The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-02-22

was sent Out from LONDON 10 AFnleHld ~
investigate as to the atrocities said to
have been perpetrated on the Armenians,
and whose first report, in a letter sent
from TihiS, Russia, was received here on
the ID instant, and cabled to the United
States that day, has made a second re-
port. This. like the first. was posted at
Tihis. It is dated January IS. In it, the
correspondent says:
In the letter l wrote ten days ago Civ
ing the result Of some preliminary inquir-
les that [ had made at Constantinople,
Sassoun. Kerasund, Trebisconde and Tiff
lis, concerning the alleged atrocities and
the state OF affairs generally in Armenia,
! endeaVored to convey some idea of the
difficulties that would be encountered in
prosecuting any sort Of an investigation
or getting at the real facts of the case.
That do not eHagSerate these difficulties
VIII be apparent from further lnforma-
ton on the point, which I am now in a
position to supply. Take, to begin with
the cholera quarantine, which is being
enforced on various portions of the sui
tan's dominionS in such manner as to
draw net around the departments of
| Armenia, in which the atrocities are al
legged to have occurred, and to keen away
from the scene of outrages ell independ-
ent investigators.
Simply II Subterfuge,
at is announced that cholera exists in
Van, Bitlis, and Moosh, and that strict
quarantine regulations must, therefore,
De enforced. Now it is certainly a pecu-
liar circumstance that cholera should
have happened to break out at this sea-
son of the year in the region of Sassoun
! masSacreS and nowhere else in Asia Mi
nor Who is to prove or disproye the
statement that the disease is raging in
these SnoW-clad and practically inacces-
STOLE mountain Businesses? Even in Con-
stantinople and StambOul. little or moth
ing is known by the public or by news
paper correspondents concerning the chpl-
era outbreaks oflcially reported from
! ilne 10 time IN these cities. In the Turk
lsh capital a medical officer reporting a
cholera receives double pay until clean
| bill of health is returned from the af-
! tected district, and in a country like Tur-
! Key 1t IS not surprising if doctors find
symptoms OF cholera in everything from
Group to typhoid fever.
| 1t is pretty thoroughly understood
| that quarantine law is the highest law in
health, and that even international &c courts
J must bow TO it. So when we are told, as
we nave have been here during the past
few days, that an epidemic of cholera has
| suddenly made its appearance in the re-
gion of the Sassoun massacre, even a
| blind man can see that it is Saeant to de-
| lay and obstruct the work Of the Turkish
| that the Turks, forced to the wall by the
! protest of the foreign delegates on the
commission, threw up the last obstruc-
| ton and hoisted the yellow flag upon It.
!
more cholera quarantine or find means
| to eVade it.
! Money Has Been Stolen.
TT is argued that if the Turks have sue
lceeded in repairing the damage TO the
lSassoun village, there is no reason why
Ithe commission should not be allowed to
Visit the scene OF the massacre and
feared for that sort Of thing. but the re-
lfusal OF the Turks to allow anyone to
travel through the Sassoun country and
the timely quarantine. suggests that
1.-THE money sent to rebuild the destroyed
villages has been stolen, or that the snow
lWaS so deep before the money arrived
that nothing could be done.
! I'm that case the bodies of the butch
Tered CHRISTIANS are lying under the snow
1.-THE Turks Will take good care that they
reach the scene first in the spring and
Iciear all traces of the massacre before in
idignant Christianity insists on sending
ian Independent investigating committee
Even without the cholera quarantine
lit would be practically impossible for the
until spring, owing to the intense cold
land the great amount of snow in Ar
lmenia.
Outrage and Murder.
Tales of oppression. soutrage and muir
lder. in other parts Of Armenia Turkey
ISouthern coast Of the Black sea.
| IF the detailed facts of the Sassour
massacre are ever established it must bt
independently Of Armenian testimony, OF
their value may be seriously questioned
In the first place, every Armenian witt
whom ii has been my lot to come into
contact. seems to have very vague idea
of the value Of accuracy and truth. IL
| the second place in his anxiety to make
out a case against the Turks he is will
ing to publish as facts any grotesqut
on the street. In the third place, he does
not really know what actually took place
| in the SaSsoun mountains but his vanity
will not permit him to acknowledge it
and SO. to be up with the times and t.
| help the cause of his people he embel
fishes the rumors he hears and frequent
lily says that he is in secret communica
ton with friends in Moosh and Bitlis whit
are harboring SaSsoun refugees.
! Really Docs Harm.
''In this way. while meaning to do goot
to the cause Of his people, he really doe:
! them harm, for he effectually destroys
his own value as witness.
| AN Armenian came to me lately, anG
said; Seventeen hundred ArmenianS
lhave Just now been massacred by the
| Turks
:. How do you know / asked.
| "A refugee has just come in,
! You wish me to publish that as c
yes: why not? The people of Eng
land and America wish to know these
| Very well. Bring the refugee to ms
| that I may write down his story
THE so-called refugee was not refu.
lgee at all but simply a laborer from Ere
ivan in search of work. His story amount.
led to this: In Erevan he had heard g
Imam say that another in Etchmedzin haC
Isaid that LIDO people had been killed il
1.-THE Saesoun massacre.
! another Armenian was willing Il
lSWear to me on the bible that $500 people
lhad been killed in the SAssoun district.
in proof of this, he said that SO many
lpersons were living in the Sassoun noun