Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-09-14


THE HORRIBLE MASSACRE or CHRISTIANS IN
BULGARIA.
Mr. Edward King. special correspondent OF
the; Boston Journal, gives thrilling MARIA
tive Of the atrocities rerretrated by the
Turks at E>ki Saghra and the neishboring
villages. lie says
The great slaughter of Christians occur
red on the 3lst of July. 1t came about
something in this wise The Russians, after
occupation of ka>saulik, the Shipka Pass,
etc , began pushing out right and lett over
the county, seemingly regardless of the
possibility OF the as>emblage OF large forces
against them. There was much burning of
deienceless villages on both sides. The Bal
garians burned and plllased Turkish towns.
and the Bashi- Bazuuks, wherever they
could find chance, turned fields and towns
INTO desoate deserts. On the Sunday pre-
ceding the 3lst of July the Bulgarian Legion
and three squadrons of Cossacks. together
with some little artillery, went out from
E>ki Saghra, and engaged Turkish forces
appearing in the neishborhood. There was
battle which lasted some hours On
Monday the battle began again. the Turks
steadily increasing in numbers. The fight
lasted all day, and during this time the
Russians were compelled To retire To one
hours distance from Eski Saghra. (rhis
fashion of counting by hours, by the way.
is universal in Turkey in Europe; the dis
lance in miles from point to poin: is very
often unknown, the roads never having been
measured property During the whole of
Monday the losses were insignificant ore
Russian officer and few members of the
Bulgarian legion were wounded. On Tues
day the 3lst, early in the morning, there
was heavy firing for short time Then
quiet prevailed, and the unhappy people in
Eski Saghra, the thousands who had taken
refuge there from the neighboring villages.
began to take courage. The Turks apparent
" retired the Russians still held their posi-
tons, but at one in the afternoon arrived iu-
menSe rcinfOrcements from Adrianople under
Suleman Pasha. Before these the Russians
were of course forced to retire. taking with
them as many of the Bulgarians as they
could. The Turks at once took up posi-
tions very near Ezki Saghra, and began a
furious bombardment One of their aims
was to strike the fugitiyeS, and they succeed
ed in killing Il gOodly number OF unarmcd
and deienceless persons, despite the fact that
the Russians did Sheir best to prevent It,
Then began an engagement which lasted
about four hours The Turks crcpt nearer
and nearer the town, but as the Bulgarian
legion fought desperately, opportunity was
afforded To many more citizens to retire.
Toward evening the cruel, rem0rseless, Jana
teal enemy began to reach the outskirts OF
the town, and the inhabitants were com
PEELED to yield themselves like sheep to the
slaughter. From the statement of my in
fUrmant CLEAN the following details The
Christian quarter was Immediately fired, and
as fast as the inhabitants were driven from
their houses by the flames they were shot
down or hacked to death with hatchetS.
The Turkish inhabitants who had fled at the
approach of the Russians, but who had re-
turned with the Nlahometan troops-men,
women and chidren-fe upon the poor
Bulgsrians and aided in putting them to
death Hosts of young girls, pretty,
very decently cultivated and well bred,
were violated by the howling kends who
had accompanied Suleiman Pasha. Two
schOolmistresses, Elenka Geargeva and
DOnka MarkOra, young women of refine
ment and great beauty, endured a fate which
the pen refuses to record All the young
girls were brutally and shameiully slain
after these execrable wretches had abused
and insulted them to their hearts content.
Sentinels were posted at intervals OF every
hundred feet all around the town, and shot
down every person in Bulgarian dress who
approached them The Turkish nOtables of
E>ki Saghra, Teiek Bey, Sadik Bey, Ark
Bey and Daja Ahmed joined in the slaugh
ter. Sadik Bey is large farmer, and it is
asserted of him that he went TO his own
farm and himself cut down large numbers of
his tenants, who were at that moment peace
ably engaged in tllling bis soil. Little chill
dren were all killed wherever these ferocious
regulars passed. Some OF the poor babies
were found thrown into bitches, after having
been hacked with hatchets, shot with revol
vers and horribly mutilated with poignards.
The heaps of dead encountered the streets OF
Eski Saghra. Women were stripped Of their
clothing, and were piled in the most shame
full postures; one above another. The Cir
cassans hacked and manned the dying in
manner calculated to prolong their agonies.
In all the town of E-ki Saghra, where per-
hapS fifteen thousand people ordinarily live,
not an hundred Christians were LETT alive.
The miserable Turks burned an hospital, in
which between three hundred and four hun
bred sick and wounded were sheltered.
WHOLE VILLAGES LAID WASTE.
But in the agricultural region in the