Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-05-27
An ARMENIAN. UPRISING
Likely to Be Delayed BY Scarcity Of
Food In Disturbed Districts.
Further Examples of Awful
Outrages by Kurds.
Armenian Baby Roasted and Parents Com~
PEELED to Eat It's Flesh.


LONDON, May e7.-A special correspond
emit at Kars, Russia, confirms the story Of
an impending uprising Of Armenians. He
says:
During the past three weeks i have had
unusual opportunity for obtaining addi-
tional confirmation of the facts contained
In my announcement of the impending
uprising of the Armenians In Turkey next
month.
The exact date for the uprising has not
yet been fixed, owing for the most part to
the fact that the extreme eastern section
Of the revolutionary party Is not ready for
active operations. Whether or not the
central section will wait for the eastern
wing longer than the month of May, do
not know, nor has the matter actually been
decided. am led to believe that the east
ern wing cannot be ready for hostilities In
May, and possibly not before July l.
The eastern wing has been and Is hav-
ing hard time Of 1t, owing to two cir
cumstances over which tho leaders have
no control. In the first place, the noun
tain passes leading to Van have been
blocked with snow for months, SO that
only special messengers, following the
regular routes of travel, could get through,
and therefore, it was impossible to for
ward guns and ammunition from Russia
and Persia to the districts about Lake
Van. In the second place, the Armenians
in the eastern end of Turkey are in con-
dition bordering on starvation. 1t is
obvious that people in this condition can
not fight. On this point leading execu-
tive officer of the revolutionary party said
to me three days ago:
Can't Fight on Empty StOmachs.
"If men have nothing in their stomachs,
what can they do? We must first feed
them before we can expect them to fight.
When we can get food enough on hand to
last two months then we shall show the
world how Armenians can fight"
1t is this question of food that the revo-
lutionary leaders will find most difficult of
solution; for the problem of smuggling
guns into Armenia will be solved with the
coming Of spring, which Is now just be-
ginning to be felt in the lower valleys. 1t
Is plain that If no food is to be had, people
cannot be fed, no matter how much money
they may have, and it is fact~.hat in the
eastern part Of Armenia food Is SO scarce
that the well-to-do and rich people have
no more than they actually need.
AS for the poorer Armenians, their con-
dition is distressing in the extreme, and,
added to the r0bberies, Outrages and mas
sacres which Turks and Kurds have
brought upon them, they're now har-
assed by famine SO terrible that many
of them are actually dying of starvation.
Few crops were grown last summer, owing
to the fact that many of the farmers and
cultivators were thrown into prison by the
Turks under charges Of revolutionary con-
spiracy.
There will be no crops planted In eastern
Armenia this spring, for the country
everywhere is suffering from reign of
terror The presence of the commission Of
inquiry at Moosh and the indignation of
the Christian powers Of Europe have had
absolutely ID effect ON the conduct OF
either the Turks or Kurds in eastern Tur-
key.
Further Massacres Probable.
When the new grass of spring enables
the Kurdish horsemen to move about the
country, the work of exterminating the
Armenians which was interrupted by the
fall of snow after the Sassoun and Moosh
massacres last autumn, will be begun
anew. With no crops and no cattle of
their own, the Armenians will either die
of starvation or flee to Persia and Russia
The famine will seriously affect both
Kurds and Turks, as they live mainly
upon the industry Of the Armenians-the
former by open robbery and the last named
bVaxtorting and outrageous taxation.
Some of the Turks and few of the
Kurds realize that they are killing the
goose that lays the golden egg, but they
can do nothing, as persecution of the Ar
menians is ordered by the Sultan OF
Turkey.
1t is fact, which tho British govern
ment can verify by consulting the report
of Mr.. Patton, an official Of the British
consulate at Tebriz, Persia, that in several
cases the Turkish officials in the devas-
tated district of Armenia tried hard to
save the Armeni ans from death and their
property from destruction, but when
they protested against the murderous
raids of the troops the officers read to
them the orders Of the sultan, and SO
Nothing Could Be Done.
He was accompanied on this tour of in.
vestigation by Dr. Wright, an American
missionary, stationed at Salinas. These
gentlemen took testimony from several
witnesses to the effect that when the Tur-
kish soldiers and Kurds appeared at GER
tain village they killed some of the villagers
who dared to protest against their out
RACES, and that one of the dead men was
cut up and boiled In kettle like so much
beef. The boiled pieces were then given
to the villagers as food. The wretched
creatures were compelled to eat their dead
fricndyto the last mouthful.
In another village, n party of Kurds
found child asleep In a cradle. They
overturned the cradle and smothered the
child. Then they dissected the body and
roasted pieces Of 1t before the fire. AS q
climax they compelled the members of tho
family, including the child's mother, to
eat the roasted pieces.
But these are only casual incidents
picked out at random from the mass Of
testimony taken by Mr.. Patton and DR..
Wright The details will be found In Mr..
Paton's report, II 1t is ever made public.
All Suspicious.
The revolutionary leaders hardly know