The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1895-06-01
AN UPRISING IS IMMINENT
People Compelled by Their Prosecutors
TO Eat the Bodies OF Their
own Children.

additional confirmation of the facts con-
tanned in my announcement of the i'm
pending uprising of the Armenians in
Turkey next month. I have travelled
many miles in search of certain facts !
and as result have had the satisfac-
ton of actually seeing and handling |
come of the rifles now being struggled |
across the Turkish frontier by agents |
of the revolutionary party. Moreover, |
the plans of the party have been fully |
explained to me by some of the most |
active and intelligent of the leaders of
the eastern wing Of the movement, and |
l am now informed that unless unfore- |
seen circumstances arise, the uprising
win take place as announced. The eX-
act date for it has not yet been fixed,
owing, for the most part, to the fact
that the extreme section of the revolu-
ton army party is not ready for active
operations. Whether or not the cen
trail section will wait for the eastern
wing longer than the month of May 1
do not know, nor has the matter actual
ly been decided. 1 am asked to believe
that the eastern wing can not be mo-
biliZed for hostilities in May and posi-
bly, not before the LIST of July.
The eastern wing has been having a
hard time Of it owing to circumstances
over which the leaders have no control.
In the first. place, the mountain passes
leading to Van have been blocked with
snow for months, so that only special
messengers, following the regular routes
of travel, could get through. and there
fore 1t was impossible to follow with
guns and ammunition from Russia and
4~f.r 7 H.
There are now guns on the border
awaiting transportation into Armenia.
In the second place, the Armenians in
the eastern end of Turkey are in a con-
dition bordering on starvation. 1t is
obvious that the people in this condi-
ton can not fight.
ARMENIA WILL FIGHT.
On this point a leading executive of
the revolution army party said to me
three days ago: IF men have nothing
in their stomachs what will they do?
We must first feed them before we can
expect them to fight. When we can get
food enough on hand to last them two
months, then we shall show the world
how Armenians can fight"
1t is this question of food that the
revolutionary leaders will find most diff
ficult of solution. The problem of SNUG
Cling guns into Armenia will be solved
with the coming spring. which is now
just beginning to be felt in the lower
valleys. 1t is plain that If no food is to
be had the people can not be fed, no
matter how much money they may
have, and it is a fact that in the eastern
portion of Armenia food is SO scarce that
the well-to-do and the rich have no
more food than they actually need.
CROPS DESTROYEE,
Few crops were grown last summer,
owing to the fact that many of the
farmers and cultivators were thrown
into prison by the Turks on charges of
revolution and conspiracy. Their cat
tie were stolen by the Kurds and what
the poor people had left in the way of
provisions or property was seized by
the government officials for taxes. There
will be no crops planted in eastern Ar
menia this spring, for the country ev-
erywhere is suffering from a reign OF
terror. The presence of the commission
of inquiry at Moosh and of the Christian
powers of Europe have had absolutely
no effect on the conduct of either the
Turks or Kurds in eastern Turkey.
am just in receipt of trustworthy ad
vices from an Armenian source at Var
TO the effect that a massacre is looked
for at any moment.
1t is a fact which the British govern
ment can verify by consulting the re
port of Mr.. Patton, an official of the
British consulate at Tebraiz, Persia
that in several cases the Turkish of
f1cials IN the devastated districts o
Armenia tried hard to save Armenian
from death, and their property from de
struction, but when they protested
against the murderous raids of tn
troops, the officers read to them the or
ders of the sultan, and so nothing coul'
be done.
Mr. Patton has lately returned to TIE
briz from an investigating tour among
Armenian refugees along the border be
tween Persia and Turkey. He foun'
plenty of refugees from the Lake Val
and Moosh districts, but not one from
Sassoun. There are no Sassoun surviv
ors in Ouramia, Salmis. Ditiman. Kho
Tebriz or any other place in Persia, an
so few in Russia that they are Difficult
to find. This absence of Sassoun
among so many refugees from the othe
districts of eastern Armenia suggest
the dreadful possibility that few c
these people escaped massacre. The IN
vestigation of Patton along the Pei
sian border has confirmed in a genera
way the facts which have incidental
obtained during the past eight week.
The events of the massacre were S
horrible that even the chronic exal
geration of the Armenian mind fails
add anything to them.
EATING HUMAN FLESH.
Mr.. Patton was accompanied on TIL
tour of investigation by DR.. Wrigh