Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-07-15
IN A DESPERATE MOOD
Armenians Willing to Sacrifice Them
selves to Turkish Butchery.
Christians May Then Heed
Their Wrongs.
Some New Light Shed on the Awful Massacre
al Sassoun.

VAN, Armenia, May 2i.-Thcre are In
this city at this moment 900 young mon
sworn TO give themselves as n sacrifice to
the Turkish butchery, in the hope tina. the
attention Of England may be more
strongly called TO the desperate situation
of these people.
The Armenians cannot accept any
scheme of reform which does not have for
It's fundamental principle the absolute
control by the European powers. The
moment that IL becomes clear that the
execution of tho reforms Is TO be left To
tho Turk, the Armenians will arise in de-
spair and fling themselves to destruction.
Unless Europe controls the reforms, there
will be massacre of 10000 Christians in
the city of Van within three months.
The Armenians themselves will bring
this about rather than be cast adrift by
their fellow Christians of the West. Their
argument on this point Is perfectly plain.
They assert that 10 Is better to die by the
sword, with perhaps the chance that their
death will advance the cause of the Ar
menian race, than to die by torture and
starvation.
There is no language quito adequate to
a description Of the real condition Of
Armenia at present. Men are beaten,
robbed and murdered, and women are
ravished by Kurds and Turkish soldiers;
property is stolen or destroyed; crops arc
trampled down and eaten by herds OF
cattle; churches and monasteries are desc
Grated and used as stables and lighthouses;
business is absolutely ruined; there is no
wheat for bread.
Many villages are deserted by their
starving inhabitants, and thousands Of
villagers are crowding into the cities, beg
ging from door to door of people who are
little better off than themselves. Woe
and want and despair and death stalk
abroad in this beautiful land that was
once part of the Garden of Eden.
The inhabitants of Van are living on
the brink Of massacre from day to day.
The SassOun Massacre
was one of the most carefully planned out
RACES in history The evidence of this Is
circumstantial only; but 1t is alleged to
be none the less conclusive.
During the months Of June, July and
August preceding the Sassoun massacre,
the Kurdish chiefs in the country sur
rounding the Sassoun region, and parti-
cularly the districts In the southwark and
southwestward, were apparently unusu-
ally busy In gathering up the scattered
warriors Of their tribes for an invasion Of
the Sassoun region.
In July and August enormous quaint.
ties OF petroleum were shipped from
Erzroom to Moosh. This petroleum came
originally from Russia to Erzroom, and
20 great was the quantity brought over
the mountain roads that IL was q subject
OF remark to very many persons. For q
time IL looked as though nothing went
over the roads between Erzroom and
Moosh but petroleum.
Now, IL Is fact that Moosh does not
use great quantity Of petroleum herself,
nor do her merchants sell much of IL to
the surrounding country. In the villages
candles Of sheep fat oil are used for lights.
What Moosh wanted with those countless
cans Of petroleum was q mystery. But
the mystery was mystery no longer after
the Sassoun massacre, for that petroleum
was used to burn the houses Of the Sas-
SCUM villagers and to cremate the bodies
Of the wretched villagers who fell
Victims to the Awful Butchery.
In burning tho houses the petroleum
was thrown upon the woodwork in gener-
Gus quantities and set on fire, with the re-
suit that everything that could burn went
up in smoke. In cremating the dead the
bodies were in many cases placed between
layers of wood and built up into sort Of
funeral pile. The entire mass was then
saturated with petroleum and set on fire.
1t Is charged that living men were cre-
mated in the same way. But this was q
merciful way of putting unfortunate crea-
lures to death In comparison with the
tortures inflicted upon many others.
A few weeks prior to the beginning of
the Sassoun massacre there was an un-
usual demand for horses for the army.
This demand was not confined to the city
Of Moosh, nor yet to the province Of Bitlis.
In the case of horses owned by Armenians
no pretensc was made for paying for them.
The press gang simply took the horses
wherever they happened to be found, and
said no more about it, In many instances
horses were seized as they were carrying
loads through the city streets. The loads
were dumped OF into the streets and tho
horses taken away.
Several weeks after tho Sassoun massa-
ere, IL Is claimed orders were sent from
the palace at Constantinople for q mas
sacre of the inhabitants Of Modikan, a
district lying to the south and southeast
of Sassoun, but when 1t was seen that an
investigation Of the Sa.soun affair was
inevitable, the order, IL is said, was re-
called, and Modikan was not molested, ex-
cept in the ordinary course Of the persecu-
ton
General In All Parts Of Armenia.
At about the same time, it is asserted,
that preparations were being made to
massacre the inhabitants Of Sassoun, the
Turkish government tried to induce the
Kurds to massacre the Armenian inhab-
itants Of the Nourdouz region, which lies
almost directly south OF Lake Van, but
the Kurds refused to have anything to do
with 1t. 1t is charitable to suppose that
the refusal Of tho Kurds was duo to feel.
ings of humanity, but 1t is more than
likely that they regarded such course as
killing the goose that lays the golden eggs
for IL their Armenian vassals were killed
of, they themselves would be reduced tc
the dreadful necessity Of working for q
living