Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-11-01
The Armenian Atrocities.

The Dreadful Story of Marauding, Tor
ture and Suffering, Told by an Amer |
lean Eyewitness.
The only American newspaper CORE
spondent who succeeded in penetrating the
interior of Armenia in spite of the vigilance
of the Turkish government, was w. w.
Howard of the New York World. He spent
several weeks with the American mission
aries at Van, and both from them and from
the British vice consul, Mr.. Hallward, he
received full confirmation of the worst re-
ports.
In Mr.. Towards report, which is filled
with details almost too narrowing for be-
lief, the fact which stands out most prom
inent of all as background to the scenes
of murder and outrage, is that the Turkish
government Is deliberately trying to kill
off the survivors of the massacre by starv-
alton. Even the growing crops are de-
stroyed by the Kurds, who drive their buff
faloes and cattle over the fields. After
giving several instances, showing to what
straits of hunger the miserable people are
driven in a land of natural fertility, but
where "strong men eat the grass of the
fields and helpless mothers weep because
there is no food for the starving children"
Mr.. Howard says: afterwards nine of
us, including Mr.. Hallward, made an all
day excursion from Van to a distant viii
lage on the lake.. When we stopped for
luncheon on the banks of small river we
were surrounded by Armenians from a
nearby village. The head man wished to
uncover his back which was still smarting
from two hundred blows of a stick in the
hands of a zabtieh, who had come to de-
mand the years taxes, but l would not
look at it, The wretched village had been
assessed for $4,000 taxes, which was more
than it would have sold for in the open
market. AS the villagers could not pro-
duce the money at a moments notice, the
women were outraged, and the head men
were beaten until they tainted. All this
was done, not by the lawless Kurds, but by
the Sultan's soldiers intrusted with the i'm
portant task of tax collecting.
To divert the headman's attention from
his wounds and sorrows, l called out:
Don't you see that buffalo feeding in that
growing wheat field?"
Eyes," said the villagers, 1--WE see."
"But the beast is doing great injury to
your CROP" 1 protested.
"True, it does much harm"
"Then why do you not run and drive it
awayP"
because it is Kurdish buffalo"
l understood, but continued my ques-
tions. "Who has charge of this buffalo?"
l asked.
"This little Kurdish boy beside you"
Then pounced upon the boy.
"See here" said 1, "don't you know
that your buffalo is destroying that grow
ing wheat feld?'
sit is, perhaps, So" replied the young
scamp, who was apparently amused at the
interest took in his unimportant bMffalo
Then why do you keep him thefe?"
because my father told me to drive him
there" IA
By this time my indigr : was surg
to the Armenians, scope z{tbiIs how S nnl
til ne S is black .9 next Sc pen | will mount
buffalo ' int un nnf t fnsSf Ku nRds
t tbtnk cir IL chg Aanehe has fallen on
So @S <Chey protested. "For the
1bor Ii A5t g Sdo no such thing. If you do,
ma e r Srwill take revenge on us, and our
0IG- S7be worse than beforel"
J&t day the wisdom of the Armenian
.dagers' discretion was shown to me in a
Nay that | could not mistake. For several
mornings had been awakened by the noise
of men weighing and piling firewood under
my window at Dr. Raynolds's house. In
Armenia firewood is so valuable that it is
bought by weight instead of by measure
The Armenian who sold wood to Dr. Ray
nolds made practice of coming with his
first loads for the day at about four o'clock
in the morning, when he wonld make such
disturbance under my window that sleep
for half an hour would be impossible
On the morning after my experience
with the buffalo l slept until nine o'clock,
the wood piler not having put in an appear
ance. l had on several occasions wished
him in the centre of a vigorous Armenian
massacre, but on this morning was irri-
tated that he had not awakened me.
whats become of that wood-piler?" |
asked my servant Sage as he appeared with
my boots. "He has let me sleep all the
morning"
j"He will neither pile wood nor disturb
you any more, MASTER" replied Sage.
"What's up?''
''He is dead, master"
dead! What has happened to him?"
'The consul will tell you, sir; he has
seen with his own eyes,"
Mr.. Hallward was at that moment pass
ing along the walk, and called out to him
"Whats gone wrong with the ood-piler?'
The vice consul replied ooh, he's been
killed. The Kurds were pasturing their
butfaloes in his wheat field and he protest
ed. They fell upon him and battered in
his head. saw him carried through the
streets this morning"
There was no more wood piling that day,
nor the next, and when it was resumed a
strange hand held the scales and a strange
voice disturbed me in the early morning.
But the hopeless terror of everyday life in
Armenia had come home to me in a way
that l could not forget.
For days it seemed as though l could not
set foot out of doors without running up
against some fresh horror more awful than
anything l had yet heard, and when l re-
manned indoors the horrors sought me out
in the shape of refugees with wounds to
show, village notables with scourged backs,
and frenzied women with tales of violence
done to their children.