The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-03-29
THEIR ORDERS.
Turks Heaped Revolving Pun
ishment Upon Armenians.
The Massacre at Sassoun Actually
Beggared Description.

llshes long report on Iho Artnoniah
atrocities, written by competent and
trustworthy man who made a personal
investigation on the spot. This report
was written In January, but only arrived
in London yesterday.
The writer says he Is convinced that
both In 1898 and '9i the Turkish govern
ment gave both oral and written orders
TO the Kurds to attack the Armenians,
promising them the bounty and relieving
them Of responsibility for the conse-
guences In the first attacks made upon
them the Armenians defeated the Kurds.
Undoubtedly but for Turkish help the
Kurds would have been unable to have
gained permanent victory. The khrds
In the earlier skirmishes did not harm
women and children. Even when incited
by the Turks they did little In comparison
with the latter.
The account proceeds to confirm the
pit incident, and the report OF the
governor of Bitlis reading at Djellye-
goozan the sultan's firman ordering the
Kurds to destroy the disaffected villages
sparing nothing. for their sultan and
prophet. This occurred about the middle
OF August, and the massacre which fol-
lowed beggars all description.
The Occidentals of the 10Th century
cannot comprehend 1t. Youths were
bound, covered with brushwood and
burned alive. Others were hacked to
pieces AT Shenig a house filled with 90
men, women and children were set on fire
and all were cremated. The officers forced
their men to acts Of cruelty from which
the latter shrunk.
A at nprsnA6ad
20 of his followers to yield. They were
ordered to dig a trench, and when enough
earth had been thrown up. all were hacked
to pieces and cast into the trench. Priests
suffered horrible deaths. One was thrown
into the air and allowed to fall on a num-
ber Of bayonets that had been stuck up
right in the ground.
Another Story.
A correspondent investigating the cir.
cumstances of the atrocities perpetrated
in Armenia recently attaches great i'm
portance to statement Of n Kurd who
killed many innocent women and chill
dren In Sassoun" and with whom he Eek
changed daggers" The correspondent
took this mans deposition before respect
able non Armenian responsible wit
nesses and from this deposition he tele-
graphed the following blood-curdling ex-
tracts:
"The Turkish soldiers took little chill
dren by the feet and dashed them against
stones. / saw an Armenian priest. SOL
diers tortured him, squeezed his neck,
goughed out his eyes and tore on his flesh
with pincers. We hate that; We only stab
or bayonet or cut of heads. We dislike
needless pain. / saw Turkish sergeant
bind an old Armenian head downward to
two or three branches and slowly cut
him through with an AK.
"Armeniuns who implored protection
and surrendered were butchercd at night.
/ saw IL done. The soldiers stood in double
lines of three on each side. The Arme-
mans were marched in, their hands tied,
and they were then bayoneted and flung
into the pit. Not oil were deNd who were
in the pit
A Revolving Deed.
IL saw the soldiers take a woman and
stand around her. joking and making bets
as to the sex Of her unborn child. She
was then cut open and the money was
paid 20 the scoundrels who had guessed
rightly" The correspondent telegraphed
the details on this revolving deed, but the
paper suppressed them as being too hor-
rible for publication.
Continuing, the Kurd said: "The
Kurds killed people with bullets and dag
gers, but the soldiers delighted in torture.
They put some to death with scissors cut
ting them and opening veins In the neck.
Others were sawn, others had their
tongues cut out. eyes gouged out and sew
eral fingers cut of before death. i saw
mon and women thus mutilatod, and they
laid about the camp for two hours before
they were killed"