The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-06-27
THE TURKS CRUELTY
JOHN P~OTICkIAN, An EXILED AR
MENIAN, HERE IN DISTRESS.
His story Of the Terrible SuFerings
of His CONFERENCE.-The own
TribuIations.

beneficiaries Of the Christian helpfulness
for the destitute on the part of the Char
ity Organization. The society can and has
given relief TO him in the way of food and
shelter. but there is p~alpable suffering of
the heart that no medicine can reach, and
the only palliative is work that will dis
tract the mans mind from the sorrows
and distress Of this life. He is an Arme-
MAN, an exile from his native land, and
from his family, who live in the city of
Moosh. not a great distance from the Rus
sian border. 1t were we'll for him, he
says, if he could exchange his nationality
and fealty TO the Russian nation from that
of the barbarous, the unspeakable Turk.
He is guilty of no offense except that he
Is a Christian and was prosperous. The
one brought him the hatred of the fanatical
followers of Mahomet and the other only
excited their greed and led TO a plot TO put
him in prison-a plot that he discovered
barely in time, If he desired TO escape. 1t
was communicated to him by a Turk who
happened to be an acquaintance OF his.
He hurriedly secured what money he
could from his store and house and fled in
the night.
That was a year ago, and since then he
has received no word from his wife or
| three CDlluItU, anu hiONS HOl NiitthOi
they are alive or dead. Perhaps the
Turks, in anger at his successful escape,
seized upon his wife. and as he tells the
story he trembles at the thought, and have
borne her away from the children to serve
as a slave, or for worse purposes among
the mountain retreats of the half-savage
Kurds. He has written time and again TO
his loved ones, he says, but day after DAY
| passes without word from them. He says
| IL is because the Turkish government exer-
cises so close an espionage over lhe acls
of its Christian subjects. The town Is an
inland one, where telegraphs do not penee
trate, and little is known by the world OF
what goes on there. The postofhce offi-
Gals require that every letter sent TO an
other Office shall be mailed unseaied, so
that Il MAY be inspected before II is car
ried on it's way TO those TO whom IL Is al,
dressed. Every letter received Is opened
and read before 1t is delivered TO the righsf
from a ~political refugee. Thus there can
be no hope of communication with MS
family except in the improbable event or
some fellow-citizen fleeing from the same
grinding tyranny and reaching him thou-
sands of miles distant; whether me ram,
al liberty, or in the base service or I'M
p~risonment of the Turks, he cannot tel.
His own physical sufierings are Keen: pie
appearance indicates, ne Is q supJect oI
charity, untitled by physique and Ignorance
of the ways of the country TO provide Tor
himself as he always has done. 1t is no
wonder that when, yesterday. he was en-
couraged to take hope and smile. he places
that told of a poverty Of hope as complete
as hat of purse, said, in broken Engllsn:,
How can one smile when the heart is
Nv the aid of Scone Hovasapian, the
Young Armenian who drifted 10 indlanapo-
lis a year ago last spring, and, SItea
is now prospecting, so that he is paying ms
way through the Central Medical College.
some further idea of the tyranny under
which the Christian subject lives in Ar
menia was obtained. 90. -.
.'The Turks said Potickian., nate us
because we are Christians and are pro-
gressive. They are conservative TO the
last degree, and anything like. progress ex-
cites their hate ns:ar Tne tbe iea nations the sh haye ins
terfered more or less in the treatment or
Turkish subjects. They take their ven
geance out ON those those s Sarif fsSasics S"a and are
again angry because we 30 not
accept od their 50 f fer the Sake 0e of
S Sesce' he Would be treated with great con-
sideration and loaded with favors as an IN
ducement to others to renounce thelr ldlth.
PINT If such a one should in turn renounce
WoslenIsm and should again profess chris
tianity. then their hatred would not rest
until the apostate was aean. hg, %
the town of Moosh, which has proDaDiy ~
0G) people. There are no statisticians IN
Turkey. and populations are largely a mat
ter Of guesswork. | had seen 1000 OF my
thrown into prison before the warning came
to me that / was to be selZed. L kne"
the bishop of our churcn,, WITHOUT Sduse.
had been taken two years before, and tnat
We never heard of or saw him again. 1
realized that the Turk are trying to exter-
inmate my people, so that tney may poSr
of citizens without fault and without trlal
being sent TO Soudan. a land which Is 10
IL climate is deadly and life lasts only a
little while. To seem 10 be getting rich
was the signal to start the ropoery OF an
one had. I had a store in which l sold dry
goods. and the last year that | was not
molested I sold $4,000 worth of goods;
Then the Turks began to suspect that
had money and they woqio ONE m snr
Whatever they might ask. If I told them
[ would not they would put me IN prison
and take all; od II gave r Tnfm tb w"a parting sins
that they would be In again in
a few days. in this way my goods were
nearly ruined. The lawless %soldiery would
come from the mountains and rob me- az
often as they wandedi | n amor mo deiie 10
nothing because the officials. having armed
the mountaineers. have lost control of them;
and If they wanted to disarm them would
have TO do so with an army.
IL have witnessed deeds that fill me yet
with such horror that / could not tell you
even in my own tongue. On h-aster day,
two years ago. | was in church when a
company Of Turkish soldiers entered TO
hraak nm the service. They rushed forward
70 the altar, where the appointments of
communion were. and seized the priest by
the throat and robe. saying that he had
heen leading the people into revolution.
He denied It on his knees before the i'm
pious intruders, and they laughed in his
".Rring in a dog one OF them cried. and
We will make the Christian swear that he
is innocent over the Bible placed on the
table and the dog.
.sThis was done. while the people were
shuddering i'm their seats and grooming In
anguish at the impious act. They made
the priest swear his innocence on the table
that bore the sacred elements with a dog
nicked up I'm the street held on the table.
with the holy book on his back. Then they
let the priest go.
81 have not myself seen men slain. but
I have helped bury those who have been
found dead i'm their gardens outside of the
town. have known Of so many such cases
that | cannot remember them all. / have
known also so many cases where our young
women have been carried away and rihed |
OF their maidenly honor that / could not
to give his daughter in marriage TO a son
of a neighbor. \ Turkish officer heard of
it and told the father that he must give
his daughter. not 10 her lover. but to him.
My daughter * "A Christian said the
father. trembling. and cannot marry one
OF your faith
with an oath the officer went away.
He watched for the marriage party on the
next day. and just as the bride was enter
party OF Turks. under command OF the off,
Ger. and was carried awav 10 the noun
tains. She was never heard OF again. There
are hundreds OF cases where the Turks and