St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-15

ularly the districts in the southwark
and southwestward, We're, apparently,
unusually busy in gathering up the
scattered warriors of their tribes for
an invasion Of the Sasun region.
In July and August enormous guam
titles of petroleum were shipped from
Erzeroum to Moush. This petroleum
came originally from Russia to Ere
roum, and SO great was the quantity
brought over the mountain roads that
it was a subject of remark to very
many persons. For a time it looked
as though nothing went over the roads
between ErZeroum and Moush but
petroleum. Now, it is a fact that
Moush does not use a great quantity
of petroleum herself, nor do her mer-
chants sell much of it to the surround
ing country In the villages candles
of sheep fat oil are used for lights
What Moush wanted with those count
less cans of petroleum was a mystery,
but the mystery was a mystery no
longer after the Sasun massacre, for
that petroleum was used to burn the
houses of the SaSun villages, and to
cremate the bodies of the wreiched
villagers who fell victims to the awful
butchery. In burning the houses, the
petroleum was thrown upon the wood
work in generous quantities and set
on fire, with the result that everything
that could barn went up in smoke. In
crematingc the dead the bodies were,
in MARI cases, placed between layers
of Woot. and built up into a sort OF
funeral pile. The entire mass was then
saturated with petroleum and set on
! fire. 1t is charged that living men
were cremated in the same way But
this was merciful way of putting
the unfortunate creatures to death, in
! comparison with the fortunes inflicted
upon many others.
The massing of troops near the Sasun
region, and particularly at Moush, was
carried on for some time before the
beginning of the massacre, in order
that everything might be in readiness
according to the programme said to
! have been carefully made out at Con-
! stantinople.
! Several weeks after the Sasun mas
sacre it is claimed orders We're sent
! from the palace at ConstantinopIe for a
massacre of the Inhabitants of Modi-
kan, district lying to the south and
j southeast of Sasun, but when it was
/ seen that an investigation of the mas
! sacre at Sasun was inevitable, the
! order, it s said, was recalled and Modi-
| kan was not molested, except in the
| ordinary course of the persecution gen
| eral in all parts of Armenia
In the city of Van at this moment
there are five hundred young men
sworn to give themselves as sacrifice
to Turkish butchery in the hope that
the attention of England may be more
strongly called to the desperate
| ate situation of their people.
| The Armenians cannot accept any
scheme of reform which does not have
for its fundamental principles the abso
| lutte control of the European powers
| Unless Europe controls the reforms
! there will be a massacre of 10000
Christians in the city of Van within
| three months. The Armenians them
selves will bring this about rather than
be cast adrift by their fellow Christians
of the West.
There is no language quite adequate
to description of the real condition
of Armenia at present. Men are beaten
robbed and murdered, and women Ill
treated by Kurds and Turkish soldiers
Woe and want and despair and
death stalk abroad in this beautiful
land that was once a part of the
| Garden of Eden. The inhabitants OF
Van are living on the brink of g
massacre from day to day.