The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-02-22
CHOLERA BLUFF.
Willy Turks Try to Keep Inves-
tigators Out Of Armenia.
Defense Of The Sublime Porte Brought
About by Use Of Cash.
(Copyright, lso5)

LONDON, Feb %. "A special correspond
snt who was sent out from London TO
Armenia to Investigate the atrocities said
to have been perpetrated upon the Ar
meninns has made second report. This.
like the first one, was posted at Tifiis. It
is ated Jan. is. In IL the correspondent
says
sncerning the alleged atrocities and
che state Of affairs generally in Armenia
am enabled TO convey some idea of the
dimculties TINT would be encountered In
prosecuting any sort of investigation or
getting at uhe real facts Of the case
Take, to begin with, the cho4era quar-
antinc, which is being enforced In various
portions OF the sultan's dominions in such
manner Is 60 draw q net around the dis.
tricts of Armenia, In which the atrocities
aro alleged to have occurred, and to keep
away from the scene of the outragcs and
from those who could throw any light on
the subject all independent Investigators.
ut is announced that cholera exists in
Van, Bitlis and Moosh, and that strict
quarantine regulations must therefore
be enforced. Now, IL is certainly a pc
culiar circumstance that cholera should
have happened to break out at this season
Of the year In the region of the Sassoun
Minor. Who is to prove or disprove the
statement that the disease Is raging In
those snowclad and practically inaccessi-
BILE mountain Businesses?
Now IL Is pretty thoroughly under
stood that even international courtesy must
bow 10 quarantine law. So when we are
told that an epidemic of cholera has sud
denly made its appearance In the region
Of the Sassoun massacre, even blind
man can SEQ that is meant to delay and
obstruct the work of the Turkish COM
unissioB Of inquiry It is believed here
that the Turks, forced to the wall by the
foreign delegates on the commission,
throw up this last obstruction and hoisted
the yellow nag upon 1t. Even foreign
delegate could not ignore q cholera quar-
aatine or find means TO ovade it.
Cholera Reports Strongly Doubted.
mo information has been vouchsafed rs
20 the form In which the cholera epidemic
has manifested itself In the Sassoun
mountain& One Is forced to believe that
Il is raging among the rocks and noun
tain peaks hke snowstorm, for, as a
matter of fact, there are no human beings
In the Sassoun mountains at the present
time for any sort of disease to feed upon
Those who were not killed in the massa-
Gro have long since 1ed to other parts of
tho country, and those who did not have
sense enough to fee have been claeped
into Jail.
"Of course there arc many persons In
and around MoQsh who know what took
place in tho Sassoun mountains last au-
4umn, and gsod effective cholera quaran.
tine win prevent them from getting at tho
commission or the commission from get
ting at them.
1T IL argued that IL the Turks have sue
ceeded In repairing the damages to the
6assoun villages there Is no reason why
the commission should not be allowed to
visit the scene Of the massacre, but the re-
fusal Of the Turks to allow any one to
travel through the Sassoun country and
the timely quarantine suggest that tho
money sent to rebuild the destroyed viii
lagos has been stolen. or that the snow
was so deep before the money arrived that
nothing could be done.
s'In that case the bodies Of the butch
cred Christians are lying unburicd under
the snow. The Turks will take good care
that they roach the scene first In the
spring nnd clear away all traces of the
massacre before indignant Christianity In.
sists upon sending in an independent in
reasonably safe until April, and by that
time their marvellous ingenuity may find
. way out Of the difficulty.
"Even without the cholera quarantine it
would be practically impossible for the
commission to make any real headway
until spring, owing to the intense cold
and the great amount OF snow in Armenia.
Water tossed into the air in exposed
places comes down frozen into ice. and the
moisture from mans breath freezes his
beard into o solid mass in less than n
minute. As the Russian mountains ara
much higher, the state Of the weather
may be imagined.
British Investigation Hampered,
"However, the British government does
not need Mr.. Shipley to follow the Turk.
ish commission, except for the purpose of
seeing what The commission does not do.
for a.Fcport OF the Sassoun outrages has
already been made by Mr.. Halward vice
consul at Van. 1t is on this report that
the British government is now acting in
insisting upon full Investigation. Mr..
Halward's report is incomplete, il is true.
owing to the Interference of the Turks I'm
preventing more thorough investi CATION.
but the main facts are given and the gov
ernment needs no further proof.
"A Spaniard named ximlniez. who de.
scribes himself as a traveller and GEO.
grapher, has sought to discredit Mr.
Halward's report by insisting that IL is Of
Armenian origin. In the face OF the fact
that the main features of the Sassoun
massacre have been established by consular
reports, by statements Of the clergy, by
assertions of the Armenans, and by con
fessions of Turkish soldiers who took part
In the awful butchery. this Ximinicz has
the effrontery to say that nothing has hap
pened
"But Xiininiez Is not alone Other per
sons fly to the dcfen Sc of the sublime
porte. aud Ii is singular coincidence that
their letters bear tho same hall mark.
They say In effect: We will not see
these thingA hence u is impossible that
they could have taken place. / will
make dozen afiidavits day, II the su-
blime porte will pay mo for 1t, saying
that was neither assaulted nor robbed in
Constantinople, Sassoun, Kerasund or