The record-union., 1895-05-27

RACES Compelled to Eat Their
Friends.
TCopyrighted, 1895, by the Associated Press
Special correspondence.
KARs (Russaj, April 20.-During the
past three weeks | have had unusual op-
portunity for obtaining additional con-
tirmation of the facts contained in my
announcement of the impending upris-
ing of the Armenians in Turkey next
month. / have travelled many miles up
and down and across the border in search
of certain facts, and, as result. have
bad the satisfaction of actually seeing anu
handling some of the rifles now being
smuggled across the Turkish frontier by
the 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 move
ment and l am now entirely satisfied
that unless unforeseen circumstances
arise the uprising will take place as an
nouncsd. The exact date of the uprising
has not yet been fixed, owing. for the
most part. to the fact that the extreme
section of the revolutionary party is not
ready for active operations. Whether or
not the central section Will walt Tor the
eastern wing longer than the month OF
Nav do not know, nor has the matter
actually been decided. [ am asked to be-
lieve that the eastern wing cannot be
ready for hostilitles in May, and possibly
not before the 4th 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 tirst place, the mountain passes
leading to Van have been covered by
snow for months, SO that only special
messengers following the regular routes
OF travel could get through, and there
| fore it was important to follow with the
| guns and ammunition from Russia and
Persia to the district about Lake Van.
| There are now guns on the border await
! ing transportation into Armenia. In the
second place, the Armenians in the east
| ern end of Turkey are in condition
| bordering on starvation. 1t is obvious
that people in this condition cannot
! fight. On this point leading executive
of the revolutionary party said to me
three days ago: "If men have nothing i'll
| their stomachs, what Will they do. We
must first feed them before we CAN eX-
pect them to fight When we can get
!
months, then we shall show the world
| how Armeniaus can light"
| 1t is this question OF food that the
revolutionary leaders will find more
| difficult OF solution. The problem of
| smuggling guns into Armenia will be
solved with the coming spring, which Is
! now lust beginning to benefit the lower
| valleys. 1t is plain that if no food is to
be had the people cannot be fed, no mat
ter how much money they may have.
| and il is a TACT that in the eastern portion
of Armenia food is SO scarce that the
well-to- do and rich people have no more
| food than they actually need.
! Few crops were grown last summer,
owing to the fact that many of the farm
ers and cultivatOrs were thrown into
prison by the Turks under charges of
| conspiracy Then cattle were stolen by
the Kurds aud what poor people had lett
| in the way OF provisions or property was
seized by the Government officials.
There will be no crops planted in Eastern
Armenia this spring, for the country
| everywhere is suffering from a reign of
terror.
| The efforts of the commission of in
| ouiry at Moosh and the Christian powers
| of Europe have had absolutely no effect
| upon the conduct of either the Turks or
| Kurds in Eastern Turkey. l am just in
receipt of trustworthy advices from
| a non-Armenlan source at Van TO the Ell
| feet that a massacre Is looked for at any
1 moment.
1t is a fact, which the British Govern
ment can verify by consulting the report
| of Mr.. Patton, an official OF the British
| Consulate at Tebratz, that III several cases
the Turkish officials in the devastated
district OF Armenia tried hard TO save the
Armenians from death and their property
from destruction, but when they pro-
! I, II 1nrO id IF fl,A
troops the officers read to them the orders
| of the Sultan, and SO nothing could be
| done.
Mr.. Patton has lately returned to Te-
! bratz from an Investigating tour among
the Armenian refugees along the bor-
der between Persia and Turkey.
He found plenty of refugees from
| the Lake Van aud Moosh districts,
! but not one from Sassoun. There are no
! Sassoun survivors in Ourmanua, Salmis,
| Ditiman, khoi, TebratZ or any other
place in Persia, and so very few in
| Russia that they are most difficult to find.
| This absence of SassOun's among so
many refugees from the other districts of
Eastern Armenia suggests dreadful
possi bility that few OF these people es-
capped the massacre.
| The investigation of Mr.. Patton along
| the Persian border has confirmed in a
general way the facts which have Incl
dentaily obtained during the past eight
| weeks. The events of the massacre were
so horrible that even the chronic exag-
geration of the Armenian mind fails to
add anything to them.
Mr. Patton was accompanied on this
tour OF investigation by DR.. Wright. an
| American missionary stationed at Salmis.
| These gentlemen took testimony to the
| effect that when the Turkish soldiers and
| Kurds appeared at a certain village they
collected some of the villagers who dared
! to protest against the Outrages, and many
J OF the dead men were cut up and thrown
| into a kettle and boiled like SO much
beef. These boiled pieces were then
| given to the villagers for food. The
wretched creatures were compelled to
eat their friends TO the last mouthful. In
| another village party OF kurds found 4
! child asleep in a cradle. They overturned
the cradle and smothered the child. Then
they dissected the body and roasted
pieces OF it before the fire. AS climax
they compelled the mem bers of the FAM
! lily, including the child's mother, to eat
the roasted pieces.
The refugees who tell these stories are
| for the most part ready to return to Ar
! menia to wreak vengeance on their per-
secutors as soon as they are supplied with
ammunition, arms and food by the revo-
! lutionary party, and, as already stated,
the only thing lacking is food. The weap-
| ons have seen are common in Russia as
'soldatskie" guns-that is the guns issued
to the regular army of Russia. The gun
Is the Boordan rifle, simple, efficient
weapon. particularly well suited TO rough
usage.
One of the bitterest things the Armen-
Ian revolutionary Leaders nave to reflect
upon Is the fact that many Armenians
| act as spies Tor the Turkish Government.
1t is melancholy state OF things. freely
admitted by the Armenians themselves
that Armenians can always be found to
sell out throughout the country their
! friends for a purse OF silver. The leaders