The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-02-03


London, Feb. 2.-LCopyrighted 1895 by
the Associated Press.l-A letter has
been received here from the special
correspondent of the Associated Press
who was sent to Armenia from London
to investigate the reported Armenia
atrocities and who at present is in
Armenia. 1t contains the first anthem
tic news from Armenia direct, and
says:
Whatever secrets may lie under the
snow on the Armenian mountains it
seems beyond dispute from what 1
have heard from many lips that the
published stories of ferocious butch
cry and red horror in the villages
have at least a reasonable foundation
of truth, and that any change, author
lied by further investigation, will
deal more with numbers than with de-
gree of horror"
Two Sides to the Story.
But no matter what light we throw
Turk or upon the ingenious deviltry of
the revolutionary conspirators, we find
that it is still the innocent that suffer
most. The Turks declare that the Ar
menians have inflicted shocking out
RACES upon Turkish men and women.
For instance. it is reported that rs
a means of melting the Turks to COM
nit outrages that will bring down
upon them the wrath of a civilized
world, Armenians have thrust gun
cartridges into the bodies of living
Turkish men and women and have ex-
ploded them, and that in the case of
one man, hole was made just be-
low the bones of the chest for the in
sertion of a quantity of gun powder
which was then ignited as a sort of a
bomb.
Truth VIII Never Be Known.
The correspondent also remarks:
The impartial lNlth of the Sa5soun
massacre Will probably never be known
for the dead tell no tales. A careful
sitting of all the facts obtainaole from
trustworthy sources i'll Constantinople,
Sassoun, herasund, Trebizonde. ana
Bltlis indicates that this is what hap
pened:
Certain Armenian peasants to the
number of several thousands were tend
ing their herds and f1ocks in their SUM
mer pastures in the SasSOun mountains
along the borders of Kurdisitan. They
We're living in temporary villages.
Ihey We're under contract to defend
Chem against the raids of cattle steal
ers and Kurdish bands. A short time
before the Villagers. We're ready no re-
TURN 10 Unelr homes in the valleys with
tnelr fattened cattle, d band uf Klu.dfsh
winters supply of provisions, raided
their stock. The Villagers and the
kurdish protectors made a vigorous
defense. They would have ended il hut
before the fighting was over the Turk
Ism government came into the affair
and then the read trouble began.
Some of them telegraph that a con-
splracy was in progress among the Ar
menians in the mountain villages and
the order came straight from the pal
ace:
Punish the villagers TO the utmost
extremity"
Fought Without Hope.
The palace had not paused TO inquire
into the truth of the runor and the Off
GERS entrusted with the execution of the
order did not stop to investigate the
facts when the troops arrived on the
ground. The Kurdish bandits Joined
forces with the Tu<kish regulars and
even THE Kurds, who had been defend
ing the Armenians turned traitors and
swelled the number of the government
troops. The poor Armenian peasants
were then left to the mercy Of a force
of Turkish regulars and two bands of
hur1s.
The outrage of Armenian women and
children by the Turks in that part of
the country is SO common thing, even
at times of absolute quiet, that there
can be no doubt that this massacre
was attended with outrage and attro-
city too horrible to think of. The Ar
menians in Athens and Constantinople
assert that forty-two villages were de-
stroyed and nearly 10000 persons mas
sacred; but more impartial and equally
well informed persons put the number
at twenty-five villages and from 1000
to 5000 persons killed.
AS for the Turkish commission. it is
such q fraud that it is a waste of
breath to talk about it.
what the European residents Of
Constantinople are really looking for
ward to with confidence in is the in
vestgation of the whole affair by an
European commission. They believe
that the Turkish commission viii bring
IN Sucn an Unsatisfactory report thai
the Christian nations viii appoint a
commission and make an investigation
whether the Turks like it or not.
The sultan's promise Of reform will
not be binding upon the Armenian
revolutionary agents, no matter what
may come. and until the revolutionary
agitation is provided for one way or
another by the Christian powers of the
world. there viii be no end to the dis
turbances in Armenia.
Too Horrible to Think Of.
Not only should the Sassoun mas
sacre be probed to the bottom, but all
the attending circumstances should be
carefully considered. For one thing,
the state of morals in Armenia, and es-
pecially along the Turkish frontier.
should receive the closest scrutiny. The
facts that are now and then told as
merest matters of course are most ap-
palling in the depth of depraYity. When
an Armenian girl is to be married she
is taken from her home and outraged
by bands of Turks and Kurds and any
member of her family who lifts a hand
in defense Of her honor is shot down.
On the Kurdish frontier The ravishers
do not even wait for the approach OF a
girls wedding, but they seize her when
she has reached a certain age and carry