Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-12-05
GENERAL MASSACRE.

GkNEEAA "tAO0CSSse@ss
u.--,na. work Done at BaIbafts h Ar
mania. bv Gurds Under tho Suleans Or--
e.r-nsen Women and Children Aur-
derod In the Most Brutal Aanner--.nssle-
scrlbAbIs Outrages Psrpstrsssa Oo.A
Helpless Females.
New YORK. Dec. 2-The sun says
The following descriptions OF scenes
accompanying the recent massacres IN
the village of Baiburt. in Armenia, y.
contained in q letter received mere
from an eyewitness. 1t was wr1ssen
toward the latter part OF October:
Sunday, October Is. was the hrs6
day when the alarm of q general mas
sacre began to spread. Saturday az
ternoon the dismal news of the adj
vance of 500 armed Lazes reached us
SUNDAY about 1000 Turks OF Baiburt-
and its vicinity joined the Lazes and
marched from all directions on the
Armenian villages
On Monday, October IA, the first att
tack was made on the village OF Lps-
shonk, five or six miles from the town
of Baiburt. There were about seventy
Turkish women with packhorses for
carrying away the plumber.
The villagers of Lusshonk had taken
refuge in the school building. trem--
bling and despairing.
The Lazes and others promptly be-
gan to seize the cattle and sheep OF the
Armenians. Securing them out OF
harms way. they rifled and set on fire.
the buildings. Then they attacked the
schoolhouse. The helpless Armenians
inside, men, women and children,
shrank under q hail storm OF bullets
1t was dark night and many of them
fell killed and wounded.
For Gods sake spare our lives and
take all we have" cried the unfortu-
nate people, but their cries for mercy
seemed to more infuriate the butchers
The schoolhouse was set on FIRE and
men, women and children rushed Out
trampling under their feet the fallen
dead and wounded.
A most horrible scene was enacted
in front of the schoolh ouse. The in--
furiated Lazes and other marauders,
under the lead of the most fanatical
chieftains from the neighboring Wiz
lagos, surrounded their victims and
began to massacre them in cold blood.
The son of Hail Khumri, notorious.
robber, seized q young man, and after
robb;ng him of his clothes, ordered
the Lazes to fire on him. The young
man was shot dead on the spot 9th
ers seized the brother of the first VIC
tim, and casting him down on the
threshold of the schoolhouse, slaugh-
tered him like sheep and pierced his
dead body with daggers
Moussa, the son of Birinji, from Moush
and M Nab1od As1ana..
gan and taking hold of him, exclaimed:
Come here, dog of an infidel; I was
looking for you. Come, / will show
you how will kill q dog like you"
Saying this, he plunged his kama.
into his victim and with several turns
disemboweled the unfortunate man.
Thus the fendish work Of carnage.
was carried on with heartrending
cruelty. At last the leaders of the
mob gave the command to separate
the men and the women into separate.
groups under the walls Five young
men. the flower of the village, were
secured as victims and burned alive.
before the eyes of their relatives
Others of the mob robbed the women
of all their clothes, committing OUT
RACES on them, cutting their hair, spit
ting in their faces, etc. They were
not satisfied with outrages but killed
q girl Is years old, several women and
three children from to years of age.
They killed also Gadarine, the wife OF
Chalmers Avakian, who was in an adj
vanccd state of pregnancy, and opened
her abdomen with q most cruel fero-
city.
The scenes Of horror were repeated
in several other places in the same Wiz
lage and in other villages The. Mo-
hammedan women accompanying the
hordes of maurauders carried away
loads of plumber.
The Armenians had given no provo
cation for the massacre. The leaders
proclaimed openly that they had or
ders from the sultan to exterminate
the Armenians. and were to have their
property as a reward for their services
to the government. It is impossible
to give correct estimate OF the loss
of life and property, as many villages
are now laid waste and the inhabi-
tants are missing.
1t is not necessary to dwell on the
dissertations perpetrated in the
churches and the outrages committf4
on women and young girls It maid
ones heart bleed to see the state OBI
things The people of the vicinity are
in b state of horror. and there are ru-
morS of freah masSacreS.