The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-02-21
MARCH OF BLOOD
An Eye Witness Describes the
Horror of MoOShir PaSha'S
DevastatiOns.
OVER $500 ARMENIANS KILLED
Villagers, Forced From the
Mountains by Hunger,
Fought Bavely.

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 21.-The first descrip-
ton by an eye witness Of Mooshir
Pasha's "March of Blood" as it has be-
come known, has just been received by
The Republic from Moosh, Asia Minor.
The account is written by native of
the Sasoon district, and has been sent
by secret messenger through the terri
tory of the sultan to insure it's arrival.
Mooshir Pasha, the military governor
of the City Of Err, started by order of
the sultan into the Sasoon district last
September. Innumerable burned vii
lagos and $500 lives was the price of
this official visit. The dispatch received
reads:
Over 1900 Bodies Counted.
'Moosh, Asia Minor, Feb. 2, 1885,
The number Of our dead oountrymen in
the four towns visited by Mooshir Pasha
will not be short Of 1900. This is from
the bodies counted and known to have
persisted. We cannot tell how many
others there may be. The first town
entered by Mooshir was Shrink. 1t
contains four villages-Shinik, Mezra,
Kookjook and Dophy. When our peo-
pie here heard Of the arrival of tho
pasha, Father Johannis, with 40 Of the
leading townsmen went to meet him, to
beseech him to have mercy upon them.
They were surrounded by soldiers long
before they could get to Mooshir Pasha,
and every one was killed. Their bodies
were put into the church and burned.
Id 70 h,,r t1n
lagos.
Fled rs Best They Could.
1.-THE number of killed from Shrink
proper numbered 623, and 217 from the
rest of the villages. Those who es-
capped are now in the villages sur
rounding this town, but the villagers
are themselves very poor and many go
hungry.
''Mooshir Pasha left Shrink to go to
the next town in the Sassoon district.
This town is Alyon, and has IA villages.
The people heard of his coming and
they had "a companies of 400 men, be-
sides % cannon. They knew that it was
useless to appeal to him, SO they fled to
the village of Clio, because Of its rocks
and steppes. and there they could better
escape him. They stayed in the noun
tains for almost 20 days, and when
there was no food left they fled as best
they could.
Fought valiantly.
"Gali- Gazan was next, and because
the town has "a villages around it,
Mooshir brought Kurd, Ahmed and
irregulars numbering 5000. The town
was deserted, for the people, with all
the food they could carry, had fed to
the mountains. They stayed in their
Businesses for 80 days, and at last made
q terrible rush down the mountain sides
and attacked the tyrants, instead Of
waiting to be killed. Patriot Virtan was
like a god, and killed 10 men with his
own sword before he fell dead. Father
Bedras was a soldier, too, and encour-
aged his children, and, when at last he
was killed his body was cut in pieces
and given to the dogs"
Thirteen Hundred at Aloag.
"Aloag was the last town that tho
bloodthirsty tyrants visited, and this
place contains seven villages, Virem,
Chaden, Mooravar, Eukik, Kalaxaz,
Choroop and Daviderig. The people
had for tho most part made their escape,
but when Moorshir and his soldiers
went their way, 1900 bodies were found
even here.
MANY more were burned but their
number cannot be known.
Left Where They Were Butchered.
"An bodies were left where they were
butchered, and those who travel this
district must risk their lives through
the pestilential odors that go up from SO
many dead. ALI who escaped from the
Sassoon district came to the villages of
the plains Of Moosh, hungry and desti-
tute and broken hearted; they look for
hope and help and sympathy from the
civilized world to whom the news of
their terrible lot may come"