The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-12-04
MURDERED BY M0SLEMS.
REVIEW OF THE RECENT BLOODY
WORK IN TURKEY.

Over 13, 900 Christians known 10 Ha's
Been Killed--Only One Instance OF Sue
oe,sful Reslstance--aOO, 900 Now Desti'
tute.
CoNsTANTINopLE, Nov. 27.-The fol
lowing matter has been handed to the
European manager OF the Onlteo
Press, who is now in Constantlnlople'
The statement has the full endorse
ment of Minister Terrell.
During the month of October, aeon
siderable part of the Armenian dis
tricts in the provinces of Trebizond,
Erzeroum, Bitlis, Van, Harpout, Dlar'
bekr and Sivas, has been laid waste
and number, not yet fully known,
of the Armenian inhabitants nave
been killed by men intent on crushing
into impotence the Armenian race IN
Turkey. As the awful tidlngs have
come in by driblets, the Turkish gov:
ernment has diligently telegraphed
abroad in regard to each place, that
Armenians had attacked Mussulmans,
thus arousing a frenzy of indignation,
which could not easily be controlled,
but order had been restored after some
loss'o life. The effect of these tele-
grams has been to cultivate belief that
there has been some general rising OF
Armenians and that we are IN the
presence of a calamity which is mere
" the result of lawless proceedings on
the part of the Armenians themselves.
Natural indignation with the Arme,
mans for rising at the very moment
when the reform scheme was about
to be put into operation may be mod
Grated. when it is known that up to
this date, the only authentic rising of
Armenians has taken place at Zeitoum
in the province of Aleppo, and far
from the scene of the massacre. More
over, in such cases as offer opportunl-
ty for examination, severa! clrcum-
stances cited in the Turkish dispatches
as cases of bloodshed have been prov
ed to have been incidents and not
causes of the massacres. Men who
found themselves assailed by the mob
and happened to have arms in their
houses, in number of cases, defend
ed their lives and their families to
the last. At Diarbker, where the
Christians are generally armed, they
made hard fight and some 1,5OO
Moslems are said to have been killed,
but aside from this one case, the de-
struction of from 10000 to $1,000
Christians has not cost the Turks
more than two or three hundred lives.
The statement describes specially
the preparation beginning In Septem-
ber, made by the Moslems for the gen.
erai massacre, and plundering began
on Oct. 20, and goes on to say that
''only meagre returns have as yet
come in" but the total number OF
deaths of Armenian Christians so far
reported is 13,2O0.
The Statement says: "It is not
within the purpose of this paper to
enter upon the question of the respon-
sibility for these 1nasacres mainly con
fined to the six provinces especially
mentioned in the reform scheme, so
empty and painfully wrung from the
porte. But if the object of the orlgl-
nators of this massacre were to dimln-
ish the Armenian population OF these
provinces, the main object OF the men
who did the work was plunder. Many
thousands who must have perlshed,
had the attack been blind outburst
of fanatical fury, escaped because 1t
was an artificial movement, where Gu
pidity was the chief motive used to
induce men to engage in it. And to
the honor of the Turkish people be it
said that in every one of the places so
far heard from in detail, cases occur
ed where Moslems sheltered Armeni-
ans saved them from death. Near Tri-
bizond, they saved an entire village.
But the very fact that plunder was the
chief interest with the men engaged In
this crime, makes the position of the
survivors most precarious because OF
the universal destitutio1 that has re-
suited to the victims.
GA very low estimate of the num-
ber thus reduced to absolute want by
the loss of all their movable property
is 2OO, 900 souls, of whom three-fourths
are the wives and children of the ru-
ined traders or farmers.
"a survey of the situation of these
people gives the following elements of
their desperate condition:
"All trade is broken up. All agri-
culture in the devasted districts is blot
ted out for the stock has been carried
off, and the implements generally
burned. All the poor semblance of
manufacturing industries in these dis
tricts have been wiped out. At least,
in numbers of cases, the ruffians took
delightin destroying machinery which
they could not use or carry away to
sell. Thousands of houses and shops
have been burned. Every house or
shop plundered was utterly emptied.
The first care of the robbers after seiz-
ing the money and goods in shop
was to destroy all papers, account
books and notes of hand, so that the
merchants might not be able later on
to claim payment of debts previously
incurred. The people who escaped
when their houses were attacked fled
in such clothes as they chanced to
have on, and in some cases even that
was taken from them. All their stores
Of food, painfully accumulated for the
winter, as is the custom in the rural
districts in Turkey, have been carried
away. These thousands of wretch
ed creatures, bereaved, despoiled
and despairing, now face the
pitiless winter, fer on those lofty
highlands of Armenia the winter is
pitless, and faint at the contemplation