of Offahlich. One correspondent
has described the punishment; another
correspondent has depicted the crime
The Londen Telegraph Of the 18th ult.
contains letter from their agent at the
hes iquarters of Suleiman Pasha, to tell
what the English military attache, Capt
Fife, the correspondent of three London
journals, the Times, the Post and the
Telegraph, and two tourists-six. wit
nesses in all--saw amid the ruins Of Of
fanlich, which two months back was one
of the richest communities of the Bal
kans, When the Russians first crossed
the mountains they occupied the village
without resistance The Mussulman in
habi,ants surrendered their arms, in the
promise that their lives and property
SHOULD be respected After the battle OF
Eski 7Sag6ra- the defeated Russians anG
Bulgarians poured back through the
passes and carried fire and sword among
all the Mussulman villages, On August
2 body OF Cossacks and BuIgarians en-
tered Offanlich. to work their cruel will
upon its helpless inhabitants When the
European Investigators approached the
blackened ruins murder had tainted the
sir so that it sickened them TO breathe
it, In one house they found a well, 20
feet deep, into which the bodies Of the
Turkish women and children had been
thrown, horrid sight unparalleled since
the we'll Of Cawnpore. In another place,
within circle of ten yards. lay the bod.
les Of so human beings, "men and wo
men Unfortunately mixed together y
III third spot there was a group Of Z
corpses, and beyond these long line OF
81 dead bodies, "and there was not q
fighting man among them" all, without
exception, were the bodies Of women OF
children or very old men. II have only
mentioned, says the writer, '1l8 corpses,
bu: the whole population OF !Offanlich
has been destroyed. AN the villages
around here have been treated in the
same manner. There remains no people
to- lay claim to the richest soil in Tur
key. Whole families of, land owners
have been murdered, 30 that there exists
to-day no heir. to many . fertile proper
ty." ~