Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-19
SLEW WOMEN AND BABES, Bloody Deeds of Ruthless Sol-
 diery in Amenia. A TRUE TALE OF HORROR. The Dreadful Massacre in Ghellyegoozan Vil- Iage-Leaping From Cliffs Into a
 Ravine of Death,
St. Louis Post Dispatch.

St. Louis Post Dispatch.
 Ancient medieval and modern history. should all their records be rolled into one, shave no tale more dramatic and horrible than that of the outrages on the Helpless peasants of Armenia at the hands of a ferocious Turkish soldiery. These atrocities stand forth in the an nals of Christendom as the very essence of cruelty, and as an instance of what the still uncivilized Turk is capable of accomplishing.
 The civilized world stood shocked and appalled, and the great powers of Europe stepped in and began an investigation. Then followed a demand upon the Sul- tan of Turkey to put a stop to these atrocities and to institute such reforms in his brutal government as would for ever end another butchery of his Ar menian subjects. And now the blood thirsty Turkish dsspot defies all civil ized Europe and refuses to interfere to prevent repetition of the prosecutions and horrors of Sassoun.
 The story, brutal as it is, and exhibit ing in the minor telling of 1t a lust, rapine and violence that could hardly be imagined, is all the more remarkable because it is not war. Had the Ar menians been fighting his ma iesty, the sultan, and resisting his fanatical troops. some shadow of excuse might there be. But instead of this, when the Turkish brigades appeared in the country the Armenian men and women ran to them like little children and gathered under what they thought were protecting wings against the ravages of the ma rauding, savage hill tribes, the Kurds,
 Tale of Torture.
 Without sign without a signal while the peasants were yet hailing them as the representatives of governmental au- thority and as the military delegates of their monarch the Turks cut and fired. cut and fired again. No novelists pen could depict a tale of torture half so graphically as comes down in the simple, ungarnished statements of the few sur vivors that somehow made their way beyond the reach of bayonet. bullet and sword.
 In broad daylight the deeds were done. At dawn the little villages of Semal, Shenik and Aval were attacked by kurdS and by Turkish soldiers disguised as mountaineers. There had been no provo cation, no excuse even for retaliation. The day before a few Kurds had stolen some of the villagers sheep, and the shepherds naturally. had engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with them to re- cover their property. Four to one the Hamidiehs, the Bakrantlees the Rish- kotlees, the Khianlees and Zilanees, to- gether with the disguised troops of the sultan, outnumbered the Armenians. In terror Une ldIter 1eQ, leaving Tn Jnelr alarm the old and wounded behind.
 It was then the atrocities began. It needed little discernment on the part of the Turkish troops to see that the Knrds were not warriors at all. Throwing off all disguise the soldiers of the sultan entered the villages, bayonet and sword in hand. The bugles sounded and the cannon boomed
 Burned and Butchered.
 With cries that were piteous, under standing nothing save that an awful calamity was now upon them, the old villagers who had been left behind came tumbling out of their houses the soldiers with calm. ferocity applied torch after torch to the buildings. These old peasants flung themselves pitifully at the feet of even the common soldiery, crying We are loyal! Seei These are our tax receipts. We love the Turks. Oh do take pity on us. Good God! Don't burn us alve!'
 In the village of Semal hardly a peas ant escaped that is to say, the peasants who were old and infirm. By the time the conhagration had begun the able bodied men. women and children were we'll on their way in the surrounding country. It is a peculiar pathological fact that the Armenians are remarkably susceptible to fright. More than most people are they able to endure physical torture, but nervous terror drives them near to madness It was a half insane procession 1nueeu that went 0yl1S through the country from the villages just Commencing to burn up to Mount Andok, now made famous. The sound of the bugles and the sight of the Turk ish soldiery, with their charging bay onets, made all their courage vanish.
 Now my lambs," had said the com manding officer of the Turks to the chiefs of the, Kurdish tribes the day before the massacre, lis your time You can ex- terminate these dogs of infidels." ct should be remembered that the Arme- nianS are Christians and not Moslems). We who are government soldiers can not conveniently do the work There fore do you set about it without delay We will shield you from trouble when it is over, and put it down to one of the frequent fights between you and your vassals."
 Laughed, Then Died in Torture.
 But the Kurds had proved inefficient It was the Turkish soldiery, therefore who went in hot chase, their village burning being over, after the fugitives On the road to Mount Andok the blood hound showed his fangs. A man named Hovseb had Jagged behind The soldiers stopped the runaway and commenced to joke with him. Despite the panic of his friends there seemed to be no cause for fear for him The Moslem troopers laughed and chatted. and then a soldier took hold of each of his hands. stretch- ing out his arms in the form of a cross ne lduSneu with them. II was not un- til two swords slashed down. cutting off both his ears, that he realized the help lessness of his position. A third blow cut off his nose A fourth a fifth and more Followed Held there tightly he was literally hacked to pieces leisurely and with diabolical art dying a slow torturing death.
 The msst terrible act of the tragedy was yet to be played. High up on the mountain, in a ravine of almost inac- !. cessible rocks, youthful priest prayed with his people and implored them to hope and to trust in divine aid. He-Der ohannes-became but a few days later q martyr to his faith, and the one great conspicuous figure and chief sufferer in the remarkable massacre of Ghellye- goozan.
 The Troops had plundered and ravaged ---untA there was nothing more in the Sas- soun district left. Disgusted with this. they attempted a devilish stratagem on