The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-19

Boston, June IA rehearsal OF ulcl-
cents OF the Sassoun massacre has been
obtained from refugees and forwarded
from Bitlis, in the mountainous region of
eastern Turkey, for publication in the
United States. 1t includes statements of
the most revolving outrages and cruelties.
Parih, of Delvorig region, q Hetink viii
lage of some thirLy-hve houses, tells of
the killing OF her husband and his
brother, VINO were shot ana Dayoneted to
death. After managing her husband S
body. the soldiers hung 1t to a tree, eX-
posed to the sun ana 10 be food for I'd
paclous bros. The kurds stripped the
Women OF uneIr clothing and purncd their
dwellings, ana belongings.
at ASnpIg, near Tie NlIaSe, Nero was
burned IN ms house. Turro ) small child
rem were hacked 10 pieces by the soldiers
and womanS head found and recoS-
nlzed.
man, hapseh by name, d nauEe Oh Dal-
voT1g, ripped up 10y the soldiers and her
chlld put on her breast and the two
bayoneted after that.
Eyes Dug Out.
Der (priesO Hohannes, of Seminal. and
Der Bedrase, OF GenSuZan, were the Wo-
mans uncleS, ana size, like others says;
The eyes of ber BedraSe were dug out
and forty bayonet wounds inflicted. Der
honannes, OIL the forty who We're bayo-
nGJeQ IQ6 QllCn by the SOl.lLtISs cShGu
for q. few minutes 10 pray, and was told
that II he would not change faith he
would be killed. L can't ne salu, but
my people (many drawn up before hIm),
are Tree 10 40 as thew like. AS they, TOO,
refused to change their faith, they were
bayoneted and thrown INTO the long grave
they had been forced to dig. The soldiers
took out Der HohanneS ana compelled
him to dance. Not only was he deprN ed
OF his beard-the insignia of his prfeStly
office-but the cruel creatures took along
with the razor some of the Skin and nesn
as well. having pierced his throat. they
forced him to drink water when IL moved
from the CHASTITY cut down on either side.
His head was kicked this way and that,
as # d football. Human I1esh taken
from some of the mangIed people was put
inLo his mouth. He, too, was pitched into
the ditch with more than Two score men
that had the promise of safety If they
would cease resistance and surrender.
His own Flesh.
Numerous other witnesses corroborate
the stories of the torturlnG of this priest.
4 dozen refugees, members Of whose
families were bayoHeted and pitched into
that terrible ditch, tell terrible stories
of the horrible cruelties OF the butcher
soldiers.
Still another woman named Marian,
tells how her husband, GhaZer, was
pitched into that ditch and a two-year-
old boy burned i'll theil house. She also
tells how in GeliguZan four-year-old
boy, son of Hebo, was sacrificed On a fire
made for the. purpose by the soldiers.
soldiers hang from q. tree and Hay alive
one Harten. There he was left hanging, a
prey to rapacious birds and the scorching
sun; Another Armenian pursued by nine
soldiers was mangled, MS skin and flesh
scraped from his face and his own flesh
thrust down his mouth.
a Child Bayonetted.
Numerous witnesses relate how Kalos'
wife, Torrey, was ripped up and her
child flung into the air on bayonet
KhaZo, of Shrink, twenty years of age
who has a babe of four months in arms,
tells how her husband, Boghos, and his
brother, Ghazar. were killed; also three
Misag, her mother, Memmo, hacked and
bayoneted all out CT shape and left I'M
buried, by Tone. She was a Geliguzan
and the Kurds did this in anger because
she pushed on her sons into the fight.
Burfoo; of Bitlis, tells a thrilling story.
Her husband, Lilo, was literally hacked
to pieces, the remains of which she could
only gather up for some sort of a burial
after twelve days. Her tWo-year-old boy
was snatched from her arms to be
stabbed to death; her daughter of ten
fright while she Qturfoo) made her es-
cape.
Nearly a hundred terrorized ones and
among them twelve able-bodied men, de-
cided to go to Kourdichaghas, a not dis
tant village. In route they were SUR
rounded by hundreds of the tribe, who
drove them like cattle into a valley. They
took the only weapons, their knives, from
the men. bound them and sent them to
the camp of the regular soldiers as sheep
to the slaughter. The women were
rag, counted. as if sheep for the yarding.
and kept under guard for the night. After
shivering in the cold. the next morning
they were again asked to deny their faith,
but not succeeding in this. the Kurds be-
gan to disban1, and the poor frightened
ones were allowed to make their escape
The wives were ready to follow their
husbands to their fate, but were not al
lowed.
The testimony of all the other witnesses
is but repetitions of such urheard of
crueltieS as these.