River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-12-19

ism, Mhereupon they were housed and
fed by Turks. The sincerity of these
conversions may be judged from what
has occurred in Kaisarea. In this place
many women whose protectors had
fallen in the maSSacres were offered
their choice between embracing the
tenets of the Koran or being either
hacked to pieces or meeting the worse
fate of being kidnapped. Ostensibiy the
women accepted Islamism. and thus
rendered their lives, and perhaps their
honor. secure.
1t is now known that perhaps 1000
persons were killed in the massucres in
Kaisarea. The fury of the kur.is was
not satisfied with the death of it's VIC
Tins, but vented itself upon the inani-
mate bodies. The mutilation of the
corpses was frightful, and in many
cases was of a nature that cannot be de-
scribed.
No Refuge at the Altar.
In Harpoot, 60 Christians fed
to a church in the vain hope that its
walls would furnish them shelter
against those who were crying for the
blood of Armenians. They were per
mitted for time TO believe themselves
secure, but suddenly the church was
surrounded by great number of Kurds.
The doors were then blown in. and the
Christians thought that they would be
massacred within the sacred structure.
They were not. Their caDtors took
them one at a time outside the church,
and there, Needless of the pitiable cries
for mercy from the women and children,
killed theln, either by shooting or stab
bing them. The first victim was the
Protestant pastor of the church, who,
as he was dragged out, babe the others,
if they had to die, to die as Christians.
He met his death like a martyr. Some
of the refugees, in very agony of ter
ror, offered to ablure their faith and
accept Islamism, thinking thus to save
their lives. The offer availed them moth
ing, for their Unsuitable enemies, after
accepting them. dragged the converts
out and killed them one by one. The
Armenian church has been turned into
a mosque, and the Protestant church
into a stable. In Kaisarea the soldiers
joined in the footing that accompanied
the massacres.
A DepiorabIe Condition.
Van and Trebizond are rapidly fill
ing with refugees from the pillaged
villages adjacent to those cities. Hun
dl'eds of women, almost completely ex-
hausted from fear and lack of food,
have reached Van and Trebizond.
Their condition is most deplora BILE.
They have been robbed of about every
thing they possessed. Large numbers
of them were barefooted, and the only
covering they had for their bodies were
thin chemises which furnished no pro-
lection against the inclement weather.
There is no doubt that many of those
who escaped death at the hands of the
Kurds will die from the effects of the
exposure they have undergone, vhile
many others will fall victims of star,a-
ton. The promptest'aid that can reacn
the sufferers from foreign countries
will not avail - prevent an enormous
death list from these causes. Tut m
less aid is promptly furnished from
some quarter the deaths from famine
will reach an appalling number.
Guardships Arrive.
Constantinople, Dec. 1.-THE corvette
Donetz. which will act here as the sec
ond guardship of Russia, arrived Mon
day. All the second guardships, with
the exception of that of Germany, are
now here.