River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-08-23
Turkish Atrocities.

Russian troops, from which they have
been forced by the recent disaster at
Plevna 1t would be absurd to suppose
nat any war between two nations could
/ DC conducted according TO the etiquette
OF refinement, or upon principles of abso
| lutte humanity, much more so to expect
that two such coarse-fibred and naturally
| fierce nations as the Tartar and the Turk
| would make war against each other with
| out the commission of some barbarities,
| incident to the passionate and ferociOus
| character of the Cossacks on the one hand
| and the Bashi- Bazouks on the other, not
/ to speak of the Bulgarians, who are actu-
| ated in their conduct by a revenge based
| upon centuries of suffering. But these
/ atrocities are not confined to those which
/ might naturally be expected to grow out
Of such war as this, and which presum-
ably are beyond the control of authority.
/ 1t is impossible not to believe from the
/ evidence that there is studied and ma
| licious determination upon the part of
/ the Turks to kill off all the Slavic and
Greek population of Bulgaria and Rou-
melia, men, women, and children; TO
/ burn their villages; lay waste their fields;
| and, if they arc compelled TO retreat be-
| fore the Russians, to leave behind them a
depopulated desert.
The district in which the worst cruel
ties have been perpetrated lies to the
| south of the Balkans and was recently &C
cupied bv Gen. Gourka's corps. When
Gen. Gourka evacuated Eski-Sagra, on
| the 31st of July, the Turks ordered that
all Christians, men. women, and children
should be shot as they left their houses.
/ These who did not leave were burned
| alive in their homes. The hospital
containing 500 patients, was fired and all
Its inmates were burned. The Tschirpan
district, one of the richest in that part of
| Turkey, has been completely devastated.
| The villages were burned and as the in
habitants tried to escape they were shot
/ down. Along the road from Eski-Sagra
| to KeZanlik. Turkish soldiers were posted
with orders to shoot every Christian that
passed. Those who have escaped are
4 homeless, shelterless, without food, and
must starve. In the Eski-Sagra and Kes-
anlik districts alone, it is estimated that
| $4,000 Christians have been already mas
sacred by the inhuman Turks. The
correspondents of the London Times with
| the Turkish armies are not prevented by
| Turkish brides or threats from disclosing
| the atrocities of these butchers. One OF
| them, with Suleiman Pasha's forces, tells
= horrible story of a CHASTITY pyramid
| formed of heads of Russian wounded.
Col. Wellesley, the British attache with
! the Turkish troops in Europe, confirms
| the reports of these atrocities, and Sir
Arnold Kendall, who occupies similar
| position with the Turkish army in Asia
witnessed the slaughter fall the Russian
| prisoners who were captured at Bajazid.
Such evidence as this proves beyond ques-
ton that the Turks are waging war of
determination against Greeks and Chris
tians, and violating all rules of war
fare in their relations TO the Russians.
On the other side, the Turks are not
slow in notifying the world Of atrocities
alleged to be committed bv the Russians.
Undoubtedly some cruelties have been
committed by the Bulgarians. They
would be less than human if they did
not show bloody resentment when the
opportunity afforded itself. If they have
been cruel, if they have burned and
killed, it is only the natural outgrowth
of centuries of massacre, murder, rape, ar
son, and pillage. They have been ground
down into the dust for 800 years by the
Turkish nomads. Their wives have been
outraged, their children have been sold
into slavery, their crops have been taken
from them, their homes have been de-
stroyed, and they have been held in
condition OF servitude by these fendish
task masters infinitely worse than that of
the negro in the DAYS of African slavery.
When the opportunity came, they not
only welcomed the Russians as their de-
liverers, received them with open arms.
and furnished them with assistance of
every possible description, but the
wrongs which they had suffered. the
memories of their burned homes and
murdered children, drove them to take
revenge against the Mussulmans. The
Russians have conducted the war with
singular moderation, and that the Turks
are inventing these stories of Russian
atrocities. The syria correspondent Of
the London Times says:
In the provinces the manufacture of them /
seems TO have become regular business.
carried sometimes to the extent of tam
pering with the letters and even forging i
the kilograms Of newspaper correspond I
ents. In the provinces where Turkish |
authorities have control, both letters and
kilograms are subject to pressure to make
them report imaginary Russian atrOci-
ties.
Another correspondent travelling with
the Turkish army, says:
On course. Turkish officia accounts
tell of the stToci-ies committed by the
Observation-Disclosures of villages, outrages
on women, and Staying of children being
freely attributed to the foe. | believe
NJ ne 4haua china II u Co.. &Ix,f
last week been following in the wake
of the retiring Russian army. and can see
no traces nor hear any reports of any such
misdeeds. On the contrary, they appear
to have behaved with the greatest mOder-
alton, and paid for everything they con-
sumed.
The utter untruthfulness of Turkish /
statistics is shown by the fact that after
they had massacred 10000 men, women,
and children last summer at Phillippopo-
lis, and the attention of the Porte was
called to it by the English government,
the commissioners sent by the Sultan to j
investigate the matter failed to find that
any Bulgarians had been killed, and were
promptly promoted for their convenient
Ignorance It is evident that If the Rus
slams do not strike some swift and telling
blows against the Turks, or the other
Powers do not interfere in the name Of
common humanity, the Christians of Bull
earia and ROumelia will be exterminated
Upon the Turkish side it already prom
ises to be the most horrible and bloody
war of modern times, and has reached
that pitch of cruelty which makes it i'm
possible for any European nation TO in
terfere In behalf of Turkey without max