The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-05-30
THE EASTERN WING OF THE AR
MENIAN ARMY, WHICH Is
ON THE VERGE OF WAR,
Is SUFFERING ALL THE AGONIES
OF GAUNT PRIVATION.
If They Go to Battle 1t Will Be on Empty
Stomachs, as Even the Rich Have
No More Than is Necessary
for the Retention of Life.

hars, Russia, April 2O.-(Copyrighted
by the Associated Press.)-During the
past three weeks have had unusual op-
portunity or obtaining additional con-
tirmation of the facts contained in my
announcement of the impending uprising
of the Armenians in Turkey next month.
L have travelled many miles up and
down and across the border in search of
facts and as result have had the salts
faction of actually seeing and handling
some of the rifles now being struggled
across the Turkish frontier by the agents
OF the revolutionary party. Moreover,
the plans of the party have been fully
explained to me by some of the most
active and intelligent of the leaders of
the eastern wing of the movement and |
am entirely satisfied that unless unforeseen
ana uncomfortable circumstances arise,
the uprising will take place as announced
Inc exact date of the uprising has not
yet been fixed, owing to the fact that the
revolutionary party is not ready for active
operation. Whether or not the central
section will wait for the eastern wing
Whlch is not yet ready, longer than the
month of May, l do not know nor has the
| matter actually been decided l am led
to believe that the eastern wing cannot
be ready for action in May and possibly
| not before the first of July. The eastern
wing has been and is now having a HARD
| time OF it, owing to circumstances Ovel
which the leaders have no control. Ii
| the hrst place the mountain passes lead
ing to Lake Van have been blocked will
snow for months, so that only speca
messengers following the regular routes
of travel could get through And, there
fore, it was impossible to forward gum
and ammunition from Russia and Persi;
to the districts about Lake Van. Their,
are guns now on the border awaitin!
transportation into Armenia.
In the second place, the Armenians il
the eastern end of Turkey are in a con
dition bordering upon starvation. 1t il
obvious that people in this condition can
not light. On this point leading office
OF the revolutionary party said to M
some three days ago:
| lt men had nothing in their stomachs
what could they do? We must first fee
them before we can expect them to fight
When we can get food enough on han,
to last them two months then we shall
show the world how the Armenians cal
| fight"
| 1t is this question of food that leader
| VIII Hnu most ul1ncult TO solve; the prob
lem OF smuggling guns in will be solveC
with the coming spring, which is just be
ginning to be felt in the lower valleys
1t is plain that if no food is to be had
people cannot be had, no matter how mucl
money they have, and it is a fact that il
the western part of Armenia food is S,
scarce that the well7to-do and rich peopl
have no more than they actually need
rev crops were grown last summer
owing to the fact that many of the farm
ers and cultivatOrs were thrown int
prison by the Turks on charges of revo
lutiOnary conspiracy. Then the camel
were stolen by the Kurds, and what tn,
poor people had left in the way of pro
visions or property was siezed by tn,
| government officials for taxes. Ever
| the commonest household utensils wer,
taken by the taX-gatherers, so that tn,
people were left desOlute.
Those who were able to do so fed t.
Russia and Persia, taking with then
only the robes which covered their per
sons. Hundreds of them died on thu
| road of starvation and exposure. o.
these the old women and infant children
were the most numerous, but in man,
cases strong men broke down under tn
strain of hunger and despair. There vii
be no crops planted in Eastern Armenii
this season, for the country everywher
is suffering from the reign of terror.
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