The record-union., 1895-12-02
ARMENIANS APPEAL TO THE PA
TRIAROH AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
People Slaughtered by
and Gendarmes Sent to Preserve
Order Not Only Did Not stop the
Massacre, But Themselves Rush
Savagely Upon the ArmenIans. Bay
oneting Them to Death.

menian Patriarch at ConStantinople,
have been forwarded in duplicate To
this city, where they have been trans
lated and made public:
ITO ais Holiness, Mgr. Izmirlian: on
Monday, October list while the people
from the towns and villages surround
ing r4rzingan were gathered together
on market day on public market, d
vulgar mob, composed of Turks and
Kurds, fully armed, attacked the Ar
menianS at 4 o'clock I'll a. m.) and be-
gan a wholesale massacre OF them,
beating Wounding, killing and slaugh-
tering them, and then dismemberlng
the bodies of many of them and tearing
them limb from limb. During the six
hours of this slaughter the ferOctous
mob murdered the unarned Armenl-
ans with swords, sabers, knives, hatch
cts, clubs and guns with such horrible
barbarity as has never been seen on
heard of before
Before this the Armenians, antici-
pating from the threats OF the turks
which they had heard that a horrible
calamity was awaiting them, had sent
their clergy to the local commander OF
the Turkish army many times during
the weeks preceding, imploring of him
protection He told them twice that so
would never take place, and said that
he considered it unreasonable and cruel
TO entertain the idea of killing de-
fenselesS and peaceful people.
Relying upon these assurances of
the commander, part of the Armeni-
ans, feeling safe, went about their daily
business. Those especially who went
to the market early in the morning saw
with great satisfaction the soldiers,
gendarmes and guards scattered about
everywhere, watching to maintain
peace In the four quarters Of the city
these soldiers were searching the Ar
menians, and if they found any arms
on them they took them away. After
they had thus deceived and robbed and
entrapped the Armenians they began to
kill them most savagely. These soldiers
and guards, who had apparently come
to maintain order, not only did not stop
the massacre, but themselves rushed
savagely upon any of the Armenians,
who were too daZed to defend them
selves desperately as any man would
do, so that the greater number of the
victims were sacrificed to the bayonets
of the regular soldiers.
This very same day hundreds OF our
kindred were sacrificed to that mercl-
less and bloodthirsty mob and ninety
Of their dead bodies have already been
found. After they had thus butch
cred the inoffensive Armenians, they
rushed upon their dead bodies in a
most beastly manner, and robbed and
stripped them from head to foot. On
many of the dead bodies, especially
upon the faces and heads, there were
deep marks and cuts of knives and
clubs. and others of them had been be-
headed. Two days after the massacre
the corpses were carried in cart to a
certain place and buried in one pit,
which we will have to call Martyr S
Sepulchre.' There are many wounded
also. the greater portion of them ia
tally.
THE pitiful population of Erzingan
might have endured this massacre, if it
had brought calamitv and loss to few
lives only but it was not so. The real
purpose of this massacre was to rob the
Armenian stores and houses, and make
abiect beggars of the people, in which
purpose they were perfectly successful.
A savage mob, composed of l0,UUO or
$4,000 Turks and Kurds, after putting
the Armenians in state OF terror ana
flight, began to pillage and loot the
stores and shops with such rapidity
that about 800 of the Armenian markets
and stores were ruined and sacked in a
few hours The merchants stock of
rice, -four, grain and provisions, the
apothecaries drugs, the tradesmen' s
tools and the carpenters bench even
were not exempted from the general
plunder and booty
The Turkish citizens, in their stores
and pIaces of business, were constantly
encouraging the pillagers and calling
cut to them to be faithful and loyal to
their duty against the enemies of Allah
GOdl Even the soldiers and officers
took part in the pillage. Serbahan and
Mutuni were sacked and burned. a
great many lives also were sacrificed
The population of the nearest villages,
Serbahan and Mutuni, bare
footed and half-naked, leading their
children by their hands, fled to the city
These fugitives and most Of the pop
ulation of the city are naked and on
the verge of starvation. Even if they
had money they could not buy any
bread. because all of the bakeries are
closed
THE abject poverty, the burning of
villages from day to day, the constant
fear of fresh massacres, the danger that
the cholera, which generally follows the
crowding of the people together, will
break out, the fact that the markets
have been robbed and destroyed. the
distressing destitution of the people, all
these calamities have reduced the poor
peopIe to such a dreadful condition that
of man is not able to describe
it
"Wil the National Patriarchate help
the Armenians after they are absolutely
from the earth? Wher-
ever it will avail send the news of these
horrors Send aid quickly. Hasten to
our rescue. After little while the dis
tricts of Erzingan will be one wide
sepulcher for all the Armenians.
about half an hours walk from this
city the Puzouan village and the church
there were considered a place of safety,
the Armenians had gath
cred there. but alas, the Turkish and
Kurdish savages polluted even the sane
tUary, and filed it with the blood of
Christians Not satisfied with the aw-
full deeds they had already done, they
crushed the doors of the church and
broke into it. and of the pure refugees
there one priest and forty men, women
and children were butchered, and the
whole village pillaged afterward.
The meetings of our Kaghakajan
(the Executive Committees of
our churches and schools) have been
abandoned. because some of it's mem
bers have been killed, others have been
and there are none to act
Even if any of them could be found they
do not dare do anything.
"1n the pangs of death, the people of
Erzingan, October 18th
ITO his holiness Mgr Izmirlians, Ar
menian Patriarche: Your holiness is al
ready aware of the unfortunate calam-
ity which befell the people of the city
on October Dist. The merchants were
robbed of their goods, the artisans of
their tools the farmers of their provis-
ions and produce. In word, the Ar