The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-28
MASSACRES IN ARMENIA
STATEMENT BEEN SENT AND EN- DORSED BY MINISTER TERRELL.

OOhoED bI MI MISTER IEhh ELLs Large Portions of Territory Have Been
 Laid waste-Men Assaited by a Mob De-
 fended Themselves and Families to the
 Last--Goverment Openly Distributed
 Arms in Some Cases-Turks Declared
 Openly That They Would Massacre
 Christians.
 New York, Nov. 27.-The European manager of the United Press has sent from Constantinople under date of No vember 15, a statement concerning the recent massacres in Armenia presented by American Christian men, and be- lieved to be impartial.
 The statement has the full endorse ment of Minister Terrell It says:
 During October considerable part of the Armenian district in the prov inces of Trebizond, Erzeroun, Bitlis, Van, Harpout, Diarbekir, and Sivas, has been laid waste and a number not yet fully known of the Armenian in- habitantS have been killed by men in- tent in crushing into impotence the Ar menian race In Turkey. The Turkish government has telegraphed abroad in regard to each that Armenians had at- tackled Muslems, thus arousing frenzy of indignation which could not easily be controlled, but that order had been restored after some loss of life. These telegrams have cultivated belief that the calamity is merely the result of lawless proceedings on the part of Ar menians themselves. Natural indigna- tion with the Armenians for rising at the very moment when the reform scheme was about to be put in operation may be moderated when 1t is known that up to this date the only authentic rising of Armenians has taken place at Zeitoun in the province of Aleppo, and far from the scenes of the massa- cres. Moreover in such cases as offer opposition for examination several cir cumstances cited in the Turkish dis patches as cause of the bloodshed have been proved to have been incidents and not causes. Men assailed by mob in a number of cases defended their lives and their families to the last. At Diarbekr, where the Christians are generally armed, they made a hard fight for life, and some 1500 Muslms are said to have been killed. But aside from this one case the destruction of from ten to fifteen thousand Christians has not cost the Turks more than two or three hundred lives
 Proper comprehension of what has taken place depends on knowledge of what went before Tn the latter part of September, while the powers were renewing their demands for the accept ance by the sultan of the reform scheme word began to come in from all of these provinces that the muslims wer ebeing armed, while the disarmament of the Christians was being pressed with great determination. In some cases the gov ernment openly distributed arms and ammunition to the muslims peasantry. At the same time the Kurds of the mountainous districts of Dersim, lying between Erzingan and Harpout, began to assemble, saying that they had re- ceived orders from Zelzki Pasha, com mander of the fourth army corps, to de- vastate the Armenian villages, taking the plunder for their pay. They promptly began to seize the cattle and sheep of the Arm enians in all of the surrounding regions. During the early days of October Turks in all the six provinces openly declared that they were to massacre the Christians. The Armenian patriarchate and some of the foreign embassies at Constantinople were overwhelmed with piteous appeals l., tion.
 Terror reigned among all the Arme- nians of the region. But even Shakir Pasha, the reform commissioner, joined the other officials at Erzroun in assur- ing the Armenians that they had noth- ing to fear if they remained quiet and attended to their own affairs About the same time the language of the han gers-on about the sultan's palace at Constantinople became more and more menacing. Anxiety in the city and ter TOT in the provinces were tempered only by the belief that the sultan would not be so blind as to permit, nor the powers so weak as to give, an opportunity for the execution of such threats.
 On October 20 the reform scheme was handed over to the ambassadors. The next day the Armenian clergy of the city of Erzingan called upon Zekkipa- sha, the military commander, to beg for protection from the Muslems, who were preparing to massacre them. The Pasha assured them that they were perfectly safe. They had hardly return ed to their houses when all over the city Turks began to kill Armenians and to plunder their houses and shops In Erzingan and its villages from fifteen hundred to two thousand Armenlans were killed and all the shops and great number of houses were rif1ed. These scenes of horror were repeated during the next ten days in dozen or more cities and an untold number Of villages in all of the six provinces. A region of 60,00O square miles in area from Trebizond to Diarbekr and from the Russian frontier at Erzeroum to Sivas has been given up to massacre and pillage. Only those places like Van have so far been spared in which the Armenians being a proportion of more than one to four or five Turks might be expected to offer resistance This re- zion is full of crushed and ruined fam flies on the one hand and on the other