The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-12-09
DEAD AND DYING.
Half a Million Suffering Armenians-An
American Girl Shows Her Grit.

London, December What information
is obtainable and the nature of the con-
sular reports that are reaching the
foreign Office confirm the worst fears of
the destruction of the Armenians within
the area from Trebizond southeast to Van
thence southwest to Alexandretta, on the
Bay of Iskanderoon; from Alexandretta
slightly northeast to Kara Hissar, and
from Kara Hissar northeast to Trebizond.
Whole Christian towns and villages have
been pillaged and burned and their in
habitants massaGred. Those who have
don their faith and turn Mohammedans.
Accurate details concerning the con-
dition of affairs in the districts beyond
the immediate spheres of the Consulates
remain wanting, but there is no reason to
doubt the reports derived from fugitive
survivors and the better sort of Turks
who have not shared in the outrages, that
similar condition Of affairs exist in those
places.
The correspondent of the Speaker, the
paper which first gave publicity to the
Armenian outrages, is now known to
have close relations with the consulates
in Constantinople, and from information
derived from them he estimates that not
less than 500, 600 persons have either been
killed or are now dying of starvation be-
You'd the chance of timely relief. He
says that after the soldiers had sacked
the Armenian towns and villages the
Kurds completed the plumber. The lat
ter mixed what gain they could not car
ry off with manure and set fire to the
houses, leaving the people with no food
and their homes
HEAPS OF RUINS.
Tho Ambassadors have advised the
to undertake the relief of the distressed
people, but the presence of hundreds of
Red Cross agents would reveal horrors
that the Porte must conceal This fact
debars the possibility of the government
giving it's assent to the plan. The repre-
sentative of the United Press, who has
been for some time in Constantinople in
the interest of that organization, has re-
ceive a letter from Hadjin Mission, which
begins with the words: eve are alive,
praise the Lord" The letter refers to
the prominent part that Circassians have
taken in the atrocities around Hadin and
says that 10000 Circassians and Turks
were actively employed in soaking the
Christian villages. The governor did
nothing to protect the Chri stians, and
even refused them permission to defend
themselves He did, however, promise the
aid of regular Turkish troops, who, the
writer states, were of the same feather
as those engaged in the murders and
pillage.
In the face of these statements the
official Turkish statements repeatedly
communicated to the press that order
has been restored everywhere become
worthless. If the foreign Office published
all it's information, says the Speaker,
Lord Salisbury would not dare to appear
in public. He would be mobbed in the
streets
A despatch to the Standard from Con
stantinople says that it would require
columns to explain the circumstances
that led to Said Pasha seeking refuge in
the embassy and the possible consequent
ces of his step, but. that it is sufficient
to say that he was lately invited to re-
sumo the Grand Vizierate, and that on
his refusal he was imprisoned for a week
in tower within the precincts of the
Yildiz Palace. 1t is obvious that the
reasons inducing him to take the grave
step must have been most imperative,
since by seeking foreign protection he
rendered his life worthless should he quit
the embassy except with
AN ENGLISH ESCORT
for the purpose of embarking onEa foreign
ship. The fact that the fayorite of the
whole Turkish nation as opposed to the
palace clique, has chosen the British en-
bassy for refuge, gives Sir Philip Cur
RE an advantage that he would be foolish
to let slip without fully rofting there
by. The nearest parallel to the present
incident was when Sir A. Layard, in
Madrid, dressed Marshal Serrano as a
lackey and drove with him in his own
carriage. If the present incident is
adroitly used it may end once for all the
miserable palace regime.
The Times correspondent at Constan-
tinople telegraphs that the reason for
Said Pasha's flight after refusing the
Sultan's invitation to reside in the
Yildiz park was that he received per-
emptory order to take up his residence
there, and was privately informed that