Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-03-04
WHEELING. W. MONDA vssssn MING. MARCH
Turkish troops and their commander.

Turkish troops and their commander,
Lekki pasha.
When the Armenians had surren-
dered $50 of them including three
prisets, were thrown into a large
ditch alive despite the fact that they
We're not wounded Earth was then
heaped upon them and some soldiers
were sent 20 watch them until
THEY ALL HAD PERISHED.
After this the massacre continued.
many people, old and young. were
killed, and many women and young
girls We're sent by the soldiers to
AoOSh. The bodies of the Armenians
who were killed i'm large numbers to-
setber We're buried i'm common graves
But the bodies of those who were
Killed I'm Isolated places were left un-
buried. The Armenians who We're not
Killed fed, Most of them came to
Russia. Some of them are now in
fIIis. Many ArmeuiaDS are confined
do prisons for political matters. The
exact number Of the prisoners is un-
known tO me- but it must be more
Jnau 1000. Forty or fifty clergymeu
are among this number priests.
bishops and Archimadrites. All. or
nearly gli are quite innocent. They
are imprisoned for sO-called political
o-euses
But what the Turk calls q political
ofeDSe has not the same significance
as ln Western Europe For instance.
io- Christian 10 protect his prop
er.N from plnder is considered a
political onense' i'm the Turkish EN-
pIre. ln prisons all kinds of torture
are employed against rich and poor.
The state of the Turkish prisons is
simply dreadful; for instance, the chief
monk of q monastery was fastened to a
wall with nails driven through his
hands and was delivered from that
awful position only ON admitting that
he acted wrongly, although ne was re-
ally innocent On the hands and feet
of several prisoners We're fastened
chains and heavy shackels of wood,
while on thir head were placed insUu-
meuJs resembling copper pots which
were heated
TO A. HIGH TEMPERATURE.
Sometimes these t0rtures ended in the
death of the sufferers. Sometimes. al
So. the tOrtUTeS executed their terrible
task simply 90 Kill their victims.
From the information brought to
me-. / believe that the Kurdish and
Turkish troops have burned or destroy
ed tbirty-0ue villages. and / estimate
the number of men. women and chill
to amount to 1000.
amount to 1900.
With reference 20 theTWkish Com
missions of inquiry Ngr. khlrmran
said.
The chief interest at present CEN
tres i'm The Turkish commission Of in
quiry. but I look for no results from
tue commission. because 1T will only
deal with the SassOun matter, which
was only an incident i'm the oppression
0i the Armeuiaus.
"ro defend ourselves we were united
as one family We held our ground
as long as we could. but we had only
three hundred Oll-fashioued guns.
+ Behind us were the women, who were
ready to- kill any of us who might at
/ tempt to- fly But we had not the
/ slightest intention of so doing. How
/ ever. after twenty-five days we held q
/ council as 10 what we should do. The
/ Turks sent word that If we surreu-
/ Gered they would not Kill MS. But
. lhey did not keep their promise, and
+ began 90 cUJ oil the heads of some, TO
/ disemb0Vel others, TO outrage our
/ wives and daughters. Ten of the lat
ter. ON refusing to- embrace the Mos
/ lem faith. were put 20 death. Those
oc us who were not killed received
wounds. and 150 Who were not wound
/ cd we're thrown into "a large ditch.
/ Ne can show you. if YOU desire, the
/ very place. The position OF the bodies
u the pit viii prove that many We're
buried alive
Seeing that the Turks would kill us
7u. we ar last fled. We we're only six
I hours march distant from MooSh, but
our escape Was attended with many
+ difficulties.