Litchfield enquirer., 1879-11-06
naed in grand bayonet charge. Before talk

gence and their newborn patriotism.
 When fairly in the Karlovo valley we skirt the northern slopes of the Lower Balkans. which, for the post part, are covered with oak scrub, with here and there patches of forest Just before turning our faces eastward, we catch sight of the blue ridge of mountains run- nlng into the head of Karlovo valley, which forms the boundary between Macedonia and Eastern Roumelia; while, on the other side, the valley is hemmed in by the precipi- tous cliffs of the Greater Balkans, in nook of which is Marlovo-the city of widows-as it is now called. Here reside 602 women, wid- owed in one day by the orders of Achmet Bey, and who were only more fortunate than hun dreds of thelr sisters and neighbors, because they escaped with theIr lives, whereas the oth- CTS were sacrificed to the lust and cruelty of the ruthless soldiery. While our hearts burn- ed within us at the remembrance of these deeds, our compassion for the Bulgarian people was still further excited by meeting band of refugees from the district of Adrlanople, who, dreading the resumption of Turkish rule, al ready signalized by outrages and robberies, have forsaken houses and lands, and seek in these safer valleys new home. Leaving be- hind the broad champaign of Karlovo, we en- ter narrow glen, the sides of which are beau tifully cultivated. In the small fields men and women are hard at work ploughing, hoe ing and sowing-a present scene of blissful peace and toiling industry-a striking contrast to the violence, bloodshed, cruelty, and rapine of which these valleys were the theatre less than eighteen months ago. By-and-by we commence the ascent of rough path which winds pcturesquely round the shoulders of the encircling hills to the eastward and when the summit has been attained a glorious landscape is presented at our feet. while a few minutes l0l looking the range of the lower Balkans on our right, our eye is carried, across the great plain which we have traversed in the early afternoon, to the three crags of Philippopolis, now a lu- minous purple in the far distance. Beyond and to the right and left are the blue Rhodo- pes rising Tn serrieq peaks at the western end of the valley from which we had ascended are the mountains of the Ichtiman Pass, shortly to be the scene o1 dispute between the Com missiopers for the delimitatiop of the bounda- ry between Bulgaria and Turkey; while tow ering above these is the cone of the Baba Ko- nak, even now in it's virgin mantle rivalling the feecy clouds which f1eck the horizon. It was over the latter pass that Gourko led his intrepid battalions in December 1877, and it was in that same pass that in one snOwstorm he lost 800 men and IS officers. More imme- diately on our left the eye dips into delicious
  whose banks are green with waving corn, the higher reaches animated by lowing herds or brown-feeced sheep, Enchanted with the lovely prospect, we lift our gaze to the frown- ing mass of the Kalofer Balkans whose bare brown and grey rocks give color to the middle zone, and to the snow crowned heights which stand out in relief against the violet sky. Care had now to be observed in picking our way along tue mountain track, with at times the possibility of fearful fall down some precip- itous cliff but in half an hour the way be- canc better, and we discovered we were mak- ing an entry into what was once the thriving town of Kalofer. What picture of desola- tion amidst great natural beauty was present. ed Originally built on either side of a deep glen, with here and there broad fertileterraces, and the head stream of the Tundza brawlng at the bottom and driving several diminutive mills, Kalofer must have been two short years ago one the prettiest Alpine towns in the whole Balkan pcnif,sula the home of induetri ous population, whose greatest dream was that their all would not be taken from them by ra- pacious governors, or that their daughters would not grow up so pretty as to attract the
 lustful eye of some satyric Bey. Their occu- patton was to attend the flocks which sought pasture in the gullies of the mountain to spin their yarn and weave it into the stout UIOWI bWCCu 1Ol DdlNt1u NlIldSC are SO famous; or in the early spring and sum- mer to cultivate their rose gardens, from the flowers of which the celebrated altar is dstll- ed. Now the heart bleeds to see the universal ruin houses razed to the ground, or standing half burned amid the fresh greenery of once pleasant, shady gardens; mills whose gentle chatter told of ceaseless industry, wrecks :; churches dlapidated and and despoiled, and black with the fire and smoke of arsonous and sacrileglous Turks.
 And the cause of all this ruin, eloquent of untold misery and suffering3 It could not have been that this town, perched like an ea- gle's nest in the bosom of the Balkans, was be- sieged by some ruthless invaders and so stub- bornly defended that it was given over on cap- ture to fire and sword by the conquerors for here no Russians passed and all that pertains to legitimate warfare took place scores of miles away. Was it, then, that the Bull garians rose in instruction, distraught by the cruelty an oppression of their Mussulman rul- CTS? That could not be, because at the time to which refer there was no Turkish garrison in the town. What then ? Surely the Bulga- rians did not burn their own houses and immo- late themselves on such altars Nay, verily
 Perhaps Sir Henry Layard, the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Beaconstield, or the Sublime Porte may have another answer to the perti- nspt question, but the following is the true one. When General Gourko had accomplished his first feat of crossing the Balkans by the Hani Kioi Pass, and had taken up his quar- ters at Kazanhk, deputations from various towns and villages in the Tundza valley wait ed upon the successful general to congratulate him, and in some cases to hail him as their de- liverer from yoke which could hardly be borne. Among other places from which such dopufotinpo onnaara6 Kolo Il, ;o coming to the ears of Suleiman Pasha, then commander-in-c n-chief at Philippopolis he des- patched regiment of Turkish regular soldiers to that town, and another to karlovo, with in- structions 10 make an example of what he call ed the insurgents. I have already referred briefly to the manner in which Karlovo was dealt with: we have befero our eyes too sad nroof of the etylo m which the monsters in- ss. uctIons were carried out in Kalofer. Imme- diately on their arrival in the quiet and indus trious town, the, regular troops commenced first to pillage the houses of the Bulgarians, to outrage the women and young girls, to kill alike young and old men, and then to burn houses, churches, and schools For three days the fiendish work was pursued, dead and
 living were thrown into the burning houses and consumed-a burnt offering to the lust and fanaticism of the Moslems. At last the work of destruction was complete, every building
 was in ruins, and every Christian, except the few who at the first onset had hurriedly es- capped to the mountains. had been sacrificed. Their fendish work had been accomplished and the valiant and chivalrous soldiers of the Sultan took their departure elsewhere, may hap to renew their arduous labors of defending the sacred soil of the Porte, in like manner, from the invading Muscovite It is known that in Kalofer 620 women and children were slaughtered, and nearly that number of men.
 The necessity for having broken spring of the carriage repaired gave me the opportunity of a closer inspection of the ruins of Kalofer and of conversing with many ofthe inhabitants who have returned to their desolated homes. Some of the houses are being rebuilt with mon- ey granted by the Russian administration, but the work of reconstruction progresses slowly. Among the charred remains of the houses hu- man bones are still to be efound-indestructib testimony to the truth of the taleheard on eve " sideof the cruelty of the Turkish solGiery. During our promenade, melancholy though it bright incident occurred Half score of little children, very scantily clad, but with pleasant features and beaming faces, came and offered flowers, testifying alike to the domes- tic qualities of the Bulgarians and their grati-