The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-15
The Object Is to Arouse Other Ma
tions to the Necessity of Protect-
ing Eastern Christians.
10000 TO BE SLAUGHTERED
IN THREE MONTHS UNLESS EUROPE
TAKES CONTROL OF TURKEY.
Great Defeat of the Radicals in Eng
land and What 1t POrtends-
Other Foreign News.


VAN. Aremnia. May "a. In the
city of Van, at this moment, there
are five hundred young men sworn to give
themselves as sacrifice to Turkish
butchery in the hope that the attention of
England may, be more strongly called to
the desperate situation of their people,
The Armenians cannot accept any scheme
of reform which does not have for its
fundamental principles the absolute con-
troll of the European powers. Unless Eu-
rope controls the reforms there will be
massacre of twenty thousand Christians in
the city of Van within three months The
Armenians themselves will bring this about
rather than be cast adrift by their fellow
Christians of the West. There is no Ian
guage quite adequate TO description of
the real condition of Armenia at present.
Men are beaten, robbed and murdered,
and women are ravished by Kurds and
Turkish soldiers. Woe and want and de-
spair and death stalk abroad in the beauti-
full land that was once a part of the
Garden of Eden. The inhabitants of Van
are living on the brink of a massacre from
day 10 day.
The Sasum massacre, 1t would ap-
pear, was one of the most care
fully planned outrages in history. The
evidence of this is circumstantial only, but
it is alleged to be none the less conclusive.
During the months of June, July and
August, preceding the Sasun massacre, the
Kurdish chiefs in the country surrounding
the Sasun region, and particularly the
districts in the southwark and southwest
ward, were apparently unusually busy In
gathering up the scattered warriors of
their tribes for an invasion of the Sasun
region.
In July and August enormous quantities
of petroleum were shipped from Erzroum
to Moush. This petroleum came originally
from Russia to Erzroum, and so great was
the quantity brought over the mountain
roads that 1t was a subject of remark TO
very many persons. For time it looked
as if nothing went over the roads between
Erzroum and Moush but petroleum. Now
it is fact that Moush does not use great
quantity of petroleum herself. nor do her
merchants sell much of Il to the surround
ing country. In the villages candles of
sheep fat oil are used for lights. What
Moush wanted with those countless cans
of petroleum was a mystery. But the
mystery was mystery no longer after the
used to burn the houses of the Sasun
villages and to eremate the bodies of the
awful butchery, In burning the houses, the
petroleum was thrown upon the woodwork
in generous quantities and set on fire,
with the result that everything that could
burn went up In smoke. In cremating the
dead. the bodies were, in many cases.
placed between layers of wood and built up
into a sort of funeral pile. The entire
mass was then saturated with petroleum and
set on fire. 1t is charged that living men
were cremated in the same way. But,
this was a merciful way OF putting the un-
fortunate creatures to death in comparison
with the tortures inflicted on many others.
The massing of troops near the Sasun
tot.lo r1x ot n -
ried on for some time before the beginning
of the massacre in order that everything
might be in readiness according to the
programme said to have been carefully
made out at Canstantinople. Several weeks
after the Sasun massacre, 1t Is claimed,
orders were sent from the PALACE zee at Con- N;
tants of Modikan, q district lying TO the
south and southeast of Sassoun. but when
it was seen that an rnves,sanioh Oh the the
order II Is said, was repealed and Modikan
was not molested. except In the course or
IN from van to
nople of the advance guard of the Ar
menian revolutionary movement, captured
In the village of Tchiboukla, on May 49,
the Turkish government has taken a de-
cisive step toward quieting public excite
ment in the eastern part OF the empire
The Governor of Van: Bahri @ Pasha, ;sa..t,na mas,
facts to the alleged concession OF Harry
Williams. the leader of the captured band.
According TO the Governor, WliliamS mas
confessed that the revolutionary party,
which sent him to begin the revolution,
has three thousand rifles in Trieste,
Austria, which will be shipped to Armenia
for the use of the patriots at the earliest
opportunity.
An interesting. incident Of WillianS's $
confession, as Made public by Bahri. is the
fact that he is not British subject at all,
but Is a native of the Caucasus region or
Russia, and strangely enough. of the very
district IN which Bahri himself was born:
Leaving out of consideration entirely the
second revolutionary band across the
Persian border, it is an undeniable fact
that the Armenian situation was never at
a more critical point. -,
Your correspondent, yesterday. met the
representative of fourth revolutionary
party which has agents in Russia, England
and America. Their headquarters seem to
he in America, where party newspaper
is published and revolutionary funds col
lected. This agent is Russian-Armenian
and he holds strong views on the situation.
The fourth revolutionary party has no
guns in Armenia, nor does the agent say
that he has any arms hidden in the
mountains. The party's principles. how
ever are of the most radical and ad-
yanced sort.