Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-29
SCENES OF OUTRAGE.
Horrors of the Recent Nassacrcs in
Eastern Turkey.

The following is a condensation of letters
received in Boston, descriptive of the recent
massacre in ErZeroom, eastern Turkey:
Il do not think much killing was DONE"
says the writer, but a very great deal of
plumber was carried off. The thing has been
threatening for several weeks, but We judg-
ed that with the presence of Shakir Pasha
and the new vail, Ravuf Pasha, this city
might escape, but it did not. / went to the
telegraph office to send a message. / re-
turned through the market, and rumor was
rife and many of the stores were half shut
Suddenly l heard yelling and shots behind
me- The shutting of shops began in good
earnest and people began to run in all direc-
tons.
Il ran home as fast as could. The firing
was quite hot and others who watched my
flight declare that a number Of Turks fol-
lowed me and fired at me as much a
dozen times. l met a patrol, and as / pass
ed the head of 1t, the officer gave the order
to fire. That stopped my pursuers. One Of
the men of the patrol fired his revolver very
d!saSreeably near in my direction. How
ever. l reached home safely. There the
refugees began to flock, mostly women and
children. We made ready for defense, but
it soon appeared that the soldiers had cut
off the rabble from the street, and no mob
passed our street few men came and
tried to open the door. Three well-difected
shots from our balcony sent them OFF, 1t
soon became apparent that the soldiers had
reserved the right to plumber. The soldiers
who were at the head of our street, appar-
entity to guard it, broke open three or four
houses within a stones throw of us and
carried off everything found. We saw loads
of plumber carried by soldiers. There was
large number of women engaged in the
same work. The affair began shortly after
noon and continued till very near shutdown.
about six hours.
Dreadful State of Things.
1.-The night passed quiet. Occasional fir
ing in other parts of the city kept us on the
qui vive. However, no mob ventured down
our street. We got into communication at
once with the consul and finally got a guard
of six coldiers. He, had dispatched a guard
to us the evening before, and it failed to
come to u.s. The morning revealed a dread
full state of things. The missing began to
come in. The stories of hair-breadth escape
and thrilling experiences and horrible muir
ders were sickening in the extreme.
Cut Down in Cold Blood.
Two Armenians hidden In some hay
witnessed the killing Of eleven persons.
One man was called to the door by an off,
Ger who professed to be friendly and was
cut down in cold blood. Others were cruel
ly murdered. The death roll must be toward
500. If not more. Between fifty and sixty
wounded are in the hospital. Two hundred
were gathered in the Armenian cemetery,
some of them most horribly mutilated.
ferent houses. All sorts OF rumors are
about of another bloody attack being de-
termined on. The people are in an awful
state of dread. did what could to re-
assure them. The collection of the dead
goes on Three hundred and sixteen col
lected in the grave yard. The pillaged
houses are to be counted by the hundreds.
No house which was attacked was left till
1t was emptied of every movable thing.
''One heart-rending scene was the fol-
lowing: A battered door was pushed aside
which admitted us to a long passageway.
The door at the end of the passageway was
IN splnters. Passing 1t We entered the low
er room or kitchen of the house. In the
middle of this small room. lying side by
side on mat, were the bodies OF two
young women, almost naked, and light
covering thrown over their heads. At the
other side of the room a grief-stricken wo-
man was trying to make bread from lit
tie flour that had been left. She had to
borrow utensils to do 1t with. She left her
work and came forward and answered the
first question by removing the covering
from the bodies. They were those of young
women developing into motherhood. The
head and face of one was covered with
blood. and she was also badly wounded in
the hand. The other had a bullet wound
through the abdomen from the right side.
A companion of these two had been carried
off, and was lying dead in another house.
Their lives were sacrificed in defense of
their honor. We passed through the ruins
Of some other rooms. The boxes and furni-
smashed, the walls were ploughed with bull
lets. and there was not to be seen a bit of
household goods. The floor was covered
with big patches Of blood.
Another HnrtrendinG Scene.
In another house we saw two dead
bodies, an aged father and his middle-aged
son. lying in pools of blood, the house a
wreck and the people wailing and hungry.
The bodies lying in the cemetery are SIM
ply wrecks of human beings. Awful cruelty
was practiced. The majC.ity have bullet
wounds. Nearly all have bayonet, sword
and dagger wounds some badly mutiatcd.
Two or three were skinned, and some were
burned with kerosene. A great many wo-
men are missing. Very many dead have
been disposed of BY the Turks themselves.
There are hundreds who have nothing to
eat and no means of getting anything.
The wounded are being collected. The kill
ed far exceed the wounded. The villages OF
the plain have suffered awfully. No def
mite news the only news that columns OF