Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1895-06-01
NATION IS STARVING
Tales Of Want and Misery From
Armenia's Borders.
AN UPRISING is IMMINENT
to Eat the Bodies of Their
own Children

During the past three weeks / have hat
an unusual opportunity for obtaining
additional confirmation of the facts con
tanned in my announcement Of the i'm
pending uprising Of the Armenians ii
Turkey next month. ] have Travelled
many miles in search of certain facts
and as result have had the satisfac
ton Of actually seeing and handling
some of the rifles now being smuggIet
across the Turkish frontier by agents
OF the revolutionary party. Moreover
the plans of the party have been fully
explained to me by some of the most
active and intelligent Of the leaders OF
the eastern wing Of the movement, and
| am now informed that unless unfore-
seen circumstances arise, the uprising
will take place as announced. The ex-
| act date for it has not yet been fixed
owing, for the most part, to the fact
that the extreme section of the reyolu-
ton army party is not ready for active
operations. Whether or not the cen
trail section will wait for the eastern
wing longer than the month of May l
do not know, nor has the matter actual
I y L
| that the eastern wing can not be mo-
bilized for hostilities in May and possi-
| bly, not before the 1st Of July
| The eastern wing has been having a
hard time of it owing TO circumstances
over which the leaders have no control.
/ In the first place, the mountain 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 there
| fore it was impossible to. follow with
| guns and ammunition from Russia and
| Persia to the district about Lake Van
There are now guns on the border
awaiting transportation into Armenia.
In the second place, the Armenians in
the eastern end of Turkey are in q con-
qition bordering on starvation It IS
obvious that the people in this condi-
ton can not fight.
ARMENIA WILL FIGHT.
On this point a leading executive of
the revolution army party said to me
three days ago: "If men have nothing
In their stomachs what will they do?
We must first feed them before we can
expect them to fight. When we can get
food enough on hand to last them two
months, then we shall show the world
how Armenians can fight
It is this question Of food that the
revolutionary leaders will find most diff
ficult Of solution. The problem of SNUG
Cling guns into Armenia will be solved
with the coming spring, which is now
just beginning to be felt in the lower
valleys. 1t is plain that if no food is to
be had the people can not be fed, no
matter how much money they may
have, and it is a fact that in the eastern
portion of Armenia food is SO scarce thai
the Well-to-do and the rich have no
more food than they actually need.
CROPS DESTROYER
Few crops were grown last summer.
owing to the fact that many of the
farmers and cultiYators We're thrown
into prison by the Turks on charges of
revolution and conspiracy. Their cat
tie We're stolen by the kurds and what
the poor people had left in the way Of
provisions or property was seized by
the government officials for taxes There
will be no crops planted in eastern Ar
menia this spring. for the country ev-
erywhere IS suffering from a reign of
terror. The presence of the commission
Of inquiry at Moosh and Of the Christian
powers Of Europe have had absolutely
no effect on the conduct of either the
Turks or Kurds In eastern Turkey /
am just In receipt Of trustworthy ad-
vices from an Armenian source at Van
to the effect that a massacre is looked
for at any moment.
It is a fact which the British govern
ment can verify by consulting the re-
pert Of Mr.. Patton, an official of the
British consulate at Tebraiz, Persia, |
that in several cases the Turkish Of
ficials IN the devastated districts of
Armenia tried hard to save Armenians
from death, and their property from de-
struction. but when they protested
against the murderous raids of the
troops, the officers read to them the or
ders Of the sultan, and SO nothing could |
be done.
Mr.. Patton has lately returned to Te-
briz from an investigating tour among
Armenian refugees along the border be-
tween Persia and Turkey. He found /
plenty Of refugees from the Lake Van
and Moosh districts, but not one from
Sassoun. There are no Sassoun surviv- !
ors in Ouramia, Sa1mis, Ditiman, Khoi, |
Tebriz or any other place in Persia, and |
to find. This absence of Sassouns |
among SO many refugees from the other |
districts of eastern Armenia suggests |
the dreadful possibility that few of |
these people escaped massacre. The in |
vestigation of Patton along the Per |
sian border has confirmed in a general |
way the facts which I have incidentally |
obtained during the past eight weeks. |
ri,n ,F tlD
horrible that even the chronic exag- |
geration Of the Armenian mind fails to |
add anything to them. |
EATING HUMAN FLESH.
Mr.. Patton was accompanied on this
tour of investigation by DR.. Wright, |
an American missionary, stationed al |
Salmis. This gentleman took testimony |
to the effect that when the Turkish SOL |
diers and Kurds appeared at a certain
village they collected some of the viii
layers who dared not protest against |
the outrages, and many of the dead men |
were cut up and thrown into the kettle |
and boiled like 50 much beef The boil
ed pieces were then given to the villa
gers for food. The wretched crea lures |
We're compelled to eat their friends to !
the last mouthful. In another village |
a party Of Kurds found a child asleep |
in it's cradle. They overturned the era
die and smothered the child. Then they
dissected the body and roasted pieces
OF it before the fire. AS a climax, they
compelled members Of the family in
Guiding the childs mother, to eat the |
roasted pieces.
Refugees who tell these stories are, |
for the most part, ready to return to
Armenia to wreak vengeance on their
prosecutors as soon as they are supplied |
with ammunition, arms and food by
the revolutionary party, and, as already
stated, the only thing lacking is food.
The weapons I have seen are known
in Russia as "Soldatskie" guns. that is
the gun used by the regular army of |
Russia. The gun is Boordan rife, |
simple and efficient weapon, particu- |
Iarly we'll suited to rough usage. |
One Of the bitterest things the Arn1e-